In 7" read nis? ov''^ ' for 30 cubits,' in place of ' for 10 cubits.'
■J21-S7 ig JQ a ygry disordered condition, and but little help in reconstruction can be obtained from the Versions. Stade's rearrangement and emen- dation is well worthy of notice. He distinguishes between two parts of the carriages of the lavers : the n;i;D the movable base 4 cubits in height, mounted upon wheels of IJ cubits in diameter, and the ]2-7:iizp the pedestal, 1^ cubits high, fitted on to the top of the rijiaa and containing the socket in which the laver was placed.
7**-" is substantially correct as it stands in MT (read niTpri ' the pots,' in v.'"'* after LXX, Vulg., in place of n'n'j.T ' the lavers').
-46-81 jg somewhat disordered. The w. "'"•'•, which describe, or rather summarize, the making of qolden vessels by 5iram, are to be regarded as a later gloss. The remainder should take the following order : v." (emending the first half verse, after LXX B, n^xri D^sn-'ja-nx nyn -yj^ nynjV SiBf!? J'H i.xp iNO 31? ' There was no weight to the brass wherewith he made all these vessels, because it was exceeding much'), v.'", v.*** (emending, with LXX, Luc, 'e njn ' and S. placed,' instead of '» iryn 'and S. made'), v.".
8'"", the dedication of the temple, is an old narrative revised by later hands under the influence of P. In LXX vv.''° appear in a much shorter form, which shows no trace of abridgment, and certainly presents substantially the original account as it left the hand of R".
The phrases of P to be noticed are — v.i 'all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers ' ; v.-^b the distinction between the priests and the Levites (contrast in the original account VV.8- 6. 10. 11 where the priests alone are mentioned) ; v.5 nn;^ Sn"!^^ ' the congregation of Israel,* and the verb 0'"ij,'i:n • that were assembled,* used in a ceremonial connexion. Beside these we find, in LXX as in MT, v.-i« the phrase nyiD S,ix ' the tent of meeting,* mainly characteristic of P, and perhaps here sub- •tituted for an original Snxn 'the tent* (cf. ch 139) ; v.6 ciip
•n!Bn i;?j; nf'oq nir^ny D"!,'3-i(< 'forty and five, fifteen In a row,* can lefer only to O'ltsHJ ' the pillars,* and not, as EV, to BJ'S'^n (fern.).
D*i;*7(?n ' the most holy place '(cf. above on 616) ; and vv.8- 10 E*"i,?g ' the holy place,* i.e. the outer room of the temple, called ^p'rtp In on. 33 7'2l. The hand of Rd may be seen in the phrase 'ark of tlie covenant of J" * vv.i- fl, in v.»b (gee above, d(ile\ and probably in v.*b.
The two vv.|'" are found in LXX (nfUr the section w.^'^'Jin a fuller form than in MT, wliich, as is shown by Wellhausen (Composition, p. 271), presupposes, after the correction of a few transla- tor's errors, a text substantially superior to MT. The addition at the close, which points to an origi- nal text, ' is it not written in the Book of the iff right,' must also be regarded as genuine.
gH-M presents throughout clear indications that it owes its present form to Rn {phrases, Nos. 2, 3, 6-8, 11-26, 28, 50, 60-62, 64, 65). The final por- tion (vv.'*-®") may perhaps exhibit an older narra- tive into which Beuteronomic additions have been incorporated, but the remainder, and especially the central prayer of dedication, has been so thoroughly amplified by the editor that it is im- possible to discover any older kernel upon which he may have based his work. The choice of subjects in the successive divisions of the prayer seems for the most part to have been suggested by the cata- logue of curses contained in Dt 28"''''°; — cf. v." ' When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy,' with Dt 28-° ; v.** ' When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain,' with 28''"'-^; v." ' pestilence,' with 28-' ; ' blasting, mildew,' with 28--; 'locust, caterpillar,' with 28»«-°''-«; 'if the enemy besiege,' etc., with 28''"°'* (especially v."*) ; ' whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness,' with 28-2- -•'• "■ ^^■^\; v.-iii ' If they sin against thee . . . and thou deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them captive,' etc., A\'ith 28^"- "• "-^.
The division of the prayer w.*8-i9, which brings forward the possibiUty of a general captivity of Israel in punishment for sins, is considered by Wellhausen (Composition, p. 270), Stade (Geschichte, i. p. 74), Kamphausen (in Kautzsch, Die Heilige Schri/t) to be marked by its contents as not earlier than tiie Exile, and therefore later than Ru." Against this view may justly be cited the va^eness of the terms of v.« * so that they carry them away captive unto the land of the enemy, far off or near,' and the fact that the WTiter (v.-^S) appears to regard the temple as still standing during the period of the Exile : ' and pray unto thee towards their land . . . the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name * But the chief argument for the pre-exilic date of the passage is to be derived from comparison of Dt 2S, which, as has been noticed, forms to some extent the model of the prayer. Tbia ch. 28 is regarded by all critics as being, if not an integral por- tion of D (clis. &-26),t at least closely akin to D in stand- point and date, and thus certainly pre-exilic. Yet, notwith- standing, vv.*J- 37. &4JK threaten a captivity of the nation in lan- guage decidedly more definite than that of the passage of the prayer which has been called in question. We may therefore be content to regard these verees as containing nothing necessarily opposed to the supposition of a pre-exilic authorship, and so, as of one piece with the whole, vv.^a-w.j