This section reprises the destruction of the temple just described. Before the Babylonians burned the temple, they looted it. This was the second time they had done this, the first being in 597 B.C. (27:16; 2 Kings 24:13; cf. Jer. 27:19-22).
52:17-18 The Chaldeans broke up and took to Babylon the bronze pillars at the entrance to the temple (1 Kings 7:15-22), the wheeled stands for the priests to wash their tools in (1 Kings 7:27-36), the sea (reservoir) for the water in the courtyard with which the priest washed themselves (1 Kings 7:23-26; 2 Chron. 4:6), and the utensils used in the temple service (1 Kings 7:40, 45). The sea was about 15 feet in diameter, seven and a half feet high, and three inches thick. The wheeled stands and their bowls carried about 104 gallons of water each. Thus the amount of bronze in these items was considerable.
52:19 Nebuzaradan also took to Babylon the gold and silver utensils that remained in the temple (1 Kings 7:49-50).
Jeremiah had predicted that the Babylonians would take the remaining furnishings in the temple to Babylon (27:19-22), but the false prophet Hananiah had promised that the furnishings already taken would be returned (28:3). Jeremiah was right.
52:20-23 The bronze articles, including the twelve bulls that formed a base for the sea, were so heavy their weight was beyond calculating. The hollow pillars were 27 feet high, 12 feet in circumference, and about three inches thick. The capitals on top of each pillar were an additional seven and a half feet tall, and each capital had 200 bronze pomegranates (symbols of fertility) carved on it in two rows (1 Kings 7:20, 42).624
