8 Then David and all Israel made melody before God with all their strength, with songs and corded instruments of music, and with brass instruments and horns.
And David and all the men of Israel made melody before the Lord with all their power, with songs and with corded instruments and instruments of brass. And when they came to Nacon's grain-floor, Uzzah put his hand on the ark of God to keep it safe in its place, for the oxen were out of control. And the wrath of the Lord, burning against Uzzah, sent destruction on him because he had put his hand on the ark, and death came to him there by the ark of God. And David was angry because of the Lord's outburst of wrath against Uzzah: and he gave that place the name Perez-uzzah, which is its name to this day. And such was David's fear of the Lord that day, that he said, How may I let the ark of God come to me? So David did not let the ark of the Lord come back to him to the town of David: but had it turned away and put into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the Lord was in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months: and the Lord sent a blessing on Obed-edom and all his family. And they said to King David, The blessing of the Lord is on the family of Obed-edom and on all he has, because of the ark of God. And David went and took the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the town of David with joy. And when those who were lifting the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he made an offering of an ox and a fat young beast. And David, clothed in a linen ephod, was dancing before the Lord with all his strength. So David and all the men of Israel took up the ark of the Lord with cries of joy and sounding of horns. And when the ark of the Lord came into the town of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looking out of the window, saw King David dancing and jumping before the Lord; and to her mind he seemed foolish. And they took in the ark of the Lord, and put it in its place inside the tent which David had put up for it: and David made burned offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord. And after David had made the burned offerings and the peace-offerings, he gave the people a blessing in the name of the Lord of armies. And he gave to every man and woman among all the people, among all the masses of Israel, a cake of bread and a measure of wine and a cake of dry grapes. Then all the people went away, every man to his house. Then David came back to give a blessing to his family. And Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to him and said, How full of glory was the king of Israel today, who let himself be seen uncovered by his servant-girls like a foolish person uncovering himself without shame! And David said to Michal, I was dancing before the Lord, who put me over your father and all his sons, to make me a ruler over the people of the Lord, over his people Israel: and I will go on playing before the Lord; And I will do even worse than this, and make myself even lower in your eyes: but the servant-girls of whom you were talking will give me honour. And Michal, Saul's daughter, had no child till the day of her death.
Of the sons of Uzziel: Amminadab the chief, and his brothers, a hundred and twelve. And David sent for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, Uriel, Asaiah and Joel, Shemaiah and Eliel and Amminadab, And said to them, You are the heads of the families of the Levites: make yourselves holy, you and your brothers, so that you may take the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place which I have made ready for it. For because you did not take it at the first, the Lord our God sent punishment on us, because we did not get directions from him in the right way. So the priests and the Levites made themselves holy to take up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the sons of the Levites took up the ark of God, lifting it by its rods, as the Lord had said to Moses. And David gave orders to the chief of the Levites to put their brothers the music-makers in position, with instruments of music, corded instruments and brass, with glad voices making sounds of joy. So Heman, the son of Joel, and, of his brothers, Asaph, the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan, the son of Kushaiah, were put in position by the Levites; And with them their brothers of the second order, Zechariah, Bani and Jaaziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel and Unni, Eliab and Benaiah and Maaseiah and Mattithiah and Eliphelehu and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom and Jeiel, the door-keepers. So those who made melody, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were put in position, with brass instruments, sounding loudly; And Zechariah and Aziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel, Unni and Eliab and Maaseiah and Benaiah, with corded instruments put to Alamoth. And Mattithiah and Eliphelehu and Mikneiah and Obed-edom and Jeiel and Azaziah, with corded instruments on the octave, to give the first note of the song. And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was master of the music: he gave directions about the song, because he was expert. And Berechiah and Elkanah were door-keepers for the ark. And Shebaniah and Joshaphat and Nethanel and Amasai and Zechariah and Benaiah and Eliezer, the priests, made music on the horns before the ark of God; and Obed-edom and Jehiah were door-keepers for the ark.
