1 Chronicles 28

Verse 1. Israel. These are more particularly described as princes of the tribes, ( Bible.) twelve captains, and so forth Calmet. 27:1.—And his. Hebrew “and of his sons.” Calmet.—We may also understand this of the preceptors of the royal family. Calmet. 27:32.—Officers. Lit. “eunuchs.” Bible.—Bravest; particularly those specified Calmet. 11.

Verse 2. Rising up from his bed, on which he lay, on account of his great age and weakness, while he addressed himself to his son; (3 Kennicott. 1:47. Calmet.) or he rose from his throne, to honor this grand assembly. Hebrew “stood upon his feet.” Bible.—Thought. Hebrew “I, with my heart, thought to,” and so forth Calmet.—And, or which is the footstool. Bible.—The ark is often so called, because God was considered as sitting upon the wings of the cherubim, over it. Psalms 98:1. and so forth—Building. No doubt what David left would have been sufficient. Yet Solomon thought that he could make something still more magnificent.

Verse 3. Blood. See Calmet. 22:8. Calmet.

Verse 4. Ever; for a long time, and to leave the throne to my posterity for many ages, and to the Messias for ever. This expression is not always to be taken in its rigour. Calmet.—Princes. Hebrew “prince, or the ruler.” Bible.—This tribe had long possessed the greatest power, ( Calmet.) and the promise of the sceptre. Genesis 49. Worthington.—The phrase often denotes a long time, but it is best understood of Christ. D.

Verse 5. My son, by the mouth of Nathan. 2 Kennicott. 7:13. Menochius.—Solomon was a figure of Christ, and his dignity was predicted. Calmet. 17:11, 3 Kennicott. 1:13. Calmet.

Verse 7. If. The promises of the Old Testament were frequently conditional, and we always find the condition marked in some place; but those made to the Church of Christ, have no such limitation. Bible.—Day. Solomon was once faithful, and afterwards fell; it is uncertain whether ever to rise again. Hence it appears that the true children of God may become wicked. Worthington.

Verse 8. Seek. Wilful ( Bible.) or supine ignorance will excuse no man. Menochius.

Verse 9. Know, with affection ( Bible.) and faith; and him alone must thou serve. D.—Forsake him, and die impenitent. Bible.

Verse 11. Description, impressed by God on David’s imagination; (Cajet.) or rather planned out by the hand of God, (verse 19. Salien) as the law was written. Bible.—The Jews pretend that this plan was delivered to Moses, and handed down by Josue, and so forth to David. E.—But why might not David receive it immediately from heaven? Calmet.—Treasures. Lit. “cellars.” Bible.—The original term, Ganzac, is not Hebrew We find Ganas (Esther 3:9) to signify a treasure, being derived from the Persian, Gaza. David gave, therefore, a description of the rooms to keep the treasures of the temple, or of the cellars for wine and oil. Calmet.—Septuagint “a pattern of the temple and of the houses thereof, and of the Zakcho, and of the upper rooms, and of the inner storehouses,” and so forth Bible.—Inner, or most retired closets, (3 Kennicott. 20:30. Calmet.) where the Levites slept. Menochius.—Seat, where the ark was kept, and God was rendered propitious. Bible.

Verse 13. Divisions, into twenty-four classes, ( Menochius.) which was done by God’s order. Bible.—For all, that everything might be done with regularity. Menochius.

Verse 14. Weight, or sufficient for each, verse 15. Bible.—Some think he only left a memorial of what quantity of gold and silver would be requisite. It does not appear that Solomon used silver for the vessels, as he chose to execute his father’s injunctions with still greater magnificence.

Verse 15. Silver. David probably intended that five candlesticks would be made of this metal: but Solomon made all the ten of gold. 3 Kennicott. 7:49. There was one in the tabernacle. Exodus 25:31. Calmet.—But the temple was more spacious, and a greater number was not prohibited. Menochius.—According. Hebrew “for the use of every candlestick.”

Verse 16. Silver. Yet all the ten were composed of the purest gold, (2 Chronicles 4:12) as silver was too common, ib. 9:20. Moses had only two tables. Calmet.—Diversity. Hebrew “for each table.” Vat.

Verse 17. Lions. S. Jerom seems to have read cephir, instead of the present cephor, which is rendered “a cup, or bowl.” 1 Ezra 1:10. Calmet.—Septuagint Alex. “and of the flesh-hooks, libation vessels and bowls; and the weight of the golden and silver vessels (kepphoure; a word which they do not translate) of each weight.” Bible.—The change of i for u was very easy; and perhaps the basins were ornamented with representations of lions. D. Menochius.—We do not find cephor used before, to denote any of the vessels of the tabernacle: but Esdras uses it, (Calmet. 8:27) whence it is inferred that it is of Chal. extraction.

Verse 18. Purest. Hebrew “refined.”—Lord. He was represented as riding in a chariot, drawn by Cherubim, ( Calmet.) or sitting on their wings. Bible.—Two, particularly, filled up the space between the walls in the most holy place, and covered the ark, and also the Cherubim made by Moses, 3 Kennicott. 7:23.

Verse 19. These things, said he, is not in Hebrew Septuagint “All in the handwriting of the Lord, did David give to Solomon, according to the knowledge given to him from above, respecting the workmanship of the pattern.” Bible.—David saw the pattern in a kind of ecstasy; (Salien. E.) or some prophet delivered it unto him, ( Calmet.) marked out by the hand of an angel, ( Tirinus.) like the tabernacle given to Moses. D.

Verse 20. Lord. Septuagint add, “and I beheld, or behold, the pattern of the temple, and of the house and the Zakcho thereof, and the upper rooms and inner storehouses, and the house of propitiation, and the pattern of the house of the Lord: (21) and behold,” verse 11. Bible.

Verse 21. Thee. Hebrew and Septuagint “for all workmanship, every willing skilful man for any service, also all the princes, and the people entirely at thy commands.” Bible.—The willing artificers are distinguished from those who were forced to work, though the former also received pay. Calmet.