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2 Chronicles 4 Bible study: Water to wash in
1 Kings 7 measures the sea and the ten basins but never says what they were for. 2 Chronicles says it in one verse, with two Hebrew verbs for washing: the basins were "to wash in them", the things of the burnt offering "were washed in them", "but the sea was for the priests to wash in" (4:6).
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“He 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.”
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“2 Chronicles 4 says Solomon's bronze altar was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.”
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What's really going on
Water to wash in
1 Kings 7 measures the sea and the ten basins down to the cubit, and never says what they were for. 2 Chronicles says it in one verse: "He 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" (4:6). The Hebrew has two different verbs for washing here. In to wash in them and for the priests to wash in, the verb is rachats (tap wash), the verb of the tabernacle's basin: "Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it" (Exodus 30:19), "So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die" (Exodus 30:21). In were washed, the verb is duach, which the Hebrew Bible uses only four times (tap washed). The law of the burnt offering had already asked for washing: "but he shall wash its innards and its legs with water" (Leviticus 1:9).
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The rest of 2 Chronicles 4 is waiting in Favor
- A bronze altar, measured
- Ten of each, five and five
- Pots, shovels and basins
- Too much to weigh, at the start and at the end
- Doors of gold, and a veil
- A washing, and a part with Jesus
- 12 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
רָחַץrachatssay ra-KHATS
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "wash, wash off, away, bathe". Strong's: "to lave (the whole or a part of a thing)". It comes twice in 4:6, and these are its only two uses in 2 Chronicles: the ten basins were "to wash in them", "but the sea was for the priests to wash in" (4:6). It is the verb of the tabernacle's basin: "Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it" (Exodus 30:19), and "So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die" (Exodus 30:21). The law of the burnt offering uses it too: "but he shall wash its innards and its legs with water" (Leviticus 1:9). Its first use in the Hebrew Bible is Abraham's welcome: "wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree" (Genesis 18:4).
For your group
2 Chronicles 4 Bible study questions
- 1The priests washed before they served in God's house (4:6). Is there anything you do to get ready before you come to God? What helps, and what gets in the way?
- 2The chapter names the pots and shovels as carefully as the pillars (4:11-16). Whose quiet, ordinary work has helped your faith? Have you ever told them?
- 3Solomon made the vessels "in great abundance", so much that the bronze couldn't be weighed (4:18). What would it look like for you to give generously to God this week?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 2 Chronicles 4 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home