Further, David and the chiefs of the servants of the holy place made selection of certain of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun for the work of prophets, to make melody with corded instruments and brass; and the number of the men for the work they had to do was: Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur and Joseph and Nethaniah and Asharelah, sons of Asaph; under the direction of Asaph, acting as a prophet under the orders of the king; Of Jeduthun: the six sons of Jeduthun, Gedaliah and Zeri and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah and Mattithiah; under the direction of their father Jeduthun who, acting as a prophet, with corded instruments gave praise and glory to the Lord. Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth; All these were sons of Heman, the king's seer in the words of God. And to make great his power God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. All these, under the direction of their father, made music in the house of the Lord, with brass and corded instruments, for the worship of the house of God; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the orders of the king.
The makers of songs go before, the players of music come after, among the young girls playing on brass instruments. Give praise to God in the great meeting; even the Lord, you who come from the fountain of Israel. There is little Benjamin ruling them, the chiefs of Judah and their army, the rulers of Zebulun and the rulers of Naphtali.
Give him praise with the sound of the horn: give him praise with corded instruments of music. Give him praise with instruments of brass and in the dance: give him praise with horns and corded instruments. Give him praise with the loud brass: give him praise with the high-sounding brass.
That when the sound of the horn, pipe, harp, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all sorts of instruments, comes to your ears, you are to go down on your faces in worship before the image of gold which Nebuchadnezzar the king has put up: And anyone not falling down and worshipping will that same hour be put into a burning and flaming fire. So at that time, all the people, when the sound of the horn, pipe, harp, trigon, psaltery, and all sorts of instruments, came to their ears, went down on their faces in worship before the image of gold which Nebuchadnezzar the king had put up.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 13
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 13 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Removal of the Ark from Kirjath-Jearim. David's Building, His Wives and Children, and His Victories over the Philistines. The Bringing of the Ark into the City of David, and the Arrangement of the Worship in Mount Zion
1 Chronicles 13-16
All these facts are described in the second book of Samuel, for the most part in the same words. There, however, the contents of our chapter 14, David's building, wives and children, and victories over the Philistines, immediately follow, in 1 Chronicles 5:11-25, the account of the conquest of the citadel of Zion (1 Chronicles 11:4-8); and then in 2 Sam 6 the removal of the ark from Kirjath-jearim, and the bringing of it, after an interval of three months, to Jerusalem, are narrated consecutively, but much more shortly than in the Chronicle. The author of the books of Samuel confined himself to a mere narration of the transfer of the ark to Jerusalem, as one of the first acts of David tending to the raising of the Israelitish kingship, and has consequently, in his estimation of the matter, only taken account of its importance politically to David as king. The author of our Chronicle, on the contrary, has had mainly in view the religious significance of this design of David to restore the Levitic cultus prescribed in the Mosaic law; and in order to impress that upon the reader, he not only gives a detailed account of the part which the Levites took in the solemn transfer of the ark of God (1 Chron 15), but he sets forth minutely the arrangements which David made, after the ark had been brought into the capital of the kingdom, for the restoration of a permanent worship about that sanctuary (1 Chron 16). Both the narratives are taken from an original document which related the matter more at length; and from it the author of 2 Samuel has excerpted only what was important for his purpose, while the author of the Chronicle gives a more detailed account. The opinion held by de Wette and others, that the narrative in the Chronicle is merely an expansion by the author of the Chronicle, or by the author of the original document followed by our chronicler, of the account in 2 Sam 6, for the purpose of glorifying the Levitic cultus, is shown to be incorrect and untenable by the multitude of historical statements peculiar to 1 Chron 15 and 16, which could not possibly have been invented.
The removal of the ark from Kirjath-jearim. Cf. 2 Samuel 6:1-11, with the commentary on the substance of the narrative there given.
