The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 83

is not in the Hebrew. The LXX. and Vulg. It is very doubtful whether the names men- supply" king" (the verb is singular," was"). tioned presently are those of contempore.ries] But the true meaning is to be gathered from than Ethan the Ezra.hite, and Beman, a.nd chap. x. 26. There we learn that the horses Cb.a.lcol, and Darda [It is impossible to ee.y were distributed in different towns through- whether these a.re the same persons as the out the land. To these different depots, Ethan e.nd Heman e.nd Chalcol and Dare. therefore, the purveyors must forward the of 1 Chron. ii. 6, or the Ethan e.nd Hemo.n provender, " unto the place where it should who were David's singers. The resemblance be " (il'..~'), not, as Rawlinson, " ,,·here the is certainly remarkable. Not only a.re the horses were."] every man according to his names practice.Uy the same (Dara may well charge. be e. clerical error : many MSS., together Ver. 29.-And God gave Solomon [in ful- with the Syr. and Arab., read Darda), but filment of the promise of chap. iii. 12] wis- they occur in the same order. Our first impression, consequently, is that the two dom and understandl.Dg (ilt?~O, wisdom, lists represent the same persons, e.nd if so, k1101dedge; il~~:ll;\, discernment, perwtration. these four sages were the " sons" of Zerah, The historian, after describing the prosperity the son of Judah (Gen. xxxviii. 30). But of the reahn, proceeds t-0 speak of the per- against this it is urged that Ethan is here sonal endowments of its head] and largeness ealled the Ezrahite, as are both Ethan o.nd of heart exceeding much [the Easterns Heman in the titles of Psalms lxxxix. and speak of the heart where we should talk of lxxxviii. respectively. The resemblance, head or intellect (chap. iii. 9, 12; x. 24. however, of Ezrr..hite ('l'.'IJT~) to Zerahite Cf. l\Iatt. xv. 19; Ephes. i. 18 (Greek) ; Heb. ('l:1"11) is so close as to suggest identity iv. 12). The "large heart" is the ingenium capax, as Thenius. These different words rather than difference. There is, perhaps, indicate the variety and scope of his talents, more weight in the objection that Chalcol in agreement with ver. 33] as the sand that andDarda a.re here distinctly said to be ''the is on the sea shore. [Same expression in sons of Mahol," though here again it has Gen. x.xii. 17; xxxii. 12; xli. 49; Josh. xi. been observed that Mahol (?1n~) means pipe 4; Jud.g. vii. 12, &c.] or dance, e.nd the "sons of Mahol," con- , er. 30. -And Solomon's wisdom excelled sequently, may merely be e. synonym, agr~- [or exceeded; same word as in ver. 29] the ably to Eastern idiom (Eccles. xii. 4, witb wisdom of all the children of the east which cf. 2 Sa.m. xix. 35), for" musicians." country [By the Beni-Kedem we are hardly We may therefore allow that the four names to understand (with Rawlinson) a distinct may be those of sons (i.e., descendants) of tribe on the banks of the Euphrates. It is Zerah. But the question now presents true that the land of the Beni-Kedem is itself: Are Ethan e.nd Heman to be identified identified with Haran or Mesopotamia. (Gen. with the well-known precentors of David? xxi.x. 1), and the mountains of Kedem (NW1;1· Against their identity are these facts : 1. xxiii. 7) are evidently those of Aram. It 1s That Ethan the singer (1 Chron. vi. 31} ~s also true that " the children of the East" descrihed as the son of Kishi (1 Chron. VI. are apparently distinguished from the 44), elsewhere called Kuehai~h (ib. xv. 1?), A.malekites and Midianites (Judg. vi. 3, 33; and of the family of Mere.n ; as a Levite vii.12; viii. 10). It is probable, nevertheless, that is, instead of e. descendant of Judah, and that the name is here employed to designate that Heman, who is called the singer, or all the Arabian tribes east and south-east musician (ib. vi. 33), and the "king's seer" of Palestine-Sabmans, ldumeans, Teman- ib. :xxv. 5) is said to be a son of Joel, a ites, Chaldeans. What their wisdom was grandson of the prophet Samuel, and one of like, we may see in the Book of Job. Cf. the Kohathite Levites (ib. xv. 17). The first Jer. xlix. 7; Obad. 8] and all the wisdom impression in this case, therefore, is that of Egypt. [The learning of Egypt was of they must be distinct. But it should be great repute in the Old World. It differed remembered (1) that the sons-in the strict very considerably from the wisdom ?f eense--0f Zerah are nowhere else named Kedem, being scientific rather than gnom1c for their wisdom, whereas the royal singer (Isa. xix. 11, 12; xxxi. 2, 3; Acts vii. ~2) and and seer probably owed their o.ppointm~nte including geometry, astronomy, magic, and to their genius, and (2) that though Levites, medicine. See Jos., Ant. viii. 2. 5; Herod. ii. they may he.ve been incorporated (possibly 109. 160. Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians" like Jair, through marriage-see note on vol. ii. pp. 316--465. ver. 13 above and cf. Ezra ii. 61) into the Ver. 31.-For (Heb. and) he was wiser tribe of Judah. " The Levite in hdg. xvii. than all men [Keil adds " of his time," but 7 is spoken of e.s belonging to the family of we have no right to restrict the words to hie Judah because he dwelt in Bethlehem of contemporaries (see note on chap. iii. 12). Judah: and Elka.nah the Levite is called aQ OB. IV, 20-84,) THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 77