The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 142

with him.from [or. of] tl1e oit:i.zens of Judah," e.dded to this e. knowledge of llll snch ritual unden,te.nding by "master" a householder, as was in daily use in the· ee.nctmuy e.t. Nob. one who wne mRBter of e. fe.mily. The ree.l He he.d tied thence in terror, escaping llloue explnne.tion probe.bly is that the ne.rre.tor from the oruel destruction of the priest& wrote ocMrding to the eenee, 1md not aooord- by Se.ul'e decree; but e,en thero the teetor11- ing to the grammar. The thought in hie tion of the Levitice.l services had been too mind was the bringing up of the e.rk from reoent to he.ve given timo for much etndy or its Jong rosting-pllloe, e.nd not the prior the old Le.w. We oe.n quite beliove the.t the phyeit'.'.nl ne<'essity of going down to the murder of the priests e.t Nob, following upon place wbero it WRs. With e.11 the people. the ea.to.strophe e.t Shiloh, had reduced the DaTid had consulted with "the oa.pt.a.ins of knowledge of the priests to o very low ebb. t.bommnds e.nd hundreds, e.nd every lender" Now, the axe.et we.y of bee.ring the urk we.s (1 Chron. xiii. 1), and it was with their e. me.tter thRt hRd long been dismissed from good will the.t he drew the e.rk of God out their memories, but they wonld call to mind of its long ooncealmeut. A seleot body of the.tit had been brought to Abine.de.b'e house these nobles, or sheiks, would aocompe.ny the in e. new cart drawn by oxen; and they would king, while the rest, with their attende.nts, take this as 11, precedent, whioh would justify would he posted along the eight miles of them in e.cting in the eRme manner a second road. Whose J1&11l0 iB oalled by the name. time. But in so solemn e. matter the priests In the Hebrew, the word "ne.me" is twioe ought to have me.de diligent search, and repeated, the words literally being, the ark have gone for instruction to the copies of Ewhim, tDhereon u caUed the Name, the which they possessed of the Divine Law. Na~ of Jehoool, of Sabaoth. Most of the David did so subsequently (1 Chron. xv. 2), Tersions omit the second Name, e.nd the but poesibly there we.a no such copy at tre.nslat.ore of the Authorized Version also present in Jeruse.lem, and they would he.ve felt it to be e. difficulty, which they have to go to Ramah, where Se.muel would deposit tried to escape by inserting words be- whatever records he had saved from the ruin tween the two. Really it is e. most in- of Shiloh, e.nd where the great work of the teresting sign of the existence e.t this early prophets we.a to study the se.cred books, date of e. special reverence for the name and even copy them. But this want of " with four consonants" which we call inquiry e.nd easy assumption, the.t as the ark "JehoTah." Subsequently it was never pro- was brought in 11, cart to A.binadab'e house, nonnced, bnt the word "Lord" we.a ree.d in- so in 11, cart it should be carried away, was stead. 1n the Revised Version, the impor- an e.ct of great irreverenoe, and all the tance of the pO,Sse.ge is well brought out by guilty were punished. The heaviest blow the first Name being written with a capital, of fell on the house of Abinadab, which lost a the use of which the Revisers are very chn.ry. deo.r son. Entrusted for seventy yee.re with With their usue.l inconeecntivenese, they the ea.re of so ee.cred a symbol of J ehovah'a retain LoBD for Jeh011ah, though this is w the preeenoe, A.bine.de.b and hie family ought to Name," and though they he.ve restored the have me.de a special study of the laws con- word Jelwtah in several Iese i.mporte.nt places. cerning it. Apparently they left it very Ver. 3.-And they set the ark of God much to itself; for it is never said that God (Hebrew, made it ride) upon a new cart. blessed them for their care of it as he did This was contrary to the Levitical Law, Obed-Edom. And David also WRB in fault; which required that only Levites should for he ought to have commanded the priests bear the ark, and ;that it should be veiled to make diligent eeo.rch. His punishment even from tb.eir eyes (Numb. iv. 15). But was the breaking out of the Divine wro.th, tlllil mistake is not surprising. It is easy terrifying the people, and turning the joy euougb for us to turu t.o our Bibles, and see of the de.y to mourning. The house of Abi- what the exact letter of e. command was. nads.b that wu in Gibeah; really, that wllll But such reference we.a no easy matter when upon the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of the Law we.a contained in manuscripts which Abine.d&b. ••Sons" in Hebrew is used in a were re.re and COBtly. We cannot imagine large sense, and these two men were probably that De.vid or even Abiatluir carried a the grandsons of Eleazar, the son of Abiun- manuscript about with them in their wander- do.b, who had been set apart to keep the o.rk. in~s. David very probably be.d e. coneider- For seventy years, as it seems, had passed e.ble lwowledge of the Penui.teuch, gained sinoe the ark was hurriedly put in Abina- in Samuel's schools, and stored up in hie dab's house, namely, twenty during the memory, os woe the custom in old de.ye Philistine supremacy up to the be.ttle of when books were scarce. But this know- Ebenezer, forty during the reign of Saul, ledge would be chiefly of its nu.rratives and and about teu since. As Eleazar must have dootriues, e.nd would comprise such portions been thirty years of age for hie consecm- ns Samnel thought most fitting to intlueuce tion to be legal, be.must have died loug ago, the lives ofhiB 1eholan. Abiathar probe.bly and his sons would be old •and dccre1iit 011, VI, 1-2::J.] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL,