PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Books of Chronicles
Bennett, W. H. (William Henry) · 128,650 words · 176 reading sections
Chapter IV. David—III. His Official Dignity.
We see then that the monarchy rested on Divine and national election, and was guided by the will of God and of the people. Indeed, in bringing up the Ark(193) the consent of the people is the only recorded indication of the will of God. “Vox populi vox Dei.” The king and his government are supreme alike over the state …
590 wordsSECTION 62Chapter V. Solomon.
The chronicler’s history of Solomon is constructed on the same principles as that of David, and for similar reasons. The builder of the first Temple commanded the grateful reverence of a community whose national and religious life centred in the second Temple. While the Davidic king became the symbol of the hope of Isr…
672 wordsSECTION 63Chapter V. Solomon.
When the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach proposes to “praise famous men,” it dwells upon Solomon’s temple and his wealth, and especially upon his wisdom; but it does not forget his failings.(197) Josephus celebrates his glory at great length. The New Testament has comparatively few notices of Solomon; but these inclu…
790 wordsSECTION 64Chapter V. Solomon.
The other instance relates to Solomon’s alliance with Hiram, king of Tyre. In the book of Kings we are told that “Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.”(208) There were indeed redeeming features connected with the transaction; the cities were not a very valuable possession for Hiram: “they pleased hi…
724 wordsSECTION 65Chapter V. Solomon.
Afterwards Jehovah appeared again to Solomon, as He had before at Gibeon, and told him that this prayer was accepted. Taking up the several petitions that the king had offered, He promised, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I send pestilence among My people; if My people, which are called by My name, sh…
776 wordsSECTION 66Chapter VI. Solomon (continued).
Perhaps we are apt to read into Chronicles what we know from the book of Kings; yet surely this abrupt conclusion would have raised a suspicion that there were omissions, that facts had been suppressed because they could not bear the light. Upon the splendid figure of the great king, with his wealth and wisdom, his pie…
708 wordsSECTION 67Chapter VI. Solomon (continued).
Manasseh’s repentance is indicated by the restoration of the Temple ritual.(234) Josiah took away the high places, repaired the Temple, made the people enter into a covenant to observe the rediscovered Law, and, like Hezekiah, held a great passover.(235) The reforming kings, like David and Solomon, are specially inte…
700 wordsSECTION 68Chapter VI. Solomon (continued).
The personal character of the good kings is also very similar to that of David and Solomon. Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah are men of spiritual feeling as well as careful observers of correct ritual. None of the good kings, with the exception of Joash and Josiah, are unsuccessful in war; and good reasons are given f…
1,042 wordsSECTION 69Chapter VI. Solomon (continued).
By developing this contrast, the chronicler renders the position of David and Solomon even more unique, illustrious, and full of religious significance. Thus as illustrations of ideal kingship the accounts of the good kings of Judah are altogether subordinate to the history of David and Solomon. While these kings of J…
726 wordsSECTION 70Chapter VI. Solomon (continued).
But even these instances, which illustrate the union of military genius and administrative ability, remind us that the assignment of success in war to one king and a reign of peace to the next is, after all, typical. The limits of human life narrow its possibilities. Cæsar’s work had to be completed by Augustus; the gr…
690 wordsSECTION 71Chapter VI. Solomon (continued).
To complete the chronicler’s picture of the ideal king, we have to add David’s warlike prowess and Solomon’s wisdom and splendour to the piety and graces common to both. The result is unique among the many pictures that have been drawn by historians, philosophers, and poets. It has a value of its own, because the chron…
757 wordsSECTION 72Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
The type of the wicked king is not worked out with any fulness in Chronicles. There are wicked kings, but no one is raised to the “bad eminence” of an evil counterpart to David; there is no anti-David, so to speak, no prototype of antichrist. The story of Ahaz, for instance, is not given at the same length and with the…
689 wordsSECTION 73Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
The importance of the additions made by the chronicler to the history in the book of Kings will appear later on. In his account of the attack made upon Ahaz by Rezin, king of Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, he emphasises the incidents most discreditable to Ahaz. The book of Kings simply states that the two allies …
758 wordsSECTION 74Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
Moreover, a young king of Judah was subject to the evil influence of his northern neighbour. Judah was often politically subservient to Samaria, and politics and religion have always been very intimately associated. At the accession of Ahaz the throne of Samaria was filled by Pekah, whose twenty years’ tenure of author…
760 wordsSECTION 75Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
Meanwhile “the princes and all the congregation of Samaria” were waiting to welcome their victorious army, possibly in “the void place at the entering in of the gate of Samaria.” Oded’s words, at any rate, had been uttered in their presence. The army did not at once respond to the appeal; the two hundred thousand slave…
657 wordsSECTION 76Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
Such Divine goodness was thrown away upon Ahaz; there was no token of repentance, no promise of amendment; and so Jehovah sent further judgments upon the king and his unhappy people. The Edomites came and smote Judah, and carried away captives; the Philistines also invaded the cities of the lowland and of the south of …
861 wordsSECTION 77Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
Meanwhile the ministers of the Temple shared its ruin and degradation; but they could feel the assurance that Jehovah would yet recall His people to their allegiance and manifest Himself once more in the Temple. The house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi possessed their souls in patience till the final judgment of Jehova…
821 wordsSECTION 78Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
For the character of the wicked nation we are not left to the general suggestions that may be derived from the wicked king. The prophets show us that it was by no vicarious condemnation that priests and people shared the ruin of their sovereign. In their pages the subject is treated from many points of view: Israel and…
844 wordsSECTION 79Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
We have kept our sovereign waiting too long on the threshold of his kingdom; his courtiers and his people are impatient to know the character and intentions of their new master. So with every heir who succeeds to his royal inheritance. The fortunes of millions may depend upon the will of some young Czar or Kaiser; the …
671 wordsSECTION 80Chapter VII. The Wicked Kings. 2 Chron. xxviii., etc.
