1 Kings 7

It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. 2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. 3 It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. 4 Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. 5 All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other.
6 He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.
7 He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. 8 And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.
9 All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer faces. 10 The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight. 11 Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the LORD with its portico.

The Temple’s Furnishings, 13-51

13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram, 14 whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was a man of Tyre and a craftsman in bronze. Huram was highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.
15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits around, by line. 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits high. 17 A network of interwoven chains festooned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz. 22 The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.
23 He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it. 24 Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

Circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim…thirty cubits to measure around it – It would appear from these measurements that pi is thought to be 3 (whereas it is now known to be 3.1415 to four decimal places).  This might trouble a strict inerrantist (and his critics), but even even doctrines of inerrancy themselves to not claim utter precision for all of the Bible’s statements on such matters.  See longer note following.

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Dimensions of 'The Sea'

1 Kings 7:23 He also made the large bronze basin called “The Sea.” It measured 15 feet from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven-and-a-half feet high. Its circumference was 45 feet.

2 Chron 4:2 He also made the big bronze basin called “The Sea.” It measured 15 feet from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven and one-half feet high. Its circumference was 45 feet.

How precise are the dimensions given in these passages for the bronze basin (15 feet in diameter, 45 feet in circumference)?

I discuss this, not because I think it’s intrinsically important, but because of its bearing on the debate about biblical inerrancy.

Most scholars who express an opinion say that the dimensions given here are approximate.  This does not please some inerrantists, as Bill Mounce writes:

‘My dad [Robert Mounce], a well-respected New Testament scholar, wrote an article years ago about a supposed error in the Bible. It concerned the large caldron located in front of Solomon’s temple that was called the “bronze Sea.” The text says it was ten cubits in diameter and thirty cubits in circumference…However, we learned in high school math that you can’t express the diameter and circumference of any object in real numbers—you must use pi. Did the Chronicler make an error here? Of course not. As my dad argued, it’s an approximation.

‘A condescending author wrote that Dad was wrong and had a deficient view of inspiration, claiming that if you measured the inside circumference of the caldron and the outside diameter, the measurements were exact. Not only was this comment foolish—the numbers still don’t add up, and I wonder if the author ever saw a handmade object—but it was cruel. My father was no longer allowed to be a conference speaker at a well-known Christian ministry that my family had been involved with for years, all because this author had concluded that Dad had a low view of Scripture.’

(Why I Trust the Bible)

The ‘condescending author’ referred to is Harold Lindsell, writing in The Battle for the Bible (p165f).

According to this summary:

‘The text says that the sea was ten cubits across and thirty cubits in circumference. According to mathematical theory, a ten cubit diameter should yield a circumference of 31.4 cubits. Lindsell solves this discrepancy by suggesting that the sea walls were probably four inches thick and that the circumference described in the text referred to the inside of the sea. So an outside diameter of ten cubits would yield an inside circumference of 30 cubits.’

I note in passing that Lindsell assumes a standard length for a cubit: ‘a cubit was a cubit was a cubit’.  But, according to the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch:

‘As with weights, precision was rarely an issue with lengths and distances in ancient Israel. For example, the basic unit of length was the cubit; however, its precise length varied from place to place and from time to time. In Deuteronomy 3:11, a cubit is defined as the length of a forearm—and because body lengths vary, so must the length of a cubit. According to 2 Chronicles 3:3, Solomon’s temple was constructed based upon the old standard of cubits, indicating that there must have existed a new standard of cubit length. Ezekiel defined a cubit as 20.6 inches (Ezek 40:5). The Roman cubit used in NT Palestine was seventeen inches. As O. R. Sellers comments, “That there were different cubits in Israel is clear”.’

But to return to the main point: Lindsell’s proposal that the measurements pertain to the inside circumference and outside diameter is conjectural.  It is, in fact, a case of reading data into the biblical text in order to arrive at the desired conclusion.

Ryrie (Dr Ryrie’s Articles) offers the same attempted solution in What You Should Know About Inerrancy.  He thinks that Mounce’s approach, which understands the numbers as approximate and yet ‘inerrant’, involves ‘sleight of hand’.

Lindsell and Ryrie, then, regard the dimensions given in these two passages as accurate, and not approximations.  To regard them as approximations is to deny biblical inerrancy.  It is ironic, that Norman Geisler (always eager to ‘name and shame’ those who do not aspire to his own standard of inerrancy) , has no hesitation in declaring these dimensions to be approximate.  Geisler states bluntly that the text gives an ‘inaccurate’ value of pi.

