Summary Of The Great Achievement Of Solomon (1 Kings 7:41-51).
We now have summarised Solomon's great achievement. The summary begins with a review of all that Hiram had ‘made for king Solomon' out of burnished bronze, and the site on which the work was done, and then details further the items of gold which were for the Sanctuary itself, and the work is imputed to Solomon.
Analysis.
a Description of all that Hiram had made and finished for king Solomon in the house of YHWH, which were of bronze (1 Kings 7:41-45).
b The site where the bronzework was made, and its huge quantity so that it could not be weighed (1 Kings 7:46-47).
c Solomon made all the vessels in the house of YHWH (1 Kings 7:48 a).
b The description of all that was made for the inner Sanctuary, which was made of gold (1 Kings 7:48-50).
a Solomon finished all the work that he wrought in the house of YHWH, and brought in all the gold, silver and treasures that David had dedicated to YHWH.
Not the contrast between what was made by Hiram on Solomon's behalf, and what was ‘made by Solomon'. On the one hand all was bronze, on the other all was gold.
‘ The two pillars, and the two bowls of the capitals (the rounded bulge on the heads) that were on the top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the pillars, and the ten bases, and the ten lavers on the bases, and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea, and the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in the house of YHWH, were of burnished bronze.'
We have here a summary of all that Hiram had made for Solomon which was for the house of YHWH. Note the emphasis on the ‘heads' of the pillars which were clearly seen as important, and the reference to the globular feature mentioned earlier. The pillars, with their heads, the bases, the lavers and the sea have all been described above. The ‘pots' were the large cauldrons used for cooking the meat from the offerings when it could be eaten (Leviticus 7:15-17). The shovels were for dealing with the ashes of the altar, and the basins, or sprinkling bowls, were for use in sprinkling blood and water.
‘ In the plain (circle) of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.'
The work was performed in clay ground (‘thickening of the earth') near the Jordan. The clay was necessary for the smelting work, and the Jordan provided plenty of water. The firing of large, shaped cores filled with molten metal was a common, but intricate, ancient procedure testified to both in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and with the clay for moulds, the forests for fuel, the availability for water in the Jordan, and the suitable north wind this area was ripe for the processes. Note how all the emphasis has now turned on ‘the king' himself. From now on all the work will be seen as his.
All these things were made in the plain or circle of the Jordan (and thus not in the precincts of the Temple) over a fairly wide area. ‘Circle' probably here only indicates ‘neighbourhood, district'. They would then all have to be taken over the mountain roads to Jerusalem. The effort must have been prodigious.
Succoth was on the east side of the Jordan, probably just north of the Jabbok, and excavations of a site there have revealed that it was a centre for metallurgy, complete with furnaces outside the city wall. But even though we may not be sure of the site, the whole area gives evidence of having been involved in metal smelting. Zarethan was probably on the west bank of the Jordan. Thus the cities are merely indications of the region in which all this happened, and we do not know whether the work was carried out on the east bank or the west bank (or both).
‘ And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were such a great many. The weight of the bronze could not be found out.'
The weight of the bronze used was so much that there was no point in trying to weight it, so that no accurate figure could be recorded in the king's annals. This draws out the value of what was involved.
‘ And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of YHWH.'
Solomon also made all the vessels that were in the house of YHWH. In other words all was done under his direction, with the gold that was provided by him. Nothing was spared in honouring the house of YHWH. At this point YHWH had all his heart. The main reason why what follows is not presented in so much detail is precisely because the items were well known from the past and were on the whole made in accordance with the instructions given in the Torah (Instruction of Moses). And it may well be that Solomon did not want to draw attention to any alterations he made as regards the sacred objects.
1 Kings 7:48 b ‘The golden altar, and the table on which the showbread was, of gold.'
First were the golden altar of incense (made of cedar-covered stone and then covered with gold), and the table on which the showbread would be placed. The Ark itself could not, of course, be altered or replaced. All was covered in gold. They were presumably made in accordance with the instructions in the Torah, in the end replacing the ones at present in the Tabernacle.
