Bible Dictionary

Jachin and Boaz

Objects & Symbols • Old Testament

Jachin and Boaz were the names of the two bronze pillars placed before Solomon’s temple. They did not support the building but served a symbolic purpose, and were later broken up when Jerusalem fell.

Definition

Jachin and Boaz were the names of two bronze pillars placed before Solomon’s temple. They were not structural supports for the building; their presence was instead associated with moral or symbolic significance. Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.

Biblical Usage

The pillars stood before the temple porch and are described in the accounts of Solomon’s temple. At Jerusalem’s capture they were broken up, and their bronze was carried to Babylon.

Historical Background

The pillars were separate from the building’s support structure. Their precise symbolic meaning is not stated, though they have been described as pillars of witness. An apparent difference in their recorded height is attributed in the supplied material probably to a corruption in the Chronicler’s number.

Scripture References

1 Kings 7:15-22 Jeremiah 52:21 Jeremiah 52:23 1 Kings 7:17-21

Related Figures

Historical Bible Dictionaries

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The names of two brazen columns set up in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 7:15-22). Each was eighteen cubits high and twelve in circumference (Jer. 52:21, 23; 1 Kings 7:17-21). They had doubtless a symbolical import.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)

<p>ja'-kin (yakhin, "he shall establish"; bo`az, "in it is strength," 1Ki 7:15-22; 2Ki 25:16,17; 2Ch 3:15-17; Jer 52:17): These were the names of the two bronze pillars that stood before the temple of Solomon. They were not used in supporting the building; their appearance, therefore, must have been solely due to moral and symbolic reasons. What these are it is not easy to say. The pillars were not altar pillars with hearths at their top, as supposed by W.R. Smith (Religion of the Semites, 191, 468); rather they were "pillars of witness," as was the pillar that witnessed the contract between Jacob and Laban (Ge 31:52). At difficulty arises about the height of the pillars. The writers in Kings and Jeremiah affirm that the pillars before the porch were 18 cubits high apiece (1Ki 7:15; Jer 52:21), while the Chronicler states that they were 35 cubits (2Ch 3:15). Various methods have been suggested of reconciling this discrepancy, but it is more probable that there is a corruption in the Chronicler's number. On the contruction of the pillars and their capitals, see TEMPLE. At the final capture of Jerusalem they were broken up and the metal of which they were composed was sent to Babylon (2Ki 25:13,16). In Ezekiel's ideal temple the two pillars are represented by pillars of wood (Eze 40:49).</p><p>W. Shaw Caldecott</p>

Back to Dictionary Search