The next step in the history of Ahaz is also typical of many a rake’s progress. The king of Israel, in whose ways he has walked, turns upon him and plunders him; the experienced man of the world gives his pupil painful proof of his superiority, and calls in his confederates to share the spoil. Now surely the victim’s e…
656 wordsSECTION 81Chapter VIII. The Priests.
The Israelite priesthood must be held to include the Levites. Their functions and status differed from those of the house of Aaron in degree, and not in kind. They formed a hereditary caste set apart for the service of the sanctuary, and as such they shared the revenues of the Temple with the sons of Aaron. The priestl…
719 wordsSECTION 82Chapter VIII. The Priests.
The next characteristic of the priesthood is not so much in accordance with Christian theory and practice. The house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi were a Church militant in a very literal sense. In the beginning of their history the tribe of Levi earned the blessing of Jehovah by the pious zeal with which they flew to…
908 wordsSECTION 83Chapter VIII. The Priests.
When an assembly gathered for public worship at a feast or any other time, the priests and Levites expressed the devotion of the people. They performed the sacrificial rites, they blew the trumpets and played upon the psalteries, and harps, and cymbals, and sang the praises of Jehovah. The people were dismissed by the …
685 wordsSECTION 84Chapter VIII. The Priests.
The priesthood, like the Ark, the Temple, and the ritual, belonged essentially to the system of religious symbolism. This was their peculiar domain, into which no outsider might intrude. Only the Levites could touch the Ark. When the unhappy Uzzah “put forth his hand to the Ark,” “the anger of Jehovah was kindled again…
657 wordsSECTION 85Chapter VIII. The Priests.
The chronicler deals more fully with a matter in which priests and Levites were alike interested: the revenues of the Temple. He was doubtless aware of the bountiful provision made by the Law for his order, and loved to hold up this liberality of kings, princes, and people in ancient days for his contemporaries to admi…
1,307 wordsSECTION 86Chapter VIII. The Priests.
The ancient priest held a representative position in a symbolic ritual, a position partly independent of his character and spiritual powers. Where symbolic ritual is best suited for popular needs, there may be room for a similar priesthood to-day. Otherwise the Christian priesthood is required to represent the people n…
845 wordsSECTION 87Chapter IX. The Prophets.
This is only one among many illustrations of the truth that in Christ the symbolism of religion took a new departure. His Church enjoys the spiritual realities prefigured by the Jewish temple and its ministry. Even where Christian symbols are parallel to those of Judaism, they are less conventional and richer in their …
877 wordsSECTION 88Chapter IX. The Prophets.
In the account of Solomon’s reign, the chronicler omits the interview of Ahijah the Shilonite with Jeroboam, but refers to it in the history of Rehoboam. From this point, in accordance with his general plan, he omits almost all missions of prophets to the northern kings. In Rehoboam’s reign, we have recorded, as in th…
687 wordsSECTION 89Chapter IX. The Prophets.
To Ahaz in Chronicles, in spite of all his manifold and persistent idolatry, no prophet was sent. The absence of Divine warning marks his extraordinary wickedness. In the book of Samuel the culmination of Jehovah’s displeasure against Saul is shown by His refusal to answer him either by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets.…
762 wordsSECTION 90Chapter IX. The Prophets.
Before considering the general idea of the prophet that may be collected from the various notices in Chronicles, we may devote a little space to the chronicler’s curious attitude towards our canonical prophets. For the most part he simply follows the book of Kings in making no reference to them; but his almost entire s…
797 wordsSECTION 91Chapter IX. The Prophets.
