4After this, war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer; then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, who was one of the descendants of the giants; and the Philistines were subdued. 5Again there was war with the Philistines; and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 6Again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great size, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; he also was descended from the giants. 7When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. 8These were descended from the giants in Gath; they fell by the hand of David and his servants.
next chapter
* * *
a Gk Vg See 1 Kings 11.5, 33: MT of their king
b Compare 2 Sam 12.31: Heb and he sawed
c Compare 2 Sam 12.31: Heb saws
20.1 Jerusalem. At this point 2 Sam 11.2–12.25 tells the story of David, Bathsheba, Uriah, and the prophetic condemnation by Nathan before reporting the conclusion of the battle with the Ammonites. Since Chronicles idealizes David’s and Solomon’s work for the temple and its ritual life, to rehearse the sins of the United Monarchy would not have served its purposes. We may be sure that the Chronicler and his readers were well aware of these negative incidents.
20.2 Milcom, the national god of the Ammonites. A talent of gold, about 67 pounds.
20.4–8 Cf. 2 Sam 21.18–22. The wars end, as they had begun (18.1), with the Philistines.
20.4 Sibbecai, a hero who hails from a town near Bethlehem. Subdued. Cf. 17.10; 2 Chr 13.18; 28.19.
20.5 Elhanan’s killing of Goliath (2 Sam 21.19) is later ascribed to David in 1 Sam 17. The name of the victim in Chronicles, Lahmi the brother of Goliath, arose through miswriting of the letters of Elhanan’s hometown, Bethlehem, but the reference to the brother of Goliath is a harmonization.
20.8 Giants, or Raphah, a divine patron of four warriors killed by the Israelites (2 Sam 21.22).
1 CHRONICLES 21
The Census and Plague
1Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to count the people of Israel. 2So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.” 3But Joab said, “May the LORD increase the number of his people a hundredfold! Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord’s servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?” 4But the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, and came back to Jerusalem. 5Joab gave the total count of the people to David. In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and in Judah four hundred seventy thousand who drew the sword. 6But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab.
7But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel. 8David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” 9The LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Three things I offer you; choose one of them, so that I may do it to you.’” 11So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Take your choice: 12either three years of famine; or three months of devastation by your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or three days of the sword of the LORD, pestilence on the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I shall return to the one who sent me.” 13Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but let me not fall into human hands.”
14So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel; and seventy thousand persons fell in Israel. 15And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but when he was about to destroy it, the LORD took note and relented concerning the calamity; he said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Stay your hand.” The angel of the LORD was then standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the command to count the people? It is I who have sinned and done very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house; but do not let your people be plagued!”
David’s Altar and Sacrifice
18Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to tell David that he should go up and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19So David went up following Gad’s instructions, which he had spoken in the name of the LORD. 20Ornan turned and saw the angel; and while his four sons who were with him hid themselves, Ornan continued to thresh wheat. 21As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David; he went out from the threshing floor, and did obeisance to David with his face to the ground. 22David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the LORD—give it to me at its full price—so that the plague may be averted from the people.” 23Then Ornan said to David, “Take it; and let my lord the king do what seems good to him; see, I present the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for a grain offering. I give it all.” 24But King David said to Ornan, “No; I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” 25So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the site. 26David built there an altar to the LORD and presented burnt offerings and offerings of well-being. He called upon the LORD, and he answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. 27Then the LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.
next chapter
* * *
21.1–17 Cf. 2 Sam 24.1–17. Chronicles omits the Song of David (2 Sam 22; Ps 18) and the Last Words of David (2 Sam 23.1–7). The list of mighty men in 2 Sam 23.8–39 is included in 11.11–41.
21.1 Satan. Cf. Job 1–2; Zech 3.1–10, where, however, the figure is called “the satan.” In 2 Sam 24.1 the Lord incites David. The Chronicler was unwilling to assign temptation to the deity.
21.2 Beer-sheba to Dan. Chronicles describes the land from south to north (cf. 2 Chr 30.5).
21.3 Joab’s final accusing question is not found in 2 Sam 24.3. David’s census shows reliance on numerical might rather than on the Lord ’ s help.
