(16) The pots also, and the shovels, and the fleshhooks.--"Fleshhooks" (mizl?goth) should apparently be "bowls" (mizr?qoth). (Comp. 2Chronicles 4:1, and 1Kings 7:45.) But in Exodus 27:3, pots and shovels and bowls and fleshhooks are mentioned in succession as utensils of the altar. Perhaps, therefore, both words should be read here and in Kings. LXX., ??? ???? ?????????? ??? ???? ???????????? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ???????? . The Vulg. merely repeats 2Chronicles 4:11 (et lebetes et creagras et phialas). A stop should follow the last; "And all their instruments," &c., being a new sentence.

And all their instruments.--1Kings 7:45, and all these instruments, which appears correct, though the LXX. supports our present reading (????? ?? ????? ??????). "Their instruments" could hardly mean the moulds in which they were cast, as Z�ckler suggests. The moulds would not be made in "polished brass."

Huram his father.--See Note on 2Chronicles 2:13.

Bright.--Polished. Jeremiah 46:4 (m?r-q). Kings has the synonym m?m?r?t. (Comp. Isaiah 18:2.)

Verse 16. - Flesh-hooks. Hebrew, מִזְלָגוח, occurring twice in Exodus (Exodus 27:3; Exodus 38:3), once in Numbers, and twice in Chronicles. Another form of the same root, מַזְלֵג occurs twice in Samuel, in the same sense of "flesh-hook" (1 Samuel 2:13, 14), where also its use is made dramatically plain. Huram his father; i.e. his chief artist.

4:1-22 The furniture of the temple. - Here is a further account of the furniture of God's house. Both without doors and within, there was that which typified the grace of the gospel, and shadowed out good things to come, of which the substance is Christ. There was the brazen altar. The making of this was not mentioned in the book of Kings. On this all the sacrifices were offered, and it sanctified the gift. The people who worshipped in the courts might see the sacrifices burned. They might thus be led to consider the great Sacrifice, to be offered in the fulness of time, to take away sin, and put an end to death, which the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do. And, with the smoke of the sacrifices, their hearts might ascend to heaven, in holy desires towards God and his favour. In all our devotions we must keep the eye of faith fixed upon Christ. The furniture of the temple, compared with that of the tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged, and his worshippers multiplied. Blessed be God, there is enough in Christ for all.See Introduction to Chapter 4