2 and David saith to all the assembly of Israel, `If unto you it be good, and from Jehovah our God it hath broken forth -- we send unto our brethren, those left in all the lands of Israel, and with them the priests and the Levites, in the cities of their suburbs, and they are gathered unto us,
`This `is' the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, the holy of holies: that Aaron and his sons have come in, in the journeying of the camp, and have taken down the vail of the hanging, and have covered with it the ark of the testimony; and have put on it a covering of badger skin, and have spread a garment completely of blue above, and have placed its staves. `And on the table of the presence they spread a garment of blue, and have put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the libation, and the bread of continuity is on it, and they have spread over them a garment of scarlet, and have covered it with a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves, and have taken a garment of blue, and have covered the candlestick of the lamp, and its lights, and its snuffers, and its snuff-dishes, and all its oil vessels wherewith they minister to it; and they have put it and all its vessels unto a covering of badger skin, and have put `it' on the bar. `And on the golden altar they spread a garment of blue, and have covered it with a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves; and have taken all the vessels of ministry wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and have put `them' unto a garment of blue, and have covered them with a covering of badger skin, and have put `them' on the bar, and have removed the ashes of the altar, and have spread over it a garment of purple; and have put on it all its vessels wherewith they minister about it, the censers, the hooks, and the shovels, and the bowls, all the vessels of the altar, and have spread on it a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves: `And Aaron hath finished -- his sons also -- covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, in the journeying of the camp, and afterwards do the sons of Kohath come in to bear `it', and they do not come unto the holy thing, that they have died; these `things are' the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting. `And the oversight of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, `is' the oil of the lamp, and the spice-perfume, and the present of continuity, and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that `is' in it, in the sanctuary, and in its vessels.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, `Ye do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathite from the midst of the Levites; but this do to them, and they have lived, and do not die in their drawing nigh the holy of holies: -- Aaron and his sons go in, and have set them, each man to his service, and unto his burden, and they go not in to see when the holy thing is swallowed, that they have died.'
`Command the sons of Israel, and they have given to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to inhabit; also a suburb for the cities round about them ye do give to the Levites. And the cities have been to them to inhabit, and their suburbs are for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts. `And the suburbs of the cities which ye give to the Levites `are', from the wall of the city and without, a thousand cubits round about. And ye have measured from the outside of the city, the east quarter, two thousand by the cubit, and the south quarter, two thousand by the cubit, and the west quarter, two thousand by the cubit, and the north quarter, two thousand by the cubit; and the city `is' in the midst; this is to them the suburbs of the cities. `And the cities which ye give to the Levites `are' the six cities of refuge, which ye give for the fleeing thither of the man-slayer, and besides them ye give forty and two cities; all the cities which ye give to the Levites `are' forty and eight cities, them and their suburbs. And the cities which ye give `are' of the possession of the sons of Israel, from the many ye multiply, and from the few ye diminish; each, according to his inheritance which they inherit, doth give of his cities to the Levites.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,
that the king saith unto Nathan the prophet, `See, I pray thee, I am dwelling in a house of cedars, and the ark of God is dwelling in the midst of the curtain.' And Nathan saith unto the king, `All that `is' in thine heart -- go, do, for Jehovah `is' with thee.' And it cometh to pass in that night, that the word of Jehovah is unto Nathan, saying, `Go, and thou hast said unto My servant, unto David, Thus said Jehovah, Dost thou build for Me a house for My dwelling in?
And these `are' their dwellings, throughout their towers, in their borders, of the sons of Aaron, of the family of the Kohathite, for theirs was the lot; and they give to them Hebron in the land of Judah and its suburbs round about it; and the field of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh. And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron, and Libnah and its suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa and its suburbs, and Hilen and its suburbs, Debir and its suburbs, and Ashan and its suburbs, and Beth-Shemesh and its suburbs. And from the tribe of Benjamin, Geba and its suburbs, and Allemeth and its suburbs, and Anathoth and its suburbs. All their cities `are' thirteen cities, for their families. And to the sons of Kohath, those left of the family of the tribe, from the half of the tribe, the half of Manasseh, by lot, `are' ten cities. And to the sons of Gershom, for their families, from the tribe of Issachar, and from the tribe of Asher, and from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. To the sons of Merari, for their families, from the tribe of Reuben, and from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun, by lot, twelve cities. And the sons of Israel give to the Levites the cities and their suburbs. And they give by lot from the tribe of the sons of Judah, and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon, and from the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, these cities which they call by name; and some of the families of the sons of Kohath have cities of their border from the tribe of Ephraim; and they give to them the cities of refuge, Shechem and its suburbs in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Gezer and its suburbs, and Jokmeam and its suburbs, and Beth-Horan and its suburbs, and Aijalon and its suburbs, and Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs; and from the half tribe of Manasseh, Aner and its suburbs, and Bileam and its suburbs, for the family of the sons of Kohath who are left. To the sons of Gershom from the family of the half of the tribe of Manasseh `are' Golan in Bashan and its suburbs, and Ashtaroth and its suburbs; and from the tribe of Issachar; Kedesh and its suburbs, Daberath and its suburbs, and Ramoth and its suburbs, and Anem and its suburbs; and from the tribe of Asher; Mashal and its suburbs, and Abdon and its suburbs, and Hukok and its suburbs, and Rehob and its suburbs; and from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee and its suburbs, and Hammon and its suburbs, and Kirjathaim and its suburbs. To the sons of Merari who are left, from the tribe of Zebulun, `are' Rimmon and its suburbs, Tabor and its suburbs; and from beyond the Jordan by Jericho, at the east of the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the wilderness and its suburbs, and Jahzah and its suburbs, and Kedemoth and its suburbs, and Mephaath and its suburbs; and from the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead and its suburbs, and Mahanaim and its suburbs, and Heshbon and its suburbs, and Jazer and its suburbs.