21.5 It is probable that the numbers in Chronicles originally included nothing for Judah. 2 Sam 24.9 has Israel, “eight hundred thousand,” Judah, “five hundred thousand.” The Chronicler may have calculated that thirteen tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh replaced Joseph) averaged 100,000 apiece. Since Levi and Benjamin were excluded from this census (v. 6), the total for (all) Israel was reduced to one million one hundred thousand. A later hand understood Israel to include only the territory of the Northern Kingdom and not Judah. The figure of four hundred seventy thousand for Judah in Chronicles may result from the figure of four hundred thousand for Judah in the proto-Lucianic text of 2 Sam 24.9, to which seventy thousand were added to make up for the lives that would be lost in the divine judgment (v. 14).
21.6 Levi’s exclusion is based on Num 1.49; 2.33. Benjamin’s exclusion may relate to the presence of the tabernacle in Gibeon.
21.9 Spoke. The Lord’s address is more direct than in 2 Sam 24.11. Gad, a court prophet.
21.12 Angel of the LORD. This figure is not mentioned in 2 Sam 24.13, but see v. 16.
21.13 David chooses punishment by (the angel of) the Lord, known for his great mercy. God’s grace leads to the choice of the temple site in 22.1.
21.15 Ornan. 2 Sam 24.16 reads “Araunah,” a variant spelling. The punishment does not include Jerusalem.
21.16 This dramatic depict
ion of the angel of the Lord does not appear in the standard Hebrew text of 2 Sam 24, but it does occur in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
21.18–27 Cf. 2 Sam 24.18–25.
21.20 Ornan’s sons are not mentioned in 2 Sam 24.20 and may have arisen from a copyist’s error.
21.22 David’s offer to buy the threshing floor at its full price is an addition by the Chronicler, who relates this purchase to Abraham’s offer to buy the cave of Machpelah as a burial site. Cf. also v. 24; Gen 23.9.
21.25 Six hundred shekels of gold. 2 Sam 24.24 reads “fifty shekels of silver.” The medieval Jewish commentator Rashi suggests that David paid fifty shekels for each tribe.
21.26 The second sentence in this verse is not found in 2 Sam 24.25. The Lord’s fire confirms the choice of this site, much as the fire at the first sacrifice at Sinai validated the sacrificial system (Lev 9.24).
21.27 The Lord’s command to the angel does not appear in the standard text of 2 Samuel. Sheath, translation of a Persian loanword.
21.28–22.1 This significant addition by the Chronicler identifies Ornan’s threshing floor as the site of the future temple.
21.29 Only in Chronicles do we hear that the tabernacle and the altar of burnt offering were located at Gibeon. This information explains in part why Solomon’s famous dream could take place at Gibeon (1 Kings 3.5).
21.30 The angel’s sword (cf. v. 16) prevents David from worshiping at Gibeon (2 Chr 1.6–13).
1 CHRONICLES 22
The Place Chosen for the Temple
28At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made his sacrifices there. 29For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon; 30but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD. 1Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
David Prepares to Build the Temple
2David gave orders to gather together the aliens who were residing in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God. 3David also provided great stores of iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clamps, as well as bronze in quantities beyond weighing, 4and cedar logs without number—for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David. 5For David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorified throughout all lands; I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David provided materials in great quantity before his death.
David’s Charge to Solomon and the Leaders
6Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel. 7David said to Solomon, “My son, I had planned to build a house to the name of the LORD my God. 8But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood in my sight on the earth. 9See, a son shall be born to you; he shall be a man of peace. I will give him peace from all his enemies on every side; for his name shall be Solomon,a and I will give peaceb and quiet to Israel in his days. 10He shall build a house for my name. He shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’ 11Now, my son, the LORD be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as he has spoken concerning you. 12Only, may the LORD grant you discretion and understanding, so that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the LORD your God. 13Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the ordinances that the LORD commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed. 14With great pains I have provided for the house of the LORD one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond weighing, for there is so much of it; timber and stone too I have provided. To these you must add more. 15You have an abundance of workers: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of artisans without number, skilled in working 16gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Now begin the work, and the LORD be with you.”
17David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon, saying, 18“Is not the LORD your God with you? Has he not given you peace on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before the LORD and his people. 19Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God. Go and build the sanctuary of the LORD God so that the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the LORD.”
next chapter
* * *
a Heb Shelomoh
b Heb shalom
22.1 The future site of the temple and its altar is validated by the word of David and the actions of the Lord and his angel. This site has continuity with the Mosaic institutions of tabernacle and altar. The story explains why the nation’s worship center is transferred from Gibeon to Jerusalem.
