The two bronze columns of Shlomo, taken from the First Temple. A hollow shaft topped by a capital (koteret) worked in lily-form, encircled with lattice-work and chainlets, and adorned with two rows of pomegranates. They stand “לְאֻלָם הַהֵיכָל”: inside the Ulam according to Radak, Ralbag and Metzudat David, not in front of the façade. Yakhin on the right of the House (south), Boaz on its left (north).
Dimensions
- eighteen amot of shaft
- twelve amot in circumference, that is four amot wide
- hollow, four fingers thick
- capital of five amot: two flush with the shaft, three projecting
- twenty-three amot in total in the model; twenty-two and a half according to Radak (on II Chronicles 3:15), half an ama of the shaft entering the capital
- four amot of “מַעֲשֵׂה שׁוֹשַׁן” at the top of the capital
- seven chainlets (sharsherot) per capital
- two rows of a hundred pomegranates per column (I Kings 7:20 and 7:42); Jeremiah 52:23 counts “מֵאָה עַל־הַשְּׂבָכָה”, ninety-six of them facing outward
- Yakhin to the south (on the right), Boaz to the north (on the left)
Sources
Project decisionAdopted: the columns stand inside the Ulam — this is how Radak, Ralbag and Metzudat David read “לְאֻלָם הַהֵיכָל.” II Chronicles 3:15 and 3:17 say “לִפְנֵי הַבַּיִת” and “עַל־פְּנֵי הַהֵיכָל”: since the Ulam itself stands in front of the Heikhal, the tour sees no contradiction; their place on either side of the opening is the tour's choice. First Temple: I Kings 7:15-22; Middot does not mention them. The thirty-five amot of II Chronicles 3:15 measure the two columns together, lying down at casting, not the height of each (Rashi, Radak). The three amot of capital in II Kings 25:17 count only its worked part (Radak on I Kings 7:16).