Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/370

306 and worshipped. Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises unto the with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped. Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the. And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and

30. to sing praises] Since (1) the Heb. word for "Psalms" means "Praises," and (2) the words of David and Asaph are specially mentioned in this verse, it is clear that the Chronicler by this phrase means "to sing Psalms."

31—36&ensp;(not in Kings).&emsp;

31. answered and said] i.e. answered the thoughts or expectation of the people as expressed by the Sacrifices and the Songs; cp. Job iii. 2 (R.V.).

ye have consecrated yourselves] Heb. "filled your hand"; cp. xiii. 9; Ex. xxviii. 41.

sacrifices and thank offerings] The phrase means simply the special type of sacrifices which were termed "thank offerings." The fat of such offerings was burnt on the altar, the breast and right thigh were reserved for the priests, but the remainder belonged to the offerer and was used for a joyous meal (Lev. vii. 12 ff.). The burnt offering was entirely consumed on the altar, no portion being kept by priests or offerer (Lev. i. 1—13): hence such sacrifices represented a greater cost and are accordingly said to be given by those who were "of willing heart," i.e. conspicuously pious and generous.

33. the consecrated things] The term was applied (1) to gold and other valuables offered in the Temple; cp. xv. 18; 1 Chr. xviii. 8—11; (2) to those parts of the various sacrifices which were assigned to be eaten by the priests; Lev. xxi. 22 ("the holy [bread]"), xxii. 2, 3, 15 ("the holy things"). Here the reference is more general, i.e. to the thank offerings (ver. 35) themselves.