The great altar was probably a flat oblong expanse, the highest of a series of terraces, of which the base measurement is given by the Chronicler—compare the description of Ezekiel’s altar (Ezekiel xliii. 13 ff.).
2–5 (= 1 Kings vii. 23–26).
The Molten Sea.
²Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about.
2. he made the molten sea] Render, he made the sea of molten metal. The “sea” or great laver was a well-known feature in temples (compare Revelation iv. 6), and, originally at least, is likely to have had religious significance, as a symbol of Jehovah’s power over the seas and the rain, or over the primeval Deep upon which His might was exercised in the creation of the world (Genesis i.; Psalms xxiv. 2). For the Chronicler’s view of its purpose, see verse 6.
ten cubits from brim to brim ... and a line of thirty cubits compassed it] The mathematical inaccuracy in the measurements here given—10 in diameter, 30 in circumference—has often been pointed out. But the literal Hebrew is “ten with the cubit ... and thirty with the cubit,” and F. C. Burkitt in a communication to the Cambridge Review for May 13, 1914 offers an interesting vindication of the phrase. He writes “... What the verse says about the circumference of the ‘sea’ is that they stretched a string round it, and when they laid the string out flat they had to go thirty times with the cubit, i.e. a man had to put his elbow down thirty times before he got to the end.” [The distance from the point of the elbow to the tip of the longest finger is 1 cubit.] “No doubt the last time he put his elbow down the string came short: in other words, the ‘sea’ was nine-and-a-bittock across and twenty-nine-and-a-bittock round. As a matter of fact, if a circle be 9 ft. 6 in. across, it is just over 29 ft. 10 in. round. Such a circle I think would be described in Hebrew as ‘ten with the foot-rule’ across and ‘thirty with the foot-rule’ in circumference.”
a line of thirty cubits compassed it] i.e. it was thirty cubits in circumference.
³And under it was the similitude of oxen[¹], which did compass it round about, for ten cubits[²], compassing the sea round about. The oxen[¹] were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
[¹] In 1 Kings vii. 24, knops.
[²] Or, ten in a cubit.
3. under it was the similitude of oxen] This reading has the support of the LXX., but can hardly be correct. Read (compare 1 Kings vii. 24), under it there were knops, “knops” being embossed ornaments, imitating probably the fruit or the flowers of the gourd.