ten candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left. 8He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. And he made an hundred basons of gold. 9Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of
7 (= 1 Kin. vii. 49). The Golden Candlesticks.
7. ten candlesticks] Rather, the ten lamp-stands. Allusion to ten lamp-stands or candlesticks is found elsewhere only in 1 Kin. vii. 49, a late passage. In view of the frequent references to one candlestick with seven lamps (cp. Zech. iv.; Ex. xxv. 31 ff.), the question arises whether the ten ever had historical reality, or were simply a fiction of tradition. The reference to candlesticks of gold and of silver in 1 Chr. xxviii. 15 does not help us, for it depends on the same evidence, sound or unsound, which the Chronicler had for the present passage. Some scholars feel that there must be some ground for the statement; but no positive conclusion is yet possible.
according to the ordinance] Cp. Ex. xxv. 31—37, xl. 4.
in the temple] In 1 Kin. vii. 49 more precisely, before the oracle, i.e. before the Holy of Holies.
8. The Tables and Basons.
8. ten tables] In ver. 19 "the tables (plural) whereon was the shewbread" are mentioned (cp. 1 Chr. xxviii. 16), but the parallel passage (1 Kin. vii. 48) has "the table" (sing.), and elsewhere both in Chronicles and in the rest of the O.T. one table only is assigned to the shewbread (2 Chr. xiii. 11, xxix. 18). Probably therefore the ten tables here mentioned were not for the shewbread, although the Chronicler may have thought so. The same uncertainty attaches to this tradition of ten tables as to that of the ten candlesticks (see previous note); and it is held by some that these tables were for the support of the candlesticks.
basons] These were used for dashing the blood of the sacrifices against the altar.
9, 10. The Two Courts.
9. the court of the priests, and the great court] The phrases reflect the conditions of the second Temple with which the Chronicler was familiar, when the inner court was confined to the use of the priests, the outer one being for the people. Solomon's Temple, strictly speaking, had only one court, for in "the other court" stood Solomon's house (1 Kin. vii. 8). This "other court" seems to be called the "middle court" (2 Kin. xx. 4, mg.), and the "upper court" (Jer. xxxvi. 10). The"great court" (1 Kin. vii. 12) was perhaps a third court containing not
