Chapter XIV.
(= 2 Samuel v. 11–25).
David at Jerusalem.
Two Philistine Attacks Repulsed.
The Chronicler derives this chapter from Samuel but gives it in a setting of his own. To agree with Samuel it should immediately follow 1 Chronicles xi. 9 and should immediately precede 1 Chronicles xiii. 1. In Samuel the two attempts to remove the Ark to the city of David, the first unsuccessful, the second successful, are related in immediate succession; the Chronicler interposes between them the double repulse of the Philistines. See the head-note to chapter xiii.
1, 2.
Hiram’s [first] Embassy to David.
The dislocation of the narrative mentioned in the last note has concealed the occasion of Hiram’s embassy. The narrative of 2 Samuel v. 9–11 suggests that Hiram heard of the building works which David was carrying on at Jerusalem and so sent materials and workmen to assist. David accepted the welcome offer (which ultimately led to an alliance) as a sign of Divine favour.
¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and masons, and carpenters, to build him an house. ²And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, for his kingdom was exalted on high, for his people Israel’s sake.
1. Hiram] Other forms of this name are Huram and (1 Kings v. 10, 18) Hirom.
3–7 (= iii. 5–8 and 2 Samuel v. 13–16).
David’s Family in Jerusalem.
³And David took more wives at Jerusalem: and David begat more sons and daughters.
3. more wives] In 2 Samuel v. 13 more concubines and wives. The Chronicler omits or modifies statements which tend to David’s discredit.
⁴And these are the names of the children which he had in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon; ⁵and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Elpelet; ⁶and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia; ⁷and Elishama, and Beeliada, and Eliphelet.
4. these are the names] The names seem better preserved here than in either of the parallel passages; compare notes on iii. 5–8.
Shammua ... Solomon] All these four are attributed to Bath-shua (= Bath-sheba) in iii. 5.
8–17 (= 2 Samuel v. 17–25).
The Double Repulse of the
Philistines.
⁸And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David: and David heard of it, and went out against¹ them.
8. over all Israel] in 2 Samuel v. 17, over Israel. In both passages the reference is to the later anointing by the whole people (2 Samuel v. 3).
all the Philistines] David, as king of Judah, was of little or no political importance to the Philistines; as king of united Israel, he became a possible menace, and was accordingly attacked without delay.
went up] i.e. from their own low-lying territory by the sea into the hill-country of Judah.
went out against them] margin went out before them, i.e. anticipated them, did not wait for them to attack him. In 2 Samuel v. 17 went down to the hold, an expression which might refer to some part of the difficult hill-country of Judah in which he had long defied Saul, or may mean the “hold” of Jerusalem, which David had seized from the Jebusites (see note on xi. 5).
⁹Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim.
9. the valley of Rephaim] probably the shallow valley, now called Beḳā‘a, across which runs the road from Jerusalem to Beth-lehem (Bädeker, Palestine⁵, pp. 15, 99).
¹⁰And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand.
10. inquired of God] doubtless by means of the sacred lot, the Urim and Thummim (see Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible s.v., and Kirkpatrick’s notes on 1 Samuel x. 22, xxiii. 6).
¹¹So they came up to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there; and David said, God hath broken¹ mine enemies by mine hand, like the breach of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim².
11. Baal-perazim] probably to be identified with the Mount Perazim of Isaiah xxviii. 21, but the situation is unknown.
like the breach of waters] i.e. like the breach made by waters, Probably the scene of the victory was a hill deeply scarred with watercourses. The force with which God broke through the army of the Philistines is compared with that of a torrent bursting forth from the hill-side or forcing its way through all obstacles. Baal-perazim = the Lord of breakings forth, i.e. upon the foe.
¹²And they left their gods there; and David gave commandment, and they were burned with fire.
12. David gave commandment, and they were burned] In 2 Samuel v. 21 (Revised Version) David and his men took them away. The Chronicler alters this statement so as to make David’s conduct agree with the Law (Deuteronomy vii. 5, 25) which enjoined that graven images were to be burnt with fire.
