The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 6

glory of the klngclom too eurely cnlmino.tecl "before the rl'rk of the co?Jenant of the LMd" in bis reign, o.nd oven before the end of it in Mount Zion. (1 Kings iii. 15.) This (eh. ix. 22, 23; 1 Obron. xxix. 25; Eccles. verso not merely bee.re the trace of a. slightlv ii. 9). On the other ho.ncl, the gmtuitons corrupt texb in the presence of the Hebrew o.nd sponto.neous fulness of promise in tbe preposition 1 before r,r.i:;i, where there can Divine reply to o. human prayer tho.\ be no donbt the preposition r.i should stand, "pleased" the Being invoked is most noticeo.ble, and preBohed beforehand in- but also snggests (keeping in view our deed, the lesson of the life of Jesus, "Seek ver. 3, and comparing 1 Kings iii. 15) ye first the kingdom . . . and all these the conclensed and cut-down method of things sho.11 be o.cldecl unto you" (Matt. vi. Chronicles, ancl its strong preferences for 33). The contents of this verse o.re followed selecting ont of the various material at its in the parallel by the words," And Solomon c?mmand._ The _tabernacle of the congrega- o.woke; and behold it was a drea.m." There tion. This stylmg of the "tabernacle" is oan be no doubt that what is here rehearsed of very frequent occurrence. It is found did not lose any force or anything of reality above thirty times in Exorlas, and fully as from its transpiring in e. dream, of which often in Leviticus and Numbers. After- the abundantly open sta.tement of the wards it is sprinkled more rarely in the method of it, as in "sleep," and in "o historiCILl books. The reason of its bein;; dream," may be accepted as the first cogent sty led " the tabernacle of the congrega- evidence. But beside this, the frequent tion" (,V,i!:1) is clonbtful-perhaps because of recital in the Old Testament of occasions the gatherings of the people in front of it, when significant and weighty matters of or possibly because of its being the place business import were so conducted by the where God would meet with Moses. The Divine will forms ample ground and other name, the tabernacle of "witness" or defence for the other class of occasions, of "testimony" or covenant" (m,~; Numb. which more spiritual matter was the sub- ix. 15, etc.), is not nnfreqnent. Hence the ject (Gen. xxviii. 12; xli. 7; xx. 3; xxxi. LXX. rr,c11v¾ -roii µap-rvpfov; the Yulgate, 10, 24; xxxvii. :5; xl. 5; xli. 32; Judg. tabernaculum testimonii; and Luther' s vii. 15; Job xxxiii. 15; Dan. ii. 3; vii. 1; Stiflshiitte:n. This verse very much stints Matt. i. 20; ii. 13, 22 ; xxvii. 19). On the the information contained in the parallel, other hand, side by side with such pnssages to the effect that Solomon forthwith took are those that refer to dreams for their his place before the ark of the covenant emptiness and transiency of impression, in Mount Zion, and offered burnt offerings when similes of this kind of thing are and peace offerings, nnd gave a feast to all required (Job xx. 8; Ps. lxxiii. 20; cxxvi. his servants (2 Sam. vi. 17-19; 1 Chrou. 1). This is not the place to enter into any xvi. 1-3; Dent. xiv. 26--29). And he argument of a metaphysical or physiological reigned over Im:e.el. These words seem character respecting dreams, and what they nugatory both in themselves a.nd as placed may or may not avail. But as some persons here. They probably stand for l Kings iv. l. know even too well how dreams have brought Vere. 14-17.-The attraction to JBrusa- them most vivid, most torturing, and most lem of the signs of wealth-chariots, horses, exquisite experiences in tum, there will seem, to them at least, the less difficulty in etc.-on the part of Solomon. The excitement admitting utterly their availableness for attending the great sacrifices at Gibeon, and communications of highest import, not only before the ark in Jerusalem, had now sub- from God to man, but under certain con- sided. And we obtain just a glimpse of the ditions from man to God. Without doubt, range of thought and purpose present to certain disabilities (and those, perhaps, more especially of the moral kind) attach to our the mind of the reigning king. The large mind in dreams. But do not dreams also expenditure of money would infer with- find the scene of the keener activities of out fail the snow of brilliant prosperity mind pure? Granted that the mind is then in the grand city for the time. 'Whether nnder ordinary circumstances without a this would last, and whether it would not certain control and self-commo.ncling power, yet ill it also in some large respects much infer oppressive taxation somewhere or other more at liberty from that besetting tymnny (1 Kings ix. 15, 21, 22; x. 25) among the of sense with which waking hours are so people, time would show. Had this expendi- familiar I Hence its consummate dal'ing and ture been 1111 to record, none could suppose swiftness and versatility in dream beyond all the commencing of the practical pnrt of the thnt it knows in the body's waking state. king's reign either sound or uw;picious. Ver. 13.-Solomon's return after sacrifice from Gibeon tn Jerusalem, and from " be/ore But, of course, it is to be quulified by other tile tabernaclB of the congregation" to things that were tmnspiring, with which  6 THE SECOND BOOK OF TBE CHRONICLES. (oH. 1. 1-1'7.