ions as this great Work requires. Of Solomons Age, ice 1 King:3:7, & Then he called forgolomon his Son, and charged him to build an houſe for the LORD God of Iſrael. >. 57 And Did faid to Solomon, My Son, as for me, 2 SaB * je was in my mind to build aa houſe F unto the name —<ofP1 of the LORD my God. | 6: 17: 8 'But the word of che LORD came to me, ſaying,
that Care,and Contideration,and Diligencee in making ſuch Provie-
1ch:28:3. * Thor haſt ſhed biood abundantly, and haft made WS05:5:3- reat Wars 3 thou ſhalt nor build an houſs unto my |
mentions 7wo talents of Geld 5 which plainly ſhews that in his Tims which was after the Building of this Temple ) Talents of Gold were very far inferiour in quantity and price to what they had been in former Ages. And Joſephus a Jew, and therefore rhe more compe- rent judge of tlreſe things, ſpeaking of this very thing for 10-009 Talents of G1ld hexe mentioned, he puts 10050, and for 1000090 Talents of Silver he puts 100000 ; either becauſe the Talents in Moſes his time were of ten times more bulk-and price than in D4- vids and Svlomons time,and therefore thete Tajents reduced to them amounted to no greater Sum; or becauſe he read to in his Copy of the Hebrew Bible. And certainly it is infinitely more tolerable,and reaſonable to ſuppole, that there is a mittake here in the generality of the preſent Copies of the Hebrew B ble, through the Errour ot
| the Scribe, (which being only in a Numcral and Hiſtorical Paſſage,
night happen without Impeachment to th-Care OR ET OVLOeSnn which
"Lin Jy 39 (i, ;8
[ Nam þ 4
nt ts, able,
am.7, 1 Kin; Chey,
131
r,in my 10.
vVer;h
which hath ſo miraculouſly preſerved all the moſt Importane and | rhong the ſons of Levi, namely, Gerſhon, Kohath, ang 3, 3
Ji
— ————
LL. CHER
Subſtantial parts of Scripture,as hath been formerly ſaid) than upon
ſuch pretences to deny the Truth and Divine Original and Autho-
riry of the Holy Scriptures. Add to this, that all the Gold then uſed
was not of equal worth and purity; as appears borh by the ſpecial Commendation given to ſome ſorts ofGold in divers parts of Scrip-
ture, and particularly by the difference obſerved in this very Hi-
ſtory between the Gold and &old which David gave for this uſe ; whereof one little part being diſtin&ively called pure Gold and re-
fined Gold, 1 Chron:28:17,18- it is ſufficiently implied;that all the reſt
of the Gold was not refined nor pure, which might greatly diminiſh
the worth of it;for in what degree it was impure or allayed with
other things in thoſe Times and Places we cannot know art this Di-
ſtance : and therefore we cannot make a true Eſtimate what thoſe Talents of Gold did amount to in our Value. p Juſt as much in
Siver as in Gold; for this is known and agreed, that the Proportion
of Gold to Silver in Ten to One. :
15 Moreover, there are workmen with thee in
iThat is, abundance, hewers,and || workers of ſtone and timber, um d and all manner of cunaing men for every manner of omen work. 16 Of the gold,the ſilver and the braſs,and the iron,
there is no number. Arile therefore, and be doing q,and
the LORD be wittrthee. q To wit, when thou ſhalt come to the Throne in my ſread. 17 David alſo commanded all the princes of Itrael to help Solomon his Son, ſaying, | 18 Is not the LORD your God with you ? and hath he mt given you reſt on every fide ? for he hath given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand, and
the land is ſubdued betore the LORD, and before his people r.
r Either 1. Tt is brought under the command of God and of you his people,all the enemies of God and of I/rael,in it or near it,being now perfectly ſubdued. Or, 2, Ir is really ſu>dued, whereof both God and your own Eyes are witneſſes,
19 Now ſet your heart and your ſoul to ſeek the LORD your God : ariſe therefore, and build ye rhe ſanRuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the ho'y veiſels of God, into the houſe that is to be built to the name of the
LORD. CH AP. XXIIL David maketh Solomon king, 1. The number and diſtribution of the Levites, according to their families, 2——23. Their Office, 24 32. O when DaviJ was old and fuli of days, he made
* Solomon his ſon king over 1fſrael 4. "Kingi, # Not that he did reſign the Kingdom to him, bur that he decla- 39. red his mind concerning is Succeſſion into the Throne after his (38.5, death. As David himſeif is called King. 1 Sam: 16: 1. becauſe he was appointed and ancinted to be King after Seuls death, though
till then he was only a Subject. : 2 And he gathered together all the princes of Iſrael,
with the Prieſts and the Levites 6.
b Partly to declare Gods Mind and his own Will, that Solomon ſhould be his Succeſſor ; and ſo to cut off the claims and pretences which others of his Sons might make ro the Crown : and partly to acquaint them with thoſe Directions which he had received trom God by the Spirit, as appears from ch. 28: 11, &s. concerning the Eſtabliſhment of a new order and method in the Minuttration of the Prieſts and Levites in the Temple.
3 Now the Levites were numbred from the age of
'Nanb, * chicty years and upward c : and their numbers by
6+ their polis,” man by man, was thirty and eight chou- ſand.
c Not only till fifty, as it was appointed, Mumb:4:2,3. but even till their death : For that was bur a Temporary Law grounded upon a ſpecial reaſon, becauſe the Levites were employed 1n carrying the Tabernacle and vacred veſlels from place to pace 3 and therefore God would have them fred from rhoſe burdens when they came to feel the infirmities of Age: which R-aſon wholly ceafing upon the Building of the Temple-and their work veing far catier than it had been, and their Service being more a privilege than a Burden,their time of Service is juſtly and firly prolonged.
I), 4 Of which, cwenty and tour thouſand were || to ſet | wi. forward the work of the houſe of the LORD 4 : and liz
$2 thouſand were * officers and judges e.