The authority and status of the prophets rested on no official or material conditions, such as hedged in the priestly office on every side. Accordingly their ancestry, previous history, and social standing are matters with which the historian has no concern. If the prophet happens also to be a priest or Levite, the chr…
674 wordsSECTION 92Chapter IX. The Prophets.
In describing the prophet’s sole qualification we have also stated his function. He was the messenger of Jehovah, and declared His will. The priest in his ministrations represented Israel before God, and in a measure represented God to Israel. The rites and ceremonies over which he presided symbolised the permanent and…
902 wordsSECTION 93Chapter IX. The Prophets.
There are, however, one or two elements in the chronicler’s notices of the prophets that scarcely harmonise with this general picture. The scanty references of the books of Samuel and Kings to the “schools” and sons of the prophets have suggested the theory that the prophets were the guardians of national education, cu…
796 wordsSECTION 94Chapter IX. The Prophets.
We have seen that the modern ministry presents certain parallels to the ancient priesthood. Where are we to look for an analogue to the prophet? If the minister be, in a sense, a priest when he leads the worship of the people, is he also a prophet when he preaches to them? Preaching is intended to be—perhaps we may ven…
730 wordsSECTION 95Chapter IX. The Prophets.
In practice, if not in theory, the Churches have long since recognised that the prophetic gift is found outside any official ministry, and that they may be taught the will of God by men and women of all ranks and callings. They have provided opportunities for the free exercise of such gifts in lay preaching, missions, …
731 wordsSECTION 96Chapter IX. The Prophets.
The slight and accidental connection of the payment of ministers with their prophetic gifts is further illustrated by the free exercise of such gifts by men and women who have no ecclesiastical status and do not seek any material reward. Here again any exact adoption of ancient methods is impossible; we may accept from…
704 wordsSECTION 97Chapter IX. The Prophets.
But the chronicler’s picture of the work of the prophets has its darker side. Few were privileged to give the signal for an immediate and happy reformation. Most of the prophets were charged with messages of rebuke and condemnation, so that they were ready to cry out with Jeremiah, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast…
662 wordsSECTION 98Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
Our review and discussion of the varied references of Chronicles to the prophets brings home to us with fresh force the keen interest felt in them by the chronicler and the supreme importance he attached to their work. The reverent homage of a Levite of the second Temple centuries after the golden age of prophecy is an…
782 wordsSECTION 99Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
In ver. 5 the numbers in Chronicles differ not only from those of the older narrative, but also from the chronicler’s own statistics in chap. xxvii. In this last account the men of war are divided into twelve courses of twenty-four thousand each, making a total of two hundred and eighty-eight thousand; in the book of S…
667 wordsSECTION 100Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
In ver. 25 David pays much more dearly for Ornan’s threshing-floor than in the book of Samuel. In the latter the price is fifty shekels of silver, in the former six hundred shekels of gold. Most ingenious attempts have been made to harmonise the two statements. It has been suggested that fifty shekels of silver means s…
1,081 wordsSECTION 101Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
Benjamin was probably omitted in order to protect the Holy City, the chronicler following that form of the ancient tradition which assigned Jerusalem to Benjamin.(315) Later on,(316) however, the chronicler seems to imply that these two tribes left to the last were not numbered because of the growing dissatisfaction of…
741 wordsSECTION 102Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
When the revulsion of feeling came, it was complete. The king at once humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and made full acknowledgment of his sin and folly: “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing: but now put away, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.” T…
793 wordsSECTION 103Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
But, as he went up to the threshing-floor, he was still troubled and anxious. The burden was partly lifted from his heart, but he still craved full assurance of pardon. The menacing attitude of the destroying angel seemed to hold out little promise of mercy and forgiveness, and yet the command to sacrifice would be cru…
770 wordsSECTION 104Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
The lessons of this incident, so far as the chronicler has simply borrowed from his authority, belong to the exposition of the book of Samuel. The main features peculiar to Chronicles are the introduction of the evil angel Satan, together with the greater prominence given to the angel of Jehovah, and the express statem…
815 wordsSECTION 105Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
The ultra-Calvinism, so to speak, of earlier Israelite religion was only possible so long as its full significance was not understood. An emphatic assertion of the absolute sovereignty of the one God was necessary as a protest against polytheism, and later on against dualism as well. For practical purposes men’s faith …
793 wordsSECTION 106Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
The progress of the Jews in moral and spiritual life had given them a keener appreciation both of good and evil, and of the contrast and opposition between them. Over against the pictures of the good kings, and of the angel of the Lord, the generation of the chronicler set the complementary pictures of the wicked kings…
691 wordsSECTION 107Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
Yet herein lies one of the main lessons of the incident. Satan’s machinations are not really successful; he often attains his immediate object, but is always defeated in the end. He estranges David from Jehovah for a moment, but eventually Jehovah and His people are drawn into closer union, and their reconciliation is …
874 wordsSECTION 108Chapter X. Satan. 1 Chron. xxi.-xxii. 1.
