The Douay-Rheims with the Glossa Ordinaria

¹He made also an altar of brass twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad, and ten cubits high.

v.1

VERS. 1.-- *He made also,* etc. The altar of holocaust signifies those who consecrate their body and their soul to God by the fire of love: whose perseverance in good work the length of the altar expresses, the breadth their amplitude in the love of God and of the neighbour, the height sets forth their hope in the awaiting of the visitation. *Of twenty cubits.* The number twenty signifies the great perfection of unwearied long-suffering and of sincere love, which is bestowed on us through the keeping of either Testament. For four times five are twenty, and five are the books of the law, and four the Gospels. But when by the enlightening of grace we come to the understanding and the keeping of the law, we make up the number twenty; and the same number is made in the length and in the breadth of the altar, when the hearts of the elect, with either Testament teaching them, keep the perseverance of a work of this kind even in persecutions, and the cheerfulness of love even toward those who persecute *And of ten cubits.* In the number ten is signified the hope of the heavenly rewards. Whence they who labour in the vineyard of the father of the household are rewarded with a penny. Whence the altar, which signifies the elect, is raised to ten cubits for the signifying of their perpetual life.

²Also a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass: it was five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about.

v.2

VERS. 2.-- *The sea also.* The saving laver, etc., *as far as* and ought to hope for a common crown of justice from the Lord. *It had five cubits.* Because whatever we offend in by sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, is all loosed in baptism. But the remission of past sins does not suffice, unless each thereafter apply himself to good works. Otherwise the devil who had gone out returns the more manifoldly, and the last things of the man become worse than the first. Whence he hears: *A line of thirty cubits.* That is, the discipline of the heavenly precepts, whereby we are bound back from our own wills, whence: *A threefold cord is hardly broken*; because the keeping of the commandments of God in the hearts of the saints, made firm by faith, by hope and by love of the recompense above, can by no adversity be dissolved.

³And under it there was the likeness of oxen, and certain engravings on the outside of ten cubits compassed the belly of the sea, as it were with two rows.

⁴And the oxen were cast: and the sea itself was set upon the twelve oxen, three of which looked toward the north, and other three toward the west: and other three toward the south, and the other three that remained toward the east, and the sea stood upon them: and the hinder parts of the oxen were inward under the sea.

⁵Now the thickness of it was a handbreadth, and the brim of it was like the brim of a cup, or of a crisped lily: and it held three thousand measures.

v.5

VERS. 5.-- *But the breadth.* The thickness which Josephus said to be of four fingers, showing what was the greatness of a palm. And these things signify the same. For whosoever by faith, by hope, and by charity works the works of justice according to the doctrine of the four Gospels, receives also the reward of eternal life. *Three thousand measures.* The thousand signifies perfection, because ten makes a solid square. For ten times ten make a hundred, which is as it were a square figure, but flat: but that it may rise into height and be made solid, multiply a hundred by ten, and a thousand is made. By which number is signified the stable and unconquerable and as it were foursquare conscience of the just. For whichever way you turn a square, it will stand. So the mind of the elect is bent by no temptation from the state of rectitude. The sea holds three thousand measures; when the sacrament of baptism, given in the faith of the Trinity, confers upon those washed in it the remission of all sins

⁶He made also ten lavers: and he set five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them all such things as they were to offer for holocausts: but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

v.6

VERS. 6.-- *He made also lavers.* In Kings thus: *He made also ten lavers of brass. One laver held forty bates. And it was of four cubits. He set also the several lavers upon the several ten bases,* etc. The apostles and apostolic men, who are signified by the oxen bearing the sea, are expressed also by the bases made ready for bearing the lavers, even as the lavers themselves signify baptism, which the sea prefigured. For the priests washed in them all the things which they were to offer in holocausts. And the holocaust of the Lord may be understood as the whole multitude of the faithful: which is baptized by him in water and in fire. As therefore the priests who are washed in the sea signify those who through baptism are made partakers of the high priest: so the holocausts express the same men, when after the washing of baptism they are filled with spiritual grace. For the victim is washed in the laver, when the faithful one is poured over with the water of baptism. It is offered in holocaust, when through the imposition of the bishop's hand he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit.

