1 Kings 7:15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Two pillars—of eighteen cubits high— It is said, 2 Chronicles 3:15 that these pillars were thirty and five cubits high, which relates to the height of both of them together without their pedestals, whereas the height of each is given here with its pedestal. These two pillars were called by the names of Jachin and Boaz, 1 Kings 7:21 words which imply, that God alone gave stability, or was alone the support and strength of the temple. Various allegorical designations have been given to these pillars. The authors of the Universal History observe, by way of conjecture, that one might suppose there was an inscription in some such sense as that above, given upon the basis of each of the pillars; that on the one beginning with the word Jachin, and that on the other with the word Boaz, from whence the pillars might have their denomination; as we see the books of Moses called by the first words which they begin with. See Universal History, vol. 4: p. 206.