Two Pillars
“He cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about” (1 Kings 7:15).
The Temple of Solomon evidently is a picture for us of the Church class, which, when completed and glorified, will be God’s agent for drawing mankind back to Himself.
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). “Ye … as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). These texts relate the church to the Temple in the present time. But the service of the Church for the world relates the picture to the Millennial Age.
PILLARS OF THE TEMPLE
The pillars of the Temple are another symbolic way of representing members of the Church class. Revelation 3:12 promises, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God.” That there are two pillars perhaps indicates that the Church comes from two backgrounds, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:15, Jesus makes “in himself of twain one new man” — both Jews and Gentiles having equal access to the privilege. “That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross … [he] preached peace to you which were afar off [Gentile believers], and to them that were nigh” {Jewish believers]” (verses 16,17, see also Romans 4:16).
The measure of these pillars was 18 cubits tall and 12 cubits around, as expressed in our lead text. We suggest that these two measures also convey the thought that the Church class is drawn from both Jews and Gentiles. Twelve is the number of the tribes of natural Israel, and is thus often associated with the Jewish people. Even in Revelation, where the number 12 is used of Spiritual Israel, the meaning of the number is derived from the 12 tribes of Israel, as indicated in Revelation 7:4-8. Thus the 12 cubit circumference of these pillars refers to the fact that some Church members were Jewish believers.
EIGHTEEN
The other measure, 18 cubits of height, would then refer to Gentile believers. In the New Testament, the number 18 is rare. It occurs in but a single chapter of the New Testament, namely Luke 13. There it occurs three times, related to two distinct situations. Here are the relevant texts.
(1) Luke 13:4, “Those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men?”
(2) Luke 13:11, 16, “There was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself … whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years.”
The 18 persons who died at the Tower of Siloam, through no fault of their own, represent the world of mankind, subjected to the curse of sin and death through inheritance. The woman bowed over with infirmity, “whom Satan hath bound,” through no fault of her own, also represents the world, bowed under the burden of sin.
Jairus’ Daughter, Died and Raised at Age 12
Reaching for the Hem of his Garment, after 12 Years of Distress
TWELVE
In another chapter, Luke chapter 8, the number 12 appears twice. Luke 8:42 refers to the daughter of Jairus, “He had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying.” Subsequently she did die, and Jesus brought her back to life.
However, as Jesus was about to attend to this need, he was interrupted by a lady in need who had suffered an affliction for twelve years — repeating the same number as expressed in the age of Jairus’ daughter. Luke 8:43, “A woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any.” She had come from behind Jesus, laid hold of the border of his garment, and was healed through this contact, and her faith in Jesus, as a gift from God.
These two instances of twelve pertain to the Israelites at the first advent of Christ. They were dead in trespasses under the Law (as pictured by the daughter of Jairus), and unclean through their inability to keep the Law (as pictured by the afflicted woman).
Thus in Luke chapter eight we have Jewish believers represented twice consecutively in the number 12 — and in Luke chapter 13 we have Gentile believers represented twice consecutively in the number 18. This supports the suggestion that these two numbers in the measure of the pillars are used to indicate that the Church members are drawn from two different backgrounds — Jewish believers, who were near to the covenants of promise, and Gentile believers, who formerly were “afar off” (Ephesians 2:17).
The reason that 12 is associated with Jewish believers is plain to see. But why is the number 18 used for Gentile believers? Probably the key is that 18 is the sum of a triple six — 6 plus 6 plus 6. Six, one shy of the perfect number seven, represents the world under sin and death for six millenniums, until the Kingdom. The six sons of Keturah likewise represent the world of mankind born in sin, but later elevated in status during the Millennium.
— Br. David Rice