And he made ten stands of bronze; four cubits was the length of one stand, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 7:27 Go To 1 Kings 7
Bede
AD 735
However, that each of the bases was four cubits long and four cubits high is easy to understand. For the length refers to the patience of long endurance, the width to the expansiveness of love, the height to the hope of heavenly reward. Moreover, there are four principal virtues on which the rest of the structure of the virtues depends, namely, prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice, and the reason why the length and width of the bases was four cubits was that holy preachers, whether they endure outwardly the adversities of the world, the lengthy exile and present labors, or expand their heart in the love of their Creator and of their neighbors with inward joy, always pay attention to the virtues, that is, by prudently distinguishing between good things and evil, courageously bearing adversity, restraining their heart from its desire of pleasures and maintaining uprightness in their manner of acting. But the height of the bases is three cubits when, through the exercise of the virtues that they practice by the endurance of evils and the love of what is good, they strive with sustained resolve to attain the vision of the holy Trinity.
