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 30:18-21; 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 4:0 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).