The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 222

little to be relied upon is known of him said th11t the Philistines went up to seek outside Scripture, but his reign is ea.id to D!l'vid, the sequel makes it evident that they have extended from B.o. 1023-990. dul not seek him as friends. And it is to Ver. 2.-Was lifted up. Tho passage in be remembered that the Philistines held Samuel reads N!\'1, the Piel conjugation. territory near Jerus11lem at this time and The present form is obscure, nN!\'1· It may to the north of it (1 Sa.m. xxxi. 7-9). ' be considered either an irregular Niphal Ver. 9.-Spread themselves. The root third pers. fem. ; or Niphe.l infin. absolute l:l~~ appears here for the i,;i} of the parallei (2 Sam. xix. 43) ; or possibly even an piece. So also again in ver. 13 of this irregular Piel form, in which case the pro- chapter. In the valley of Repha.im; i.e. of noun " he" will need to be supplied as the giants, though some translate "healers" subject. Supposing that any special connec- and yet others '' chiefs." Though not C~- tion subsists between this and the previous naanites, they once held portions of Canaan. verse, it is not necessary to consider it Their origin is very uncertain. Kalisch remote. Then, as now, the building of a (' Commentary on Old Testament,' p. 351) house for one's self, much more the building thinks they were descendants of Japheth of a noble pa.lace on the pa.rt of a king, is (Gen. xiv. 5; xv. 20; Deut. ii. 9-11; iii. an indication of feeling settled and " con- 11 ). The "valley " was south of Jerusalem, firmed." It we.a a partial indication of the bnt whether more south-east or south-west "lifted-up kingdom " the.t the king should is not certain; probably the former (Josh. have a palace of unwonted magnificence. xv. 8 ; xviii. 16; Isa. xvii 5). This must have weighed all the more in Ver. 10.-David inquired of God. The the case of a nation which, not for its sacred " inquiring" was ma.de, as matter of course things, nor for its king, nor for its people, through the high priest, and not merely, ~ had ever had e.s yet any adequate and we should say, in private prayer (Judg. i. 1, worthy housing. 3 ; x.x. 23, 27 ; 1 Som. xxiii. 2, 4 ; xxx. 8; Ver. 3.-David took more wives. As 2 Sam. ii. 1). The directness of the Di vine matter of course, we do not look in this con- answer was some echo of the old reply when nection for any remarks to be me.de by the Judah we.s authorized to go up against the writer condemnatory of D11vid's enlarge- Canaanites (Judg. i. 2). ment of the harem, or of his having e.n Ver. 11.-:Baal-perazim; literally, master he.rem at all. Yet it is open to us to note of breachea. Gesenius traces this meanin~, how, at a time when polygamy W!LS •• winked through the intermediate idea of" possessor,' at," and no sin was necessarily to lie on to that (in this case, that place), which this account e.t the door of David, yet by " possesses," i.e. is the subject of such a this very thing he was underminincr the signu.l overwhelming as is here described, peaoe and unity of his own family~ the the scene of overwhelming defeats, like the comfort of his declining years once and irresistible rush of waters (Is11. xxviii. 21). again, and the very stability of his house Ver. 12.-And when they h11d left their goda in the dl\ys of Solomon his son. The less there. The po.r11llel tra.nslates more liter- necessitnted we a.re to regard David's poly- ally," And there they left," as we might also gamy in the light of individunl sin, the do here ; and goes on to read " their inlllges," more emphatio in the light of history does in pl11ce of "their gods" (2 S11m. v. 21). the tendency of the pmclioe proclaim itself These they burned with 11.re, 11ocordiug to as thoroughly and irredeemably had. the command of Deut. vii. 5, 25. Vera. 4-7.-The names of his ohildren Vera. 13-17.-.Anot/ier 'Victory o~er the whioh he had in J'erusalem. The nl\mes of Philistine•. tho children born to D11vid in Hebron arc Ver. 13.-In the valley; i.e. the valley of given in eh. iii. 1-4. For a comparison of Reph11im, as is expressly stated in the this list with that of oh. iii. 5-9, see thu.t paro.llel place, though left in no obscurity pl11ce. It will be observed that the present here. list o.grees with th11t of Samuel in respect Ver. 14.-Go not up after them ; turn away of eleven names, and with eh. iii. 5-81 so from them, anq, oome upon them over against far as number goes, with all thirteen. the mulberry trees. 'fho me11ning of the Vera. 8-12.-.An important 'llictorv over directions ns here given is su!liciently (he Philistines. evident, yet it is somewhat more forcibly Ver. 8.-David . . . went out against expressed in the p11mllel place, "Thou slmlt them. From a careful comparison of this not go up," i.e. "11go.inst the Philistines " passage with the po.rallel and with 2 Sam. (see our tenth verse, and noto the form of xxiii. 12-14, it appeo.rs likely that the David's inquiry); "but fetch a compaas me11ning is that "David went out against behind them." 'fhe mulbe.rry trees wero them" after having "gone down" first to evidently behind tho Philistines. 'rim the "hold," probo.bly at the "ea.vo of Hebrew word for the trees here spoken ,,f A.dullo.m" (eh. ii. 15-17). When it is is c•tt; 1~, nnd the correot rendering of it 216 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [011. xtv. 1-17.