The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 3

h0oka nf the Old Teete.ment, some of the vi. 25), sufficiently expllline the original and rnnre chnrncteristic nccurrences of it being perfeotly ne.tural mee.ning of the phrase. found in t.he following pe.sse.ges: Gen. xii. The great importe.nce and aigniflcanoe of 2; Nnmb vi. 5; Josh. iii. 7; iv. 17; 1 Kings the position of the hee.ds "of fe.milies" e.nd i. 3,, 47; 2 Kings x. 6; 1 Cbron. xxix. 12, "of houses" and" of fathers" in early patri- 25; E•th. iii. 1; Job ni. 17; Pa. xxxiv. 4; arohe.l times must necessarily he.ve deolined lxix. 31; Ise.. i. 2; xliv. 14; Ezek. xxxi. 4; by the time of Solomon, when the nation Dan. i. 5; Hos. ix. 12. had received so muoh more of civil form and V,•r. 2.-This yerse e.nd the following system. But the name reme.ined, and the four supersede the one verse, 1 Kings iii. 4; family o.nd social position did not fe.il t/1 and the fh-e together give us, of oonrso, a me.ke themselves felt, e.nd ftuo.lly the official mnch fuller Yiew of the events of the sacri- recognition of them in David's time is fice. Our present Yerse purports to show evidenced by 1 Chron. xxvii. 1, e.nd in the repre.sentative components of" all Israel" Solomon's time both by the present pe.ssage in a fourfold classification. Captains of and eh. v. 2 with its parallel 1 Kings viii. 1. thousands and of hundreds (see first 1 Chron. Our present use of the expression ought xiii. 1: i.:xru. 1; xxviii. 1; and then Exod. probe.bly to show it, in close e.pposition with XYiii. 21, 25: Numb. xx:ri. 14, 48, 52, 54; the foregoing words," to all Israel" (wrongly Dent. i. 15: 1 Sam. viii. 12; :xvii. 18; :xviii. translated" in all Israel" in the Authorized 13; xxii. 7; 2 Sam. xviii. 1; 2 Kings :xi. 9, Version), and which itself is a repetition of 15. 18). The judges. The office and the the " to all Israel" in the beginning of the person of the judge were held in high verse. Although the existing Hebrew point- hnnour among the Jewish people from the ing of the verse does not fe.vour the supposi- :first. and perhaps, also, with a noteworthy tion, it me.y be that the writer mee.ns to uniformity, <even in the more degenerate emphasize Solomon's summons e.s mad!) both periods of their history. Their commence- to the kingdom e.s such, e.nd to the people ment in patriarchal simplicity can be easily e.lso as a united people. We e.re not, imagined. o.nd receives illustration from indeed, told here, in so me.ny words, what it such passages as Job xxix. 7, 8, 9 ; xxxii. 9. was the.t Solomon se.id "to ell Isre.el." But Their more formal development me.y be there can be no doubt e.s to his object, as considered to date from the crisis related in betrayed in the :first clause of the following Exod. XYiii. 14-24. And the allusions to verse. the judge and his office thenceforward sus- Ver. 3.-All the congregation; i.e. in the tain our impression of the honolll' in which persons of their capte.ins, judges, princes, they were held, arising, no doubt, le.rgely and family representatives. The high pla.ce from the deep-felt necessity for them, the . . . at Gibeon. It me.y readily be allowed more society crystallized {Nnmb. :xxv. 5; the.t even nature e.nd instinct would suggest Deut. xvi 18; xi.x. 17; :xxi 2; Josh. viii. e. certa.in fitness in selecting high places, and 33; 1 Chron. xxiii. 24 ; :x.xvi. 29 ; eh. xix. the impressive grandeur of groves, for the 8-10). In 1 Chron. x.xiii. 24 we are told worship of the High e.nd Lofty One and for how DaYid set apart "six thouse.nd Levites" the offerings of sacrifice to him. It we.s not to be "officers nnd judges." Every governor. otherwise historically (Gen. xii. 7, 8; xxii. The word employed here (It'~~) is rendered 3, 4; xxxi 54). However, first, it we.a part by fire different words in Olll' Authorized of the education of a ne.tion (situated in the Version: "prince" (Gen. xvii. 20, passim), bee.rt of the young world) in the unity of "ruler" (Exod. xri. 22, pauim), "captain" the one God, that its worship should be (Numb. ii. 3, passim), "chief" (iii 24, pas- offered in one plo.ce, and the smoke of its sim), and" governor" in the present passe.ge se.cri:ficee ascend from one e.ltar; and aeoondly, only. It iH evidently a term of generic it was not difficult to foresee that the very signification, need of a king (1 Kings xi 34; force that lay in the e.ssociations, which Ezek. xii. 10); of lee.ders of the Ishme.elites dictated the choice of some ple.ces (not least, (Gen. xvii. 20); of the capte.ins of the tribes certe.inly, "the grove"), would constitute of Israel (N nmb. vii 11) ; of the chiefs of their weakness and sne.re. The prohibitions, fawilies (N nmb. iii. 24); while the use of it therefore, of the Mosaic Le.w (Dent. xii. 5, (Gen.. xxiii. 6) to set forth the position of 11, 14, 19, 21, 26), witnessed to by euoh Abraham as one re.ised to eminence so high corroborations as e.re found in commands to and undisputed that it might be clee.rly said oblitere.te certe.in Ce.ne,e,nitish traces, the.t to be God'8 doing, is sufficient to determine looked long time e, different we.y (Lev. xvii. its central signification. The chief of the 3; xxvi. 30; Numb. xxxiii. 52; Dent. xxxiiL fathers; i.e. the heads of the fathers. The 29; Josh. xxii. 29; I Kings xx. 23), approve first uccuru,uce of the expression, " the themselves e.! in thorough harmony with he&.ds of their fathers' hous0s" (Exod. vi. what all would feel to be the genius of the 14), and c,f ·• the heads of the fathers of the religious education of Israel, and, through Leviks a~cc,r<ling to their fawilies" (Exod. Iarael, of the ne.tione of the world. The oH. r.1-17.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 3