The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 104

Vers.12-16.-The house of the Lordperfectei. I. THE BACRIFIOES ARRANGED. (Vere. 12, 13.) 1. The _r,lace on which these shouui henceforth be offered. "The altar of Jehovah before the porch. ' Hitherto Solomon and others had presented burnt offerings before the tabernacle at Gibeon (eh. i. 3) and elsewhere (2 Sam. vi. 13). Henceforth these should be laid upon the brazen altar in the temple court. Solomon's doing so at the close of the dedication service was a formal inauguration of the practice meant to be followed. 2. The times when these should be o.ffered. (1) Every day-in the morning and evening sacrifice. So God demands the devotions and spiritual sacrifices of bis people at early morn and dewy eve. (2) At special sea.sons-on the sabbaths, the weekly sabbaths and those occurring in the midst of festivals, a.s on the great Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi. 31), and on the first and eighth days of the Feast of Ingathering (Lev. xxiii. 39); on the new moons (1 Sam. xx. 5, 18; 2 Kings iv. 23; Ps. lxxxi. 3; Isa.. i. 13, 14; lxvi. 26); and on the solemn fea.~ts three times a. year, i.e. the Passover, on the fourteenth day of the :first month ; the Feast of Harvest, or of the Firstfruits, in the beginning of harvest ; and the Feast of Ingathering, or the Feast of Tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Exod. x.xiii, 14-16; Lev. xxiii. 4-44). Other times might be chosen by the worshippper; these the worshipper was not a.t liberty to neglect. Under Christianity there is a.n irreducible minimum beneath which one cannot go in serving God and yet claim to be a disciple. 3. The measure according to which these should be offered. Accord- ing to the daily rate prescribed by Moses (Exod. xxiii. 14; Lev. xxiii. 37; Deut. xvi. 16, 17). Though Solomon had been honoured to erect a. temple, he did not feel himself at liberty to propound a new ritual, and far less to institute a new religion. For him, as for all before and after, until the fulness of the times, Moses was the sole authority in doctrine and in worship. Since the fulness of the times, Christ, the greater than Moses, is; and will-worship (Col. ii. 23) is as little permissible under the new dispensa- tion as it was under the olJ.. II. THE PRIESTLY OOURSES APPOINTED. (Ver. 14.) 1. The pattemfollowed. The order of David (1 Chron. xxiv. ). Whether, in thus arranging the priesthood, David acted under Divine direction or not, is not material. This detail could safely be left to sanctified prudence; and David, in effecting it, only showed his sagacity in knowing how to get a. difficult work performed with ease and efficiency, as well as hi$ regard for order and decorum in all things pertaining to the sanctuary. Solomon, in followini!: David's example instead of resorting to new experiments, approved himself wise. 2. The number of the courses. Twenty-four (1 Chron. xxiv. 1-19). When these were arranged by David, twenty-four chief men were found who claimed descent from the house of Aaron. Of these, sixteen belonged to the sons of Eleazar, and eight to the sons of Ithamar. Conse- quently, these were selected as the heads of the several courses, their order of successioI!. being determined by lot---to avoid all ground of complaint on the score offavouritism, and to lend the sanction of Dil'ine authority to the order so established (Prov. xvi. 33). As this arrangement was made in David's old age, and not after the Exile by another than David (De Wette, Herzfeld), it is probable that few important alterations required to be made. 3. The nature of their services. To conduct the sacrificial worship of the nation. The Christian Church has only one Priest, who, having once for all offered himself a Sacrifice for sin, and having passed within the veil with his own blood, there to appear in the presence of God for us, has been consecrated for evermore (Heb. vii. 28 ; ix. 11, 12; x. 10). III. THE LEVITES INSTRUCTED. (Ver. 14.) 1. Their courses. Three-the Gershonites, the Kohathites, the Merarites, according to the three great families of the sons of Levi ; the first two consisting of nine, and the third of six, the three of twenty-four fathers' houses. Hence their courses were probably, like those of the priests', twenty-four in number (Josephus,' Ant.,' vii.14. 7). 2. Their charges. To praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required. They were no longer needed to carry the tabernacle or any of its vessels f~r the ser~ce thereof, seeing that Jehovah h~~ given rest unto his people, that they might dwell m Jerusalem for ever (1 Chron. xxm. 24- 32; XXV. 1-6). IV. THE PORTERS STATIONED. (Ver. 14.) 1. Their courses. Twenty-four. At least twenty-four men are mentioned as keeping daily guard at the temple gates (1 Chron. xxvi. 13-19); and these, it is conjectured, were the heads of twenty-four divisions. 2. Their statiom, "At every gate." Every day were planted at the east gate six <1&. vm. 1-18.] 'l'HE SEOOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 105