The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 435

Ver. 22.-Evident stress is laid upon the fore, have died in his seventy.first year. enti11g and drinking of that day as before That this is called here e. good old e.ge tbe Lord, and upon the anointing of Solomon shows that tbe length of human life had to the Lord. This latter expression is more now greatly subsided. In comparison of all forcible than the former. The seoond time his successors on the thrones of J ude.h e.nd of making Solomon king is explnined by of Israel, hie age wa.s clearly e. "good old I Kings i. 32-40; eh. xxiii. I. The state- nge." ment that Ze.dok was anointed to be priest Ver. 29.-The Hebrew wor,l here trans- n,ust probably be understood to describe, lated e.ots is identical with the words trans- either the re-anointing of him (just as" they lated three times afterwards in this verse made Solomon king the second time ") on book. A uniform rendering for e.ll might an oooa.sion which particularly invited it; be fouud in the general word " history " or or an anointing which had not been before "acts." The question as to the probable fullv performed. This latter is, perhaps, an nature of these works, and whether identical unlikelv supposition; but at the ea.me time, with our Books of Samuel, ho.a been treated the fact of any previous ceremony of the of in the Introduction. The Hebrew word kind does not happen to be narrated. Zadok for " seer," applied in this verse to Samuel, had been joint priest with Abiathar of the is ;,1-1'1;,. And that applied to Ge.d, though line of ltbamar (eh. xv. 11; 2 Sam. 24, 29; the -A~thorized Version has the same tra.ns- xix. 11); but now he was anointed under la.tion, "seer," is i"!Jhr, There can be no circumstances of special publicity, and at doubt that the word applied to Samuel a crisis of special interest, to supersede would, under any circumstances, stand a.s Abiathar, who had sided with Adonijah, the higher of the two names, were there any and who was early to be removed altogether comparison intended between them. This from the sacred office (1 Kings i. 7, 8, 32, is confirmed by the fact that it is found used 38, 44, 45; ii. 26, 27). only of him (1 Sam. ix. 9, 11, 18, 19; 2 Se.m. Ver. 23.-For the happy expression, the xv. 27 ; eh. ix. 22; xxvi. 28 ; xxix. 29) e.nd throne of the Lord, eee eh. x.xviii. 5. And of Hanani (2 Chron. xvi. 7, 10), whereas the for endence that Solomon did really exercise word applied to Gad in this verse is the royal authority before David's death, see generic name for seers, and is used severe.I 1 Kings i. 32, 45-48 ; ii. 1. times in the Books of Chronicles of other Yer. 25.-A.ny king before him in Israel. persons than Gad. At the same time, the There were of conrse, only two kings " be- parenthesis in 1 Sam. ix. 9, to the effect fore " Soloi'.non in Israel The promise of that the word here used of Samuel a.s seer God to Solomon, however, when he wna (;'1(11~) was superseded iu later t~ee (as, for " pleased " with the speech of ~he prayer instance, e.t the time of the wntrng of the which he offered a very short time subse- Books of Samuel) by the word prophet (N'-?-1), quently, was much larger, and suggests itself compared with Isa., x:xx. 10, points in a. tons as what may really have been present somewhat different direction. In the first to the mind of the historian when he used place, it would indicate that our Authorized the less comprehensive words above (2 Chron, Version in Isa. xxx. 10 should rather stand, i. 12; 1 Kings iv. 12, 13). "Which say to the prophets, Prophesy not, Vera. 26-30.-These verses contain last and to the seers," etc. While for our words respecting David's reign, its extent present passage it would indicate that no and its length; respecting his death and age, insidious comparison is poBBible between and the succession of Solomon ; e.nd respect- Samuel and Ge.d a.a seers, but rather that ing the sources of the hi.story of ~self, his Samuel retains the old honoured no.me by reign, his people, and other ~ountnes. . which he he.d been wont to be ea.lied, and Ver. 26.-'l'he words of this verse, not rn- that to Nathan is with equal naturalness deed hard to follow here, but marking the attached the more modern name-the func• close instead of the commencement or career tions represented being essentially the same, of David's reign over allisre.el?.e.re paralleled or e.t lea.at analogous. by the earlier passage, eh. xv111. 14 ; 2 Sam. viii. 15. Ver. 30.-The phrase in this verse, The Ver. 27.-In the same way the contents times that went over him, is noticeable DB of this verse are paralleled by. eh. iii. 4; an hapaz legomenon. There e.re, however, 2 Se.m. v. 5; 1 Kings ii. 11; this last pas- not a. few phrases more or le_ss 1:1early ap- sage giving only seven years instead ~f t~e proaching it in sense, and all hrn~ng on the seven years and six months for the reign w word times ( eh. :Xii, 32 ; Esth: _1. 13; ~ ub Hebron. x.xiv. i.; Ps. xxxi. 15; Dan. vu. 25). 'Ihe Ver. 28.-We learn from 2 Sam. v. 4, 5, last sentence of this chapter is illustrated, that David was thirty years old when he and most suggestively, by ~ Chron. :xii 8; begu.n to reigti in Hebron. He must, thP.re. :xvii. 10, 11, 22-30; Ez•a. IX. tllt, xut.1-30.J THE FIRS'l' BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 438