What does the Lord say concerning “the pillars, the sea, the stands and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city"?

The Lord’s word to Jeremiah concerning all the items in the temple that were not removed by Nebuchadnezzar when Jeconiah and others were taken into exile in 597 BC is that the pillars, the sea, the stands and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city will be removed and carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them. This contradicts what the false prophets are saying. Items already removed will not return soon; in fact, items not yet removed will be taken to Babylon soon. The implication again is that Judah is still facing the Lord’s judgment. Interceding for the temple would indeed be the right response of a true prophet, and repentance the right response from the people.

Specific items mentioned that will be removed are the pillars, the sea and the stands. These items are all described in 1 Kings 7:1–51. The pillars were nine meters tall, five meters wide, and made of thick bronze. They were capped with a crown designed like a lily and represented strength and stability. The sea was a bronze basin also shaped like a lily and could hold about 40,000 litres of water. The water was used in temple rituals. In the ancient Near East, the sea represented chaos and the presence of the Sea in the temple signified the Lord’s control over forces that would seek to threaten his world. Removing this from the temple would be seen as an attack on the Lord’s sovereignty. The movable stands were used to refill the sea with water.¹ All of these items, plus others, were very significant in temple worship and removing them would have been seen as a fatal blow to the sanctity of the temple, the safety of Jerusalem and indeed the Lord’s presence with his people. The fact that Nebuchadnezzar would be able to carry them off would mean that either the Lord was working with him and through him, or that Nebuchadnezzar had defeated the Lord.² Jeremiah’s explanation is that Nebuchadnezzar is the Lord’s servant, bringing the Lord’s judgment on Judah.