2 Chronicles 4:11 - Exposition

The pots . As stated above, the Hebrew word is הַסִּירוֹת . It occurs in the Old Testament twenty-seven times; it is translated in our Authorized Version "pans" once and "caldrons" four times. By a manifest copyist's error, the parallel ( 1 Kings 7:35 ) has כִירוֹת , "layers," by the use of caph for samech. The use of the סִיר was to boil the peace offerings, though some say they were hods in which to carry away the ashes; and it certainly is remarkable that it is no one of the words employed in 1 Samuel 2:14 . In addition to these twenty-seven times, it occurs also four times in Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Hosed, Nahum, with the meaning of "thorns," and once in Amos it is translated "fish-hooks." The passage in Ecclesiastes ( Ecclesiastes 7:6 ) is additionally remarkable, in the fact that the root occurs twice in the same sentence in its different significations, e.g. "the crackling of thorns under a pot." The shovels . The Hebrew word is הַיָעִים . This word occurs in the Old Testament nine times—in Exodus, Numbers, Kings, Chronicles, and Jeremiah. The use of the shovel was to remove the ashes. The basins should very probably read flesh-hooks.