EXPOSITION. the occasion when he was being mnde king CHAPTER XII. of the whole people. Thus tbo chl\ptcr This chapter is relrospcotive, and the would divide really into four po.rts, to which contents of it are not found elsewhere. It the following sections will be fonnd suffi- is occupied, first (vers. 1-22), with the cieutly to nnswer: viz. vers. l-7; 8-18; names and some o.ccounts of those who ho.d 19-22 ; 23-40. come to the bel p of Da viJ in three great Ver. 1.-To Ziklag, The oocnsion reforred crises in time pa.at, to join them~el ves to to is evidently that recorded in 1 Sam. xxvii. him and his cause. And afterwards (vers. 1, 2, 6, 7; xxx. 1, 26; nncl genomlly iu 23-40), with o.n enumcmtion of thoso those and the intermediate chupters. David stayeu nt Ziklug o. year o.llll four months, representatives from the tribes who came a period which closed for him with the death (eh. xi. 1, 3) to support the proceedings of of Suul. Ziklag, in Joshua's original nllu:- li4 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [en. xrr. 1-40
mcnt ,ms the possession of Simeon (Josh. to Benjamin (eh. xi. 28; Josh. xxi. 18; xix. 5). It was situated south of Judah, 1 Kings ii. 26; Jer. i. l; xxix. 27). and came into the hands of Judah when Ver. 4.-Among the thirty, and over the Achish made it a gift to David for a resi- thirty. Yet the name of Ismaiah does not dence (l Sam. xxvii. 5-7). The site of it appear in the list of the preceding chapter, has not been identified in later times. It nor iu its piirallel; nor is it possible to 'l\"itnessed one of the narrowest and most identify it with any that does appear there. remarkable of the escapes of David, 011 an The suggested explanation is that he was occasion which brought danger, not so much in the first edition of that list, and died from a0knowledged foes, as from the mad- early. The expression," among the thirty, dened grief and despair of his own friends and over the thirty,'' may possibly mean and penple (1 Sam. x=. 3-6). The whole that, from diRtinction as one of them, he was scene of the broken-hearted grief of David promoted above them to be leader of them. and his people, when, on discov:ering the J'osabad the Gederathite. The name should successfnl raid of the Amalek1tes upon be spelt J ozabad. The Gederah here sug- Ziklag, "they lifted up their voice an~ gested cannot to all appearanoe be that of wept, until they had no more power to weep, Josh. xv. 36, in the Shephelah of Judah, is one of the most dramatic on record. The as Jozabad was a Beojamite. If otherwise, rapid reverse to good fortune, when David it must be supposed to have come in some turns away their heedless anger ~gainst way into the possession of Benjamin. himself and proposal to stone him, by pursuing and ?vercoll:1ing the ene~y, and Ver. 5.-Jerimoth. This name is found reeoverino- their captives and their goods also among Ilenjamites (eh.vii. 8). Bealiah. near the brook Besor, completes the effec- This name comprises both the word Baal, tiveness of the soene. The middle voice and Jah I Haruphite. The Masoretic word form of expression in this verse, kept him- is •o•-:,;:i;i (Neh. vii. 34). The sons of Hariph self close, means to say that David was, by (Neh. 'vii. 24) may have belonged to the fear of Saul and by force of his enemies, trihe of Benjamin. more or less hemmed up in Ziklag. Ver. 6.-J'ashobeam. Possibly the same Ver. 2.-0f Saul's brethren of Benjamin. with him of eh. xi. 11 ; :u:vii. 2. Xorhites. It wonld be better to read these words as the Some authorities are as positive that this commencement of the next verse. Promi- name desi!!1lates Levitic Korahites, as others nence is given to the fact that this set of are scepti~l about it. Bertheau explains helpers of David, counting in all twenty- the name as meaning descendants of Korab three, comprised Benjamites-men of the of Judah (eh. ii. 43). Others surmise that so.me tribe with Saul (ver. 29). They had a Benjamite Korab, otherwise unknown to seen and been impressed by the wrongness us, is pointed to. There doe~ not seem any and cruelty of Saul, and found themselves intrinsic difficulty in supposrng that these unable to keep in sympathy with him. Of were some of the Levite Korahites, whose such were Eleazar, llai, and lthai, men- proper and allotted abode was in Benjamin. tioned in the preceding chapter (xL 12, or perhaps in Judah. 29, 31, respectively). The Benjamites were Ver. 7.-0f Gedor. The place apparently noted botL for their use of the bow, and of here spoken of (yet see oh. viii. 31 ; ix. 3?) their own left hand (Judg. iii. 15, 21; :u:. is unknown, and it is to be observed that m 15, 16; eh. viii. 39, 40; 2 Chron. xiv. 8). the Hebrew the article precedes the word (,\,J;i). If it be the Gedor in Judah (eh. Ver. 3.-The sons of Shem.a.ah the Gibee.- thite. The Peshito-Syriac has \J~ instead of iv. 4) it is to be noted still that Jeroham is a na~e of a Denjamite (eh. viii. 27). •,::. This has the effect of making J'oash Ver. 8.-As ver. 1 is introduced by the the son of Ah.iezer, and it makes Shemaah a description of those who came together '' to third name in the list. This name has in the David to Ziklag" at a certain time, so it Hebrew the form for the article before it, seems evident that this verse introduces the and should appear in our version either as mention of certain others who befriended "Has-Shemaah," or" the Shemae.h." 'l'~e David at another time, by coming to him name, together with that of Azmav_eth, lB into the hold to the wilderneBB. These found in eh. viii. 13, 36, as belon~g ~ others were Ge.elites in part, and the hold the Benjamite tribe. The name J'eziel 1s none more likely than that of Adullam omitted in the Syria.c Version, and the two (ver. 16 of last chapter), although the word names Pelet and Berachah appear as sons of .A.ztnaveth ( eh. xi. 33; 2 Sam. xxiii. ~l, here employed (,;!??) for " hold" is a where the Baharmite means the Baharum1te, different form of the word (;i711p) found i.e. the man of Bahurim, in Benjamin). The both there and iu the paralle) (2 Sam. xx!ii. Antothite • that is, native of .A.nathoth. The 14). There is, however, nothing to nega~1ve place is n~t given in Josh. xviii.; but it ,yas the choice of other spota and occe.s1ons i. " priests' city" with "suburbs,'' belongrng (1 Sam. xxii, 5; xxiii.14, 19, 24, 29, Autho- cu. x1L 1-40.] THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. li5