v811S81 was not weighed out" (Bahr), but Exod. xii. 22. The " digheB 11 of Exod. nv. that the total weight of the metal was not, 29, and xnvii. 16, with which Rawlinson perhaps could not, be ascertained.] identities them, a.re exp,essed by a different The saored record now proceeds to enu- word. He thinks they were for the oil- merate the vessels, &c., used inside the which the connexion would seem to imply -but they may have been for the blood], temple-those hitherto described having and the snuffers [Heb. knives, '1t.;lt, carpsit. been for external use. These latter, as The word is used of the praning-hook in became the furniture of a house which Isa. ii. 4; of. Levit. xxv. 3. They served blazed in gold, were all of gold, while the the purpose though they had not the shape former were of bra.ss. It would seem to be of our snuffers], and the basons [same word a fair inference, from the omission of as in vers. 40, 45. These latter, however, Hiram'e name, that he was not employed were of brass, while those of the te1t were of pure gold. According to 2 Chron. iv. 8, on the manufacture of these latter vessels. they were e. hnndred in number. •• s the Ver. 48.-And Solomon ma.de all the ves- root (i'':lt) signifies to sprinkle, they were sels which pertained UI1.to [neither word in probably either for the water or the blood Heh.] the house of the Lord: the altar of of sprinkling. Keil thinks they were for the gold [the altar of incense. See on chap. wine of the libations], and the spoons vi. 20, 22] and the table of gold [The Heb. [n1e~. lit., palms (of hands), hence used shows the meaning to be, He made the table out of gold, not '' He made the golden of shallow vessels (Exod. xxv. 29; Num. table," as Keil. 2 Chron. iv. 8 (cf. ver. vii. 84, 86. The la.et cited pasa.ge (cf. 19 and 1 Chron. xxviii. 16) speak~ of ten vers. 14, 20, 26) shows that they were used tables] whereupon the Bhewbread was. for the incense (Lev. xxiv. 7, &c.), LXX. 9via,ca,], and the censers [or snuffers, ex- Ver. 49.-.And the ca.ndlesticks [Exod. tinguishers; ma.rg. ash-pans, In Exod. xxv. xxv. 31-37; xxxvii. 17-24. According 38 the word is translated snuff-dishes. In 1;o Jewish tradition, the seven-branched Num. iv. 14, xvi. 6, it signifies censers, candlestick was preserved in the temple in which may well be the meaning here] of addition to the ten named here) of pure pure gold; and the hinges [or sockets of [Heb. shut] gold, five on the right side the hinges (Gesen., Keil)] of gold, both a.nd five on the left, before the oracle for the doors of the iml.er house, the [" These are said to have formed a sort most holy place [Heb. for the holy of of railing before the vail, and to have holies], and for the doors of the house, to been connected by golden chains under wit, of the temple. [These were evidently which, on the day of atonement, the of inferior (not pure) meta.I.] high priest crept" (Diet. Bib. i. 249). The idea th&t the ten candlesticks rested Ver. 51.-So was ended all the work on the ten tables mentioned in the Chro- that kl.ng Solomon made for the house nicles is entirely groundless. Eleven tables of the Lord. And Solomon brought 1n the would in that case h&ve been necessary things which David his rather had dedi- (Bahr). Besides we are distinctly told cated [marg. holy things of David (2 Sam. that the tables were for the shewbread viii. 8, 10, 11; 1 Chron. xxii. 3, 14, 16; (2 Chron. iv. 19), not for the candlesticks], xxviii. 14-18). Cf. xxvi. 26-28) ; even the with the flowers [ornaments of the candle- silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did stick (Exod. xxv. 31)], and the lamps [the he put among the treasures of the house seven extremities of the candlestick which of the Lord. [So that all the store of pre- held the oil an,l the wicks (ver. 37). It is cious metal and the brass that Da.vid had highly probable that the temple candle- prepared was not a.bsorbed in the decora- sticks were fashioned after that of the taber- tion and furniture of the temple. There nacleJ, and the tongs [ib. ver. 38. Heb. two would seem to have been a considerable takers] of gold. overplus, which was stored in the temple Ver, 50,-.And the boWlB [same word in treasury. J
HOMILETICS. Vere. 15-22.-The Pillars of Brass. If, as some think, the importance of any Baripture subject is to be gauged by the spl!'ce assigned to it in ~he s9:cred page, th_en Btll'ely the fact that eight long verses of this chapter are occupied with the de.scnp- tion of these two columDs and their capitals proves, fint, their importance m the eyes of Tewish writers, and, secondly, that they must have a significance for the minds of Chri.Bti.an ree.dere. Oli, VII, 1-51.) TlIE FlRST BOOK OF KINGS. 187