Molten Sea

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An artist's rendition of the Molten Sea


In rabbinical literature[edit]

The basin contained water sufficient for 150 ritual baths (mikvah). According to the Talmud the laver was not entirely round, as might be inferred from Scripture; the upper two-fifths were round, but the lower three were square (Talmud. Eruvin 14a, b)


The Laver of the Tabernacle[edit]




Relation to Solomon's platform[edit]

Solomon is described by the Book of Chronicles as having constructed a special platform in his Temple, for him to use during the opening ceremony.[5] Although it is often assumed that the text describes Solomon as standing on this platform, the text could equally be read stood next to.[6]

This platform is literally described by the masoretic text as a laver (Hebrew: kiyyor), and as with the Priestly Code's laver, there is only one platform, and it is placed in the centre of the outer court. The Septuagint calls it a base,[7] and the size of the brazen platform is the same as that of each base for the ten Brazen Lavers.[6]


Mormon interpretation[edit]





Approximation of π[edit]

The biblical description that the bowl has a diameter of 10 cubits and a circumference of 30 cubits suggest that in the construction of the basin, π was approximated with the integer value 3. This is consistent with the practice in Babylonian mathematics at the time (6th century BC), but it has given rise to debate within rabbinical Judaism from an early period due to the concern that the biblical text might here be inaccurate.

Rabbi Nehemiah in the 2nd century argued that the text is not claiming that π equals 3, but instead that the Hebrews measured the diameter on the outside of the rim of the bowl, while the circumference was measured along the inside of the rim. After accounting for the width of the brim, this results in a ratio closer to the true value of π. Assuming that a cubit was about 18 inches and a handbreadth was about 4 inches, the ratio of the described dimensions of the bowl differs from π by less than 1%.[9]

See also[edit]


  2. ^ Exodus 30:18
  3. ^ Exodus 30:19
  5. ^ 2 Chronicles 6:13
  6. ^ a b c This article incorporates text from the 1903 Encyclopaedia Biblica article "Scaffold", a publication now in the public domain.
  7. ^ 2 Chronicles 6:13, LXX
  9. ^ Petr Beckmann, A History of Pi, St. Martin's (1971).