Exposition of the Whole Bible

¥. 5. Afaph the chief, 8&c.] “Of thofe that were now appointed; otherwife of the three prin a fingers, Heman was the chief, and Ajaph next, Bae vi. 33. 39. and next tohim Zechariah, Feiel, miramoth, and febiel, and Mattithiah, and _ and Benciah, and Obed-edom, and Feiel with 4 ries, and with harps; to play upon them befor ark at the fame time’the pfalms and fe gs vere | cally fung; the aboveperfons are‘fuch as are named before, ch. xv. 18. 20, 21. dut Afaph made a for ad with cymbals; he ftruck and played upon hem, fee ch. xv. 1. ‘Sen ‘a

¥. 6. Benaiah alfo and: Fehaxiel. the priefts, 8c.) Thefe were appointed to blow with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, morning and evening.

¥. 7. Then. on that day, &c.|\ The ark was brought to Zion, and the above perfons appointed to minifter before it: David delivered firft this pfalm to thank the Lord, into the band of Afaph and bis brethren; to be fung by them now, and on every proper occafion; and this feems to.be the firft that was delivered tothem; afterwards there were many more, as the titles of the pfalms fhew; the following is compoied of part of two others, as they now ftand in the book of pfalms. From hence, to the,end of ¥. 22. is the fame with Pf cv. 1—15. with a little variation, fee the notes there; and from thence to the end of ¥. 33. is P/. xcvi. which fee; and ¥. 34. is the fame with P/- cvi. 1, and cvii. 1. fee the notes there.

¥. 35, 36. And fay ye, fave us, O God of our falvation, &c.| The author of temporal, fpiritual, and eternal falvation; the words are a direction to the fingers, and thofe that {ung with them, to exprefs the prayer and doxology. in the next verfe, which both are the fame with Pf cvi. 47, 48.- fee the notes there; which David directed by a {pirit of prophecy, forefeeing the people of J/rae would be in captivity. among the heathens;. tho’ fome think thefe were added by Ezra; for tho’ there was in his time a return from the captivity, yet many ftill remained init.,

¥. 37. So, be left there before the ark of thé covenant of the Lord Afeph and bis brethren, &c.| Whom he, that is David, had appointed for the fervice of it: £0 minifter before the ark continually, in finging the praifes of God: as every. day’s work required; at the time of the morning and eveuing-facrifice, as Farchi and Kimchi interpret it.

¥. 38. And Obed-edom, with their brethren, 68, &c.] The Levites, the brethren of Afaph and Obed-edom, thefe were left before the ark to minifter there: Obed-edom, aifo the fon of Feduthun; or Ethan, which fome take to be another Odcd-edom, but the vaz may be explanative, even Obed-edom: and Hofah to be porters; thefe he left to be doorkeepers of the ark.

¥.39. And Zadok the prief and his brethren the priefis, &c.\» Thefe he left, having appointed them to be before. the tabernacle of the Lord, in the bigh place. that was at Gibeon; namely, the tabernacle of Mofes,, which was removed from Nod. thither in the days of Seu/, and continued there to the times, of Soloman, ch. xxi. 28. 1 Kings iii!.4. and Vili. 4.

Which. was. the work, of the priefts only to do; upon the altar of burnt-offering continually morning and evening; the lambs of the daily facrifice, which were a burnt-offering, and only to be offered on the brazen altar at the tabernacle: and to do according to all. that is written in the law of the Lord, which be commanded Irael, with regard to them, and all other facrifices, fee Exod. xxix. 38—42.