¹³And the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley.
13. yet again] This invasion of “all the Philistines” (verse 8) was too serious to be repelled by a single defeat.
in the valley] in 2 Samuel v. 22, in the valley of Rephaim, as in verse 9 above.
¹⁴And David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Thou shalt not go up after them: turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry¹ trees.
14. Thou shalt not go up after them] In 2 Samuel v. 23 the words after them are connected with the following verb: Thou shalt not go up: make a circuit behind them. In Samuel the command is to assail the rear of the enemy, in Chronicles to avoid the rear (which was perhaps protected by a rear-guard) and to attack (presumably) the flank. The reading in Chronicles is to be preferred as a harder reading, which yields good sense on examination.
from them] The Hebrew word suggests that David occupied a commanding position from which he would be tempted to attack.
over against the mulberry trees] Render, along, parallel to. The line of David’s attack is to be parallel to a line of mulberry trees (or to a ridge on which mulberry trees stood) situate probably at right angles to the line of the Philistine march. Thus David’s advance would be concealed from the Philistines until the very moment of the attack, which would fall on the flank of the Philistine march.
mulberry trees] or, as margin, balsam trees. Some kind of tree or shrub from which gum exudes seems to be meant.
¹⁵And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.
15. the sound of marching] the sound of the wind in the trees is to be taken as an omen from Jehovah, indicating the favourable moment for the assault. The Targum, characteristically, has the sound of angels coming to thy help.
thou shalt go out to battle] Samuel has a more vivid phrase, thou shalt bestir thyself.
¹⁶And David did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon¹ even to Gezer. ¹⁷And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.
16. smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer] This victory was decisive; the main army of the Philistines was routed.
Gezer] compare vi. 67, note.
Chapter XV.
1–24.
David’s Preparations for Bringing the
Ark to Jerusalem.
There is no parallel in Samuel to this section.
In 2 Samuel vi. 12 the reason given for the renewal of David’s attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem is the report of the blessing which was said to have befallen Obed-edom, in whose house the Ark had been left. The Chronicler is not ignorant of this tradition since he refers to it incidentally in xiii. 14, but it would be very far from his sense of the fitness of things to adduce it as the motive for David’s action. On the contrary he declares in this section that David was prompted by a realisation that the ill-success of the first attempt was due to failure to observe the regulations of the Levitical Law. Full attention now being given to the prescribed ritual, David succeeds in his pious purpose.
¹And David made him houses in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.
1. made him houses] Compare 2 Samuel v. 9.
a tent] a new tent, not the old tabernacle which the Chronicler believed to be at Gibeon (see xvi. 39).
²Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.
2. None ... but the Levites] Numbers i. 50, vii. 9. Nothing is said in the parallel place (2 Samuel vi. 13) of the Levites, but bearers (and not a cart) are spoken of with regard to this second attempt. Compare 2 Chronicles v. 4, note.
³And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord unto its place, which he had prepared for it. ⁴And David gathered together the sons of Aaron, and the Levites:
3. assembled all Israel] It was a solemn religious assembly (Hebrew Ḳāhāl, Greek ἐκκλησία).
⁵of the sons of Kohath; Uriel the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twenty: ⁶of the sons of Merari; Asaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty: ⁷of the sons of Gershom; Joel the chief, and his brethren an hundred and thirty: ⁸of the sons of Elizaphan; Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred: ⁹of the sons of Hebron; Eliel the chief, and his brethren fourscore: ¹⁰of the sons of Uzziel; Amminadab the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twelve.
5–10. Remark that besides the three great Levitical divisions, Kohathites, Gershonites, and Merarites, three additional classes (sons of Elizaphan, of Hebron, and of Uzziel) are given in verses 8–10. This unusual sixfold division, and the smallness of the numbers of Levites have been taken as indicating that the whole passage xv. 1–15 is drawn by the Chronicler from an earlier source, but the argument is not convincing. “The text does not imply that Elizaphan, Hebron, and Uzziel were coordinated with Kohath, Gershom, and Merari”; and the small numbers are accounted for by the view that only selected Levites were chosen for the task (so Curtis, Chronicles, p. 127).
