1)

What was the Mechonah?

1.

Radak: It was a base for the Kiyor (laver from which the Kohanim washed their hands and feet), like Moshe made (commanded to make) - "Es ha'Kiyor v'Es Kano" (Shemos 39:39). Malbim - after Shlomo made 10 lavers, he made 10 bases for them.

2)

Did the Kiyor fill the width of the Mechonah?

1.

Malbim: No. Verse 38 says that each Kiyor was 40 Bas, and it was four Amos. If it were four by four Amos wide, it would not be even one Amah tall 1 ! Rather, the Kiyor's height was four Amos, and if it was circular, the diameter was [about] one and three quarters Amah. Had it been square (and the side was one and three quarters), a height of three Amos would suffice [to make its volume 40 Bas]. Since a circle has only three quarters of the area of the square [around it], it needed to be four Amos tall. I will explain that the bottom was square. If so, we must say that it was one and three quarters from the outside; the added area of the square compensates for the area lost due to the thickness of the walls. The Mechonah was much wider, i.e. four by four.


1

For it was nine cubic Amos (three times the Shi'ur of a Mikveh).

3)

What was three Amos tall?

1.

Rashi: The Mechonah itself was one and a half Amos, and it rested on a base of one and a half Amos.

4)

What shape was the Mechonah?

1.

Rashi: The top half Amah was circular - "Chetzi ha'Amah Komah Agol Saviv" (verse 35). The bottom Amah was square.

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