Poole on 1 Kings 7:32-37: The Bases of the Ten Lavers, Part 3

[A fundraising break-through: We have surged to about 40% of our goal! Thanks be to the Most High God!

We still have some ground to cover. If you are being blessed by the translation work, please consider supporting the work and speeding it on its way.  Click here to watch a brief video on the project.]

Verse 32:[1]  And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base (Heb. in the base[2]):  and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

Cyprus, 12th Century BC

[The four wheels were joined to each other under the base]  That is, they were aptly corresponding to each other (Malvenda).  Or, the to each other is superfluous, as in these expressions, vade tibi, go for thyself, surge tibi, arise for thyself, etc., for it was contrary to the nature of wheels to touch each other (Sanchez).

[‎וִיד֥וֹת הָאֽוֹפַנִּ֖ים בַּמְּכוֹנָ֑ה]  And the axles (or hands [Montanus], rods [Jonathan]) of the wheels (understanding, were [Castalio, Munster], or were joined [Junius and Tremellius]) in the base (Montanus, Malvenda, Strigelius, thus Munster, Castalio, Pagnine) (or, in the machine [Tigurinus], in the vessel [Syriac]); that is to say, they were not placed under the base, but were within the base itself (Vatablus).  There were axles under the bases, that is, after the likeness of a chariot, so that they might be borne where they were needed.  The axles he calls hands, on which the wheels were turning (Mariana).

Verse 33:[3]  And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel:  their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.

[But such were the wheels]  That is to say, they were such, that they might seem to be able to be rotated and moved, although they were actually fixed, and not able to be rotated, in spite of the fact that they had all things that true wheels have (Lapide, similarly Sanchez).  ‎וּמַֽעֲשֵׂה֙ הָא֣וֹפַנִּ֔ים, and the work of wheels (Pagnine, Vatablus).  The form (Vatablus).

[Their axles (thus the Syriac, Munster, Castalio, Junius and Tremellius), ‎יְדוֹתָם]  The hands (rods [Jonathan]) of them (Montanus, Arabic).

[The rods (thus Montanus), ‎וְגַבֵּיהֶם [4]]  And the sides (rims [Castalio], outer edges [Munster], backs [Septuagint], hubs [Tigurinus, Junius and Tremellius, Strigelius, Pagnine, Vatablus]:  Now, the hub/nave is that part of the wheel, from which the rods project [Menochus]; in which the rods were inserted [Mariana]; flanks [Jonathan]) of them (Syriac, Arabic).  Thus are the hubs called from their humped form.  The word properly signifies heights, eminences, etc. (Malvenda).

[And the rims (thus Pagnine, Vatablus, Junius and Tremellius, Montanus)]  A rim is the outermost part of the hub, from which the axle projects (Malvenda).  ‎וְחִשֻּׁקֵיהֶם,[5] and the axles (Munster), rods/spokes (Tigurinus, Strigelius), hubs (Castalio), lilies (Arabic), bands (Jonathan); the ornament of them (Syriac); the fashioning (Septuagint).  Thus the rims are called, because they, encircling them, embrace the wheels:  which term properly signifies enfoldings, intertwinings (Malvenda).

[And the hubs, ‎וְחִשֻּׁרֵיהֶם [6]]  And the spokes/rods (Munster, Pagnine, Castalio, Junius and Tremellius, Vatablus), the rims (Tigurinus), the disks (Strigelius), the narcissus-flower ornaments (Arabic), the bands (Montanus), the under-fastenings (Jonathan), the elegance of them (Syriac); all interpret them as the ties, connections, spokes, whereby the wheel is joined together and assembled (Malvenda).

All molten:  And cast together with the bases.

Verse 34:[7]  And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base:  and the undersetters were of the very base itself.

[The little shoulders at the corners, ‎אֶ֚ל אַרְבַּ֣ע פִּנּ֔וֹת]  At the corners (Montanus, Junius and Tremellius); they were upon the corners (Pagnine).

[Of one base (thus Pagnine), ‎הַמְּכֹנָ֖ה הָֽאֶחָ֑ת]  On one base; that is, on the individual bases (Vatablus).

[Of the base itself (thus Pagnine, Vatablus, Junius and Tremellius)]  Of the same brasen mass; that is to say, they were not added, but were cast together with the base (Vatablus).

Of the very base itself:  Not only of the same matter, but of the same piece, being cast with it.

Verse 35:[8]  And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high:  and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.