Then said David, `None `are' to carry the ark of God, except the Levites, for on them hath Jehovah fixed to carry the ark of God, and to serve Him -- unto the age.' And David assembleth all Israel unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Jehovah unto its place that he had prepared for it. And David gathereth the sons of Aaron, and the Levites. Of sons of Kohath: Uriel the chief, and his brethren, a hundred and twenty. Of sons of Merari: Asaiah the chief, and his brethren, two hundred and twenty. Of sons of Gershom: Joel the chief, and his brethren, a hundred and thirty. Of sons of Elizaphan: Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren, two hundred. Of sons of Hebron: Eliel the chief, and his brethren, eighty. Of sons of Uzziel: Amminadab the chief, and his brethren, a hundred and twelve. And David calleth to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, and to the Levites, to Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, and saith to them, `Ye `are' heads of the fathers of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, ye and your brethren, and ye have brought up the ark of Jehovah, God of Israel, unto `the place' I have prepared for it; because at the first `it was' not ye, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, because we sought Him not according to the ordinance.' And the priests and the Levites sanctify themselves, to bring up the ark of Jehovah, God of Israel;
And he saith to the people, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to give the portion of the priests, and of the Levites, so that they are strengthened in the law of Jehovah; and at the spreading forth of the thing have the sons of Israel multiplied the first-fruit of corn, new wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field, and the tithe of the whole in abundance they have brought in. And the sons of Israel and Judah, those dwelling in cities of Judah, they also a tithe of herd and flock, and a tithe of the holy things that are sanctified to Jehovah their God, have brought in, and they give -- heaps, heaps; in the third month they have begun to lay the foundation of the heaps, and in the seventh month they have finished. And Hezekiah and the heads come in and see the heaps, and bless Jehovah and His people Israel, and Hezekiah inquireth at the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps, and Azariah the head priest, of the house of Zadok, speaketh unto him, and saith, `From the beginning of the bringing of the heave-offering to the house of Jehovah, `there is' to eat, and to be satisfied, and to leave abundantly, for Jehovah hath blessed His people, and that left `is' this store.' And Hezekiah saith to prepare chambers in the house of Jehovah, and they prepare, and they bring in the heave-offering, and the tithe, and the holy things faithfully; and over them is a leader, Conaniah the Levite, and Shimei his brother `is' second; and Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, `are' inspectors under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah leader of the house of God. And Kore son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper at the east, `is' over the willing-offerings of God, to give the heave-offering of Jehovah, and the most holy things. And by his hand `are' Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shechaniah, in cities of the priests, faithfully to give to their brethren in courses, as the great so the small, apart from their genealogy, to males from a son of three years and upward, to every one who hath gone in to the house of Jehovah, by the matter of a day in its day, for their service in their charges, according to their courses; and the genealogy of the priests by the house of their fathers, and of the Levites, from a son of twenty years and upward, in their charges, in their courses; and to the genealogy among all their infants, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters to all the congregation, for in their faithfulness they sanctify themselves in holiness. And to sons of Aaron, the priests, in the fields of the suburb of their cities, in every city and city, `are' men who have been defined by name, to give portions to every male among the priests, and to every one who reckoned himself by genealogy among the Levites. And Hezekiah doth thus in all Judah, and doth that which is good, and that which is right, and that which is true, before Jehovah his God; and in every work that he hath begun for the service of the house of God, and for the law, and for the command, to seek to his God, with all his heart he hath wrought and prospered.
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.