4 and these `are' the names of the children whom he hath in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon,
And these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon -- four, of Bath-Sheba daughter of Ammiel: also Ibhar, and Elishama, and Eliphelet, and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. All `are' sons of David, apart from sons of the concubines, and Tamar their sister.
And David comforteth Bath-Sheba his wife, and goeth in unto her, and lieth with her, and she beareth a son, and he calleth his name Solomon; and Jehovah hath loved him, and sendeth by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and calleth his name Jedidiah, because of Jehovah.
In Gibeon hath Jehovah appeared unto Solomon, in a dream of the night, and God saith, `Ask -- what do I give to thee?' And Solomon saith, `Thou hast done with Thy servant David my father great kindness, as he walked before Thee in truth and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with Thee, and Thou dost keep for him this great kindness, and dost give to him a son sitting on his throne, as `at' this day. And now, O Jehovah my God, Thou hast caused thy servant to reign instead of David my father; and I `am' a little child, I do not know to go out and to come in; and Thy servant `is' in the midst of thy people, whom Thou hast chosen, a people numerous, that is not numbered nor counted for multitude, and Thou hast given to Thy servant an understanding heart, to judge Thy people, to discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this Thy great people?' And the thing is good in the eyes of the Lord, that Solomon hath asked this thing, and God saith unto him, `Because that thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thee many days, nor asked for thee riches, nor asked the life of thine enemies, and hast asked for thee discernment to understand judgment,
`Lo, a son is born to thee; he is a man of rest, and I have given rest to him from all his enemies round about, for Solomon is his name, and peace and quietness I give unto Israel in his days; he doth build a house to My name, and he is to Me for a son, and I `am' to him for a father, and I have established the throne of his kingdom over Israel unto the age. `Now, my son, Jehovah is with thee, and thou hast prospered, and hast built the house of Jehovah thy God, as He spake concerning thee. Only, Jehovah give to thee wisdom and understanding, and charge thee concerning Israel, even to keep the law of Jehovah thy God;
and out of all my sons -- for many sons hath Jehovah given to me -- He also fixeth on Solomon my son, to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Jehovah over Israel, and saith to me, Solomon thy son, he doth build My house, and My courts, for I have fixed on him to Me for a son, and I -- I am to him for a father,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 14
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 14 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
David's palace-building, wives and children , 1 Chronicles 14:1-7; cf. 2 Samuel 5:11-16. Two victories over the Philistines , 1 Chronicles 14:8-17; cf. 2 Samuel 5:17-25. - The position in which the narrative of these events stands, between the removal of the ark from Kirjath-jearim and its being brought to Jerusalem, is not to be supposed to indicate that they happened in the interval of three months, curing which the ark was left in the house of Obed-edom. The explanation of it rather is, that the author of our Chronicle, for the reasons given in page 170, desired to represent David's design to bring the ark into the capital city of his kingdom as his first undertaking after he had won Jerusalem, and was consequently compelled to bring in the events of our chapter at a later period, and for that purpose this interval of three months seemed to offer him the fittest opportunity. The whole contents of our chapter have already been commented upon in 2 Samuel 5:1, so that we need not here do more than refer to a few subordinate points.
Instead of נשּׂא כּי , that He (Jahve) had lifted up ( נשּׂא , perf. Pi.), as in 2 Samuel 5:12, in the Chronicle we read למעלה נשּׂאת כּי , that his kingdom had been lifted up on high. The unusual form נשּׂאת may be, according to the context, the third pers. fem. perf. Niph., nisaa't having first been changed into נשּׂאת , and thus contracted into נשּׂאת ; cf. Ew. §194, b. In 2 Samuel 19:43 the same form is the infin. abs. Niph. למעלה is here, as frequently in the Chronicles, used to intensify the expression: cf. 1 Chronicles 22:5; 1 Chronicles 23:17; 1 Chronicles 29:3, 1 Chronicles 29:25; 2 Chronicles 1:1; 2 Chronicles 17:12. With regard to the sons of David, see on 1 Chronicles 3:5-8.
In the account of the victories over the Philistines, the statement (2 Samuel 5:17) that David went down to the mountain-hold, which has no important connection with the main fact, and would have been for the readers of the Chronicle somewhat obscure, is exchanged in 1 Chronicles 14:8 for the more general expression לפניהם ויּצא , “he went forth against them.” In 1 Chronicles 14:14, the divine answer to David's question, whether he should march against the Philistines, runs thus: מעליהם הסב אחריהם תּעלה לא , Thou shalt not go up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the baca-bushes; - while in 2 Samuel 5:23, on the contrary, we read: אל־אחריהם הסב תעלה הסב אל־א לע , Thou shalt not go up (i.e., advance against the enemy to attack them in front); turn thee behind them (i.e., to their rear), and come upon them over against the baca-bushes. Bertheau endeavours to get rid of the discrepancy, by supposing that into both texts corruptions have crept through transcribers' errors. He conjectures that the text of Samuel was originally אחריהם תּעלה לא , while in the Chronicle a transposition of the words עליהם and אחריהם was occasioned by a copyist's error, which in turn resulted in the alteration of עליהם into מעליהם . This supposition, however, stands or falls with the presumption that by תּעלה לא (Sam.) an attack is forbidden; but for that presumption no tenable grounds exist: it would rather involve a contradiction between the first part of the divine answer and the second. The last clause, “Come upon them from over against the baca-bushes,” shows that the attack was not forbidden; all that was forbidden was the making of the attack by advancing straight forward: instead of that, they were to try to fall upon them in the rear, by making a circuit. The chronicler consequently gives us an explanation of the ambiguous words of 2 Samuel, which might easily be misunderstood. As David's question was doubtless expressed as it is in 1 Chronicles 14:10, הפל על האעלה , the answer תּעלה לא might be understood to mean, “Go not up against them, attack them not, but go away behind them;” but with that the following וגו להם וּבאת , “Come upon them from the baca-bushes,” did not seem to harmonize. The chronicler consequently explains the first clauses of the answer thus: “Go not up straight behind them,” i.e., advance not against them so as to attack them openly, “but turn thyself away from them,” i.e., strike off in such a direction as to turn their flank, and come upon them from the front of the baca-bushes. In this way the apparently contradictory texts are reconciled without the alteration of a word. In 1 Chronicles 14:17, which is wanting in Samuel, the author concludes the account of these victories by the remark that they tended greatly to exalt the name of David among the nations. For similar reflections, cf. 2 Chronicles 17:10; 2 Chronicles 20:29; 2 Chronicles 14:13; and for שׁם ויּצא , 2 Chronicles 26:15.