Page:03.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.B.vol.3.LaterProphets.djvu/323

 elsewhere מדּע (2Ch 1:11, 2Ch 1:12), occurs elsewhere only in Dan 1:4, Dan 1:17; Ecc 10:20.

Verses 11-13
The divine promise. Here עשׁר is strengthened by the addition נכסים, treasures (Jos 22:8; Ecc 5:18; Ecc 6:2). תּשׁפּט אשׁר, ut judicare possis. In general, the mode of expression is briefer than in 1Ki 3:11-13, and the conditional promise, “long life” (1Ki 3:14), is omitted, because Solomon did not fulfil the condition, and the promise was not fulfilled. In 2Ch 1:13 לבּמה is unintelligible, and has probably come into our text only by a backward glance at 2Ch 1:3, instead of מהבּמה, which the contents demand, and as the lxx and Vulgate have rightly translated it. The addition, “from before the tabernacle,” which seems superfluous after the preceding “from the Bamah at Gibeon,” is inserted in order again to point to the place of sacrifice at Gibeon, and to the legal validity of the sacrifices offered there (Berth.). According to 1Ki 3:15, Solomon, on his return to Jerusalem, offered before the ark still other burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, and prepared a meal for his servants. This is omitted by the author of the Chronicle, because these sacrifices had no ultimate import for Solomon's reign, and not, as Then, supposes, because in his view only the sacrifices offered on the ancient brazen altar of burnt-offering belonging to the temple had legal validity. For he narrates at length in 1Ch 21:18, 1Ch 21:26. how God Himself directed David to sacrifice in Jerusalem, and how the sacrifice offered there was graciously accepted by fire from heaven, and the threshing-floor of Araunah thereby consecrated as a place of sacrifice; and it is only with the purpose of explaining to his readers why Solomon offered the solemn burnt-offering in Gibeon, and not, as we should have expected from 1 Chron 21, in Jerusalem, that he is so circumstantial in his statements as to the tabernacle. The last clause of 2Ch 1:13, “and he was king over Israel,” does not belong to the section treating of the sacrifice at Gibeon, but corresponds to the remark in 1Ki 4:1, and forms the transition to what follows.Solomon's chariots, horses, and riches. - In order to prove by facts the fulfilment of the divine promise which Solomon received in answer to his prayer at Gibeon, we have in 1Ki 3:16-28 a narrative of Solomon's wise judgment, then in 2 Chron 4 an account of his public officers; and in 2Ch 5:1-14 the royal magnificence, glory, and wisdom of his reign is further portrayed. In our Chronicle, on the contrary, we have in 2Ch 1:14-17 only a short statement as to his chariots and horses, and