10 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put [there] at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark. So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tables in my hand. He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Yahweh gave them to me. I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they are as Yahweh commanded me.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that Yahweh has spoken will we do, and be obedient." Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you concerning all these words."
Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tables.
It happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.
He took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark.
These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
You stand this day all of you before Yahweh your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and your foreigner who is in the midst of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water; that you may enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God, and into his oath, which Yahweh your God makes with you this day; that he may establish you this day to himself for a people, and that he may be to you a God, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath,
Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.
But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. For finding fault with them, he said, "Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; For they didn't continue in my covenant, And I disregarded them," says the Lord. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days," says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be to them a God, And they will be to me a people. They will not teach every man his fellow citizen,{TR reads "neighbor" instead of "fellow citizen"} Every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' For all will know me, From the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more." In that he says, "A new covenant," he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.
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.