1 Kings 7:23-26

(23-26) A molten sea — a gigantic laver for the ablution of the priests — corresponding to the laver of brass in the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:18; Exodus 38:8). It had a diameter of 15 feet, and a height of 7½ feet; but as it held 2,000 baths, that is, 17,000 gallons (or, as in 2 Chronicles 4:3; 2 Chronicles 4:3,2 Chronicles 4 baths, that is, 25,500 gallons), it is clear that it could not have been a hemisphere, but must have bulged out in section. There must, however, have been first a bulging inwards, immediately under the rim: for the right translation of 1 Kings 7:26 declares that the rim was in “the form of a lily flower,” that is, curving outwards. Under the rim ran a double row of “gourd ornaments,” like those carved in the cedar-panelling of the Temple. The sea stood on twelve oxen, corresponding perhaps to the twelve tribes of Israel — the ox being possibly the same emblem which was used in the form of the cherubim — till it was taken down and placed on the pavement by Ahaz (2 Kings 16:17), and, like the great pillars, was broken up at last by the Chaldeans for the sake of the brass (2 Kings 25:13).