Cleansed

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

CLEANSED

1 Kings 7:27-40

27 He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high.   28 This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. 29 On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim — and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. 31 On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half. Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal. 34 Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand.   36 He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. 37 This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape. 38 He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 39 He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. 40 He also made the basins and shovels and sprinkling bowls.

NIV

These ten carts were 6 feet long and wide and 4 ½ feet high, each a basin that would hold 230 gallons of water. The purpose of these basins is not explained to us in this passage, but it is thought that they were used for several purposes. First, in such an arid place as Israel, except for the fertile plains, water was at a premium. These carts could have been wheeled to water and filled so as to fill the large Sea Basin for the ceremonial washing of the priests. The water in the ten movable stands would also have been used to wash the animal sacrifices or to carry away the blood and waste from the sacrifices. This whole system was designed around the duty of the order of priests that served in the temple of Yahweh, Adoni. Everything and everyone had to be cleansed before the LORD. But all that water could only wash the exterior of the priests as well as the sacrifices. It was said that the Romans, and it appears the Jews, felt that cleanliness was next to godliness. But what good is our cleaning the exterior of our bodies, if the inside is but dead men’s bones?  Jesus accused the Pharisees, chief priests, and teachers of the law of being clean on the outside but having dead men’s bones inside. It was the same as the clean cup on the outside and dirty inside, teaching that he used. Of course, we do not want to walk around dirty on the outside, because we have so many methods of cleansing our bodies. However, if we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, then we need more than a ceremonial washing. We have to be cleansed on the inside, and that is what Jesus has done for us, being the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins. We do not need those carts either to carry away the waste, for Jesus has carried away all our waste, all our sins, the things within us that are not acceptable as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the Lord. All we need is Jesus. Because the priests had to wash themselves before serving in the temple, we cannot wash ourselves, but Jesus has cleansed us completely so that we can be the royal priesthood we are meant to be. No matter what symbols or articles were used in the temple and what they were meant for,  all we need is Jesus, and we will be cleansed.