דברי הימים ב, פרק ד׳, פסוק י״ג

The copper pillars in Solomon's Temple featured complex designs, crowned with intricate latticework and fruit shapes. Among these details were specific decorations crafted in the shape of pomegranates [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The precise records of the Temple's construction note a total of four hundred pomegranates, a number that raises a question since an earlier account mentions only one hundred.

The primary approach among commentators [רש״י, רד״ק] resolves this by explaining that the smaller number refers to a single row. Because each of the two decorative networks contained two rows of pomegranates, the four rows combined to reach the full count of four hundred. Another perspective suggests that these numbers actually represent two entirely separate sets of decorations. According to this view, one hundred pomegranates were fastened to chains, while a distinct group of four hundred was attached directly to the networks [רד״ק].

These pomegranate ornaments were embedded within the latticework and hung around it [רש״י, מצודת דוד]. The networks themselves served a specific architectural purpose, designed to wrap around and cover the round, bowl-like sections of the pillar capitals [רש״י, מצודת דוד]. These capitals were positioned at the absolute peak of the pillars. Their elevated placement is described using a term related to a face, borrowing from the way a human face sits at the highest point of the body, to emphasize that the capitals crowned the very top of the towering columns [מצודת ציון].