¥. 41. And with them, &c.} That is, with Zadok, and the priefts with him at Gibeon: he left Heman and ‘Feduthun, or Ethan, two principal fingers: and the reft that were chafen, who were expreffed by name; fee ¥, 18, 20, 21. #@ give thanks to the Lord, becaufe bis mercy endureth for ever; to praife him for his benefits, flowing from his grace and mercy continually.

v.42. And with them Heman and Feduthun with trumpets, and cymbals, &c.| Or with them were the trumpets and cymbals, as Kimchi’, or as Pif= cator {upplies it, with them he Jeft the trumpets and cymbals: for thoje that fhould make a found, by ftriking upon them: and mufical inftruments of God x facred.ones, fuch as were devoted to his fervice, as pfalteries and harps 5 the Syriac and Arabic verfions carry the fenfe of the words quite. differently, that thefe men did not fing with thofe mufical inftruments, but with a pleafant voice, and: with, pure and acceptable prayers, in humility and. uprightnefs, glorified God: and the fons of Feduthun were porters; at the tabernacle in Gideon.

¥. 43. And all the people departed every man to his boufe, &c.| Having accompanied the ark to its place, and having praifed the Lord for it, and been refrefhed with food, fee 2 Sam. vi. 19. and David returned to blefs bis houfe, his family; the Targum is, “+ to blels the people;” fee 2 Sam. vi. 20,

6 eee chapter contains an account of David’s intention to built an houfe for God, which he fignified to Nathan the prophet, who firft encouraged him to ic; but afterwards was fent by the Lord to him with an order to defift from it, affuring him at the fame time that his fon. fhould build it, and that his own houfe and kingdom fhould be eftablifhed for ever; for which David exprefled great thankfulnefs, the whole of which is related in 2 Sam. vii. with. fome. little variation, fee the notes there; only one thing has fince occurred, which I would juft take notice of, that here, to fuppofe it; for as the anceftors of the dbrabam, Ifaac and ‘facob, when only travellers from place to place, built ‘altars for God whereever they came; fo their pofterity, ’tis highly probable, not only did the fame, but when they found themfelves fettled in Egypt, in the land of Gofben, might build places of worfhip; and when we confider the wealth of Yo/epb, and his family, and’ indeed of all [/rae/, who enjoyed for many years great plenty, profperity and liberty before their {ervitude, the vaft numbers they increafed-to, and the long ‘continuance of them in Egypt, more than» 200 years; it will not feem ftrange that they fhould build houfes for religious worfhip, and even one grand and fplendid for public fervice, to which alfo they might be led by the example of the Egyptians; who, as Herodotus fays*, were the firft that ere&ted altars, images, and temples to the Mo-'gods, and who in the times of Yo/eph had one at yet itis not unreafonable Oz, where his father-in-law officiated as prieft, igaiiets Gen. xli. 45. or rather to this they might be fre y. 5. as there alfo, it is faid by the Lord, that he had not dwelt in an boufe fince the day he brought up Yrael out of Egypt; which feems to fuggeft that he had dwelt in one before, as has been. hinted on 2 Sam. vii. 6. even whilft the people of J/rael were in Egypt, though it is no where mentioned by * fes, or any other writer;

Pay:; rected by fome hints and inftructions of their father Facob before his death, who it is certain had a tion of a Bethel, an houfe for the public worthip of God, Gen. xxviii. 17, 19, 22. and xxxv. 1. and I find a learned man * of our own nation of this opinion, and which he founds upon this paf- Zgypt, was not a tent of goat’s hair, as in the no- wildernefs, but a ftructure of | {tones or bricks, a firm and ftable houfe, fuch an one as Abrabam built at Damafeus when fettled there; which con-— tinued to the times of Auguflus Cesar, as related by Nichelas of Damafcus’. ee pap fage; and he fuppofes the houfe God dwelt in in

HE xviiith and xixth chapters are the fame with 2 Sam. viii. x. with very little variations, which are obferved in the notes on them, to which the reader is referred; and ch.

y. 29. For the tabernacle of the Lord which Mo- /es made, &c.] Or ordered to be made by the command of God} and according to his direétion: xxth and the altar of burnt-offerings, were at that feafon in the high place at Gibeon, which was four or AGREES with various paflages in the /econd Book of Samuel; y.1. with ch. xi. 1.