One other lesson is suggested by the happy issues of Satan’s malign interference in the history of Israel as understood by the chronicler. The inauguration of the new altar was a direct breach of the Levitical law, and involved the superseding of the altar and tabernacle that had hitherto been the only legitimate sanct…
547 wordsSECTION 109Chapter XI. Conclusion.
In dealing with the various subjects of this book, we have reserved for separate treatment their relation to the Messianic hopes of the Jews and to the realisation of these hopes in Christ. The Messianic teaching of Chronicles is only complete when we collect and combine the noblest traits in its pictures of David and …
871 wordsSECTION 110Chapter XI. Conclusion.
Let us see how the chronicler’s history of the house of David illustrates the person and work of the Son of David, who came to restore the ancient monarchy in the spiritual kingdom of which it was the symbol. The Gospels introduce our Lord very much as the chronicler introduces David: they give us His genealogy, and pa…
735 wordsSECTION 111Chapter XI. Conclusion.
In His priesthood, as in His sacrifice, He represents us before God, and this representation is not merely technical and symbolic: in Him we find ourselves brought near to God, and our desires and aspirations are presented as petitions at the throne of the heavenly grace. But, on the other hand, in His love and righteo…
695 wordsSECTION 112Chapter XI. Conclusion.
We have seen also in Chronicles that no stress was laid on any material rewards for the prophets, and that their fidelity was sometimes recompensed with persecution and death. Like Christ Himself, they had nothing to do with priestly wealth and splendour. The silence of the chronicler to the income of these prophets ma…
862 wordsSECTION 113Chapter I. The Last Prayer Of David. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-19.
When we see how the Messianic hope of Israel was purified and ennobled to receive a fulfilment glorious beyond its wildest dreams, we are encouraged to believe that the fantastic visions of the Socialist may be divinely guided to some reasonable ideal and may prepare the way for some further manifestation of the grace …
686 wordsSECTION 114Chapter I. The Last Prayer Of David. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-19.
We are at once struck by the divergence from the usual formula: “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Moreover, when God is referred to as the God of the Patriarch personally, the usual phrase is “the God of Jacob.” The formula, “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,” occurs again in Chronicles in the account of Hezekiah’s reforma…
764 wordsSECTION 115Chapter I. The Last Prayer Of David. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-19.
But however grateful David might be for the pious and generous spirit by which his people were now possessed, he did not forget that they could only abide in that spirit by the continued enjoyment of Divine help and grace. His thanksgiving concludes with prayer. Spiritual depression is apt to follow very speedily in th…
779 wordsSECTION 116Chapter I. The Last Prayer Of David. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-19.
The chronicler here and elsewhere shows his anxiety not to perplex simple minds with unnecessary difficulties. They might be harassed and disturbed by the discovery that the king, who built the Temple and was specially endowed with Divine wisdom, had fallen into grievous sin and been visited with condign punishment. Ac…
818 wordsSECTION 117Chapter I. The Last Prayer Of David. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-19.
Prosperity and security turned the head of Rehoboam as they had done that of David: “He forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him.” “All Israel” means all the subjects of Rehoboam; the chronicler treats the ten tribes as cut off from Israel. The faithful worshippers of Jehovah in Judah had been reinforced by …
805 wordsSECTION 118Chapter I. The Last Prayer Of David. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-19.
The section(338) to which the chronicler attaches so much importance describes a striking episode in the chronic warfare between Judah and Israel. Here Israel is used, as in the older history, to mean the northern kingdom, and does not denote the spiritual Israel—_i.e._, Judah—as in the previous chapter. This perplexin…
934 wordsSECTION 119Chapter I. The Last Prayer Of David. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-19.
This speech, we are told, “has been much admired. It was well suited to its object, and exhibits correct notions of the theocratical institutions.” But, like much other admirable eloquence, in the House of Commons and elsewhere, Abijah’s speech had no effect upon those to whom it was addressed. Jeroboam apparently util…
686 wordsSECTION 120Chapter I. The Last Prayer Of David. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-19.
The lesson which the chronicler intends to teach by his narrative is obviously the importance of ritual, not the importance of ritual apart from the worship of the true God; he emphasises the presence of Jehovah with Judah, in contrast to the Israelite worship of calves and those that are no gods. The chronicler dwells…
735 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.