2 Chronicles 3:15-1

(1 Kings 7:15-22). The Pillars Jachin and Boaz

15. before the house two pillars Cp. 1 Kings 7:21, he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple, and Jeremiah 52:17 (translate, the pillars … that belonged to the house). These pillars were immediately in front of the porch, but (it seems) detached from it. They were cast in brass (2 Chronicles 4:11-17), were hollow (Jeremiah 52:21), and were crowned with "chapiters" (capitals) in shape like bowls (1 Kings 7:41). The dimensions of the pillars (without the chapiters) are variously given thus:

2 Chronicles 3:15

(Heb.)

length

35 cubits.

2 Chronicles 3:15

(LXX.)

height (ὕψος)

35 cubits.

Jeremiah 52:21

(Heb.)

height (ὕψος)

18 cubits.

Jeremiah 52:21

(LXX.)

height (ὕψος)

35 cubits.

1 Kings 7:15

(Heb. and LXX.)

height (ὕψος)

18 cubits.

Jeremiah 52:21

(Heb. and LXX.)

circumference

12 cubits.

1 Kings 7:15

(Heb.)

circumference

12 cubits.

1 Kings 7:15

(LXX.)

circumference

14 cubits.

The purpose for which the pillars were erected is not certainly known. The fact that names were given them (2 Chronicles 3:17) suggests that they were symbols, perhaps of the presence of Jehovah; cp. Isaiah 19:19, where a pillar, maçççbâh, is regarded (equally with an altar) as "a sign and witness unto the Lord." Such a pillar might sometimes be used as an altar; cp. 1 Chronicles 11:22 (note) and Genesis 28:18; and the "bowls" of the chapiters of Solomon's two pillars may have been meant to contain something to be burnt in sacrifice. See Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 191, note 1, and Additional Note L, where there is an illustration of a coin shewing two detached pillars standing in front of the temple of Aphrodite at Paphos. The two pillars in the temple of Heracles at Tyre, of which Herodotus (2:44) speaks, were perhaps simply votive offerings.