five miles from Ferufalem, and too far for David and|to go in that time of extremity 5 though he muft and the reft, to thejhave gone thither to facrifice, had not the Lord bid him build an altar on the threfhing-floor 5 for there was the altar of burnt-offering, on which xxift, only, according to the law of Mo/es, facrifices were end of it with ch. xxi. 15—22. What differences there are, are obferved in the notes on thofe paffages, which fee. And ch.

to be offered: this high place is, in the Targum, ExXCE PTING the three laft verfes, is con-jcalled the fanctuary, it including, as Kimchi obtained in 2 Sam. xxiv. with fome few varia-|ferves, the whole houfe, the tabernacle, and the tions, which are there obferved; fee the notesjaltar in it; which had been here, and at Nob, 57 there. years, as the Fewi/h writers fay *. i ¥. 30. But David could not go before it to enzuire y. 28. At that time when David faw that the'of Ged, &c. Lord bad anfwered him in the threfbing-floor of Ornan the Febufite, &c.\ The fame with Araunah, 2 Sam. xxiv. 16. with fome fmall variation of the letters, andare of the fame fignification;

Ornus, as Hillerus ™ obferves, the pine-tree or afh; fee Jf xliv. 14. in whofe threfhing-floor David now was, and where he had been praying and crificing; and God had accepted his prayer, as the Targum, and had anfwered him, by caufing fire to come down on the facrifice and confume it, and by ordering the angel to put up his fword in its fheath: then he facrificed there; again by the priefts, and ‘continued to do fo, for he had facrificed there before, y. 26. and finding his facrifices Which yet was the proper place to feek the Lord in: the reafon follows, for he was ° afraid, becaufe of the word of the angel of the Lord, which had fo terrified him, that he. was fo weak both fignifying the that he could not go; and he feared, that fhould he attempt to go, whilft he was going thither, at fuch a diftance, the angel would make a terrible fa-jflaughter in Feru/alem, and therefore he durft not go and leave Jit; and befides, as the Lord had commanded him to build an altar there, he might fear it would difpleafe him, fhould he depart trom it; and the rather, as hereby he pointed out ‘to him the place where the temple fhould be buile, and facrifices offered, as appears from what he fays in the beginning of the next chapter.?

in that place were acceptable, he repeated them, and did not go to Gideon, as follows.

| this chapter we read of the place David pitched upon by divine direction for building the temple on, ¥. 1. the preparation he made of artificers to build it, and of matter to build ir of, as iron, brafs and wood, ¥. 2—5. the charge and inftructions he gave to Selomon to fet about it, y. 6—16. and to the princes of J/rae/ to affift him in it, ¥.17—19.

y¥.1. Then David faid, &c.] Within himéelf, or to fome principal perfons about him: this is the houfe of the Lord God, the place where the temple was to be built, hinted at in Deut. xii. 5. and elfewhere; the meaning is, here, or in his place, fhall be the houfe of God, fo Noldius*, for as yet there were none; but it was now made known to David, that here it fhould be built, and fo the words in 2 Chron iii. 1. fhould be rendered,. then

Solomon began to build the houfe of the. Lord in Ferufalem, which was foewn to David his father, which be prepared in the place of David, that which he bought iz the threfhing-floor of Ornan the Febufite s and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for lrael; not which he had built here; but this was the place where one fhould be built for the people of J/rael to bring their offerings to, and to be here offered for them by the priefts: this he faid by a divine impulfe upon his mind, or which he concluded from the acceptance of his facrifice here, fignified by fire that came down from heaven and confumed it; and — this being in the threfhing-floor of the Febufites, might prefigure the church of God to be built up © among the Gentiles. » wanda haat

¥. 2. And David commanded to gather together — the firangers that were in the land of Irael, 8c.) The profelytes, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Lati

_ was given a little before his death, after he had