2 Chronicles 4


2 Chronicles 4 is the fourth chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or of the second part of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE. This chapter belongs to the section focusing on the kingship of Solomon. The focus of this chapter is the construction of the temple's interior decoration.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language and is divided into 22 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex and Codex Leningradensis, and Codex Alexandrinus.

Old Testament references

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The bronze altar and molten sea (4:1–5)

This section records the construction of the bronze altar and the molten sea. The altar was a formidable object, probably made of wood and covered with bronze, with the measures probably referring to the base.

Verse 1

Verse 2

The approximation of the mathematical constant "" ("pi"), defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, can apparently be calculated from this verse as 30 cubits divided by 10 cubits to yield "3". However, Matityahu Hacohen Munk observed that the spelling for "line" in Hebrew, normally written as קו, in is written (ketiv) as קוה. Using gematria, qaweh yields "111" whereas qaw yields "106", so when used in calculation it results in = "3.1415094", very close to the modern definition of "3.1415926". Charles Ryrie gives another explanation based on verse 5 that the molten sea has a brim of a handbreadth wide, so when the inside diameter, subtracting 10 cubits with 2 times to yield, is divided by, it results in or 30 cubits which is the circumference given in this verse.

Verse 5

  • "Handbreadth": a measurement of length of about.
  • "Bath"": a measurement of volume of about 6 gallons or 22 liters, so "3000 baths" would have been about 18,000 gallons, or 66,000 liters.

The temple's interior (4:6–22)

Verse 10–22 closely parallel 1 Kings 7:39–50 except for the omission of materials in 1 Kings 7:27–37.
1 Kings 7:38 corresponds to 2 Chronicles 4:6, while 1 Kings 7:38–39a is reworked at 2 Chronicles 4:6a, but verses 6b–9 have no parallel in Kings, and 1 Kings 7:39b—51 corresponds to 2 Chronicles 4:10-5:1. The passage in Kings concerning the stands for the basins is only found in verse 14. The function of the basin is related to Exodus 30:17-21, where a copper basin is used for ceremonial washing. The list of golden materials in verses 7–9 corresponds to that in 1 Kings 7:48–50, presented in the order of the Chronicler's list in 1 Chronicles 28:15–18. Whereas the tabernacle was equipped with only one lampstand, an interesting similarity to 13:11, there were ten in the Temple. Both the tabernacle and Solomon's temple according to 1 Kings 7:48 only mention one shewbread table, but there were ten in verse 8, and by contrast to the one, the ten tables in the Chronicles are not explicitly characterized as covered in gold. Whereas 1 Kings 6:36 only briefly mentions the inner courtyard, the Chronicler clearly distinguishes between the priests' court and the precinct for laymen.

Verse 17

  • "Zeredathah" from Hebrew: צְרֵדָֽתָה: is written as "Zaretan" in . "Zĕrēdāthāh" means "towards Zĕrĕdāh", so both names denote the same place. Succoth and Zeredah were located east of the Jordan River.