⁷And he made ten golden candlesticks, according to the form which they were commanded to be made by: and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

⁸Moreover also ten tables: and he set them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. Also a hundred bowls of gold.

v.8

VERS. 8.-- *And he set five.* On either side of the temple the bases of the lavers were set, that to either people the grace of the sacred font might be marked out as to be laid open. And there are five on either side, that, as in the exposition of the sea which we have already said to be five cubits high, it might be typically shown that all the things he had offended in through the five senses of the body are to be remitted through the laver of baptism. As therefore in the one sea set upon twelve oxen the unity of baptism is expressed, which was to be preached by the apostles in the whole world: so also through the two ranks of lavers it is mystically shown, that the heathen world together with Jewry was to be begotten through the wave of baptism into one fellowship of faith. *Golden candlesticks.* The divine oracles, which bring forth the light of wisdom, whence: *Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light,* etc.. Hence Solomon says: *Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light*. Twice five are the candlesticks, because five are the volumes of the lawgiver, in which also the whole series of the Old Testament comprehends the five ages of the world. Five are set on the right and five on the left: when after the incarnation of the Lord the same Scripture is committed to either people; or is shown to be full of evangelical figures, which once was thought to be understood according to the letter alone. *And the tables also.* These tables, etc., *as far as* whose works, like saving breasts, set before us for examples of life.

⁹He made also the court of the priests, and a great hall, and doors in the hall, which he covered with brass.

v.9

VERS. 9.-- *He made also a court.* The court of the priests in the church, etc., *as far as* we have set forth more fully in the book of Kings according to Bede. *And a great basilica.* Which was outside the court of the priests, into which all the people flowed together to pray or to hear the word. This in the Church signifies the life and manners of the carnal, to whom it is said: *I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal,* etc. *And a basilica.* Rightly are the carnal signified by the great basilica, because much greater in the Church is the number of such as these than of the perfect. But by as much as they excel in number, by so much do they fall short in merit. Whence this great basilica, though it holds very many, admits them not to the office of the altar, not even into the court of the priests itself, because the carnal and the weak, even if for the merit of a chaste faith and of piety they belong to the lot of the elect, are yet far from those who say: I dare not speak of any of those things which Christ does not work through me, unto the obedience of the Gentiles by word and by deeds. *And the doors in the basilica.* These signify that the entrance of faith is prepared by the word of preaching, that they who come may learn how through the faith of Christ or through the saving sacraments they ought to enter the Church of God, and, after they have entered, how religiously they ought to live.

¹⁰And he set the sea on the right side over against the east toward the south.

¹¹And Hiram made caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls: and finished all the king's work the house of God:

v.11

VERS. 11.-- *And Hiram made.* The caldrons take up the sacred ashes, when the faithful with devout mind go back over the examples and the sacraments of the Lord's passion for their own keeping, or diligently look upon the end of the just, who, their great contests having been wrought out, rejoice without end over the prize received, that, the virtues of their elders being considered, they too may be made great; whence: *Whose end of conversation beholding, behold ye also their faith.* *And the fleshhooks.* The fleshhooks signify the preachers who refresh the souls of the faithful with the word of God, comparing to spiritual men spiritual things, but ministering to the carnal the milk of simple doctrine: but they who will know the sacraments of Christ summarily and take them up for imitation, are filled, as carnal men, with the saving victim; and because it belongs to teachers to divide to each what is fitting, rightly are fleshhooks made for the priests, wherewith they may set in order the flesh of the victims as is meet, and bring some things to clean men, and leave others to be consumed by the fires of the altar; for some things are revealed to our lowliness for refreshment, some lie open only to the knowledge of the Holy Spirit; some things in Paralipomenon which were expounded in Kings we pass over, some we have not found expounded, and we are unwilling to exceed the custom of our own littleness. For nowhere have we expounded anything of ourselves. *And the vials.* The vials signify the broader and opener discourse of holy doctrine, which bestows a draught of wisdom on them that devoutly thirst, and grants through the ministries of the preachers a fitting refreshment to them that devoutly labour, that they may be able to come to the fountain of eternal life, drinking whereof they shall not thirst for ever.

¹²That is to say, the two pillars, and the pommels, and the chapiters, and the network, to cover the chapiters over the pommels.

¹³And four hundred pomegranates, and two wreaths of network, so that two rows of pomegranates were joined to each wreath, to cover the pommels, and the chapiters of the pillars.

¹⁴He made also bases, and lavers, which he set upon the bases:

¹⁵One sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;

¹⁶And the caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls. All the vessels did Hiram his father make for Solomon in the house of the Lord of the finest brass.