1 Chronicles 13:1-3
The introduction to this event is in 2 Samuel 6:1 and 2 Samuel 6:2 very brief; but according to our narrative, David consulted with the chief men over thousands and hundreds (1 Chronicles 15:25), viz., with all the princes. The preposition ל before כּל־נגּיד groups together the individual chiefs of the people just named. He laid his purpose before “all the congregation of Israel,” i.e., before the above-mentioned princes as representatives of the whole people. “If it seem good to you, and if it come from Jahve our God,” i.e., if the matter be willed of and approved by God, we will send as speedily as possible. The words נשׁלחה נפרצה without the conjunction are so connected that נשׁלחה defines the idea expressed by נפרצה , “we will break through, will send,” for “we will, breaking through,” i.e., acting quickly and energetically, “send thither.” The construction of שׁלח with על is accounted for by the fact that the sending thither includes the notion of commanding ( צוּה על ). כּל־ארצות , all the provinces of the various tribal domains, is used for כּל־חארץ , 1 Samuel 13:19, here, and 2 Chronicles 11:23 and 2 Chronicles 34:33; in all which places the idea of the division of the land into a number of territories is prominent. This usage is founded upon Genesis 26:3 and Genesis 26:4, where the plural points to the number of small tribes which possessed Canaan. After ועמּהם , על or על נשׁלחה is to be repeated. The words דרשׁנהוּ לא in 1 Chronicles 13:3, we have not sought it, nor asked after it, are meant to include all.
As the whole assembly approved of David's design ( כּן לעשׂות , it is to do so = so much we do), David collected the whole of Israel to carry it out. “The whole of Israel,” from the southern frontier of Canaan to the northern; but of course all are not said to have been present, but there were numerous representatives from every part, - according to 2 Samuel 6:1, a chosen number of 30,000 men. The מצרים שׁיחור , which is named as the southern frontier, is not the Nile, although it also is called שׁחר (Isaiah 23:3 and Jeremiah 2:18), and the name “the black river” also suits it (see Del. on Isaiah, loc. cit. ); but is the שׁיחור before, i.e., eastward from Egypt ( מצרים על־פּני אשׁר ), i.e., the brook of Egypt, מצרים נחל , the Rhinocorura, now el Arish, which in all accurate statements of the frontiers is spoken of as the southern, in contrast to the neighbourhood of Hamath, which was the northern boundary: see on Numbers 34:5. For the designation of the northern frontier, חמת לבוא , see on Numbers 34:8. Kirjath-jearim, the Canaanitish Baalah, was known among the Israelites by the name Baale Jehudah or Kirjath-baal, as distinguished from other cities named after Baal, and is now the still considerable village Kureyeh el Enab; see on Joshua 9:17. In this fact we find the explanation of י אל ק בּעלתה , 1 Chronicles 13:6 : to Baalah, to Kirjath-jearim of Judah. The ark had been brought thither when the Philistines sent it back to Beth-shemesh, and had been set down in the house of Abinadab, where it remained for about seventy years; see 1 Sam 6 and 1 Samuel 7:1-2, and the remarks on 2 Samuel 6:3. שׁם נקרא אשׁר is not to be translated “which is named name,” which gives no proper sense. Translating it so, Bertheau would alter שׁם into שׁם , according to an arbitrary conjecture of Thenius on 2 Samuel 6:2, “who there (by the ark) is invoked.” But were שׁם the true reading, it could not refer to the ark, but only to the preceding משּׁם , since in the whole Old Testament the idea that by or at the resting-place of the ark Jahve was invoked (which שׁם אשׁר would signify) nowhere occurs, since no one could venture to approach the ark. If שׁם referred to משּׁם , it would signify that Jahve was invoked at Kirjath-baal, that there a place of worship had been erected by the ark; but of that the history says nothing, and it would, moreover, be contrary to the statement that the ark was not visited in the days of Saul. We must consequently reject the proposal to alter שׁם into שׁם as useless and unsuitable, and seek for another explanation: we must take אשׁר in the sense of ὡς , which it sometimes has; cf. Ew. §333, a .: “as he is called by name,” where שׁם does not refer only to יהוה , but also to the additional clause הכּרוּבים יושׁב , and the meaning is that Jahve is invoked as He who is enthroned above the cherubim; cf. Psalms 80:2; Isaiah 37:16. - On the following 1 Chronicles 13:7-14, cf. the commentary on 2 Samuel 6:3-11.