Scripture Daily

Context No. 1653 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 4:1-6: in context

1Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high. 2Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference. 3Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast. 4It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. 5It was a handbreadth thick. Its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths. 6He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them. The things that belonged to the burnt offering were washed in them, but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

Among the furnishings Solomon makes for the temple are a great bronze altar, an enormous basin called the molten sea, resting on twelve bronze oxen, and ten smaller basins. The passage notes their purpose: the smaller basins were for washing what was used in the burnt offering, and the great sea was for the priests to wash in. Before the priests could minister at the altar, there was water provided for their cleansing.

A quiet but telling detail is the provision for washing. The great bronze sea stood there so that the priests could cleanse themselves before they served; one did not approach the holy work unwashed. Israel's worship was built around the recognition that to draw near to a holy God, one must first be cleansed, and so God provided the means, the sea and the basins, the water for washing. There is a lasting truth pictured here. To come before God and to serve him is not something we do casually, unwashed, as we are; there is a cleansing that must come first, for God is holy and we are not clean. And the good thing is that God himself provides the cleansing; the priests did not have to make themselves clean by their own devising, the water was there, given, at the place of service. So it is for us. We cannot approach God on the strength of our own purity, for we have none to boast of; but God has provided the cleansing we need, above all in Christ, whose blood washes us clean and fits us to draw near. The bronze sea in the temple court pointed forward to this, that those who would serve and worship God must be cleansed, and that God supplies the cleansing. The call is to come, not pretending we are already clean, but availing ourselves of the washing God provides, and so drawing near with clean hands to serve him.

Do I try to approach and serve God as I am, unwashed, on the strength of my own purity, or do I come to the cleansing he provides, letting him wash me clean in Christ, as the priests washed at the sea before they ministered, and so draw near with clean hands?

Sources