[In the top of the base]  Understanding, squared; he understands that small base (Vatablus); above the base and its shoulders (Vatablus).

[A certain roundness of half a cubit, ‎חֲצִ֧י הָאַמָּ֛ה קוֹמָ֖ה]  Half of a cubit in height (Pagnine, Vatablus).  In such a way that…the height of half a cubit (that is, of the uppermost rim, as mentioned in verse 30 [Junius])…might project (Junius and Tremellius).  That is, there was a certain little pillar, or round base, half a cubit tall (Vatablus).  This was placed on the great squared base itself (Malvenda out of Vatablus).

[Fashioned in such a way, etc., וגו״ ‎וְעַ֙ל רֹ֤אשׁ]  And in the top of the base the hands of that, like its decorative bands, were of it (Junius and Tremellius).  The hands of that, that is, the tops of the shoulders, upon which hands, as it were, the laver was supported:  perhaps they were even similar to hands, verse 36 (Piscator out of Junius).  And near the top of that small base, placed upon the great base, were its projections; that is, it had its own projections:  and the girdles of each were of the same material, as in verse 33 (Vatablus).  And on the top of the machine, the borders thereof, and the panels thereof were of the same (Tigurinus).  Others:  And on the top of that base were issuing both ledges/steps and closures from the base itself.  Others:  And on the top of the base the places thereof and the closures thereof were of the same; that is, the places on which the bottom of the basin was received; that is, they were precisely and properly fitted to it, were of the base itself, and were cast together with it (Malvenda).

Verse 36:[9]  For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion (Heb. nakedness[10]) of every one, and additions round about.

[He also engraved on the panels, etc.,‎ וַיְפַתַּ֤ח עַל־הַלֻּחֹת֙ יְדֹתֶ֔יהָ וְעַל֙ מִסְגְּרֹתֶ֔יהָ כְּרוּבִ֖ים אֲרָי֣וֹת וְתִמֹרֹ֑ת [11]]  And he opened upon the panels of the hands thereof, and upon the closures thereof, Cherubim, etc. (Malvenda, Montanus).  For he had engraved on the panels of the steps, and near the closures, pictures (Munster), or, on the panels of their flanks and borders, Cherubim (Strigelius), or, on the panels of the spokes thereof, etc. (Jonathan).  He opened (that is, he engraved) on the panels (that is, on each surface, on the flat spaces) of the hands (that is, handles) thereof, and upon the closures thereof (Mariana); upon the closures, that is, on the aforementioned spaces, squared and circular (Osiander).  He had impressed on the panels of the ledges thereof, and on the little open spaces, etc. (Castalio).  It had panels attached to it, and lions were carved both on the hands and on the lips (Arabic).  And upon the panels he cut out its axles and supports (Syriac).  And he made engravings on the panels of the projections thereof (he understands certain spaces adorned with elegant engravings, which were between its projections [Vatablus]), and on the girdles thereof (Pagnine), namely, of the small pillar, or base (Vatablus).  Now, he engraved on its panels (constituting its top surface), its hands (that is, the visible part of the shoulders:  Synecdoche), and its decorative bands (namely, the area concerning which in verse 31), Cherubim, etc. (Junius, Piscator).

[After the similitude of a man, as it were, etc., ‎כְּמַֽעַר־אִ֥ישׁ וְלֹי֖וֹת סָבִֽיב׃ [12]]  According to the nakedness (effusion [Malvenda]) of a man (Montanus, Mariana) (that is, lifelike; thus naked men are painted; or of a man is taken for of each, and the sense is, he engraved lions even according to the nakedness of each; that is, the perfection [Mariana]) and of the couplings (and the adjoinings [Malvenda]) round about (Montanus), or, the couplings in circuit; that is, things conjoined without gaps (Mariana).  According as it suited the carvings of each and the adjoinings round about (Junius and Tremellius, Piscator).  Hebrew:  according to the carving out of each (Piscator).  And each over against the other, which had been added around the circuit (Munster).  Just as on each surface and the addition round about (Tigurinus).  [Castalio thus renders the passage:  in human form, with the moldings surrounding.]  From the side of each of the addition all around (Pagnine).  The profundity of each, as it were, and the addition round about; that is, each one was sculpted with depth, and had additions that were adorning the work (Osiander).  Just like the fitting of each and the couplings all around (certain interpreters in Malvenda), that is, in the diversity of panels, the cast engravings were precisely answering to, applied to, and joined with, each other; that is, for example, a part of a lion on one panel was so exactly conjoined with the other part of the lion of the other panel, that it rendered the perfect likeness of a lion.  Others:  according to the space of each one, and the garlands in circuit.  Others:  according to the adhesion, or engraving, of each, namely, of the Cherubim, etc.  Others:  according to the nakedness of a man; that is, according to the bare and empty space of each (Malvenda).  The term מַעַר is not well-understood.  Many explain it as nakedness (Mariana).  Others maintain that it is engraving, which by engraving and carving out the thing previously concealed is uncovered and laid bare (Malvenda).