¹⁷In the country near the Jordan did the king cast them, in a clay ground between Sochot and Saredatha.

v.17

VERS. 17.-- *In the clay ground.* The clay ground of which the moulds were made for casting the vessels signifies Holy Scripture (of which we receive the rule of living well). For as clay hardened by fire displays the form of the Lord's vessel, how great and of what sort they ought to be made; so Scripture shows us the rule of justice which we are to follow, and the examples of the saints, who unconquered in the fire of tribulation stood firm in all things, that we may desire to be precious vessels in the house of the Lord. And the brass melted by fire enters the moulds of clay, that it may be able to be made a vessel fit for the heavenly ministries; when we ourselves, wholesomely humbled and softened by the flame of divine charity or of human adversity, enter by working well the way of the Fathers, that by running well we may come to their rewards. For it is not always necessary that we be straitened by the rules of working well, but when the good work is completed, the palm of the blessed recompense is to be hoped for. Because not always were the vessels kept shut up in the moulds of clay: when they had come to perfection, the enclosures of the moulds being broken, they were brought forth into the light, and were disposed in the temple to the Lord each in its own place. Not that the works of the saints shall perish, but when they shall have received the crown of justice, the offices of laborious working shall cease. *In the region of the Jordan.* In which Christ was baptized, who, dipped in the waves of the waters, turned the element for us into the washing away of sins. And because every baptism of the faithful, whereby we are consecrated to the Lord, is celebrated after the example of that baptism, rightly were the vessels of the house of the Lord made in the region of the Jordan. For we cannot otherwise be made vessels of election, unless, looking to his baptism, we take pains to be washed in the life-giving river. But it is to be noted that he says the vessels were made not only in the region of the Jordan, but in the plain country thereof, signifying the multiplication of the faithful, which was to be not only in Judea, but in the breadth of the nations; whence: *The fields shall rejoice, and all things that are in them*. And elsewhere: *We have heard of it in Ephrata, we have found it in the fields of the wood*. The king therefore poured out the vessels of the house of the Lord in the plain country of the Jordan, because the Lord filled the whole breadth of the world with the baptism of salvation, out of which he might make vessels of mercy.

¹⁸And the multitude of vessels was innumerable, so that the weight of the brass was not known.

¹⁹And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of God, and the golden altar, and the tables, upon which were the loaves of proposition,

v.19

VERS. 19.-- *The golden altar.* The hearts of the perfect, shining with the light of inward charity and of chastity, whose loftiness the place of the altar also signifies. For it stood before the door of the holy of holies, as we read in the making of the tabernacle, in which not the blood of victims nor libations, but only incense was burned, the upper part whereof, ascending, covered the ark, and filled the oracle with the odour of sweetness. In which are figured the saints, who, while, the desires of temporal things being neglected, they seek with their whole intent the things of heaven, are as it were set within beside the oracle: nor far removed from the veil by which the temple and the holy of holies are parted; because in body only do they dwell on earth, but in their whole mind they are in heaven. And from this altar the smoke of the incense ascends within the holy of holies where the ark is laid up; that the prayers of the saints, kindled by the flame of charity, may come to heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. For on this altar not the blood of victims but only incense is burned, because such men have not works of flesh and of blood which they might slay to the Lord upon the altar of the heart, but they offer the vows of tears and of prayers for the desire of the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰The candlesticks also of most pure gold with their lamps to give light before the oracle, according to the manner.

²¹And certain flowers, and lamps, and golden tongs: all were made of the finest gold.

²²The vessels also for the perfumes, and the censers, and the bowls, and the mortars, of pure gold. And he graved the doors of the inner temple, that is, for the holy of holies: and the doors of the temple without were of gold. And thus all the work was finished which Solomon made in the house of the Lord.

v.22

VERS. 22.-- *And he graved the doors.* These are the teachers and the priests, who by instructing, by baptizing, by communicating the mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord, open to us the first thresholds of the Church. *And so all was completed.* When the true peaceable one on the last day glorifies all the elect with the immortality of the resurrection. But as long as the state of this world is carried on, Solomon does indeed the work of the house of the Lord, but does not complete it: because the Lord inspires and helps the hearts of the elect that they may work good things, yet to none does he grant to be without sin, which he reserves for the faithful in the time to come. But he completes the whole work of his temple and renders it fit for the dedication, when he leads the elect, carried over out of this life, to the everlasting kingdom: whence in seven years it is built, and in the eighth, being finished, it is dedicated. For in seven days all time is rolled round, and the eighth is the day of judgment and of resurrection, to which agrees that which follows.