According to theBible,Boaz (Hebrew:בֹּעַז,romanized: Bōʿaz)and Jachin (Hebrew:יָכִין,romanized: Yāḵīn) were two copper, brass or bronzepillars which stood on the porch ofSolomon's Temple, the firstTemple in Jerusalem.[1] They are used as symbols inFreemasonry and sometimes in religious architecture. They were probably not support structures but free-standing, based on similar pillars found in other nearby temples.[2]
The pillars were nearly six feet (1.8 metres) thick and 27 feet (8.2 metres) tall. The eight-foot (2.4 metres) high brass chapiters, orcapitals, on top of the pillars bore decorations, in brass, oflilies. The original measurement as taken from the Torah was incubits, which records that the pillars were 18 cubits high and 12 cubits around, and hollow—four fingers thick. (Jeremiah 52:21–22). Nets of checkerwork covered the bowl of each chapiter, decorated with rows of 200pomegranates, wreathed with seven chains for each chapiter, and topped with lilies (1 Kings 7:13–22,41–42).
The pillars did not survive the destruction of the First Temple;Jeremiah52:17 reports: "The Chaldeans broke up the bronze columns of the House of the Lord". IIKings25:13 has a similar account. The pillars were carried away in pieces for ease of transportation. When theSecond Temple was built, the pillars were not returned, and there exists no record of new pillars being constructed to replace them.[3]
According to rabbiRaymond Apple, "Jewish commentators on I Kings 7:21 maintain that it was when one stood inside the building and looked out toward the entrance in the east" that Jachin was on the right (to the south) and Boaz was on the left (to the north).[4]
According to the first-centuryRomano-Jewish scholarJosephus' bookAntiquities of the Jews, Jachin (Hebrew יָכִיןyakin "He/it will establish") stood on the right on the portico of Solomon's Temple, while Boaz (Hebrew בֹּעַזboʿaz "In him/it [is] strength") stood on the left, and the two were made by a Canaanite craftsman namedHiram.[5] An explanatory note by William Whiston on paragraph 6 of the same chapter,[6] explains this as agreeing with the opinion of the Jewish commentators.[4]
Carl Watzinger (1877-1948), a German archaeologist, assuming that the point of view was in the east looking toward the temple, reversed this traditional placement of the pillars in a drawing of the temple which has been used by subsequent sources includingEncyclopaedia Judaica. Due to this, some recent sources place Jachin to the north and Boaz to the south, contrary to the older tradition.[4]
The Romanesque Church ofSanta Maria Maggiore atTuscania, Italy, has a recessed entrance flanked by a pair of free-standing stone columns intended to evoke Boaz and Jachin.[7] Similar pillars intended to represent Boaz and Jachin also exist inWürzburg Cathedral (Germany) andDalby Church (Sweden).[8] Columns representing Boaz and Jachin can be found in most Masonic lodges and are emblematic of their use inMasonic ritual.[9] The pillars are part of a symbolic use of Solomon's Temple itself.[10]
Jakin, an incorporated town in the U.S. state ofGeorgia, takes its name from the pillar.[11]
Some variants of thetarot cardThe High Priestess depict Boaz and Jachin.[12]
... thus it follows, that the pillar Jakin, on the right hand of the temple was on the south, against our left hand; and Boaz on the north, against our right hand.
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