12 And the Levites who made the music, all of them, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and brothers, robed in fair linen, were in their places with their brass and corded instruments at the east side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests blowing horns;)
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.
And the Lord said to Moses, Make two silver horns of hammered work, to be used for getting the people together and to give the sign for the moving of the tents. When they are sounded, all the people are to come together to you at the door of the Tent of meeting. If only one of them is sounded, then the chiefs, the heads of the thousands of Israel, are to come to you. When a loud note is sounded, the tents placed on the east side are to go forward.
And when the builders put in position the base of the Temple of the Lord, the priests, dressed in their robes, took their places with horns, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with brass instruments, to give praise to the Lord in the way ordered by David, king of Israel. And they gave praise to the Lord, answering one another in their songs and saying, For he is good, for his mercy to Israel is eternal. And all the people gave a great cry of joy, when they gave praise to the Lord, because the base of the Lord's house was put in place.
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. And the number of them, with their brothers who were trained and expert in making melody to the Lord, was two hundred and eighty-eight.
And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest who were marked out by name to give praise to the Lord, for his mercy is unchanging for ever; And Heman and Jeduthun had horns and brass instruments sounding loudly, and instruments of music for the songs of God; and the sons of Jeduthun were to be at the door.
And he put some of the Levites before the ark of the Lord as servants, to keep the acts of the Lord in memory, and to give worship and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel: Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Uzziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel and Mattithiah and Eliab and Benaiah and Obed-edom and Jeiel, with corded instruments of music; and Asaph, with brass instruments sounding loudly; And Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests, blowing horns all the time before the ark of the agreement of God.
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.
Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent for the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the agreement, and let seven priests take seven horns in their hands and go before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the people, Go forward, circling the town, and let the armed men go before the ark of the Lord. So after Joshua had said this to the people, the seven priests with their seven horns went forward before the Lord, blowing on their horns: and the ark of the Lord's agreement went after them. And the armed men went before the priests who were blowing the horns, and the mass of the people went after the ark, blowing their horns. And to the people Joshua gave an order, saying, You will give no cry, and make no sound, and let no word go out of your mouth till the day when I say, Give a loud cry; then give a loud cry. So he made the ark of the Lord go all round the town once: then they went back to the tents for the night. And early in the morning Joshua got up, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests with their seven horns went on before the ark of the Lord, blowing their horns: the armed men went before them, and the mass of the people went after the ark of the Lord, blowing their horns. The second day they went all round the town once, and then went back to their tents: and so they did for six days. Then on the seventh day they got up early, at the dawn of the day, and went round the town in the same way, but that day they went round it seven times. And the seventh time, at the sound of the priests' horns, Joshua said to the people, Now give a loud cry; for the Lord has given you the town. And the town will be put to the curse, and everything in it will be given to the Lord: only Rahab, the loose woman, and all who are in the house with her, will be kept safe, because she kept secret the men we sent. And as for you, keep yourselves from the cursed thing, for fear that you may get a desire for it and take some of it for yourselves, and so be the cause of a curse and great trouble on the tents of Israel. But all the silver and gold and the vessels of brass and iron are holy to the Lord: they are to come into the store-house of the Lord. So the people gave a loud cry, and the horns were sounded; and on hearing the horns the people gave a loud cry, and the wall came down flat, so that the people went up into the town, every man going straight before him, and they took the town.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 5
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 5 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
2 Chronicles 5:1 contains the conclusion of the account of the preparation of the sacred utensils as in 1 Kings 7:51, and with it also the whole account of the building of the temple is brought to an end. The ו before את־הכּסף and את־הזּהב corresponds to the Lat. et - et , both - and also. As to David's offerings, cf. 1 Chronicles 18:10 and 1 Chronicles 18:11; and on the whole matter, compare also the remarks on 1 Kings 7:51.
The first part of the celebration was the transfer of the ark from Mount Zion to the temple (2 Chronicles 5:2-14), and in connection with this we have the words in which Solomon celebrates the entry of the Lord into the new temple (2 Chronicles 6:1-11). This section has been already commented on in the remarks on 1 Kings 8:1-21, and we have here, consequently, only to set down briefly those discrepancies between our account and that other, which have any influence upon the meaning. - In 2 Chronicles 5:3 the name of the month, האתנים בּירח (1 Kings 8:2), with which the supplementary clause, “that is the seventh month,” is there connected, is omitted, so that we must either change החדשׁ into בּחרשׁ , or supply the name of the month; for the festival is not the seventh month, but was held in that month.
