Commentaria in III Regum
33. AND SUCH WERE THE WHEELS,—as if to say: Such were the wheels of the bases, that they seemed able to be rolled and moved, whereas in fact they were fixed and could not be rolled; and therefore they had all that true and turning wheels have, namely their axles, spokes, felloes and naves. The nave in a wheel is the very knob or centre of the wheel, from which spokes arise, which are led from it to the felloe, that is, to the outer circumference of the wheel.
35. VARIOUS CARVINGS OUT OF ITSELF,—that is, not added on, but as it were grown with it and together with it, so as to seem cast out of the base itself.
36. HE CARVED ALSO ON THOSE PLATES WHICH WERE OF BRASS,—as if to say: He carved upon the top plates of the bases figures of lions, palm trees, etc. For “plated work of brass” he calls the brazen plates themselves joined and boarded together.
38. HE MADE ALSO TEN LAVERS.—Behold, these are the lavers whose bases he has so far described.
39. AND HE SET THE SEA (of brass) ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TEMPLE AGAINST THE EAST TOWARD THE SOUTH,—as if to say: He so placed the brazen sea to the South that it still turned toward the East; as if to say: It did not face the South squarely, but that part of the South which somewhat inclines and tends toward the East.
Finally, for the brazen sea and the ten lavers for washing the victims, add from Aristeas, book On the Septuagint Interpreters, after the beginning, that there were in the temple hidden reservoirs of water, which are poured out to wash away the blood of the slain victims, the flow of which is so constant, he says, that it seems a perennial spring. And for this there are near the base of the altar frequent openings known only to the ministers. But more wonderful, and almost indescribable, is the greatness of the underground receptacles, which extends as far as five stades round about the temple, penetrating everywhere. Leaden pipes descend to them from every side through the walls and the floor of the temple, by which all things are washed and cleansed. Of these I have made mention above also.
Allegorically and tropologically the ten lavers signify the same as the brazen sea, namely manifold and frequent penance, which we need in this frail life on account of our manifold falls and the dangers of falling. The forty baths which each laver holds signify the 40 days of Lent, which are all given to penance. For the rest see Eucherius, Angelomus and Ribera, book 2 On the Temple, chapter 19, who apply each detail minutely. In this age Martin Luther was the first to deny and take away the sacrament of penance; wherefore he was not a washer, nor a launderer, but muddy and miry, nay a polluter and profaner of holy things, as one wholly given up to his cups, his belly and Venus, and defiling body and soul with them like “a sow washed in a wallowing in the mire,” as St. Peter says, epistle 2, chapter 2.
40. HIRAM THEREFORE MADE CAULDRONS, AND SHOVELS AND BASINS.—For “shovels,” the Hebrew is iaim, which the Chaldee and more recent translators render “brooms”; the Septuagint, “heaters”; others translate “forks,” “bowls,” “censers”; St. Jerome translates now “shovels,” “tongs,” “tridents,” now “ladles” and “flesh-hooks.” For Hebrew names are polysemous, and signify many things.
A scutra is a kind of deep and circular vessel, of which the diminutive is scutella; wherefore a scutra is one thing and scruta another, although Calepinus takes the two for the same. For scruta are garments worn out by use, soles of beasts of burden, nails drawn out, sulphur matches, fragments of glass and the like, which the vilest dealers keep for sale, whom they call scrutarii, such as we see the Jews at Rome, of whom Horace says, book 2, epistle 7:
“Selling cheap trifles to the tunic-clad crowd.”
A scutra or scuta is therefore a large dish, so called from scutum (shield), because like a shield it is round and hollow. Hence Lucilius, book 6, says: “He struck a wooden scuta (dish) upon his brain.” And Papias: “Scutra,” he says, “is a brazen vessel level with the bottom, wide and open above.” And Priscian, at the end of book 3: “From scutum,” he says, “are called scutula and scutella, as it were little shields, or scutra.” For scutra borrows the letter r “from caetra, which is a leather shield without wood, which the Africans and Moors use,” says Isidore, book 18 Etymologies, chapter 12, of which the Poet says: “The caetra covers his left.” Moreover diminutives change r of the simple word into l; so from mitra the diminutive is mitella, from capra capella, from sacrum sacellum, from ager agellus, from piger pigellus, from miser misellus.
“Basins,” in Hebrew mizraqoth, are vessels for sprinkling or pouring, with which water, or wine, or incense is sprinkled and poured. For the root zaraq signifies to scatter, to sprinkle, such as are the cruets with which in Mass water and wine are sprinkled and poured into the chalice. The Septuagint translate “bowls”; the Chaldees, “pans”; St. Jerome here “basins,” elsewhere “bowls,” elsewhere “censers.” Hear Columella:
“Either a basin fit for water, or a flask for Bacchus.”
