chief, and his brethren an hundred and | Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, twenty: and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the porters. 19 So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed to sound with bals of brass; 6 Of the sons of Merari; Asaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty: 7 Ŏf the sons of Gershom; Joel the chief, and his brethren an hundred and thirty: 8 Of the sons of Elizaphan; Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred : 9 Of the sons of Hebron; Eliel the chief, and his brethren fourscore; 10 Of the sons of Uzziel; Amminadab the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twelve. 11 And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, 12 And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. 13 For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order. 14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. 15 And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as 'Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD. 16 And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries, and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy. 17 So the Levites appointed 'Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; 18 And with them their brethren of the second degree, Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and cym 20 And Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries on Alamoth; 21 And Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith to excel. 22 And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, 'was for song: he instructed about the song, because he was skilful. 23 And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. 24 And Shebaniah, and Jehoshaphat, and Nethaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and Jehiah doorkeepers for the ark. were 25 So "David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. 26 And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. 27 And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen. 28 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps. 29 And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing: and she despised him in her heart. 8 Or, on the eighth to oversee. 11 2 Sam. 6. 12, 13, &c. Chap. 6. 39. 7 Chap. 6. 44. 12 Or, carriage. 3 Or, kinsmen. 4 Exod. 25. 14. 5 Chap. 6. 33. "Or, was for the carriage : he instructed about the carriage. CHAP. XV. This chapter gives an account of the final removal of the ark to "the city of David." The same account is given in 2 Sam. vi.; but it is there put as a sequel to the narrative of the first removal from Kirjath-jearim, whereas here the 17th chapter is interposed between the two accounts. Much of the present chapter is however occupied with what we do not find in the other narrative, being an account of the previous arrangements which David made for the removal, reception, and keeping of the ark. See the notes on 1 Sam. vi. CHAPTER XVI. 1 David's festival sacrifice. 4 He ordereth a choir to sing thanksgiving. 7 The psalm of thanksgiving. 37 He appointeth ministers, porters, priests, and musicians, to attend continually on the ark. So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. 2 And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. 3 And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. 4 ¶ And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel: 5 Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-edom: and Jeiel 'with psalteries and with harps; but Asaph made a sound with cymbals; 6 Benaiah also and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. 7 Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. the 8 Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among people. 9 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. 10 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. 11 Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually. 12 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 13 O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones. 17 And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, 18 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance; 19 When ye were but 'few, 'even a few and strangers in it. 20 And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people; 21 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, 22 Saying, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 23 10Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation. 24 Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations. 25 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. 26 For all the gods "of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. 27 Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place. 28 Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 30 Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth. 32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein. 33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth. 34 "O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. 35 And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deli 14 He is the LORD our God; his judg-ver us from the heathen, that we may give ments are in all the earth. thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise. 15 Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; 16 Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac ; 19 Sam. 6. 17. 2 Heb. with instruments of psalteries and harps. 6 Heb. men of number. 7 Gen. 34. 30. 36 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the 'people said, Amen, and praised the LORD. 37 8 Psal. 105. 1. So he left there before the ark of Gen. 17. 2, and 26. 3, and 28. 13. • Heb, the cord, Psal. 105. 15. 10 Psal. 96. 1. 11 Levit. 19.4 13 Deut. 27. 15. Israel; the covenant of the LORD Asaph and his | law of the LORD, which he commanded brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day's work required: 38 And Obed-edom with their brethren, threescore and eight; Obed-edom also the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be porters: 39 And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gi beon, 40 To offer burnt offerings unto the LORD upon the altar of the burnt offering continually morning and evening, and to do according to all that is written in the 41 And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were expressed by name, to give thanks to the LORD, because his mercy endureth for ever; 42 And with them Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those that should make a sound, and with musical instruments of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were "porters. 43 And all the people departed every man to his house: and David returned to bless his house. CHAP. XVI.