o The Particle, &s, being underſtood, as it oft is in the Hebrew ; 7. e. with a Royal Bounty. Or, Araunah the king ; as he might be called, either, becauſe he was King of the Jebuſites before David [took their Ciry : or,becauſe he was the Son and Heir of that King. p He not only offered, but aQtually gave them, z. e. he aQtually reſigned his right and property in them unto Davzd ; for ſo he did ; and David by his refutal returned it to Araunah again. q He was a 'Febuſite by Nation, bur an hearty Proſelyte ; which made him ſo liberal in his offers to God's ſervice, and the common good of God's People.
24 And the king ſaid unto Araunah, Nay, but I will ſurely buy zr of thee ar a price : neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the LORD my God, of that which doth coſt me nothing r. So David bought the threſhing floor, and the oxen, for fifty ſhekels of ſilver /.
r For this would be both diſhonovrable to God, as ifI thought him not worthy of a coſtly Sacrifice : and a diſparagement 'to my elf, as if I were unable and unwilling to offer a Sacrifice of my
own Goods: and unſatisfafory ro the Command of God, which obligeth all offenders. and me in a particular manner, to offer Sa- cifice of their own Eſtate. f Obje#, In 1 Chron. 21. 25. he is ſaid to give for the place "fs hundred ſhekels of gold by weight. Anſw. Theſe two places may be fairly reconciled divers ways. Firit, Here he ſpeaks of the price paid for the threſhing-floor, and oxen, and Inſtru- ments; and there for the whole place adjoyning, on which the Temple and its Courts were built, which certainly was very much larger than this Threſhing-floor, and probably had Araunah's Houſe, if not ſome others, now builr upon it. Secondly, The Shekels here may be of Gold ; and in 1 Chron.21. of Silver; and fo the proportion of Gold to Silver being that of twelve to one, 50 Shekels of Gold make 600 Shekels of Silver. And whereas it may be objetted, Thar on the contrary theſe 50 Shekels are ſaid to be of Silver, and the 600 of Gold . this they anſwer by another Tranſiation of the words. For they render this place, agreeably enough to the words and the order of the Hebrew Text, he bought them for ſilver, ( or, for mmey, as the Hebrew word Cheſeph, oft ſignifies, and particularly in this very Hiftory in the parallel p'ace, i Chron. 21. 24. Where David deſires to buy it, for the full price, or for full money, where in the Hebrew it is for full ſilver : ) even for fifty ſhekels, ro wit, of Gold, as it is expreſſed 1 Chron, 21. 25- 44 BEN place they render thus, and that conſonantly ro the Hebrew, he gave ſhekels ef gold of the value ( for the Hebrew word Miſbk, ſignifies value as well as weight, as was before noted on 2 Sam. 12» 30. ) of ſix hundred ſhekels, to wit, of Silver. And this may ſeem added in the Bookof the Chronicles, leſt it ſhould be thought that the 50 Shekels here mentioned were bur common and filver Shekels. Thirdly, There 1s a conſiderable difference in the Phraſe in theſe two places, Here he mentions tor what David bought it, or what he was obliged to give fort ; and in Chronicles what he a&tually gave for it, to wat, of his Royal bounty, over and beſides rhe full price
of it ; which was decent and convenient for ſo great a King, and a. Eſpecially
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eſpecially upon ſo great an occaſion, and to him who had given him ſuch a noble example.
25 And David built there an altar unto the LORD +, and offered burnt-offerings «, and peace-offerings*: ſo the LOR D was intreated for the land y, and the
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£ Which he might well do,having God's command for it, and the place being SanQified by God's ſpecial preſence in'and by the Angel. - v To make atonement for his fins. x To praiſe God for his Gracious manifeſtation of himſelf. y As appeared both by fire from Heaven, which confumed the Sacrifices.as was uſual in fuch
| caſes : and by the ſpeedy cellation of the Plague: | ed from Ifrael. | | plague was ſtyed |
The ARGUMEN T.
Heſe te Books called of the Kings, becauſe they treat of the Kirigs of Judali and HHrael,were written by the Prophet, 'T cr Holy Men of God, living in or near their ſeveral times, and by ſome one of them digeſted into this order, But whoſoever was the Penman, that theſe are a part of ghefe Holy Scriptures which were Divinely inſpired, is ſufficiently evi- dent, Firſt, From the concurring Teſtimony of the whole Jewiſh Church in all Ages, to whom were committed the Oracles of God, Rom. 3.2. who alſo did faithfully diſcharge their duty in preſerving and delivering them entirely and truly to their poſterity from time t0 time, as plainly appears, becauſe Chrift and his Apoſtles who, reproved them freely for their feveral fins, never taxed them with this fault, of deprawing the Holy Scriptures of the Old Teſtament. Secondly, Be- cauſe this is manifeſt concerning divers parcels of them which were taken out of the Records of the Prophets Nathan, Ahi- jah and Iddo, 2 Chron. 9. 29. and out of the Propheſies of I{aiah and Jeremiah ; aud the reft doubtleſs were of the ſame nature. Thirdly, From the approbation of theſe Books by the New Teſtament, both generally, as 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is given by Inſpiration from God, &c. which 3s affirmed concerning all thoſe Holy Scriptures which Timo- thy had known from a child, wer. 15. and therefore muſt nece([arily be meant of all the Books of the Old Teſtament, which the Jews owned for Canonical Scripture ; and particularly Rom. 11. 2, 3, &'c. where @ paſcage out of theſe Books
L KINGS |
7s quoted and owned as a part of the Holy Scripture, called the Scripture by way of eminency.
GCHAF £
"Abiſhag cheriſheth David in his extream Age, 1,anm— 4, Adonijah uſur- peth the Kingdom, «= 10. by the Counſel of Nathan to Bathſbebs, gnd their Petition to David, he reneweth his Oath of making Solomon King after him, 11 31. He, by David's appointment, is anointed King, the People Triumph, 32 ——40. Adonijah hearing ths, his GueSts fly, and himſelf flieth to the horns of the Altar : is pardoned by Solomon, and ſent to his own Houſe, 2153.