¹⁷And he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin¹, and the name of that on the left Boaz². ¹ That is, _He shall establish_. ² That is, perhaps, _In it is strength_. =17.= _Jachin ... Boaz_] Margin translates the two words; _Jachin_ “He shall establish,” _Boaz_ perhaps “In it is strength.” LXX. gives Κατόρθωσις “setting up”) and Ἰσχύς (“strength”). The meaning of _Boaz_ is uncertain. It may be only a pious correction of an original _Baal_. (For the avoidance of the word _Baal_, see the notes on xvii. 3, 1 Chronicles viii. 33; and for further comments on “Jachin” and “Boaz” see _Encyclopedia Biblia_ II. 2. 304, and Barnes in _Journal of Theological Studies_, v. 447 ff.) CHAPTER IV. =1.= THE ALTAR OF BRASS. ¹Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof. =1.= _an altar of brass, twenty cubits_] The brasen altar is referred to in 1 Kings viii. 64; 2 Kings xvi. 14 ff., but it is (strangely) not mentioned among the furnishings of the Temple described in the present text of 1 Kings vii. It is impossible therefore to say whether the Chronicler derives the measurements he here gives from a text of Kings which did contain a description of the brasen altar, or from the altar of the Temple of his own period. The latter is more probable. Some scholars consider it possible that at first Solomon’s Temple contained no artificial altar, the sacrifices being offered on the great natural rock which is now covered by the famous building popularly known as the Mosque of Omar (properly “The Dome of the Rock”). The great altar was probably a flat oblong expanse, the highest of a series of terraces, of which the base measurement is given by the Chronicler――compare the description of Ezekiel’s altar (Ezekiel xliii. 13 ff.). =2‒5= (= 1 Kings vii. 23‒26). THE MOLTEN SEA. ²Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about. =2.= _he made the molten sea_] Render, =he made the sea of molten metal=. The “sea” or great laver was a well-known feature in temples (compare Revelation iv. 6), and, originally at least, is likely to have had religious significance, as a symbol of Jehovah’s power over the seas and the rain, or over the primeval Deep upon which His might was exercised in the creation of the world (Genesis i.; Psalms xxiv. 2). For the Chronicler’s view of its purpose, see verse 6.