The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 331

volved together in indisputoble sin. Thouuh so that we can borrow no !iuht O thence. But there were no unfeigned assent and con~nt Benjamin was " the least of the tribes " in the great body of the nation to the (Judg. xxi. 1-23), and Poole has suooooested numbering, yet they would become par- that God wonld not permit the nu~bers of ticipators in the wrong-doing. It would either of these tribes to be lessened. as he further seem evident, from J oab addressing foresaw that they would be faithful to the these words to the king, that it was a thing throne of David on the division of the kinu. familiarly known and thoroughly under- dom. Others think that the omission ~f stood that the course David was now bent these tribes in the census may have been on following was one virtually, if not due to Joab's recall to Jerusal~m before the actually, prohibited, and not one merely completion of the work, and to the king's likely to be displeasing to God on account repentance in the interim cutting off the of any individual disposition in David to necessity of completing it. This little be boastful or self-confident. Otherwise it agrees, however, with the resolute tone and would be scarcely within the province of assigned reason contained in this verse, J oab either to express or suppose this of his Poole's explanation, meantime, explains royal master. nothing in respect of the statement that Ver. 4.-Wherefore J'oab departed, and the king's word was abominable to J oab. went throughout all Israel, and came to Ver. 7.-Smote Israel. These two words J'eruee.lem. This short verse stands in the serve simply to summarize in the first in- place of all the five verses of 2 Sam. xxiv. stance what the compiler is about to rehearse 4-8, with their interesting contents, giving at greater length. The parallel place the route which Joab and his assistants shows, "And David's heart emote him after took, and the time occupied (nine months that he had numbered the people." Some and twenty days) to their return. better power occasioned that smiting. Re- Ver. 5.-The report of the numbers as flection brought to David's heart and con- given in this verse does not tally with that science (1 Sam. xxiv. 5), as often to those of of the parallel pince. Here they are three others, restored vitality. '£he exact circum- hundred thousand more for Israel, and thirty stnnces or providences, however, which roused thousand fewer for Judah, than there. No into action the conscience of David are not really satisfactory explanation of these stated. The second clause of our verso can- discrepancies has yet appeared. The not refer to any preliminary smiting, but to somewhat ingenious suggestion that the the oncoming visitation of pestilence. It Ohronicle-compiler counteJ in the stand- is noticeable, if only as a coincidence, that ing army (two hundred and eighty-eight the eleventh verse of the pamllcl pllsSt\ge thousand, eh. xxvii. 1-15) for Israel, and (2 Sam. xxiv. 11) opens with a similarly omitted from Judah a supposed "thirty ambiguously placed clause, "For when thousand," under the head of '' the thirty " David was up in the morning, the word of of our eh. xi. ; while the writer of the Book the Lord came to the Prophet Gad," altliougb of Samuel did exactly the converse,-can tliis is explainable simply as our insufficient scarcely pass muster, although it must be Authorized Version rendering. However, noticed thu.t it would metJt in the main the failing any external cause, tile beginning of exigencies of tho case. A likelier sugges- ver. 10 in this same pamllel place may in- tion might be found in a comparison of the timate the adequate account of oil in the statements of our ver. 6 compared with spontaneous stirring of David's conscience- eh. xxvii. 22-2-!. Indeed, the !net sen- " the bitter thoughts of conscience born." tence of this Inst-quoted verse (eh. xxvii. In these two verses we suddenly come upon 24) may possibly contain the explanation of the name "God" instead of" the Lord," i.8. all (comp. Numb. i. 47-50; ii. 33). '£hat Jehovah. Joab utterly refused to number Levi, because Ver. 9.-Qad, David's seer. The parallel this was a thing most distinctly prohibited place says, "'fhe Prophet Gad (K•:l~!l ), (and further because it was not material to David's seer" (2 Sam. xxiv. 11). 'l'he lfo- David's presumable objects), was quite to be brow word here used in both passnges for 11 expected. And though Joab is said in seer," is ;;Jh, in place of the wurJ of higher the following verse not to have numbered import, ;'1!;11,;t, the uso of which is confined to Benjamin, it is possible enough that he may Samuel, Hanani, and to the person spoken have known thi~ number (eh, vii 6-11). of in lea. xxx. 10. In this last passa~e our Yet seo what follows. A uthor~zed Vorsio_n translates " pr;phet," Ver. 6.-Averse to his task as Joab was, wbtlo rn eh. xx1x. 29 our Authorized he may h11,ve been indebted to the memory Vuraion translates bolh Hebrew names in of the exemption of Levi from census for the very same verse by the one English word the idea of enlarging upon it and omitting 11 seer." Gad was, perhaps, a pupil of David Benjamin as well. '£he important contents (2 Sam. xxii. 8), and wus tliti succcsser of of this short verse are not found in Samuel, Samuel (eh. ix. 22) in Lhis ofilcc.  THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [(llI, xn. 1-30.