1 Kings 7:33

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 7:33-37. Were all molten — Cast together with the bases. The undersetters were of the very base — Not only of the same matter, but of the same piece, being cast with it. According to the proportion of every one — Hebrew, כמער, chemagnar, according to the nakedness, or, empty space of every one, that is, according to the extent of the spaces left empty for them, namely, that these figures were as large as the void plates would admit. All of them had one casting, &c. — They were cast in the same mould, and of the same size.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:13-47 The two brazen pillars in the porch of the temple, some think, were to teach those that came to worship, to depend upon God only, for strength and establishment in all their religious exercises. Jachin, God will fix this roving mind. It is good that the heart be established with grace. Boaz, In him is our strength, who works in us both to will and to do. Spiritual strength and stability are found at the door of God's temple, where we must wait for the gifts of grace, in use of the means of grace. Spiritual priests and spiritual sacrifices must be washed in the laver of Christ's blood, and of regeneration. We must wash often, for we daily contract pollution. There are full means provided for our cleansing; so that if we have our lot for ever among the unclean it will be our own fault. Let us bless God for the fountain opened by the sacrifice of Christ for sin and for uncleanness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With the diameter (2 14 ft.) of the wheel here, may be compared that of the earliest Assyrian chariot-wheels, which was under 3 feet; and that of the front wheels seen in representations of Assyrian close carriages, which scarcely exceed 14th of the height of the entire vehicle. The wheels of these moveable lavers appear to have been a little less than 15th of the height of the whole structure.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27-39. he made ten bases of brass—These were trucks or four-wheeled carriages, for the support and conveyance of the lavers. The description of their structure shows that they were elegantly fitted up and skilfully adapted to their purpose. They stood, not on the axles, but on four rests attached to the axles, so that the figured sides were considerably raised above the wheels. They were all exactly alike in form and size. The lavers which were borne upon them were vessels capable each of holding three hundred gallons of water, upwards of a ton weight. The whole, when full of water, would be no less than two tons [Napier].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And cast together with the bases.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel,.... In the same form and fashion as one of them; the Targum is,

"like a chariot of glory;''

a splendid one, curiously wrought; unless reference is had in it to the chariot of Ezekiel's vision:

their axle trees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten; cast together when the base was.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. their axletrees] Literally, ‘hands’ as in the previous verse.

their naves] By etymology the original word must refer to some curved part of the wheel. It seems better therefore to render, with R.V., felloes here, and transfer the word ‘naves’ to translate the last of the four nouns, which by its derivation signifies ‘that to which all the parts converge.’ The third of the Hebrew words is akin to that which in Exodus 27:10-11 is used for the ‘pillars’ or ‘poles’ which supported the hangings of the tabernacle. Hence here most likely ‘the spokes’ of the wheels.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 33. - And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel [Heb. the chariot, i.e., the ordinary chariot]: their axletrees [Heb. hands], and their naves [Gesenius understands rims. He derives גַּב gibbus, from גָּבַב curvatus est] , and their felloes [or fellies, as the word is now written. These axe the parts which compose the circumference of the wheel; but Gesen. translates spokes, because they are the joinings (חַָשק conjunxit) of nave and rim] and their spokes [חִשֻּׁרִים Gesen. would render naves, because the spokes collect at that part], were all molten. 1 Kings 7:33

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In 1 Kings 7:31 we have a description of the upper portion of the mechonah, which formed the pedestal for the basin, and therewith an explanation of לכּיּר מתּחת. "And the mouth of it (the basin) was within the crown and upwards with a cubit, and the mouth of it (the crown) was rounded, stand-work, a cubit and a half (wide), and on its mouth also there was engraved work, and its panels were square, not round." To understand this verse, we must observe that, according to 1 Kings 7:35, the mechonah chest was provided at the top with a dome-shaped covering, in the centre of which there was an elevation resembling the capital of a pillar (הכּתרת, the crown), supporting the basin, which was inserted into it by its lower rim. The suffix in פּיהוּ (its mouth) is supposed by Thenius to refer to the mechonah chest, and he questions the allusion to the basin, on the ground that this was so flat that a mouth-like opening could not possibly be spoken of, and the basins were never within the mechonah. But however correct these two remarks may be in themselves, they by no means demonstrate the necessity of taking פּיהוּ as referring to the mechonah chest. For פּה (the mouth) is not necessarily to be understood as denoting a mouth-like opening to the basin; but just as ראשׁ פּי in Exodus 28:32 signifies the opening of the clothes for the head, i.e., for putting the head through when putting on the clothes, so may פּיהוּ (its mouth) be the opening or mouth for the basin, i.e., the opening into which the basin fitted and was emptied, the water in the basin being let off into the mechonah chest through the head-shaped neck by means of a tap or plug. The mouth was really the lower or contracted portion of the shell-shaped basin, which was about a cubit in height within the neck and upwards, that is to say, in all, inasmuch as it went partly into the neck and rose in part above it. The פּיה (the mouth thereof) which follows is the (upper) opening of the crown-like neck of the lid of the mechonah. This was rounded, מעשׂה־כן, stand-work, i.e., according to De Wette's correct paraphrase, formed after the style of the foot of a pillar, a cubit and a half in diameter. "And also upon the mouth of it (the mechonah) was carved work." The גּם (also) refers to the fact that the sides of the mechonah were already ornamented with carving. מסגּרתיהם, the panels of the crown-like neck (כּתרת) and its mouth (פּיה) were square, like the panels of the sides of the mechonah chest. The fact that panels are spoken of in connection with this neck, may be explained on the assumption that with its height of one cubit and its circumference of almost five cubits (which follows from its having a diameter of a cubit and a half) it had stronger borders of brass to strengthen its bearing power, while between them it consisted of thinner plates, which are called fillings or panels. - In 1 Kings 7:32, 1 Kings 7:33, the wheels are more minutely described. Every stool had four wheels under the panels, i.e., not against the sides of the chest, but under them, and ידות, hands or holders of the wheels, i.e., special contrivances for fastening the wheels to the axles, probably larger and more artistically worked than the linch-pins of ordinary carriages. These ידות were only required when the wheels turned upon the axles, and not when they were fastened to them. The height of the wheel was a cubit and a half, i.e., not half the height, but the whole. For with a half height of a cubit and a half the wheels would have been three cubits in diameter; and as the chest was only four cubits long, the hinder wheels and front wheels would almost have touched one another. The work (construction) of the wheels resembled that of (ordinary) carriage wheels; but everything about them (holders, felloes, spokes, and naves) was cast in brass. - In 1 Kings 7:34 the description passes to the upper portion of the mechonah. "And he made four shoulder-pieces at the four corners of one (i.e., of every) stand; out of the stand were its shoulder-pieces." כּתפות are the shoulder-pieces already mentioned in 1 Kings 7:30, which were attached to the feet below, or which terminated in feet. They were fastened to the corners in such a way that they seemed to come out of them; and they rose above the corners with a slight inclination (curve) towards the middle of the neck or capital, till they came under the outer rim of the basin which rested upon the capital of the lid of the chest, so as to support the basin, which turned considerably outwards at the top.