According to the proportion, or, empty place, that is, according to the bigness of the spaces which were left empty for them, implying that they were smaller than those above mentioned.

Verse 37:[13]  After this manner he made the ten bases:  all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.

[After this manner (thus Pagnine),‎כָּזֹאת ]  According to this (Vatablus, Piscator).

[And with engraving alike in all respects, ‎קֶ֥צֶב אֶחָ֖ד [14]]  The engraving (proportion [Junius and Tremellius], carving [Pagnine, Montanus, Jonathan], height [Syriac], size [Arabic]) one or the same (Vatablus).

[1] Hebrew: ‎וְאַרְבַּ֣עַת הָאֽוֹפַנִּ֗ים לְמִתַּ֙חַת֙ לַֽמִּסְגְּר֔וֹת וִיד֥וֹת הָאֽוֹפַנִּ֖ים בַּמְּכוֹנָ֑ה וְקוֹמַת֙ הָאוֹפַ֣ן הָאֶחָ֔ד אַמָּ֖ה וַחֲצִ֥י הָאַמָּֽה׃

[2] Hebrew:  ‎בַּמְּכוֹנָה.

[3] Hebrew:  ‎וּמַֽעֲשֵׂה֙ הָא֣וֹפַנִּ֔ים כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֖ה אוֹפַ֣ן הַמֶּרְכָּבָ֑ה יְדוֹתָ֣ם וְגַבֵּיהֶ֗ם וְחִשֻּׁקֵיהֶ֛ם וְחִשֻּׁרֵיהֶ֖ם הַכֹּ֥ל מוּצָֽק׃

[4] גַּב seems to signify anything convex, that is, the back, a mound, a boss, a rim, from גבב, to be convex.

[5] חִשּׁוּק/spoke is related to the verbal root חָשַׁק, to be attached to.

[6] חִשּׁוּר/hub is related to the verbal root חשׁר, to gather (that is, to gather the spokes).

[7] Hebrew:  ‎וְאַרְבַּ֣ע כְּתֵפ֔וֹת אֶ֚ל אַרְבַּ֣ע פִּנּ֔וֹת הַמְּכֹנָ֖ה הָֽאֶחָ֑ת מִן־הַמְּכֹנָ֖ה כְּתֵפֶֽיהָ׃

[8] Hebrew:  ‎וּבְרֹ֣אשׁ הַמְּכוֹנָ֗ה חֲצִ֧י הָאַמָּ֛ה קוֹמָ֖ה עָגֹ֣ל׀ סָבִ֑יב וְעַ֙ל רֹ֤אשׁ הַמְּכֹנָה֙ יְדֹתֶ֔יהָ וּמִסְגְּרֹתֶ֖יהָ מִמֶּֽנָּה׃

[9] Hebrew:  ‎וַיְפַתַּ֤ח עַל־הַלֻּחֹת֙ יְדֹתֶ֔יהָ וְעַל֙ וּמִסְגְּרֹתֶ֔יהָ כְּרוּבִ֖ים אֲרָי֣וֹת וְתִמֹרֹ֑ת כְּמַֽעַר־אִ֥ישׁ וְלֹי֖וֹת סָבִֽיב׃

[10] Hebrew:  ‎כְּמַעַר.

[11] פָּתַח, to open, in the Piel signifies to engrave.

[12] מַעַר/nakedness is related to the verbal root עָרָה, to be naked.

[13] Hebrew:  ‎כָּזֹ֣את עָשָׂ֔ה אֵ֖ת עֶ֣שֶׂר הַמְּכֹנ֑וֹת מוּצָ֙ק אֶחָ֜ד מִדָּ֥ה אַחַ֛ת קֶ֥צֶב אֶחָ֖ד לְכֻלָּֽהְנָה׃ ס

[14] קֶצֶב/cut/shape is related to the verbal root קָצַב, to cut off.