The Making Of The Ten Lavers To Be Placed On The Bases And The Placing Of The Bases And The Sea In The Temple (1 Kings 7:38-39).
Ten large basins or lavers were now made to fit into the bases, and the bases with their basins, and the molten Sea, then took their place in the Inner court. The number ten, made up of two fives, is a covenant number, and the idea here may well have been one for each of the commandments.
Analysis.
a And he made ten lavers of bronze. One laver contained forty baths, and every laver was four cubits, and on every one of the ten bases one laver (1 Kings 7:38).
b And he set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house (1 Kings 7:39 a).
a And he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south (1 Kings 7:39 b).
In ‘a' the lavers are described, and in the parallel the Sea is mentioned which was similar to a large laver. In ‘b' between them are the bases for the lavers and where they were placed.
‘ And he made ten lavers of bronze. One laver contained forty baths, and every laver was four cubits, and on every one of the ten bases one laver.'
Hiram then made ten very large bowls of bronze for holding water (ten lavers). Each bowl had the capacity to hold forty baths (probably 880 litres, 232 gallons) of water, although they would not necessarily all be filled to the brim. Each bowl was four cubits in diameter (just under two metres/ six feet), and each base held one bowl. As we know the bases were four cubits foursquare (1 Kings 7:27).
‘ And he set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house, and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.'
And the bases were placed in two rows of five, five to the right of the house and five to the left, within the Inner court. This may indicate that they were placed on the north side and the south side of the Temple, or possibly that they were in front of the Temple, but half on the right and half on the left. The latter alternative would make them more readily available to those offering sacrifices, but the fact that they were on wheels may mean that they were dragged into position when required. The molten sea was placed on the right side of the house to the south east, and was, of course, static.
The comparatively huge size of all these constructions will easily be recognised (something typical of Solomon's grandiose Temple), and we do not know how easily the laver bases could be moved, but the fact that they were on wheels suggests that they were moved so as to make them accessible when they were required. While we do not need to assume that the basins were always filled to the brim, each laver assembly was nonetheless very heavy (although lacking sufficient information about them we do not know quite how heavy). But this thought daunts us far more than it did them, for the ancients were experts at devising ways by which heavy equipment could be moved (witness the transport of the huge stones, the putting into place of the large pillars, etc. and they could well have been dragged into place using ropes simply by priest-power (or Temple servant-power)