19. The Bronze Sea
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ple. And when he had set up the pillar on the right hand, he called its name Jachin, firmness; likewise he set up the second pillar, and called its name BOOZ, in strength. As we have said above, the righthand pillar represents figuratively the teachers who formed the primitive Church in Jerusalem; the second is a figure of those who were destined to preach to the gentiles; or, at all events, the right-hand pillar signifies those who in prophecy had predicted the Lord who was to come in the flesh; the second one those who bear witness that he has already come and has redeemed the world by his blood.
And both pillars were appositely given the same name, since one was called 'firmness' and the other 'in strength' to show that in all tcachcrs thcrc was the one staunchness of faith and practice, and to notc tacitly thc sluggishncss of our time when some want to have thc appcarancc and name of being teachers, priests and pillars of thc house of God though they have absolutely none of the firm faith nccdcd to dcspisc worldly ostentation and make invisible goods their ambition, nonc of the strength needed to administer correction, none of the diligence cvcn to understand thc errors of those to whom they have been preferred.
/207]
19. THE BRONZE SEA
19.1
(7:23) He also made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, completely round. This molten Sea was made as a figure of the laver of salvation in which we are cleansed for the remission of our sins. For priests were washed in it, as the Chronicles assure us;' but it is agrced that all thc elect are called priests in a typological sensc in thc scriptures since they are members of the high priest
Jcsus Christ. And rightly has scripture given the name of Sea to this vcsscl, in mcmory, that is, of the Rcd Sea in which once, through thc destruction of thc Egyptians and the deliverance of the people of God, the form of baptism was anticipated, as the Apostle explains when he says, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all in Moses were baptized in the cloud and in the .sea2 Now the sacrament of baptism both requires of us purity of life in this world and promises us the glory of eternal life in the world to comc. Both of which things are denoted in this Bronze Sea in one
' cl, 2 I'alellp 4:6
1 co 1O:l-2
BOOK TWO
sentence where it is said to be ten cubits from brim to brim. For by the ten commandments in the Law the Lord expressed all that we must do. Likewise by the denarius he indicated the reward of good deeds when he foretold that it was to be given to those working in the ~ i n e y a r d . ~ The reason why the Sea was ten cubits from brim to brim was that the whole choir of the faithful from the first one baptized in the name of Jesus Christ to the last to believe and be baptized at the end of the world must enter upon one and the same way of truth, and hope for a common crown of righteousness from the Lord. It was completely circular in order to signify that the whole universe all the way round was to be cleansed in the laver of life from the filth of its sins.
In this regard the remark is well made that 19.2
(7:23) its height was five cubits, because, of course, whatever fault we have committed by the sense of sight or hearing or smell or taste o r touch, all this the grace of God washes away for us through the ablution of the life-giving font.4 But the remission of past sins is not cnough if one does not thereafter devote oneself to good works; otherwise, if the devil, after leaving a person, sees such a one to be lacking in good actions, he comes back in greater numbers and makes the last state of that person worse than the first.5 Hence it is fittingly
(2081 added:
19.3 (7:23) And a line of thirty cubits compassed it all the way round. For by the line can fittingly be meant the discipline of the heavenly precepts with which we are restrained from the indulgence of our passions since scripture says that a threefold cord is not easily hrokenF because, of course, the observance of the commandments of God, which is established in the hearts of the elect by faith, hope and the love of an eternal reward, cannot be frustrated by any obstacle of temporal things. And the line encircles the Sea when by works of piety we strive to enhance the sacrament of baptism which we have received. Now this line is aptly said to be three cubits long. For five times six make thirty. By the number six in which the Lord both made cf. Mi 20:2
' infro 20.2 * * Lk 11:24-26 ' Qo4:12
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
mankind when it did not exist and remade it when it had perished, our good actions are also rightly represented, and six is multiplied by five to make thirty, when we humbly subject all our bodily senses to divine things. However, there is also another sense in which we can quite appropriately take this number thirty as applying mystically to the Sea. For three tens make thirty. And after the flood, from the issue of Noah's three sons, the human race filled the whole expanse of the universe;' for the tribe of Shem occupied Asia, Ham's descendants occupied Africa and the progeny of Japheth occupied Europe and the islands of the sea. And because, together with the performance of good works and the hope of heavenly rewards, the sacrament of baptism was to bc administered to all the nations, it was fitting that a line of thirty cubits should encircle the Sea, in which the water of baptism was prefigured. But it must also be said that the Lord at the age of thirty years came to the Jordan to be baptized by John.8
For since by his baptism which he received at the age of thirty he consecrated for us the water of the laver of salvation, it is right that a line should encircle the Sea which is a figure of our baptism, so that, by the gift of him who underwent baptism without sin, it might be signified that baptism was specifically given to all of us who believe in him for the remission of our sins.