Instead of הלויּם , we have in 2 Kings הכּהנים , the priests bare the ark; and since even according to the Chronicle (2 Chronicles 5:7) the priests bare the ark into the holy place, we must understand by הלויּם such Levites were also priests. - In 2 Chronicles 5:5, too the words הלויּם הכּהנים are inexact, and are to be corrected by 1 Kings 8:4, והלויּם הכּהנים . For even if the Levitic priests bare the ark and the sacred utensils of the tabernacle into the temple, yet the tabernacle itself (the planks, hangings, and coverings of it) was borne into the temple, to be preserved as a holy relic, not by priests, but only by Levites. The conj. ו before הלוים has probably been omitted only by a copyist, who was thinking of הלוים הכהנים (Joshua 3:3; Deuteronomy 17:9, Deuteronomy 17:18, etc.). - In 2 Chronicles 5:8 ויכסּוּ is an orthographical error for ויּסכּוּ , 1 Kings 8:7; cf. 1 Chronicles 28:18; Exodus 25:20. - In 2 Chronicles 5:9, too, מן־הארון has probably come into our text only by a copyist's mistake instead of מן־הקּדשׁ (1 Kings 8:8).
נתן אשׁר , who had given, i.e., laid in, is not so exact as שׁם הנּיח אשׁר (1 Kings 8:9), but may be justified by a reference to Exodus 40:20.
2 Chronicles 5:11-13 describe the part which the priests and Levitical singers and musicians took in the solemn act of transferring the ark to the temple-a matter entirely passed over in the narrative in 1 Kings 8:11, which confines itself to the main transaction. The mention of the priests gives occasion for the remark, 2 Chronicles 5:11 , “for all the priests present had sanctified themselves, but the courses were not to be observed,” i.e., the courses of the priests (1 Chron 24) could not be observed. The festival was so great, that not merely the course appointed to perform the service of that week, but also all the courses had sanctified themselves and co-operated in the celebration. In reference to the construction לשׁמור אין , cf. Ew. §321, b .
2 Chronicles 5:12
All the Levitic singers and musicians were also engaged in it, to make the festival glorious by song and instrumental music: “and the Levites, the singers, all of them, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, and their sons and brethren, clad in byssus, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, stood eastward from the altar, and with them priests to 120, blowing trumpets.” The ל before כּלּם and the following noun is the introductory ל : “as regards.” On the form מחצררים , see on 1 Chronicles 15:24; on these singers and musicians, their clothing, and their instruments, see on 1 Chronicles 15:17-28 and 2 Chronicles 25:1-8.
2 Chronicles 5:13
2 Chronicles 5:13 runs thus literally: “And it came to pass, as one, regarding the trumpeters and the singers, that they sang with one voice to praise and thank Jahve.” The meaning is: and the trumpeters and singers, together as one man, sang with one voice to praise. כּאחד is placed first for emphasis; stress is laid upon the subject, the trumpeters and singers, by the introductory ל ; and היה is construed with the following infinitive ( להשׁמיע ): it was to sound, to cause to hear, for they were causing to hear, where ל c. infin. is connected with היה , as the participle is elsewhere, to describe the circumstances; cf. Ew. §237. But in order to express very strongly the idea of the unisono of the trumpet-sound, and the singing accompanied by the harp-playing, which lies in כּאחד , אחד קול is added to להשׁמיע . By וגו קול וּכהרים all that was to be said of the song and music is drawn together in the form of a protasis, to which is joined מלא והבּית , the apodosis both of this latter and also of the protasis which was interrupted by the parenthesis in 2 Chronicles 5:11 : “When the priests went forth from the holy place, for...(2 Chronicles 5:11), and when they lifted up the voice with trumpets and with cymbals, and the (other) instruments of song, and with the praise of Jahve, that He is good, that His mercy endureth for ever (cf. 1 Chronicles 16:34), then was the house filled with the cloud of the house of Jahve.” The absence of the article before ענן requires us thus to connect the יהוה בּית at the close of the verse with ענן ( stat . constr .), since the indefinite ענן (without the article) is not at all suitable here; for it is not any cloud which is here spoken of, but that which overshadowed the glory of the Lord in the most holy place.
2 Chronicles 5:14, again, agrees with 1 Kings 8:6, and has been there commented upon.