Verse 17
17. Nets of checker work The words would apply equally well to representations either of netting, lattice, or basket work.
Wreaths of chain work Whether this is to be taken as in apposition with nets of checker work, or as something distinct from it, is not clear. The passage is, literally: nets, work of a net, twists, work of chains, for the capitals. 2 Chronicles 3:16 is also obscure, and lends no aid. The more probable meaning is, that the network consisted of chain-like twists, so that “wreaths of chain work” is explanatory of “nets of checker work.”
Seven for the one That is, the network on each capital was composed of seven strands or chains. But by comparing 1 Kings 7:41, where “the two networks” are mentioned, there is reason to suspect the reading seven, ( שׁבעה ,) and to adopt the reading of the Septuagint, which is δικτυα , network, ( שׂבכה .) Then the passage would read, a network for the one capital, and a network for the other capital. The words שׂבכה and שׁבעה are so nearly alike that one may easily have become substituted for the other.
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