22.2–5 David provides materials for the temple.
22.2 Aliens were used in forced labor gangs. It is unclear whether native Israelites were subject to such service (cf. 1 Kings 5.13; 9.20–22).
22.3 Bronze was obtained, in part, through wars (18.8, 10). Note the emphasis on quantity: great stores and beyond weighing.
22.4 Cedar from Lebanon was supplied by the Phoenicians for the Second Temple (Ezra 3.7).
22.5 According to the Chronicler, Solomon would have been unable to manage the building of the temple if his father had not assembled all the necessary materials. On the other hand, David was unable to build the temple himself (17.4; 22.7–8; 28.2–3; 2 Chr 6.7–9).
22.6–16 A private speech addressed to Solomon based in part on Moses’ commissioning of Joshua (Josh 1).
22.7 Throughout the Deuteronomistic History (see Introduction), the temple is the place where God’s name dwells (e.g., Deut 12.11; 1 Kings 8.16, 19, 20, 29).
22.8 David’s shedding of blood bars him from building the temple. The Chronicler has in mind the seventy thousand who died as a consequence of David’s sinful census in the previous chapter.
22.9 Solomon fulfills the promises of a royal heir in Nathan’s oracle (17.11–14). The third occurrence of the word peace in this verse is a pun in Hebrew on the word Solomon. The other two occurrences might better be translated “rest.” Deut 12.9–11 indicates that when the Lord gives the people rest from their enemies, they should gather to one central sanctuary. Only in the reign of Solomon does Israel attain rest.
22.12 Solomon’s wisdom enables him to keep the Torah (Josh 1.7–8).
22.14 The amounts of the precious metals are exaggerated in order to stress the magnificence of the temple. The gold amounts to 3,365 tons, the silver to more than 33,000!
22.16 Begin the work. The encouragement in David’s speech is clarified by a literal translation, “Rise and act.”
22.17–19 A speech addressed to the leaders of Israel.
22.18 “Rest” is again preferable to peace (see note on 22.9). The Chronicler seeks to suggest that God is with the people of his own period and gives them rest, just as he was with Solomon and gave him rest (vv. 9–11).
22.19 The people’s seeking of the LORD would result in their building the sanctuary for the ark.
1 CHRONICLES 23
Families of the Levites and Their Functions
1When David was old and full of days, he made his son Solomon king over the Israel.
2David assembled all the leaders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. 3The Levites, thirty years old and upward, were counted, and the total was thirty-eight thousand. 4“Twenty-four thousand of these,” David said, shall have charge of the work in the house of LORD, six thousand shall be officers and judges, 5four thousand gatekeepers, and four thousand shall offe
r praises to the LORD with the instruments that I have made for praise.” 6And David organized them in divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon,a Kohath, and Merari.
7The sons of Gershonb were Ladan and Shimei. 8The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, Zetham, and Joel, three. 9The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of families of Ladan. 10And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. 11Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were enrolled as a single family.
12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. 13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to consecrate the most holy things, so that he and his sons forever should make offerings before the LORD, and minister to him and pronounce blessings in his name forever; 14but as for Moses the man of God, his sons were to be reckoned among the tribe of Levi. 15The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 16The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. 17The sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the chief; Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous. 18The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. 19The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 20The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief and Isshiah the second.
21The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. 22Eleazar died having no sons, but only daughters; their kindred, the sons of Kish, married them. 23The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.
24These were the sons of Levi by their ancestral houses, the heads of families as they were enrolled according to the number of the names of the individuals from twenty years old and upward who were to do the work for the service of the house of the LORD. 25For David said, “The LORD, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he resides in Jerusalem forever. 26And so the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the things for its service”—27for according to the last words of David these were the number of the Levites from twenty years old and upward—28“but their duty shall be to assist the descendants of Aaron for the service of the house of the LORD, having the care of the courts and the chambers, the cleansing of all that is holy, and any work for the service of the house of God; 29to assist also with the rows of bread, the choice flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baked offering, the offering mixed with oil, and all measures of quantity or size. 30And they shall stand every morning, thanking and praising the LORD, and likewise at evening, 31and whenever burnt offerings are offered to the LORD on sabbaths, new moons, and appointed festivals, according to the number required of them, regularly before the LORD. 32Thus they shall keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary, and shall attend the descendants of Aaron, their kindred, for the service of the house of the LORD.”
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 167
