Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/171

Rh And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the, and to celebrate and to thank and praise the, the God of Israel: Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with psalteries and with harps; and Asaph with cymbals, sounding aloud; and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually, before the ark of the covenant of God. Then on that day did David first ordain to give thanks unto the, by the hand of Asaph and his brethren. O give thanks unto the, call upon his name; Make known his doings among the peoples. Sing unto him, sing praises unto him;

a cake of raisins] Cp. Is. xvi. 7 (R.V.) where the same Heb. word is used.

4—6 (cp. vv. 37, 38).&emsp;

4. to celebrate] The literal meaning is to call to mind; cp. ver. 12 (remember). Cp. Pss. xxxviii., lxx. (titles).

5. Asaph] Cp. xv. 17, note.

and Obed-edom] It is possible that the names Obed-edom, and Jeiel and Asaph (in the latter part of the verse) have been inserted by the interpolator who wrote xv. 19—21 and wished to accommodate these verses to the altered text in ch. xv.

6. Benaiah and Jahaziel] Two priests for the two trumpets.

Benaiah] In xxvii. 5, 6 a Benaiah son of Jehoiada the priest (R.V.) is mentioned who may possibly be identified with the Benaiah who was one of the thirty heroes (xi. 24, 25). Cp. also xii. 27.

7—36.&emsp;

The psalm which follows consists of Pss. cv. 1—15, xcvi. 1 b—13 a, cvi. 1, 47, 48. It has been compiled from the Psalms just mentioned and placed here as an utterance such as would be appropriate to the situation. For detailed criticism as to the original form and present text of these Psalms, the reader must be referred to the commentaries on the Psalter. Only such comment is here given as seems called for in their present setting.

8—22 (= Ps. cv. 1—15).

8, 9. These verses are perhaps based upon Is. xii. 4, 5.