Out the front of the temple, Solomon built two pillars of brass. Whether they are on the porch or immediately in front of it is not clear, an argument can be made for both views. They were 17 ½ cubits tall, 18 counting the base or (roughly 38′), with a large bowl on top covered with a brass net and 200 pomegranates hanging from a chain. Between the bowl and the pillar was a base for the bowl, called a “chapiter”, which had ornate “lily-work” on it. Don’t get your hopes up, for I won’t be explaining any of those details here!

But these pillars are unusual for several reasons; for one thing, they have no apparent function. They are right next to the temple, but not actually a part of it. And alone of all the parts of the temple, God gave a proper name to each of the pillars!

1 Kings 7:21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.

The names of the temple pillars were Jachin and Boaz. Jachin was on the right (when looking at the temple) and means “He will establish” in Hebrew. Boaz means “In it is strength”, or in context “In him is strength” would fit better. So one pillar is about the future – “He will establish” – and one is about the present “In him is strength”.

It should be noted that it was on the right looking at the temple, but that from God’s perspective being inside the temple, “he will establish” is on the left side, and “in him is strength” is on God’s right.

But that doesn’t seem to help us much at first; There isn’t much in the Bible about pillars in general, except of course the famous promise to the Philadelphia church:

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God…

We know that God appeared to the Israelites as a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud, and that may be – probably is – connected. But let’s look at a connection that is much easier to make. Solomon built two pillars in front of the house of God. Now look at what Jeremiah prophesied to those pillars:

Jeremiah 27:19-22 For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not … [when he took the king and nobles] … They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

Notice that this promise is made specifically TO the pillars, the sea, basins, and other vessels. They were to be carried to Babylon – broken up in the process, as it happened – and then they were to remain there until God brought them back to Jerusalem.

Now it is obvious that this is not meant for some lumps of brass that were probably melted down long ago. Clearly they represented something else – some group of people – and it’s not hard to guess which when you find nearly identical language used elsewhere in Jeremiah…

Jeremiah 16:15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

Jeremiah 12:15 And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

There are dozens – perhaps hundreds – of verses like that. So it’s not hard to connect the twelve tribes to those pillars. But it goes a lot deeper than that. Because the first place pillars are mentioned in the Bible goes back to Jacob himself, when he was fleeing Esau on his way to Laban…

Genesis 28:16-19 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel…

Jacob called this place “Bethel”, which means “the house of God”! And he set up ONE pillar there! And poured oil on top of it. Then look what he did…

Verses 20-22 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Here Jacob entered into a covenant with God; he vowed that if God would bless him, then he would worship God and give Him a tenth of all. Then he continued on to Laban, lots of things happened, he came back, wrestled with the angel and his name was changed – technically, although we still see him referred to as Jacob for quite some time. Then he is commanded to go back to Bethel again.

Genesis 35:1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: …

So all this time, Jacob’s family and servants had strange gods – idols and whatnot – and now Jacob was making a commitment to eliminate all of that from his house.

Verses 4-7 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand … So Jacob came to … Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

Then God appeared to Jacob again and changed His name for good…

Verses 10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

Then God again promises him the blessings He promised to Abraham – land, children, etc. And just like last time, Jacob built a pillar!

Verses 14-15 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

So we have two pillars built by Jacob, both at Bethel, which means “the house of God”. And two pillars built by Solomon, both at the temple, the “house of God”. That can’t be an accident. Plus, Jacob poured oil on top of each pillar – Solomon’s pillars have a huge bowl on top of them;

One pillar was built when he was Jacob, and one when he was Israel. When he was Jacob, he built the pillar corresponding to “he will establish” – and when God had established him, when he had put away the strange gods and his name was changed to “he who prevailed with God” he built another pillar, showing that now “in him is strength”!

And this better pillar, the one symbolizing the strength of the fulfillment of the promise, is on God’s right hand; the other pillar, the other showing the promise itself is on God’s left.

Now, a new angle. In the passovers in the Bible, there is a recurring theme reflecting the fundamental meaning of the passover as compared to the night to be much observed (NTBO)– the first evening of the feast of unleavened bread.

On the passover the promise of protection was made – that the death angel would pass over Israel, and that they would be delivered from Egypt. This promise was made while they were are still in Egypt, and had to be accepted solely on faith.

On the NTBO, the next night, Israel actually left Egypt. The promise began to be fulfilled on that night with the start of the exodus. And so the actual receiving of the promise didn’t happen until then.

You can see the same pattern developing here; on the passover “He will establish” – the covenant – and on NTBO “in him is strength” – that is, the covenant is established and we can finally see the strength of God in upholding the covenant “…for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:9)

The best example of this is a relatively unknown passover in the Bible; everyone knows this scripture:

Exodus 12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

This is at the end of 430 years… but starting when? It is certain that they weren’t in Egypt for 430 years, the chronology simply won’t permit it. Paul gives us the answer in…

Galatians 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

God made a covenant with Israel at Sinai in the Old Testament law; Paul says that this covenant cannot disannul a covenant which was “confirmed before of God” 430 years earlier. So this 430 years was counted from a covenant which was “confirmed”, or a better translation is “ratified” as several translations render it. So where is a covenant that God ratified that long before the Exodus? It had to be with Abraham, and of the three covenants mentioned with Abraham, only one was ratified by GOD.

Abraham ratified one by circumcising himself and his house, but God did no ratifying then. No sign, no proof that God was behind this covenant. However, when Abraham was 85 God appeared to him and made him promises of an “Exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15:1). Abraham wanted to know what this reward might be, since he had no children….

Genesis 15:5-8 And he [God] brought him [Abram] forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

Notice several things about this; first, it was night for the stars were out. Second, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted for righteousness” – Paul was to later make much of this verse. And finally, Abraham wanted a SIGN. A PROOF that this was going to happen; “how shall I KNOW I shall inherit it?”

So God gave him instructions to make a sacrifice. Abraham did, dividing the pieces of the sacrifice…

Verses 11-12 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

Now notice that this was the NEXT NIGHT! For the sun was going down AGAIN! And during the daylight portion of that time after he prepared the sacrifices, Abraham had defended them against the vultures. Then God made more promises to Abraham, prophesying of the Egyptian captivity and the exodus, and then…

Verses 17-18 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

And here God ratified the covenant by giving Abraham a sign – the smoking furnace passing between the pieces – and this is one of the first passovers/NTBO in the Bible. And it was 430 years from this night, the NTBO – to the self-same day – that Israel went out of Egypt.

So here again you see the pattern; the night before, God made Abraham a promise – “he will establish” – and Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness – his faith in that promise allowed him to be counted as righteous so that HE COULD receive the fulfillment of that promise!

And the next night, he received the sign of PROOF that he WOULD receive the promise, and saw that “in Him is strength”!

Now for one final angle. It is well known that Isaac is a type of Christ. It is also well known that Abraham is a type of God the father. I have already explained in my temple symbologies that the 20 cubits of the holy of holies represented 20 centuries we’ve had direct access to the father, and 40 cubits of the holy place representing 40 centuries where man had to go through Jesus to get to the Father when Jesus was the “God” of the Old Testament.

But now consider that the temple and it’s buildings and courts shows a heirarchy; farthest from God is the court of the gentiles; then the court of Israel; then the court of the priests, then inside of that court is the twelve oxen and the brasen sea, the pillars, then the porch, holy place, most holy place, and the ark of the covenant.

Now looking at that in reverse, you can see that the ark of the covenant is the throne of God; the most holy place represents the father’s “room”, then the holy place represents Jesus’, then the pillars representing Jacob and Israel. Then gradually down through priests, Israel, all the way to the gentiles.

But there is another chain like that using human types; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, just like the Father, Christ, and Israel. So on the chart, you see them laid out side-by-side.

And the next step after Jacob/Israel is the twelve oxen; It doesn’t require much thought to connect this to twelve tribes, particularly when several times there was a bullock offered for each of the tribes (Ezra 8:35, Numbers 7:3, etc). Also, three faced each direction (2 Chronicles 4:4) just as their were three gates facing each direction in the holy city (Revelation 21:13), which are named for each of the tribes! (Ezekiel 48:31)

And on the backs of these oxen was a brass “sea” ten cubits across, filled with 3,000 baths of water. Water represents two things in the Bible, the spirit of God and people; in this case, people is indicated as “many waters” represents people (Revelation 17:15). And the twelve tribes of physical Israel will support all the nations of the world in the world to come; just before Jacob built his first pillar, in his dream God had told him:

Genesis 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee AND IN THY SEED shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

It was in Jacob, but mostly IN JACOB’S CHILDREN that all the families of the Earth would be blessed! And so on the backs of Jacob’s children rests the weight of all the peoples of humanity, for …

Isaiah 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And that’s the physical meaning of it; the spiritual meaning follows naturally that the twelve apostles “sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Luke 22:30), and it is through through spiritual Israel, which is the church of God, that all nations will truly be blessed, and on the back of those apostles, and the 12,000 of each of the twelve tribes, that the innumerable multitude shall rest upon, and look to for guidance through eternity to come.

So that’s at least a good chunk of the meaning of the pillars and the twelve oxen and the brass sea.

There is more.