The Problem of Solomon's Bronze Sea

1 Chronicles 4:2 describes Solomon’s bronze sea like this:

Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.

2 Chronicles 4:5 adds to this description, as follows:

Its thickness was a handbreadth. And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held 3,000 baths.

1 Kings 7:23 says:

Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.

1 Kings 7:26 says:

Its thickness was a handbreadth. And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held 3,000 baths.

Both Kings and Chronicles give these dimensions:

Shape: round

Diameter: 10 cubits = 5.08 meters = 16 2/3 feet

Radius: 5 cubits = 2.54 meters = 8 1/3 feet

Height: 5 cubits = 2.54 meters = 8 1/3 feet

Circumference: 30 cubits = 15.24 meters = 50 feet

Thickness: 1 handbreadth = 7.62 centimeters = 3 inches

Capacity:

either 2,000 baths = 50,880 liters = 12,000 gallons, or

or 3,000 baths = 76,320 liters = 18,000 gallons.

So, let’s do some math.

The circumference of a circle is2πr.

So the circumference of the bath should be 2 * 5 cubits * π or 10 π. Since π = 3.14, that would give a circumference of 31.4 cubits – so the Bible is rounding for π. No problem – in fact it shows that the Bible is mathematically sophisticated. This record is not for the skilled craftsmen, but for “the rest of us,” so this measurement is good enough.

The volume of a sphere is V=4/3 πr^3

Since the bath is half a sphere (its height, 5 cubits, is equal to its radius), the formula for its capacity is V=1/2* 4/3 πr^3 or 2/3 πr^3

So the volume = 2/3 x 53 x π = 261.8 cubits3= 34.30 meters3 = 1,212 feet3.

The volume converted to liquid measure is therefore: 34,321 liters or 9,067 gallons.

This equals 1,516 baths.

So the account in 2 Chronicles is off by 1,484 baths. Chronicles reports almost twice the actual capacity of the bronze sea.

The account in 1 Kings is off by 484 baths. 1 Kings reports almost one-third more than the actual capacity of the bronze sea.

This is odd, because both accounts report the same dimensions for the bronze sea, and both accounts do the math for the circumference correctly.

One problem we can easily solve. 2 Chronicles may state the total capacity of the sea – 3,000 baths. 1 Kings may state the capacity to which it was customarily filled – 2,000 baths. These are not mutually exclusive assertions, and 1 Kings was written closer to the actual use of the bronze sea than 2 Chronicles (which Ezra wrote after the Babylonian destruction of the temple and the return from Babylonian captivity). So 1 Kings may have been reporting the customary practice, while 2 Chronicles may simply have done the math.

But that still leaves the problem that the math in 2 Chronicles is off by 50%, compared to how we would calculate it.

What if we take the capacity of the sea and work backward to determine the value of a bath?

If the total capacity = 3,000 baths, and the actual capacity of this sphere is 9,067 gallons or 34,321 liters, then 1 bath = 0.33 gallons or 0.0874 liters.

1 bath = 6 hin and 1 hin = 12 logs and 1 log = 6 medium-sized eggs.

Since the whole system is based on a fairly subjective measure – a “medium-sized” egg – it is clear that a bath is not a strict unit of measurement.

In the USA today, a Medium egg contains 43 mL of raw egg.

Using this measurement, 43 mL x 6 x 12 x 6 = 18,576 mL or 19 L or 5 gallons.

Using this measurement, 3,000 baths = 55,728 L or 14,722 gallons.

Mathematically Solomon’s sea should hold 34,321 L or 9,067 gallons.

So the measurement of 2 Chronicles is still over by 21,407 L (38%) or 5,656 gallons (38%).

So, using a modern, American egg, we get about twice as much volume as we should.

Was an egg in Israel 29 centuries ago 38% smaller than the size of a modern, American egg?

According to the USDA, eggs in the US today vary in size from Peewee (35 g) to Jumbo (71 g). This means that a Jumbo egg is 36 g or 103% larger than a Peewee egg and a Peewee egg is 36 g or 51% smaller than a Jumbo egg.

To produce large, healthy eggs, chickens need to eat feed that contains sufficient protein, vitamins A, K, E and D and calcium.

Beyond this, the breed of chicken also determines the size of the egg.

It is safe to say that even with the wealth of Solomon’s Israel, the quality of chicken feed was not likely to be of the same high grade available in the USA today. We can infer this from the fact that the Bible reports numerous famines in the Middle East from the time of Abraham to the time of Paul, but there have never been famines in the USA since modern agriculture developed.

Working the calculations backward, we can see that if an average egg in Solomon’s day were a little over 36.22 grams, rather than the 50 grams of the Medium American egg (that is, 27.6% smaller), the 3,000 baths would equal 34,320 L or 9,066 gallons, fitting precisely the geometric calculation of the volume of Solomon’s sea.

So, to believe the Bible is accurate, you have to believe only that the eggs were smaller in Solomon’s day than they are today.

To believe the Bible is inaccurate, you have to believe that the writers of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles were capable of computing the circumference of the bronze sea using the number π but were incapable of either (1) computing the volume of a sphere or (2) recording accurately how many baths the priests poured into the bronze sea.

Or you have to believe in a scribal error, which I never buy, because that can be used to excuse anything, making everything unreliable.