The Bronze Laver and Solomon's Molten Sea

'And you shall make a basin of bronze.' Moses made one basin, as it is said, 'And you shall make a basin of bronze.' Solomon made ten basins, as it is said, 'And he made ten basins' (II Chronicles 4:6). And what does Scripture teach by saying 'five on the right and five on the left'? Five on the right corresponding to the basin of Moses, and five on the left corresponding to the basin of Moses. Solomon added further, in that he made the Sea, as it is said, 'And he made the molten Sea, ten cubits' (I Kings 7:23) and so on. It is impossible to say 'two thousand' (I Kings 7:26), for it is already said 'three thousand' (II Chronicles 4:5). How can this be? Two thousand in liquid measure, which is three thousand in dry measure. But you do not know how much a bat is, as it is said, 'the ephah and the bat shall be of one measure,' and it says 'ten bat make a homer'; reckon ten bat to each kor and you have two hundred kor; subtract from them fifty kor, set the fifty against the other fifty and you have a hundred and fifty ritual baths of purification, for each ritual bath holds forty seah. And from where do we know it held a hundred and fifty ritual baths of purification? If you say it was a square vessel, it held even more than that. And from where do we know it was round above? As it is said, 'and its thickness was a handbreadth, and its brim was like the work of the brim of a cup' (I Kings 7:26); from here you learn it was round above. And from where do we know it was square below? As it is said, 'standing upon twelve oxen' (II Chronicles 4:4). And what does Scripture teach by saying 'facing' four times? Rather, it teaches: one who enters the Sanctuary turns to the right, to the courtyard turns to the right, to the Temple Mount turns to the right, to the top of the altar turns to the right, as it is said, 'and the likeness of oxen was beneath... encircling it ten cubits, surrounding the Sea all around,' so that the heads of the oxen were in sets of four at their base, and the vessel was cast solid from the legs of the ox.