5. the sons of Kohath; Uriel] Kohath had four sons (Exodus vi. 18 = 1 Chronicles vi. 18): Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Here the descendants of Amram (exclusive of the priests, the Aaronites) represented by Uriel head the list (verse 5), and the descendants of Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel appear in verses 8, 9, 10 respectively. Elizaphan (verse 8) either stands for the Izhar of Exodus vi. 18, or is the name of some prominent descendant of Izhar after whom the whole family was named. He is mentioned again in 2 Chronicles xxix. 13. As regards number the Kohathites were 512 against 350 of the sons of Merari and the sons of Gershom combined. In vi. 60–63 (45–48, Hebrew) 23 cities are reckoned to Kohath against 25 to Merari and Gershom combined. The Kohathites formed the largest and most important of the three divisions of the Levites.
¹¹And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab,
11. Zadok and Abiathar] This double priesthood (2 Samuel viii. 17, xv. 29, 35, xix. 11, xx. 25) came to an end in the reign of Solomon (1 Kings ii. 27, 35). Zadok is always mentioned first as being descended from Eleazar the third son of Aaron, while Ithamar from whom Abiathar (Ahimelech) was descended through Eli (1 Kings ii. 27) was the fourth son (xxiv. 1, 3). In two of the passages quoted in this note Abiathar (probably being confused with his father) is called Ahimelech or Abimelech (2 Samuel viii. 17 = 1 Chronicles xviii. 16; 1 Chronicles xxiv. 3). Conversely in Mark ii. 26 Ahimelech is called Abiathar. In the Chronicler’s list of high-priests (vi. 4–14) Zadok alone is mentioned, the line of Eleazar alone being given.
the priests] Only the two chief priests are mentioned here. Other priests blew with the trumpets in front of the Ark (verse 24).
¹²and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it.
12. sanctify yourselves] Compare 2 Chronicles xxix. 5. For the method of sanctifying compare Exodus xix. 10, 15.
¹³For because ye bare it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance. ¹⁴So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.
13. made a breach] xiii. 11, xiv. 11 (compare margin).
we sought him not] i.e. God; but a better rendering is we sought not unto it. Compare note on xiii. 3.
according to the ordinance] For its observance, see verse 15.
¹⁵And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord.
15. the children of the Levites bare ... upon their shoulders] in accordance with the regulation of Numbers i. 50, vii. 9, which was not observed in the first attempt when the Ark was placed in a cart, xiii. 7.
the staves] Exodus xxv. 13, 14.
¹⁶And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy.
16. psalteries] See note on xiii. 8.
¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;
17. Heman the son of Joel] a descendant of Samuel the prophet; vi. 33 (vi. 18, Hebrew). Compare Psalms lxxxviii. (title). As Heman was descended from Kohath, Asaph from Gershom, and Ethan from Merari, each division of the Levites was represented by a chief musician. Heman was king’s seer (xxv. 5).
Asaph the son of Berechiah] a descendant of Gershom; vi. 39–43 (24–28, Hebrew). Asaph was the chief of the musicians; xvi. 5, 7. One of the small collections of Psalms from which our Psalter was compiled was named after him; compare the titles of Psalms l., lxxiii.–lxxxiii.
Ethan the son of Kushaiah] a descendant of Merari; vi. 44–47. Compare Psalms lxxxix. (title). He is apparently called Jeduthun in xxv. 1–6. See also the note on xvi. 41.
18–24. These verses present several obscurities which can hardly be explained except by the supposition that the original text of the Chronicler has been added to by a later writer with intricate results. Several reconstructions are possible, the most plausible being that of Curtis which is followed in these notes.
¹⁸and with them their brethren of the second degree, Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers.
18. their brethren of the second degree] Read rather their twelve brethren: twelve being the number of names from Zechariah to Mikneiah. The last two, Obed-edom and Jeiel, were “doorkeepers,” not “singers,” although they were mistakenly supposed to belong to the list of singers by the author of verses 19–21 (see further regarding Obed-edom the note on xvi. 38).
