The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 156

purchase prioe of the adulteress (Hos. iii. intrinsic difficulty adheres seems evidence of 2). Its derivation in the Hebrew from aver- injured manuscripts rather the.n of o.nythia"' ba I root signifying " to bristle " is in notice- else. To the rook to David. This is th~ able analogy with the Le.tin hord,eum, from right reading, 1),-,1$ ,~r:-1,V.; and the.t in h?rrec Gesenius's observation, that the the parallel pe.ssage (" to ·David in the han,est- smgular of the word given a.hove in the Hebrew marks the " ,;rowing crop," aud the time ") is not correct, 1),-,1$ i•~R-'1$· The pi ural the "grain" itself, seems hardly cor- oave of Adulle.m. Adullam, evidently 11, ple.ce robora ted by this single passage at all of gr~t antiquity(Gen. xxxviii. l, 12, 20), is ernnts. The lentile, on the other hand, was mentioned in Josh. xii. 15; xv. 35; it we.a a spec_ies of bean, and used much for soup, the seat then of a Ce.ne.anite king. It ?f wh1c~ Egyptian tomb-paintings furnish afterwards le.y in Judah, in that lowland 1llustrat10n (Gen. xxv. 29-34; 2 Sam. xvii. (called often the Shephelah) the.t re.n from 28; Ezek. iv. 9). Sonnini, in his •Travels' Joppa to Gaza, near the Mediterranean Sea. (transl_ation of Hunter, iii. 288), tells us It kept name and fe.me to the last (2 Chron. that still the Egyptian poor eat lentile-bread, xi. 7 : N eh. xi. 30). The "rock " marks the but, what is more apropos of this passage, limestone cliffs of the region (Stanley's that in making it they prefer to mix a little 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 254-259, edit. "barley" with it. This apparent discre- 1866). We ree.d of it, as David's refuge (1 pancy between the parallel accounts not only Sam .. xxii. 1, 2). From our present passage, counts in itself for very little, but may e.nd its parallel we should he.ve concluded easily be surmounted by supposing that, that it could not he.ve been far from Bethle- though it be written that the "parcel" hem. In this sense Dr. Thomson(' The Land of g;-onnd was " full of lentiles," e.nd again e.ud the Book,' pp. 606, 607) refers to the tra- "full of barley," the description may only dition that fixes the ce.ve e.t e. spot now amount to this, that such parcels were in called Khureitun, between Bethlehem e.nd close juxtaposition.. But if not, our allu- the Dead Sea., and says," Leaving our horses sion above to the possible error in the in charge of wild Axabs, e.nd taking one Are.b Hebrew words will sufficiently explain the for a guide, we started for the cave, having variation. a fearful gorge below, gigantic cliffs above, Ver. 14.-This, as well as the latter he.If e.nd the path winding along e. shelf of the of the preceding verse, belongs to the ac- rock, narrow enough to me.ke the nervous count of Shammah the He.rarite (2 Sam. among us shudder. At length from a great n:iii. 11), and in the parallel the verbs are rock, hanging on the edge of this shelf, accordingly in the singular number. In we sprang by a long lee.p into e. low window, that same pl.e.ce Shammah is called the wh_ich opened into the perpendicular fe.ce of "son of .A.gee," which probably answers to the cliff. We were then within the hold of the " Sb.age " of the present chapter (ver. David, e.nd creeping he.If-doubled through e. 34), where our ree.dmg should rather be, narrow crevice for 11, few rods, we stood ••Jone.than the son of She.=e.h the son of beneath the de.rk vault of the first grand She.ge, the Ha.rarite." The word" Hararite" chamber of this mysterious e.nd oppressive designates, e.ccording to Gesenius, "one ce.vem. Our whole collection of lights did from the hill-country," i.e. the hill-country little more than me.ke the de.mp darkness of Judah or Ephraim, and would be equiva- visible. After groping about as long e.s we lent with us to such a description e.s "the had time to spare, we returned to the light mountaineer." of de.y, fully convinced that, with David e.nd Ver. 15.-Three of the thirty. The thirty hie lion-hearted followers inside, all the here alluded to have not been mentioned strength of Israel under Se.ul could not have either in the Book of Samuel or here, except forced e.n entrance, and would not even have by implication of our ver. 11, where we attempted it." The host. For this word might imagine the sense to be, "Now these "host" (~.1~z:i) the parallel (2 Sam. xxiii. are the names of the mighty men, in number 13) has the·" life of the Philistines" (but thirty, whom David had, viz. Jaehobee.m, e.n the Authorized Version, the "troop of"), Hachmonite, the chief of the thirty." Nor are i.e. the beasts e.nd cattle of the Philistines. we told in either place who were the "three" So e.leo the Syrie.c Version translates. The here spoken of. The article is absent in Septuagint shows in this place -,,apeµffo>,:I,, both ple.ces, or it would be convenient and e.nd in Samuel -,d.-yµa. The ve.lley of Rephaim, n_atural to suppose _that the three just men- The situation of this notable valley is not tioned e.re those intended, which cannot certain. Yet there ce.n be little doubt, in however, be taken for granted. '£he Ie.ngue.g~ spite of Fiirst (' He.ndwortbuch,' ii. 383), of vere. 20-22, 25, might rather indicate who supposes e. situation north-west of that the three mentioned in those verses are Jerusalem, the.t it must be near Bethlehem, those in qu<;stion. The repeated uncerlaintv e.nd therefore south-west of the city. The in which we are left on matters to which rio word employed here for "valley" (p9J.' OH, x1. 1--47.J THE FIRST BOOK OF TIU~ CHRONICLES. 147