The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 4

wonder tbo.t impresses us is ro.ther that distant. The pr~eent imposing occasion is meo.ns wero not found to abide by the the lost of any iml>(>rtance on which Gibeon "JeLler" of tho Lo.w to o. for greo.ter degree is brought before us (aee_ also 1 Kings viii. during all the generations tho.t elo.psed 3; 1 Chron. ix. 35). There wae the taber- before the people were settled in their land, nacle. The removal of the tabernacle to o.nd were go.thered in their tomple so typical. Gibeon no doubt followed immediately on Is it not possible to regard this as an im- the destruction of Nob by Saul (1 Sam. pressive instance of how, even in a system :a:xii. 9; I Chron. xvi. 39, 4CJ, compared with tho.t sought to be of the closest and most 37; xxi. 28, 29). Moses . . . me.de in the exclusive, the "spirit," by force of circum- wilderness (see Exod. xxv., xxvi., xxvii., stances, resented the tyrannous bondage of xxxiii. 7-10). the" letter"? Anyway, for ages from the Ver. 4.-But the ark. Again, ae in time of that prohibition, the nation had the 1 Chron. xvi. 39, the writer emphasizes the moral principle as their guide mther than fact of the temporary divorce that bar! any possibility of keeping safe within a obtained between the ark and the tabernacle commandment's "letter" (so see Judg. vi. (~o 1 Sam. vi. 20; 2 Sam. vi. 2-19; 1 Kings 25, 26; xiii. 17-24; 1 Sam. vii. 10; xiii. 9; iii. 2, 4, 15; 1 Chron. xiii. 3-14; xv. 1-3, xvi. 5 ; x. 5 ; 1 Ch.ron. xxi. 26 ; 1 Kings 12-15, 23---29). David's pitching of the xviii. 30). Even now, accordingly, the pro- tent for it is recorded emphatically 1 Chron. hibited is still the observed, o.nd by Solomon, xv. 1; xvi. 1; 2 Sam. vi. 17. too, in the steps of David, even if it be Ver. 5.-The brazen altar. This state- necessary to describe it as the " winked at." ment is introduced to lay stress on the fact .And to the "high place" at Gibeon Solomon that, though the ark indeed was not with and all the representatives, the congregation the tabernacle, the brazen altar of burnt of Israel, have to repair in order to do s<.1.cri- offering assuredly was there, this constitut- fice. The tabernacle was now at Gibeon, ing the place, the proper spot, for sacrifice whHher it had come from Nob (1 Chron. and worship. (For the acco1mt of the brazen xvi. 39, 40; 1 Sam. xxi. 1, 6; from which altar and its making, see E::rnd. xxvii. 1-8; latter reference, speaking of the "shew- xxxviii. 1-7; nlso Nnmb. xvi. 38, 3f:I.) bread," it comes that we know the taber- This altar of burnt offering is often spoken nacle to have resided at Nob awhile; for of as the altar, to distinguish it from the the circumstance is not positively narrated altar of incense (Exod. xxx. 1 ; xxxix. 38; in any passage of the history (but see also Numb. iv. 11). Bezaleel. (For detailed lSam.xxii.9,11). Gibeon was one of the four genealogy, see our 1 Chron. ii. 3-20; also Hivite cities, the other three being Beeroth, Exod. xxxi. 2-5; xxxv. 30-35.) Re put Chephirah, and Kirjath-jearim. It had its before. The reading (c~), " was there first fame from its "wiliness" (Josh. ix. 3, before," is to be preferred, tallying as it 4, eto.). By the directest road, it was five does exactly with Exod. xl. 6. This was miles distant from Jerusalem, in the direc- the reading understood by the Septuagint tion of the sea. It was further noted for o.nd Vulgate. The majority of manuscripts, the encounter between Joab nnd Abner however, and the Syriac Version, have □\;. (2 Sam. ii. 12-17). .Again, for the slaying Sought unto it. The analogy of the use of of Amo.ea by Joab (2 Sam. xx. 6-10), and this word would make to be preferred the for the death of Joab himself at the hand of translo.tion "sought him," i.e. the "Jehovah" Benaio.h, at the very horns of the altar just spoken of. But whether the object of (1 Kings ii. 28-34). .Although the exact the verb be in this place Jehovah or the date of the lodging of the tabernacle at altar, it would seem probable tliat the clause Gibeon is not told us, nor even the person purports to say tho.t Solomon and his people who was 11nswere.ble for bringing it there, were accustomed to repair thither, while yet there can be no reasonable doubt that now they were about to ropair thither with it was David, o.s we read (1 Chron. xvi. 40) a very vast burnt offering. of his appointing the priests to offer "the Ver. 6.-A thousand burnt offerings. daily sacrifices" there, on the brazen altar The first instance of the burnt offering is of Moses, when Zadok was at their head, Gen. viii. 20, and thereafter in the same and Heman and Jeduthuu were their resi- book xv. 9, 17; xxii. 2, 7, 13. It was dent musicians. In what pnrtioulo.r part of m11nifestly the chiefest of the eucharistio Gibeon or of its immediate neighbourhood kind of sacrifices, and for manifest reasons the tabornaole was stationed cannot be said also was preceded by a" sin" offering (Exod. with any certainty. .Amid a considerable xxix. 36-38; Lev. viii. 14, etc.). (For full choice of likely places, one forming part of details of the ceremonial, see Lev. i., vi., vii., Gibeon itself, and just south of El-Tib, viii., passim.) The extraordinary number seems the likeliest, and to be prefened to of tho burnt offerings on this and some t!1e suggestion of Sto.nley (' Sin11,i and Pales• similar occasions ml\y well excite our tme,' p. 216), of Neb11-Samull, whioh is a mile wonder (Numb. vii. 3, 17; 1 Kings viii. 4 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [01t. t, 1-17.