Casting Bronze Furnishings For Jerusalem Temple

King Solomon commanded a major industrial effort to outfit the new Jerusalem sanctuary. Skilled craftsmen poured thousands of pounds of molten bronze into prepared clay molds. Workers built a square bronze altar measuring 30 feet wide and 15 feet high. They also cast a circular water basin spanning 15 feet across its brim.

The massive bronze foundries operated deep in the Jordan River valley around 960 b.c. Workers dug casting pits in the dense clay between the towns of Succoth and Zeredah. This location provided the exact soil consistency required for casting large architectural elements. The remote distance also kept the heavy industrial smoke away from the holy city.

The centerpiece of this metalwork was the great bronze basin known as the Sea. It rested securely on the backs of twelve cast oxen facing outward in four directions. The massive reservoir held roughly 17,500 gallons of water for priests to wash themselves. Ten smaller bronze basins stood nearby to rinse the daily animal offerings.

Solomon made all these furnishings in such great quantities that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

The exterior courtyard now shone with tons of polished bronze under the Judean sun. Inside the heavy sanctuary doors, pure gold covered the tables and hundred sprinkling bowls. The physical structure of the temple was finally ready to fulfill its sacred purpose.