-The three first verses of the present chapter answer to 2 Sam. vi. 17-19. The psalm, which occupies the greater part of the chapter, seems to have been composed from other psalms, as the whole of it is found, with little variation, in Ps. xcvi., cv. and evi, In its present form it seems to have been the first of David's psalms, which he delivered to the sacred musicians to be used in the service of the tabernacle. The remainder of the chapter refers chiefly to the appointment of these musicians and the distribution of their duties. The account offers some interesting points for consideration; but we abstain froin reference to them at present, wishing to reserve for the illustration of the Psalms al! we have to state concerning the music of the Hebrews. CHAPTER XVII. Nathan first approving the purpose of David, to build God an house, 3 after by the word of God forbiddeth him. 11 He promiseth him blessings and benefits in his seed. 16 David's prayer and thanksgiving. Now 'it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains. 2 Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee. 3 And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, 4 Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in: 5 For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another. 6 Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars? 7 Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even 3from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel: 8 And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth. 9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning, 10 And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house. 11 ¶ And it shall come to pass. when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever. 13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee: 14 But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore. 15 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. 16 ¶ And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, 0 LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? 17 And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God. 18 What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant. 19 O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these 'great things. 20 O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 21 And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy peo ple, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt? 22 For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God. 23 Therefore now, LORD, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said. 24 Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee. 25 For thou, O my God, 'hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee Heb. from afier. 42 Sam. 7. 14. Heb. hast revealed the ear of thy servant. 5 Heb. greatnesses. 26 And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy ser vant: 27 Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed for ever. 7 Or, it hath pleased thee. CHAP. XVII.-This chapter is the same as 2 Sam. vii., with few variations, but such as appear to arise from difference of style in relating the same facts. Verse 5. "From tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another."-It is clear from this, that it had not always been judged necessary that the ark should be set exclusively in the tabernacle, framed, under divine direction, in the wilderness. Indeed, we see in chap. xv. 1, that when David contemplated the removal of the ark from the house of Obededom, he "prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent." 7. "The sheep-cole."-The word of the original Hebrew means, in a general sense, a place where flocks repose and feed; and as the Orientals do not usually fold their flocks at night, it must be left to the context to determine whether we are to understand "pastures" or "sheep-folds." Our translation always, we believe, gives the latter sense; but it is clear that the former wouldtbe sometimes preferable, as, for instance, in Isa. lxv. 10, and Jer. xxiii. 3. In the present instance, a sheep-fold is doubtless intended; because, in the parallel text, 2 Sam. vii. 8, the word (gedeerah) is used as synonymous with the word (naveh) of the present text; and that the word gedeerah must mean a built enclosure is clear from the context in Num. xxxii. 16, 24, 26, where the gedeerah is mentioned as a building. It is to be observed that the Oriental flocks, when they belong to nomades, are constantly kept in the open country, without being folded at night. This is also the case when the flocks belonging to a settled people are sent out to feed, to a distance of perhaps one, two, or three days' journey, in the deserts or waste lands, where they possess or claim a right of pasturage. This seems to have been the case with the flocks fed by David. And as such flocks are particularly exposed to the depredatory attacks of the regular nomades, who consider the flocks of a settled people as more than even usually fair prey, and contest their right to pasture in the deserts-the shepherds, when they are in a district particularly liable to danger from this cause, or from the attacks of wild beasts, and doubt whether themselves and their dogs can afford adequate protection, drive their flocks at night into caves, or, where there are none, into uncovered enclosures, which have been erected for the purpose at suitable distances. These are generally of rude construction, but are sometimes high and well built enclosures or towers (generally round), which are impregnable to any force of the depredators, when once the flock is within them. Such towers also occur in districts where there are only small dispersed settlements and villages, and serve the inhabitants not only for the protection of their flocks, but as fortresses in times of danger, in which they deposit their property, and perhaps, when the danger is imminent, their females and children. Sheep-Cote"-Arab-huts, and sheep-cotes at Busheir, When no danger is apprehended, or none from which the protection of the shepherds and dogs is not sufficient, the flocks are only folded when collected to be shorn. They are then kept in a walled, but still uncovered, enclosure, partly to keep them together, but still more under the impression that the sweating and evaporation which result from their being crowded together previously to shearing, improve the quality of the wool. Those poor villagers who have no large flocks to send out to the wilderness pastures, with a proper appointment of shepherds, but possess a few sheep and cattle, which feed during the day in the neighbouring commons, under the care of children or women, and who cannot provide the necessary watch and protection for them at night,-drive them home, and either fold them in a common enclosure, such as we have mentioned, in or near the village, or pen them separately, near their own dwellings. Pens or cotes of this class serve also for the lambs and calves, while too young to be kept out with the flocks, or to be trusted into a common enclosure. Our woodcut represents a village with such pens or cotes near the dwellings, which are merely huts, made of mats on a frame-work of palm branches; which we conceive to answer well to the "tabernacles" (booths), "shepherds' cottages," and other humbler habitations, noticed in Scripture. This village is of a class belonging to a people (Arabs) who, like the Israelites, have relinquished the migratory life; but who still give their principal attention to pasturage, aud do some little matters in the way of culture. We imagine that the villages of the Hebrews, when they first began to settle in Palestine, were of a very similar description. |