1st Kings 7:13-22: Prophecy of the two temple pillars

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Like with the previous passages on the design of the temple and of Solomon’s palace, the design of the two pillars at the entrance of the temple reveals the prophecy by Ezekiel’s lying on one side and the other. Solomon was prophesying the number of years the temple would stand before being destroyed.

1st Kings 7:13–22 (cp. 2nd Chron. 3:15–17) only talks about the pillars that were set up in front of the Temple. The pillars themselves were about 30–36 feet tall, and the diameter would have been about 6–7 feet. These were tall pillars made of cast bronze and they were hollow.

We don’t know how they were mounted, and we don’t know how they were filled. There’s nothing in Scripture that gives them a functional application, such as some ancient stories that these pillars were part of a system that lowered the Ark of the Testimony below the temple. I’m more interested in what the Bible says about these pillars.

The capitals on top of the pillars were shaped like lilies, which is the shape of a bowl. It’s designed to remind the view of a crown or the scepter of a king. They are also a symbol of judgement and wisdom. These pillars were not a part of the Tabernacle furniture.

These pillars were built by Hiram of Tyre, son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and a man from Tyre. 2nd Chron. 2:11–16 has a different biography for him as a descendant of Dan on his mother’s side. Which one is correct? I lean more towards his maternal ancestry as being from Dan.

Ex. 31:1–11 tells us that Moses chose one man from Yehudah (Judah) and one from Dan to build the Tabernacle 1,000 years before the account recorded in 1st Kings 7.

I believe the symbolism was true in Solomon’s time. Solomon is a descendant of Judah and Hyram being a descendant of Dan would preserve the symbolism.

Solomon commissioned Hiram specifically for his skill with bronze, even though he was a master craftsman.

God told the workmen of the Tabernacle how to build it and I suspect the same pattern applied here. I believe Hiram designed these pillars himself through inspiration.

These pillars lasted through the entire history of Yehudah as a nation form the time of Solomon to the time when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed them.

They are decorated with chains and pomegranates. Jeremiah actually counted the pomegranates and the as the Temple were torn down. Why are there 196 pomegranates? The number was rounded up to 200 in the story in 1st Kings (196 × 2 = 392).

The pomegranate represents a risen king. A pomegranate bleeds when it is cut. A king is responsible for a nation and when a nation is attacked, the king is supposed to protect it and be willing to bleed for it.

In Ezek. 4:4–8, Ezekiel was instructed to lie on one side then the other a total of 390 days “for the days of iniquity” of the House of Yehudah and Israel in God’s Temple. There were 392 years from Solomon to the conquest by Babylon.

The prophecy of the pillars in Solomon’s lifetime was fulfilled in Ezekiel, Daniel and Jeremiah’s lifetimes.

What message was Hiram trying to send with these pillars? He was declaring how long the Temple would stand and how long the people of Israel would reign in over their own land.

Secular historians will say the Bible is wrong about these timelines. But if we trust the Bible, we need to favor the Biblical time table over the secular timetable. The latter heavily favor the Egyptian timetables, which in recent times have come under suspicion because of the discovery of a number of overlapping dynasties. (See “Egyptian history and the biblical record: a perfect match?”)

These pillars were set up at the entrance to the Temple as a monument. They were holding up two crowns. The pillars were named and the names (Jachin/Boaz) means that God has established His strength within.

Speaker: Daniel Agee. Summary: Tammy.