And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.
Cut off the borders of the bases ... It is thought that be did this to employ the elaborate sculpture in adorning his palace. Many writers have supposed that the design of Ahaz in 'cutting off the borders of the bases,' and removing the layer from off them, 'was to melt them down, and apply them to some idolatrous uses; and as the temple was closed, it is highly probable that he did pervert them to such purposes, as we know that he did with the bronze altar (2 Kings 16:15) and many of the vessels abstracted from the Lord's house (see the notes at 2 Chronicles 28:24). But that the brasen oxen were excepted from this process of fusion and transmutation, appears from the record of Jeremiah, who describes them as preserved in their entireness, and enumerates them among other articles removed to Babylon (Jeremiah 52:17-20).'