Jachin and Boaz

When Solomon was building the Temple, he built two pillars on the porch of the Temple. One pillar was named “Jachin”, and the other pillar was named “Boaz” (1 Ki. 7:21; 2 Chron. 3:17). Why did Solomon name the pillars in this way? We know that Boaz was Solomon’s ancestor, but who was Jachin?

The names of the pillars being “Jachin” and “Boaz” is based on the vocalization according to the Masoretic Text—the traditional Hebrew text of the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament). Vocalization is important in Hebrew because the meaning of a Hebrew word depends on the vocalization that it is pronounced with.

Perhaps the Masoretic Text is mistaken regarding the vocalization of the names of the two pillars. In consonant form, the names of the two pillars would have been spelt in this way:

יכין בעז

A native reader of Classical Hebrew would have naturally vocalized these two names—not as the names of two people, but as a sentence,

Yāḵiyn bəʿōz.

meaning, “He establishes with strength.”