Bible Word of the Day
Bronze Sea (Molten Sea)
Meaning
The “Bronze Sea” was a large bronze basin placed in the courtyard of Solomon’s Temple. They were used as part of the ceremonies for the animal sacrifices which were required by the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law was given to the nation of Isreal by God and provided the Jewish people a covering for their sins. These basins were for the ceremonial cleansing of the priests. These sacrifices were part of Judaism and as a result became part of the everyday Jewish culture, given by instruction of God. Jewish life revolved around their covenant relationship with God.
God was teaching the people and therefore the world the concept of sin equaling death. God was showing the people that the result of sin was death. And more importantly, that only the blood of the innocent shed in place of the guilty could cover or remove sin. In other words, God through the rituals of the Mosaic Law was preparing the people for the death of the Messiah to come. The sacrifices were God’s object lesson to the people regarding the devastating effects of sin on people’s lives. And the sacrifices served to paint the picture of Jesus the Messiah to come and the need for His sacrifice for our sins.
The Bronze Sea was approximately fifteen feet in diameter, stood seven feet high and had a circumference of forty-five feet. The basin stood on a pedestal of twelve cast oxen, three facing each direction of the compass. It was estimated to hold anywhere from ten to fifteen thousand gallons of water and empty would have weighed over twenty tons. It served as a basin for the priest to wash prior to the sacrifices and its size and construction was a daily reminder to the people of the greatness and sovereignty of the Lord and the need to reconcile sinful man with a Holy God.
“And he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. Below its brim were ornamental buds encircling it all around, ten to a cubit, all the way around the Sea. The ornamental buds were cast in two rows when it was cast. It 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; the Sea was set upon them, and all their back parts pointed inward. It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained two thousand baths.” (1st Kings 7:23-26)