It stood upon twelve oxen Of solid brass, which was necessary to bear so great a weight. Probably the water was drawn by cocks out of the mouths of these oxen. It contained two thousand baths That is, five hundred barrels, the bath being a measure of the same bigness with the ephah, each containing about eight gallons. It appears from 2 Chronicles 4:5, that if filled up to the brim, it would receive three thousand baths. But it is probable they were not wont to put so much in it, lest, with the wind, it should run over; and that two thousand was the quantity usually kept in it.
Related Commentaries of 1 Kings 7:25
1 Kings 7:25-26
25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.