On the top of each of the pillars was a capital five cubits in height (1 Kings 7:16). The capitals were the top coverings of the pillars. The fact that each capital was five cubits in height and not six or seven cubits is significant. As we have pointed out several times, in the Bible the number five denotes responsibility. Consider your hand: the four fingers and the thumb are for bearing responsibility. If we had just four fingers, we could not bear responsibility in a proper way. The number four signifies the creature, and the number one signifies the unique God. When the unique God is added to human beings, our number becomes five.
For example, the ten commandments were written in groups of five on two tables of stone, and the ten virgins were divided into five wise ones and five foolish ones. Therefore, the two capitals five cubits in height indicate the bearing of responsibility. If you say that this is my allegorization, I would reply that I have the ground to allegorize, for we are not told that the capitals are four and a half or six cubits in height, but that they are five cubits in height. The combined height of the two capitals totals ten cubits. The number ten signifies fullness in responsibility. Both the ten commandments and the ten virgins indicate fullness. Therefore, in the Bible the number ten reveals fullness of human responsibility toward God. Our ten fingers for working and ten toes for moving and walking indicate this.
First Kings 7:17 speaks of "nets of checkerwork, and wreaths of chainwork, for the capitals which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital" (Heb.). To what do the nets of checkerwork and wreaths of chainwork refer? After consulting many versions, I discovered that the checkerwork resembles a trellis, a frame with small square holes that bears a vine. Furthermore, the word "work" in this verse implies a design. Hence, checkerwork is a checker design and chainwork a chain design. As we shall see, this checker design is for the growth of the lilies. This trellis is the setting for the lilies. In a sense, it is a net to hold the lilies. The chainwork is like a wreath encompassing the outside of the capital. Hence, upon the capitals are nets of checkerwork and wreaths of chainwork.
What does all this signify? We have seen that the number five, the height of the capitals, denotes responsibility, and that two times five means fullness of responsibility. But why are there also on these capitals nets of checkerwork and wreaths of chainwork? While I was burdened to understand this, the Lord showed me that this is the intermixed and complicated situation. The burden and responsibility borne by the pillars in the family, in the church, and in the ministry is always in a complicated and intermixed situation. We may often like to straighten out these situations, but we cannot do it. If you straighten out one complication, there will be three others to take its place. If you attempt to make one matter clear, the situation will become even more unclear. The more you try to make it understandable, the more it will be misunderstood. Do not say, "Last night Brother So-and-so was unhappy with his wife." If you talk like this, you will be involved. The more we try to explain ourselves, the more misunderstanding there will be, and this misunderstanding will multiply. Through many years of experience, I have learned that the best way to avoid misunderstanding is to say as little as possible. Sometimes, you should not even say the words, "Praise the Lord," to your wife. If you do this, she may say, "Why are you so spiritual? Don't you realize that your praising condemns me? When you praise the Lord, you are saying that you are spiritual and that I am carnal." The church life is a checkerwork surrounded by a chain, and the eldership is a most intricate trellis with the strongest chain.
I know of a certain dear one who holds the concept that wherever he is, those around him should be like angels. They should all be very spiritual, going to bed early and rising early in the morning to pray-read the Word. If everyone would be heavenly, then this dear one would be happy. But there is no place on earth like the one envisioned by this dear one. In many homes, some stay up late talking and then sleep until late in the morning. Upon waking, some may complain that it was too cold with the window open all night, and others may complain that it was so stuffy that they felt like they were suffocating.
Every situation faced by the church members is a checkerwork, a trellis encircled by a crown of pins and thorns. I have a large family and I am also in a large church. I have many children and grandchildren and many dear brothers and sisters. Wherever I am, in Taipei or in Anaheim, I cannot escape the checkerwork and chainwork. In a sense, Anaheim is wonderful, but it is full of checkerwork and chains. Even the angels know that I am constantly in an intermixed and complicated situation. My children and all the problems brought to me by the brothers and sisters in the churches create more checkerwork for me. It is our destiny to be in this situation. We must not only bear the responsibility in this intermixed and complicated situation, but also live in the midst of it.