The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 272

nppear eit~e~ here or in the parallel place, wilh the bro.mble uncl reach high up to thnse In the opmton of some, an iuclication of cedo.r~ (in Jotham's parable, Judg. ix. 15), some interval having elapsed is found in the o.nd (m the parable of Joash, King of Israel, words (2 Sam. vii. 1), "'l'he Lord hod given to Amaziah, King of Judah, 2 Chron. xxv. him rest round a.bout from e.ll his enemies ·" 18) of the contempt with which the family while othere consider those words to refer'to of the cedars of Lebo.non is supposed to hear the victories ge.ined over the Philistines, o.s of the matrimonial o.ertnres of the family of recorded in oh. xiv. Nathan the prophet. the thistles of Lebanon. Stanley's pages '!'his name suddenly breaks upon us, witbont (' Sinai and Palestine,' edit. 1866, pp. 414- e.ny introduction, here for the first time. 414d) are full of interest on the subject of the N e.the.n is emphatice.lly entitled "the pro- cedars of Lebo.non (see also full article in phet," but perhaps merely to distinguish him Dr. Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' i. 285, 286; from Nathan, David's eighth son. Amid and Dr. Thomson's• Land and the Book,' pp. many other important references to Nathan, 197-200). Cedar was the choice wood for 1md which speak for themselves, must be pillara and beams, boarding and ceiling of specially noted eh. :nix. 29 ; 2 Chron. ix. the finest houses; and alike the first and 29. And it will be noticed from the former second temples (Ezra iii. 7) depended upon of these references, in particular how Nathan the supply of it. Under ourte.ina. Here is the prophet (H'~f}); not (like Samuel and rightly in the plural, though our parallel Gad) seer (ntfii; or n)n.1), Possibly he is (2 Sam. vii. 2) shows the singulo.r (Exocl. intended in l Kings iv. 5. An house of xxvi. 1-13; xxxvi. 8-19). oede.rs, The cedar here spoken of does, Ver. 2.-This verse gives Nathan's re- of course, not answer to our red, odorous sponse on the spur of the moment. And that cedar. The word employed is 1,11, in tile it was not radico.Jly wrong from o. prophet may plural number. The first Biblical ~e of this be inferred from the stress e.fterwo.rds lo.id word is found in Lev. xiv. 4, 6, 49-52. It is upon the acceptableness to God of what ho.d derived byGesenius fromanobsoleteword 1,11, been in the heo.rt of David to do. Even with from the grip and the firmness of its root;. God, silence would sometimes be understood It is probably the derioed significe.tion, there- by o. prophet to be equivo.lent to o.ssent. fore, that should be adhered to (as in the Ver. 3.-The express word of God cnme, Authorized Version), and not the origino.l, however, that so.me night. It proved to bo where in Ezek. xxvii. 24, the pluro.l of the an overruling word. But it brought with passive participial is found," made of cedar," it the point of a fresh o.nd most welcome new not with A. Schultens, "made fast." The depnrture for David. We might glenn hero cedar genus belonging to the order Coniferre, by the way a suggestion of the beneficent is odoriferous, very lasting, o.nd without operation of express revelo.tion, superseding knots. The numerous good qualities whioh the thought, the method, the reason of man. it possesses o.re spoken to in the variety Vers. 4-15.-These verses are the unfolcl- of uses, o.nd good kind of uses, to which it ing to David of the mo.,,"1lificent o.n,l fo.r- wns put-these all crowned by the almost strotching purposes of God's grnco towo.rds solitary spiritue.Iized appropriation of the tree, him in his son Solomon nnd his descondnnts found in Ps. xcii. 12. From o. comparison of for ever. The re'l'ei11tion is mude by thll I Kings v. 6, 8 (in the Hebrew, 20, 22) with mouth of No.tho.n. 2 Chron. ii. 3, 8, und some other po.sso.ges, Ver. 4.-Thou she.It not build. Tho He- we mo.y be led to believe that the cedar as the brew mo.rks the personal pronoun here o.s em- name of timber wee used oecasiono.lly very pho.tic," Not thou sbalt build," i.e. but some gonerico.lly. Nevertheless, the very po.sso.ges one else. In the pnmllel this prohibition is in question instance by no.me the other conveyed by that iuterrogative po.rticlo which specific kinds of wood. Two of the chief expects the answer No, o.nd mo.y ho thus kinds of cedo.r were the Lebo.non and the translated : "Is it thou sho.lt build for me," Deodo.ro., whioh is said not to have grown in etc.? Syrio., but a.bounds in the Himo.le.yo.s. And Ver. 5.-This verse conto.ins the thrctJ as the use of the Lebanon cedar for some torms-house, tent, tabeme.ole (sco notes on purposes (e.g. for the masts of ships) is almost eh. xvi. 1). Gesenius observes thut when out of the question, it is exceedingly probable the Hebrew of the last two words is usod thut this Deodara and some other vo.rieties distinctively, the tent describes the outor of pines nre comprehended under the eh-rez. coverings of the twelve curtnins; o.nrl the Deo.n Stanley points out who.t mo.y be de- tabernacle, the ton inner curtains o.nd Crume- scribed as very interesting moral landmark work o.s well, in other words, tho whole uaes of the celebrated cedo.?J of Lebo.non, equipment of the well-known taberunclo. in those pusso.ges which speak of Solomon's As compared with the version we !Juve horc, sweep of knowledge, commencing in the tho parallel plo.ce speo.ks e.n almost puthclio descending dir<-'Ction from them (1 Kings iv. condescension, "I we.a a shirting traveller in 33), of the devouring fire that should begin tent and tabernacle." God monut to remind  270 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [ea. xvu. 1-27.