Ben] This word, which means “son,” is an error. Read probably Bani.
the doorkeepers] See the notes on ix. 17.
¹⁹So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed, with cymbals of brass to sound aloud;
19–21. Probably an addition interpolated by someone interested in the detailed organisation of the Levitical choirs. The names are taken from verse 18, except that Ben is omitted, and a new name Azaziah is added at the end of the list. Since Obed-edom and Jeiel are included among the singers here, the reading “of the second degree” (which is regarded above as an error for an original “twelve”: a slight change in Hebrew) must have been found in the text of verse 18 which the interpolator used.
to sound aloud] The cymbals mark the time for the other instruments.
²⁰and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth;
20. set to Alamoth] an obscure phrase, its musical significance being uncertain; compare Psalms xlvi. (title), Revised Version.
²¹and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead.
21. set to the Sheminith] As in the case of Alamoth, the precise musical significance of Sheminith is obscure. Compare Psalms vi. (title, Revised Version margin).
²²And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the song¹: he instructed about the song¹, because he was skilful.
22. was over the song] The Hebrew word (massa) here twice rendered “song” means “uplifting,” either of the voice in song, or in a physical sense = “burden”; hence margin was over the carrying of the ark.
²³And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.
23. were doorkeepers for the ark] The same statement is made in verse 24 concerning Obed-edom and Jehiah (= Jeiel)! On Curtis’ view, this verse was added by the same writer as verses 19–21, who, having taken Obed-edom and Jeiel as part of the list of singers in verse 18 no doubt thought that the names of the doorkeepers (the last word of verse 18) had somehow been omitted. He supplied therefore here the names Berechiah and Elkanah (taken perhaps from ix. 16). A still later writer has attempted to put matters straight by further adding at the conclusion of verse 24 “and Obed-edom and Jehiah (Jeiel) were doorkeepers for the ark.”
²⁴And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark.
24. the priests] In Numbers x. 1–10 it is enjoined to make two silver trumpets to be blown by the priests on days of joy and on feast-days. This festal trumpet was different from the “cornet” (verse 28), properly a ram’s horn, which was freely used for secular purposes. See Driver, Amos, pp. 144 ff. (with illustrations).
25–XVI. 3 (compare 2 Samuel vi. 12–20).
The Bringing Home of the Ark.
Michal despises David.
²⁵So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom with joy: ²⁶and it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams.
26. when God helped the Levites] In 2 Samuel vi. 13, when they that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces. The Chronicler interprets the safe start as a sign of Divine assistance.
seven bullocks and seven rams] In Samuel an ox and a fatling (so Revised Version, not, oxen and fatlings as Authorized Version). The smaller sacrifice of Samuel is represented as the king’s own offering, the larger sacrifice of Chronicles as that of the king and his elders combined.
²⁷And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song¹ with the singers: and David had upon him an ephod of linen.
27. of the song] margin, of the carrying of the ark. Compare verse 22, note.
an ephod of linen] worn exceptionally by David for the purpose of the religious procession. A linen ephod was the ordinary vestment for all priests (1 Samuel xxii. 18). The high-priest’s ephod was a more elaborate garment (Exodus xxviii. 6–12), fitted with the means of divination (1 Samuel xxiii. 6, 9–12).
²⁸Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps.
28. with shouting] The Hebrew word (tĕrū‘ah) is technical in the sense of a blast with the festal trumpets (Numbers x. 1–10), and in this sense it should be taken here, since the Chronicler has expanded the account given in Samuel by introducing a mention of these trumpets.
²⁹And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart.
29. playing] a synonym of dancing, obsolete in modern English. The closest rendering is perhaps, leaping as in sport. The unrestrained joyousness of this action might easily degenerate (as in idolatrous worship) into licence. The Chronicler omits to say that the dancing was “before the Lord” (2 Samuel vi. 16). David’s subsequent interview with Michal (2 Samuel vi. verses 20–23) is also passed over in Chronicles.