19.4 (7:24) And a carved work under its brim surrounded it, encircling the Sea for ten cubits. There were two rows cast of chamfered sculptures. Since it has been said above that a line of thirty cubits encircled the Sea and it is now added that this carved work under the brim went round it for ten cubits, it is obvious from both accounts that the vessel was bent backwards and spread out like a bowl, because from a circumference of thirty cubits which it measured at the brim, it narrowcd to ten cubits. The chamfered sculpture is one which represents some historical events. Hence also the chamfered sculptures surrounding the Sea rightly denote examples of former times which we must judiciously ponder to see by what works the saints have pleased God from the beginning, and with what obstinacy the reprobate persisted in crimes and with what wickedness they perished because of their crimes; how in the beginning of the nascent world
Cain was condemned for the malice of envy, and Abel crowned for /209] ' cf. Gn Y:18-19 ' cf. Lk3:23
BOOK TWO
the merit of his uprightne~s;~ how Lamech was cursed for his adultery and murder, and Enoch'O brought back to paradise for the grace of his piety;" how after the flood Ham was detested by his father for his lack of filial piety, and the peoples of Shem and Japheth were granted a perpetual blessing for their reverential obedience;12 how
Abraham was made the heir of the divine promise in recognition of his faith13 while the numerous other nations were left in their ancestral unbelief; how when the Lord came in the flesh, Judaea was rejected for the offence of unbelief and the gentiles brought back to salvation by the grace of faith, and other things of the kind in both testaments, which, when judiciously and devoutly contemplated, are of great profit to all earnest-minded people. And that perhaps is the reason why two orders of chamfered sculptures were made in the Bronze Sea, namely, that those who were immersed in the font of baptism may listen carefully to the stories of both testaments; and the reason why they were ten cubits in circumference was that they might strive to imitate whomsoever they perceived in these stories to have been committed to carrying out the heavenly commands and totally rapt up in the pursuit of heavenly rewards. Moreover, the text which follows is apt:
19.5 (7:25) And it stood upon twelve oxen, of which three looked towards the north and three towards the west and three towards the south and three towards the east. For that by the oxen we must understand the apostles and evangelists and indeed all the ministers of the word, we know from the teaching of the Apostle. Expounding the commandment of the law in which it is said: You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain, he says, Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? This is written for our sakes; because the one who ploughs should plough in hope, and the one who threshes in hope of receivingfrUit.l4 The twelve oxen, then, are the twelve apostles and all who take their place in ruling the holy Church in Christ. These oxen indeed carry cf. Gn 43-16 lo cf. Gn 5:24 cf. Gn 4: 19-24 l2 cf. Gn 9:20-27 l3 cf. Gn 15:4-6 l4 1 Co 9:9-10
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
the Sea which was laid upon them when the apostles and the apostles' successors do their utmost to carry out with prompt devotedness the task imposed on them of preaching the Gospel, and three of them face towards the north, and three towards the west, three towards the south, and three towards the east when they preach belief in the holy
Trinity to all quarters of the four-cornered universe. For the apostles too, who by this mystery were twelve, i.e. four times three, were chosen to proclaim belief in and acknowledgment of the holy Trinity throughout the four corners of the world and baptize all nations in the namc of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.15 May we, then, in this present life, be quite easily able to see, or learn of by reading, the words, deeds and sufferings of these apostles and their successors, even though we cannot yet see what a glorious reward awaits them in the world to come. Hence it is aptly added:
19.6 (7:25) And their hindquarters were all hidden inside. For all the hindquarters of the oxen are hidden inside because the reward which is bestowed upon holy teachers for eternity is already determined in the decision of the interior arbiter, but to us who are still outside, it remains entirely hidden. But then it cannot in any way be hidden because everyone who receives the bath of baptism for salvation must also have faith, hope and love, and without these three virtues no one can any longer do anything to enter into life. Hence it is rightly added:
19.7 (7:26) And the laver was a handbreadth thick. The thickness of the laver in the Sea is the solidity of virtue in baptism; and this thickness is a handbreadth when the reception of baptism is enhanced by the strength of faith, hope and love. Nor is there any way of showing that it profits the recipients unless the solid assurance of these virtues together with good works strengthens the recipients' spirit. The bath of baptism is received and celebrated after the example of the Lord's passion and resurrection from the dead according to what the Apostle says in his exposition, that all of us who have been baptized in Christ
Jesus were baptized in his death. For we were buried together with him by buptism into death, so that, as Christ was raisedfrom the dead by the glory of the Futher; we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be so too in cf. M I 28:19
BOOK TWO
the likeness of his resurrection.16 And this too is indicated typologically in the making of the Bronze Sea when immediately afterwards it is added:
/211] 19.8 (7:26) And its brim was like the brim of a cup, or the leaf of a crisped lily. For by the brim of a cup is expressed the taste of the Lord's passion, and by the leaf of a crisped lily the glory of his resurrection is openly revealed."
For that the chalice of his passion is indicated in the cup is attested by the Lord himself who, on approaching his passion, prayed to his Father saying, Farhe6 $YOU are willing, remove this chalice from me;l8 but the lily, which, in addition to the grace of a most pleasant fragrance, displayed a white colour on the outside and a golden colour on the inside, appositely suggests the glory of the resurrection of him who both showed the disciples the immortality of his body externally and at the same time taught that there was within him a soul shining with divine light. One can also fittingly take the crisped lily as the mediator of God and menlg himself crowned with glory and honour20 on account of the suffering of his death, who prior to his passion was still, as it were, a closed lily and shone forth as an illustrious human being by reason of his signs and wonders, but after his resurrection and ascension showed himself to the citizens of the heavenly homeland as a crisped lily because he showed forth in his assumed humanity the power of the divine glory which he had with the Father before the world was.21
Hence too in the Canticle of Love he wanted to be designated by the word 'lily' saying, I am the flower of the fields and the lily of the vulleys.22 So the reason why the brim of the Sea in which the priests were washed was, so to speak, the brim of the cup and the leaf of the crisped lily, was that the laver of salvation whereby we are made members of the High Priest purifies us in the faith of his most august passion from the stain of all our sins and admits us thus purified to the vision of his eternal glory. It is doubtless in this laver that both
Rm6:8-5 l 7 infra 24.4 ** Lk 22:42 l9 1 Tm 2 5 2o cf. Ps 8:6
" cf.Jn 17:5
22 sg 2:l
BEDE: O N THE TEMPLE
groups of people, i.e. circumcised and uncircumcised, are made one in the Lord through faith, hope and love, as he himself attests while preaching specifically to the circumcised, when, among other things, he says, And other sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one .shepherd.23 And this was also prefigured typologically in this
Sea for it is added:
19.9 (7:26) It contained two thousand bates. For the number one thousand is customarily used in the scriptures to signify perfection, because, of course, it is the cube of the number ten. For ten times ten make a hundred. That is, this figure, though already a square, is still one-dimensional; but to have it rise up and become solid, you have to multiply a hundred by ten and it becomes a thousand, and by this number, of course, is indicated the steadfast and invincible and, so to speak, fully squared conscience of the righteous. Whichever way you turn it, a square will stand up.24 Likewise the mind of the elect is incapable of being overturned from its stance of uprightness by any onset of temptation. A bate is a measure of the Hebrews, which they themselves call a bath, which holds three bushels;25 the same is true of an oephi which they also call an epha, but the oephi has to do with the measurement of various grains: wheat, barley and pulse; but a bate is used for liquids: wine, oil and water. And so a bate which is a standard measure denotes the works of equity and justice in which those who are baptized for the remission of sins must be apprenticed; and the Sea held a thousand bates when the water of baptism washed the Jewish people and transported them into the heavenly kingdom; it held a thousand more when it made the multitudes of the gentiles, who had been reborn in the same font and established in the works of righteousness, sharers in the same everlasting lungdom.
(212/ 19.10 True it must be noted here that there are people who think we are prohibited by God's law from carving or painting, in a church or any other place, representations of either humans or animals or objects of whatever kind, on the grounds that he has said in the Ten
Commandments of the Law, You shall not make foryourselfa carved "' Jn 10:16
'' cf. Greg., Horn. in Ezech. PL 76: 1044C-D 2s cf. Isid., EFrnol. 16.26.12
BOOK TWO
thing, or the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or of those things that are in the waters under the earth.26 But they would not think any such thing if they called to mind either the work of Solomon by which he made palm-trees and cherubim with various carvings inside the temple2' and pomegranates and network on its pillars and also twelve oxen and chamfered sculptures on this
Bronze Sea;" as well as that, on the supports of the lavers, as we read in what follows, he made lions and oxen, palm-trees, axles and wheels with cherubim and various kinds of paintings;29 or, at any rate, (they would not think so) if they considered the works of Moses himself who at the Lord's command first of all made cherubim on the propitiatory3' and later a brazen serpent in the desert so that by gazing at it the people might be healed of the poison of wild serpents.31 For if it was permissible to raise up the brazen serpent on a tree that the Israelites might live by loolung at it, why is it not permissible that the exaltation of the Lord our saviour on the cross whereby he conquered death be recalled to the minds of the faithful pictorially, or even his other miracles and cures whereby he wonderfully triumphed over the same author of death, since the sight of these things often tends to elicit great compunction in the beholders and also to make available to those who are illiterate a living narrative of the story of the Lord. For in Greek too a painting is called Cwypcrdicr, i.e. 'living writing'. If it was permissible to make twelve bronze oxen carrying the Sea that had been laid upon them to face in threes towards the four quarters of the universe, what objection is there to depicting how the twelve apostles went and taught all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,32 or representing this in a living scripture, as it were, for all to see. If it was not against this law for chamfered sculptures of ten cubits to be made in this Sea all the way
(2131 round, how could it be considered contrary to the law if we carve or paint in pictures the stories of the saints and martyrs of Christ,
26 Ex 20:4
" cf. 3 K 6 2 9 28 cf. 3 K 7: 15-25 29 cf. 3 K 7:29
30 cf. Ex 25: 17-20 31 cf. Nb 21%-9 32 cf. Mt 28:19