There is no good reason for suggesting that the altar of incense was not yet a part of the Holy Place. Such altars have been evidenced in many places, and it would have been extremely unusual for there not to be one in the Tabernacle and in the Temple. If incense was being offered by Solomon in high places (1 Kings 3:3), it would certainly be offered in the Temple. Indeed the first question of any ancient priest when considering the furnishings of the Temple would have been, ‘where do you have the altar of incense?' For details and the prior existence of the altar of incense see 1 Kings 6:20; Exodus 30:1-10; Exodus 30:27; Exodus 31:8; Exodus 35:15; Exodus 37:25; Exodus 39:38; Exodus 40:5; Exodus 40:26-27; Leviticus 10:1; Leviticus 16:12-13; Numbers 4:16; Numbers 16:7-40; Deu 33:10; 1 Samuel 2:28.
Solomon did in fact eventually arrange for ten tables to be made, which would range five and five at each side of the Holy Place (2 Chronicles 4:8), although that may have been later. However, there was only one table of showbread.
‘ And the lampstands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the inner room, of pure gold; and the flower, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold.'
And he made ten new lampstands, five on the right side of the inner sanctuary, and five on the left, in front of the Inner Room, together with the flower of each lampstand, and the lamps, and the tongs. All was of pure gold.
Ten lampstands was an innovation, but partly required by the much larger Holy Place (compare Jeremiah 52:19; 2 Chronicles 4:7). ‘Five and five' were covenant numbers. Thus it appears that to Solomon they indicated the light of the covenant (Psalms 119:105), each lamp possibly indicating a commandment. Had he seen them as indicating Israel there would presumably have been twelve. Had he seen them as representing God as his and the nation's light (Psalms 27:1) there would surely only have been one. The ten may also have been intended to parallel the ten lavers. The ‘flower' (ornamental base?), if connected with the lampstands, is in the singular, indicating ‘each flower'.
‘ And the cups, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the firepans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, that is, of the temple, of gold.'
And the same applied to all the vessels used in the Holy Place, and to the hinges of the very doors, both the inner doors of the Holy Place and the outer doors of the Temple. All were made with gold. It was unquestionably splendid, and the recording of it was in order to bring out Solomon's glory. It will, however, be noticed that it was not in obedience to the instructions given through Moses in the Torah where there was supposed to be a gradual movement from bronze, to silver, to gold as the Most Holy Place was approached.. We have here already the seeds of the reason for his final failure. Outward show and ostentation was considered of more value than obedience.
The gold used by Solomon may sound vast, but it was no vaster than was used by the Egyptian Osorkon I of Egypt to the gods of Egypt barely ten years after Solomon's death. During the first four years of his reign, this king presented a total of two million deben weight of silver (about 220 tons) and another 2,300,000 deben weight of silver and gold (some 250 tons) to the gods, largely in the form of precious objects (vessels, statuary, etc.). Such huge gifts to their deity were seen as commonplace by great monarchs. And the covering of places and sacred objects in gold was a regular feature of the lives of many ancient monarchs. In Egypt there were temples which had silver and gold covered floors and stairways, while Queen Hatshepsut capped and plated her giant obelisks (97 feet high) with gold and electrum. Rameses II's skilled workmen were also known to have been responsible for gold-covered temple-doors and sacred barques.
‘ Thus all the work that king Solomon wrought in the house of YHWH was finished. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of YHWH.'
All the embellishments and furniture for the house of YHWH were now complete and are described as ‘wrought' by king Solomon. In other words, whoever might have fashioned them the credit was to go to Solomon. And once all was in place Solomon brought into the sanctuary all the gifts that David had sanctified to YHWH (2 Samuel 8:11), the spoils that had been gathered in fighting a holy war against the surrounding nations who had sought to infringe on the rights of YHWH. YHWH now had His splendid sanctuary, which contained the treasures of the nations. Solomon no doubt felt very satisfied that he had done all that could be expected of him. Now he determined to dedicate it to YHWH with equal splendour.
We should not be surprised by the amounts of gold at Solomon's disposal. He had not only had available to him the rich spoils from David's continual victories, which must have been huge in themselves, and the fruits of the regular tribute which David had received from vassal states, but David had no doubt made full use of his control of all the trade routes between Mesopotamia, Egypt and Arabia to exact maximum tolls. On top of all this was the regular contribution made to state coffers by taxation. And we need not doubt that Solomon had continued to benefit from and expand on all these sources.