42. TO COVER THE ROPES OF THE CAPITALS.
“Ropes” he calls the circular coils which, cut into the capital, went round it in a ring and adorned it. Whence in Hebrew it is gulloth hakkoteroth, that is, rolled crowns; the Septuagint, “things that turn”; the Chaldee, “round vessels of crowns”; Vatablus, “crowned globes.” “Ropes of the capitals,” therefore, he calls the middle capitals, because they had coils and turns after the manner of a rope; for these are called in Hebrew gulloth hakkoteret, as it were revolutions of a crown, or heads surrounded and crowned in a ring with their coils.
45. ALL THE VESSELS WHICH HIRAM MADE (for other artificers made the vessels of gold and silver, etc.) WERE OF FINE BRASS.—In Hebrew “of brass” it mentions mamrat, that is, polished and burnished, that is, the best; as the Chaldee and Septuagint translate, what is called aurichalcum, because it reddens and shines like gold. See what is said
Moreover, “Hiram,” 2 Paralipomenon 2:13, is called by the king of Tyre “my father,” because the king revered him as a father on account of the excellence of his art; for “father” among the Hebrews often signifies master, leader, president, prefect. So Joseph was called “father” by Pharao on account of the excellence of his prudence and foresight in the time of famine, Genesis 45:8. So 4 Kings 13:14, the king of Israel calls Eliseus “father,” because he revered him as a Prophet and master. Moreover Josephus adds many other things to these vessels: first, he extends the number of golden tables, on which various instruments were placed, to 20,000, of silver 40,000; of golden candlesticks 100,000, of silver 200,000; of golden dishes 80,000, of silver 160,000; of golden bowls 60,000, of silver 190,000; of the measures of Moses, the hin and the assaron, of gold 20,000, of silver 40,000; of golden censers with which incense was burnt 20,000, of silver 40,000. Of golden ones with which fire was carried from the altar of holocausts 50,000; of hierarchical robes for the chief priests 10,000; for the other priests 10,000; of trumpets 20,000; of musical instruments, psalteries and harps of electrum 30,000.
48. AND SOLOMON MADE ALL THE VESSELS OF GOLD FOR THE HOUSE OF THE LORD: THE GOLDEN ALTAR, etc.,—namely the altar of incense in the Holy Place, before the Holy of Holies, of which I spoke on Exodus 30:4. Hence it is plain that Solomon made a new altar of incense in the Holy Place in place of the old one made by Moses, and laid up that old one of Moses in the loft of the Holy Place. For Solomon made all the vessels of the temple new, except the ark with the propitiatory and the cherubim; for in the ark was kept the law on tables of stone, written by the finger of God. The ark made by Moses, then, he placed in the temple, and did not make a new one; but all the rest he renewed. Whence it follows:
49. AND THE TABLE WHEREON THE BREAD OF PROPOSITION WAS SET (he made a new one in place of the old made by Moses), AND CANDLESTICKS OF GOLD, FIVE ON THE RIGHT HAND AND FIVE ON THE LEFT,—Moses made only one candlestick of gold, seven-branched, that is, having seven stems and as many lamps; but Solomon made five in place of this one. Of this table of bread and of the candlestick I have spoken at length on Exodus, chapter 25, verses 23 and 31. Wherefore I shall not repeat it here.
TONGS,—that is, snuffers, say Abulensis and Vatablus. For forceps is an instrument by which something formus, that is, hot, is held, says Festus, which suits not only the tongs with which we tend the fire, but also the snuffers with which we take and pluck the ashes of lamps and candles.
50. LITTLE MORTARS—are properly vessels in which things that are to be broken up are pounded with a pestle, says Nonius Marcellus. Whence St. Isidore, book 4 Etymologies, chapter 11: “They are called mortars,” he says, “because the seeds, already reduced to powder and dead, are seasoned there.” But in this place the Hebrew is kappoth, a word which signifies small curved vessels (for kaphaph signifies to bend) and hollow, in which incense or frankincense or something of the sort is laid, so Vatablus and others; whence the Septuagint translate “bowls”; the Chaldee and Vatablus, “spoons.” “Little mortars,” then, are small mortars, and thus vessels curved and hollow like mortars are so called.
51. WHICH DAVID HAD SANCTIFIED,—that is, which David had dedicated, destined and as it were consecrated to God for the use of the temple. The Septuagint: Solomon brought in the holy things (in Hebrew and Chaldee, the holinesses) of David his father. For what is dedicated to God is so holy that it is as it were holinesses themselves.
Note: In the temple nothing could be seen but marble, cedar, gold and silver; that you may learn that in a holy and religious soul dedicated to God nothing but what is pure, solid and precious ought to be found.