Ten Mobile Bronze Wash-Carts
First Kings 7:27-39 and Second Chronicles 4:6
Ten mobile bronze wash-carts DIG: What was the purpose of the ten mobile bronze wash-carts? Why did God require so much washing? What did water represent in such an arid land?
REFLECT: If you could tackle any task for ADONAI, what would you like to do and why? Does your place of worship offer everything you need to use your spiritual gift(s)?
We need God’s cleansing every day.
Hiram’s third project was to make ten beautifully decorated bronze mobile wash-carts to be filled with water from the Bronze Sea (to see link click Bf – The Bronze Sea) that was needed for various Temple rituals. Each one is seven feet long, seven feet wide, and five-and-a-quarter feet high (to see a video of Solomon’s Temple in 3D click here). They were designed with panels that were set between the corner-posts, and on the panels between the corner-posts were lions, oxen and priests and cherubim. The corner-posts above were similarly designed. Below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hammered work. Every wash-cart had four bronze wheels and bronze axles, and its four legs each had cast supports which were under the bronze basin, with wreaths next to each. The opening was a circular ring on top of the wash-cart into which an eighteen inch basin was inserted; the stand was round, resembling a pedestal, and it was two-and-a-half feet in diameter (First Kings 7:27-33).
On the stand were carvings, and the outside was square, not round. The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles for the wheels were attached to the wash-carts; each wheel was two-and-a-half feet. The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all cast metal. Since the wash-carts were on wheels, they could be used in different parts of the Temple court. There were four supports at the four corners of each wash-cart; the supports were attached to the wash-cart itself. In the top of the wash-cart was a circular support ten-and-a-half inches high, and the wash-cart’s corner-posts and panels were attached to its top. Even these utterly functional objects were given elegance, style, and beauty. Hiram decorated the sides of the panels with carved cherubim, lions and palm trees, with wreaths surrounding. According to this design he made the ten mobile bronze wash-carts; all of them were cast from a single mold, so that they had the same size and shape. Holy objects in Solomon’s Temple were useful and attractive (First Kings 7:34-37).143
Hiram designed the wash-carts to hold a smaller basin for washing; each basin’s capacity was two-hundred-twenty gallons of water and had a diameter of seven feet; there was a basin for each of the ten wash-carts. The wash-carts were kept in the Court of the Priests right next to the Temple, five of the wash-basins on the south side of the house and five on the north side. The dirty water could then be wheeled away and disposed of in a proper place and the wash-carts could then be filled again with clean water from the Bronze Sea. Their purpose was to supply water for the ritual rinsing of animal sacrifices and the removal of blood and refuse from the area around the Bronze Altar. But the Bronze Sea itself was to be used by the priests for washing. Solomon placed it on the right side of the Temple, toward the southeast (First Kings 7:38-39; 2 Chronicles 4:6). Notice that in Ezeki’el’s Temple the river flows from the southeastern corner (Ezeki’el 47:1-2).144
The huge amount of water in all these basins shows that ADONAI has an all-encompassing concern for personal holiness. At the Temple, cleanliness really was “next to godliness,” because in order to perform their sacred duties, Solomon’s priests had to keep themselves ceremonially pure through ritual cleansing. So in order to do their kingdom work at the Temple of God, both the priests and the sacrifices needed to be washed in water. First, they washed themselves (Leviticus 16:4), but they also washed the animals they presented as clean offerings to the LORD (see the commentary on Leviticus Ah – The Offerings from the People’s Perspective).
God’s priests still need cleansing today, except that there are two major differences. The first difference is that now all of God’s people are priests. In the days of Solomon only the descendants of Aaron could perform priestly duties, but today ADONAI has a whole Kingdom of priests. Every believer in Yeshua Messiah has been called into the holy service of YHVH. Ha’Shem is building us into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua Messiah (First Peter 2:5). Now that the atonement has been made for our sins through Messiah’s sacrifice on the cross, there is no further need for us to offer God any more animal sacrifices. But we do offer Him the sacrifice of our praise, with a life given to His holy service. Our priestly duty is to proclaim the Gospel to the world and to pray for people who need God’s saving grace.
In order to offer ADONAI service that is truly holy, we must be clean, which brings us to the second major difference between Solomon’s Temple and the invisible, universal Church of Yeshua Messiah. The cleansing at the Temple was only skin deep; it washed the outside of the priest’s body. But now that we have become the temple of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (First Corinthians 6:19) – the place where God dwells – the cleansing takes place right inside of us. The various washings that went on at the Temple could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper (Hebrews 9:9). But now, the great sea of God’s cleansing grace is furnished to our souls. Through faith in Messiah, the Ruach Ha’Kodesh makes our hearts clean from sin.
We need cleansing every day – not just the day we were saved, but every day we sin and need to be forgiven. Every day. God declares that the blood of Yeshua His Son cleanses us from all sin (First John 1:7). We receive this cleansing at the very moment we trust in Messiah for our salvation (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith). The blood that Yeshua shed on the cross gives us spiritual cleansing from all the guilty stains of our sin. Yet, we continue to sin, and therefore we continue to need our Savior’s cleansing, not as a matter of salvation, but as part of the holy work of the Spirit in making us holy for the service of God. He has promised us that the blood of Messiah will purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14)
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise Your wisdom in showing to the Israelites that before the lamb was killed as a sacrifice to atone for sins, purity of the one making the sacrifice was important. People live in a busy world with so many things to do and to go to. Time is squeezed between earning a living at a job and handling the many family activities and needs. You deserve great respect and honor! Worship of You is so crucial. When we can meet openly in congregations of God that is good to do, but we must first have our hearts washed clean by the blood of Jesus who purifies us from all sin (First John 1:7).
Praise You for how great the cost for You to cleanse me by Your own pain and shame of death on a cross. Praise You that it was not an afterthought to have Yeshua die, but You planned it even before You created the world! He chose us in the Messiah before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love. . . He made known to us the mystery of His will, in keeping with His good pleasure that He planned in Messiah. The plan of the fullness of times is to bring all things together in the Messiah – both things in heaven and things on earth, all in Him (Eph 1:4, 9-10). I am so humbled by Your love and Your washing me clean. I desire to abide in You so that I can bear much fruit to please You. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing (John 15:5). In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
When believers sin, we sometimes start to doubt whether ADONAI can still accept our service. But whenever we are tempted by these doubts, we need to remember the furniture God has provided for our souls. As often as we sin, there is cleansing for our forgiveness in the face of God’s grace: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (First John 1:9). Knowing the promise of forgiveness encourages and enables us to obey the Bible’s command for our sanctification: Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (Second Corinthians 7:1).145
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