Sea, Molten (Bronze)

A large receptacle or basin of water (“molten sea”), set upon the backs of twelve oxen, existed in Solomon’s temple courtyard. The basin was so large that the Hebrew scriptures called it a “sea” (Hebrew: yam). The basin was fifteen feet in diameter, a height of seven and one-half feet, and the circumference was forty-five feet (see 2 Chr. 4:2). The basin “stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east” (2 Chr. 4:4; 1 Kgs. 7:23, 25). The heads of the oxen faced outward.

This large basin was used for ritual washings: “The sea was for the priests to wash in” (2 Chr. 4:6). Joseph Fielding Smith stated that the basin was used for ceremonial purposes, perhaps for washings or baptisms for the living.274 This receptacle, together with the twelve oxen, resembled the baptismal fonts that exist in our temples, which fonts are used for baptisms for the dead (see “Baptismal Font”).

Molten sea on twelve oxen, Solomon’s temple, by Melantrich.