In the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Geisler identifies two problems with Lindsell’s view:

‘First, one has to assume a width of the bronze container of 21 cubits, which is not stated in the text. Second, one must assume that the diameter is measured from the outside but the circumference from the outside. But this seems unusual and is not mentioned in the text.’

It is a mistake, write Geisler and Howe, to assume that ’round numbers are false’:

‘Like most ordinary speech, the Bible uses round numbers (1 Chron. 19:18; 21:5). For example, it refers to the diameter as being about one third of the circumference of something. It may be imprecise from the standpoint of a contemporary technological society to speak of 3.14159265 … as the number three, but it is not incorrect for an ancient, non-technological people. Three and fourteen hundredths can be rounded off to three. That is sufficient for a “Sea of cast metal” (2 Chron. 4:2, NIV) in an ancient Hebrew temple, even though it would not suffice for a computer in a modern rocket. But one should not expect scientific precision in a prescientific age. In fact, it would be as anachronistic as wearing a wrist watch in a Shakespearian play.’

‘[…] This is not an error. The biblical record of the various measurements of the different parts of the temple are not necessarily designed to provide precise scientific or mathematical calculations. Rather, the Scripture simply provides a reasonable approximation. The rounding of numbers or the reporting of approximate values or measurements was a common practice in ancient times when exact scientific calculations were not used.’

(When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook of Bible Difficulties)

(Geisler and Nix write similarly in A General Introduction to the Bible).  So does Gleason Archer (another staunch inerrantist) in the New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (commenting on 1 Kings 7:23).

So also another publication committed to biblical inerrancy – the Apologetics Study Bible for Students (in a note on 1 Kings 7:23):

‘By pointing to the measurements for the circular bath taken from this passage (also see 2Ch 4:2), many skeptics have claimed that the Bible lists an incorrect value for the mathematical constant pi (beginning with the numbers “3.14159265 …”) that is used to measure the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. According to the numbers given here, the circumference appears to be 3.0. Yet it must be understood that biblical numbers are often rounded, something we still do today. For instance, instead of casually saying that an item at the store costs exactly $19.53, it might be said that the item is $20; instead of saying 64,843 attended a football game, we might say there were 65,000 fans and still be considered accurate. When we consider the fact that the commonly stated value 3.14 is actually a rounding down of pi, we see that the Bible should not be faulted to using an approximation to describe a number that is infinitely complex and long.’

Many evangelical commentators pass over this issue without mentioning it.  Of those which do mention it, the Evangelical Commentary on the Bible states:

‘The dimensions of the bronze basin (15 × 45 ft.) are approximate at best.’

Dillard (WBC) discusses the dimensions of the Sea.  He thinks, with Mounce and others, that the dimensions given are probably approximations:

‘Many commentators have noted that the circumference of the Sea (thirty cubits) divided by its diameter (ten cubits) does not yield the value of π (3.14159). Most likely the number thirty represents a round figure for the circumference. Some suggest that thirty cubits was the circumference of the inside rim, while if a handbreadth were added (ca. three inches; cf. v 5), the circumference of the outside rim would approach the figure for π quite closely. Zuidhof (BA 45 [1982]) suggests that the diameter was measured from rim to rim, but that the circumference was measured at the narrower waist beneath the flared, lily-like rim (v 5), the point at which it would be easiest to draw a line around the vessel.’

Conclusion

My conclusion is that, once again, the term ‘inerrancy’, in the context of the truthfulness of the Bible, is irrelevant.   Or, rather, it is meaningless.  If its keenest advocates cannot agree on its meaning; if they cannot agree on what standard of factual accuracy is required; if it is subjected to a thousand qualifications; if it is wielded as a blunt instrument to ‘cancel’ people with whom you disagree; if it distracts the reader from the main point of a biblical text; if it forces people to retreat into into the safety of (what James Barr called) ‘maximal conservatism’; – then it does more harm than good.

25 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.
27 He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high. 28 This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. 29 On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. 31 On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half. Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.
34 Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. 36 He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. 37 This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape.
38 He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 39 He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. 40 He also made the basins and shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the LORD:
41 the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);
43 the ten stands with their ten basins;
44 the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;
45 the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.
All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the LORD were of burnished bronze. 46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.
48 Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the LORD’s temple:
the golden altar;
the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence;
49 the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary);
the gold floral work and lamps and tongs;
50 the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers;
and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
51 When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple.