Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Chronicles 16:1
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.
1. the tent ] Cp. 1Ch 15:1, note.
they offered ] In 2Sa 6:17, David offered. The Chronicler associates the elders with David as in 1Ch 15:26.
burnt sacrifices ] R.V. burnt offerings (as 1Ch 16:2). Cp. Lev 1:1-9.
peace offerings ] The “peace offering” (Heb. shelem) was a thank-offering or an offering made in expiation of a vow; cp. Pro 7:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The first three verses form part of the narrative commenced at 1Ch 15:25. Compare 2Sa 6:17-19, where the passage is not torn from its proper context.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XVI
David brings the ark into its tent; and offers sacrifices,
peace-offerings, and burnt-offerings, 1, 2;
and gives portions to the people of Israel, 3.
He appoints proper ministers and officers for the ark, 4-6.
He delivers a solemn thanksgiving on the occasion, 7-36.
How the different officers served at the ark, 37-42.
The people return home, 43.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVI
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of these three first verses, See Poole “2Sa 6:17“, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Ver. 1-3. So they brought the ark of God,…. What is contained in these three verses is the same with 2Sa 6:17, see the notes there. [See comments on 2Sa 6:17].
[See comments on 2Sa 6:18].
[See comments on 2Sa 6:19].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The religious festival, and the arrangement of the sacred service before the ark of the covenant in the city of David. – This section is not found in 2nd Samuel, where the Conclusion of this whole description (1Ch 16:43, Chron.) follows immediately upon the feasting of the people by the king, 1Ch 16:19 and 1Ch 16:20.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Settlement of the Ark. | B. C. 1045. |
1 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.
It was a glorious day when the ark of God was safely lodged in the tent David had pitched for it. That good man had his heart much upon it, could not sleep contentedly till it was done, Psa 132:4; Psa 132:5.
I. The circumstances of the ark were now, 1. Better than what they had been. It had been obscure in a country town, in the fields of the wood; now it was removed to a public place, to the royal city, where all might resort to it. It had been neglected, as a despised broken vessel; now it was attended with veneration, and God was enquired of by it. It had borrowed a room in a private house, which it enjoyed by courtesy; now it had a habitation of its own entirely to itself, was set in the midst of it, and not crowded into a corner. Note, Though God’s word and ordinances may be clouded and eclipsed for a time, they shall at length shine out of obscurity. Yet, 2. They were much short of what was intended in the next reign, when the temple was to be built. This was but a tent, a poor mean dwelling; yet this was the tabernacle, the temple which David in his psalms often speaks of with so much affection. David, who pitched a tent for the ark and continued steadfast to it, did far better than Solomon, who built a temple for it and yet in his latter end turned his back upon it. The church’s poorest times were its purest.
II. Now David was easy in his mind, the ark was fixed, and fixed near him. Now see how he takes care, 1. That God shall have the glory of it. Two ways he gives him honour upon this occasion:– (1.) By sacrifices (v. 1), burnt-offerings in adoration of his perfections, peace-offerings in acknowledgment of his favours. (2.) By songs: he appointed Levites to record this story in a song for the benefit of others, or to celebrate it themselves by thanking and praising the God of Israel, v. 4. All our rejoicings must express themselves in thanksgivings to him from whom all our comforts are received. 2. That the people shall have the joy of it. They shall fare the better for this day’s solemnity; for he gives them all what is worth coming for, not only a royal treat in honour of the day (v. 3), in which David showed himself generous to his subjects, as he had found God gracious to him (those whose hearts are enlarged with holy joy should show it by being open-handed); but (which is far better) he gives them also a blessing in the name of the Lord, as a father, as a prophet, v. 2. He prayed to God for them, and commended them to his grace. In the name of the Word of the Lord (so the Targum), the essential eternal Word, who is Jehovah, and through whom all blessings come to us.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
see note on: 2Sa 6:12
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.] In 2Sa. 6:17-23, only three verses and a clause parallel with this chapter.
1Ch. 16:1-6.The ark lodged in tent. After this event Levites entered upon their duties before the ark, instructed by David. Blessed (1Ch. 16:2) as head or father of the people. Dealt with remains of extensive thankofferings as in ancient royal hospitality. Appointed (1Ch. 16:4) Asaph and associates first company with cymbals; Zechariah and colleagues, with whom were conjoined Jeiel and seven others, in second company with lutes and harps.
1Ch. 16:7-37.A psalm of thanksgiving. First, the order of worship then appointed for first time. This special hymn prepared for the occasion. The language is remarkably archaic, and there can be no reasonable doubt that it is in the main an extract from a record of the time of David [Speak. Com.].
1Ch. 16:8-10.Thanksgiving (cf. Psa. 105:1-15). Wondrous miracles. His strength, the ark called such (Psa. 78:61; Psa. 132:8) because strength shown by it at Jordan, Jericho, &c.
1Ch. 16:11-13.Call to seek the Lord. Seed of Israel (of Abraham in Psa. 105:6).
1Ch. 16:14-19.Covenant with Abraham. Mindful, admonition. Few, literally men of number (Gen. 34:30).
1Ch. 16:20-22.Preservation when wandering. Reproved (Gen. 12:17; Gen. 20:3). Anointed as kings, and priests, and prophets (Exo. 19:6).
1Ch. 16:23-33.God salvation of all nations (cf. Psalms 96). Gladness (beauty); place (sanctuary); kindreds (1Ch. 16:28), generations and families. Give (ascribe); offering (1Ch. 16:29) in public worship. Stable (1Ch. 16:30), idea moral, not physical (Psa. 96:10). Sea (Mediterranean); fulness, striking poetic figure. Trees, allusion to Kirjath-jearim, the city of woods, where the ark had rested.
1Ch. 16:34-36.This (1Ch. 16:24) verse is found at the commencement of Psalms 106; Psalms 107; Psalms 118; Psalms , 136. It was the ordinary Jewish doxology, and may be regarded as closing the first or thanksgiving portion of the service, which is then followed by a short prayer (1Ch. 16:35), after which comes a second doxology [Speak. Com.]. 1Ch. 16:35. Say (not found in Psa. 106:47), a liturgical direction. Deliver, longing for freedom. Amen (1Ch. 16:36), a description of the manner in which the ceremony terminated.
1Ch. 16:37-43.Sequel, a description of appointment of musicians and their respective duties. Brethren (cf. ch. 26). Porters (door-keepers). Gibeon. Hence two places where worship was performed in time of David. Continually (Exo. 29:38; Num. 28:3-6). Bless (cf. 2Sa. 6:19-20).
HOMILETICS
THE INAUGURAL SERVICE.1Ch. 16:1-6
Stress here laid upon the fact that Asaph entered for the first time upon the duties assigned him, and that the order of worship appointed by David now commenced.
I. Service to commemorate an important event. The ark of God set in the midst of the tent. No longer in obscurity, nor in a private house, but fixed in the city, venerated as the centre and symbol of Gods presence. In the accomplishment of any work, at the beginning of every new period in life, thank and praise the Lord.
II. Service conjoined with sacred rites. Rites significant and expressive, by which king and people acknowledged Gods authority and sought his favour.
1. Appropriate sacrifices. Offering the burnt offerings, by which victims were wholly presented and consumed. They offered peace-offerings in acknowledgment of Gods favour. The former speaks of atonement (Lev. 1:3-9), the latter of reconciliation (Lev. 3:1-5). One indicates complete self-surrender, the other thanksgiving to God. Grateful recognition of divine mercies and entire consecration to Gods service reasonable, and required at all times.
2. Earnest prayer. David publicly blessed the people and besought continued help. Needful to petition for future, as well as to be thankful for past, mercies.
3. Musical arrangement (1Ch. 16:4-7). Levitical service of thanksgiving dates from this time. Music cultivated in the schools of the prophets and in the palace of the king now consecrated to the highest service, and constituted part of the worship of Jehovah. Music should not minister to debauchery and excess, but to gladness and praise.
III. Service connected with hospitality. Devotion to God will lead us to think of man. When God blesses us we feel that we should distribute to others. A glad heart will open a wide hand. Davids generosity was on a large scale.
1. Suitable in variety. Bread, flesh, and wine. Flowers cannot grow in one element. Man requires variety; in body, animal and vegetable food, bread and water; in mind, something more than dogmas. In the house of God a table spread with boundless variety.
2. Universal in application. Women, a recognised place in the assembly, or not forgotten in their homes (children, says Josephus). Not merely to great men, but he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel (2Sa. 6:19). In that day the people fared well. That they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor (Est. 9:22).
A PSALM OF THANKSGIVING.1Ch. 16:7-22
This a composite psalm, represents a form of service rather than a psalm. The whole of it, with slight variations, found in Psa. 105:1-15; Psalms 96; and Psa. 106:47-48. It celebrates redemption as unfolded in history of Israel, proclaimed to the world, and triumphant in judgment. This part sets forth
I. An exhortation to the noblest work. The work of praising Goda work in which our faculties find their vigorous, harmonious, and happy developmenta work for which all rational and created beings are made. In three ways, chiefly, is this duty recommended.
1. In giving thanks to God (1Ch. 16:8). Author of all benefits, therefore to him all gratitude and praise, (a) By singing psalms (1Ch. 16:9). Best thoughts in sweet sounds. Sing unto him, not to please others or gratify self. (b) By social conversation. Talk yemen love to speak and to hear of wondrous works. Christians have plenty to talk aboutthemes interesting and inexhaustible. Wonders of grace, mercy, and providence, (c) By glorying in his name (1Ch. 16:10). A name above every name, full of wonder and reverence, untainted with lust and blood. A name in which we may boast without shame, and rejoice without fear.
2. In seeking God. Seek his face and his strength, his favour and help. (a) Seek earnestly. The word repeated to stir us upseek, seek, seek. (b) Seek joyfully. Not in dulness and despairin gladness of heart and cheerful hope. (c) Seek continually (1Ch. 16:11). Not by assembling occasionally in tabernacle or temple, not by observance of external rites, but in constant fellowship, for evermore.
3. In commemorating Gods works. Remember his marvellous works (1Ch. 16:12). They are striking and impressive. Remember their nature, number, and design. What more could God have done for us? Yet how forgetful and ungrateful!
II. Motives to influence us in this noblest work. The argument founded upon Gods character and Gods care for them from beginning of history to removal of ark.
1. Gods great love. The Lord God of Israel, the Lord our God. A relation filial and unique. But Israels election united to universality of Jehovahs reign, therefore he is the God, not of one, but of all nationsmay be our God and Father.
2. Gods great manifestations of love. In heaven above and earth beneath, among angels and men. Making and confirming his covenant, receiving offerings and worship in his sanctuary. Glory and honour in his presence, strength and gladness in his place (1Ch. 16:27).
3. Gods great dominion. Maker of heaven and earth, Universal Sovereign; above all gods, for the gods of the people are idols, impotent and worthlessmere nonentities, for an idol is nothing; supreme in grandeur and government.
4. Gods great claims. For creation, covenant mercies and protecting care. God has right to homage and praise. They are due to him. As children, we are bound to love him; as servants, to consult his will, declare his goodness, and advance his kingdom.
5. Gods vindication of these claims. His rights can never be given to another. Men, however intelligent; gods, adorned with gold or silver, must never receive homage due to him. He cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the people righteously; judge the world with righteousness and with truth.
THE SEEKER ENCOURAGED.1Ch. 16:10
Yet many believe, or pretend to believe, that religion is a joyless thing! The heart has very little, if any, share in other enjoyments, which only gratify appetites, strike senses, and charm imagination. But where is the heart? Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; the end of that mirth is heaviness. In religion the heart finds relief, repose, satisfaction, and joy. Let the heart of them that rejoice seek the Lord. There are three reasons for this. First, because it is an evidence of grace. They may conclude against themselves, refuse to be comforted; but no man can seek to know, enjoy, and serve God from mere nature. Actions may not indicate the state of mind, but desires spring from it. We may be forced to do, but cannot be compelled to prefer and choose. Secondly, because their success is sure. This the case in no other pursuit. In fields of worldly labour we spend our strength for nought. A rival may bear off a prize which we have long been chasing, at the very moment we are seizing it. The cup of enjoyment, filled with eager hope, is often dashed to the ground from the very lip that touches it. But their heart shall live that seek God. He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless return again, &c. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Is there unfaithfulness in God? Did he ever say to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye in vain? Thirdly, because, when they have found, their aim and wish in seeking are fully answered. All they desire is treasured up in him, and they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. The wise man tells us of success in other cases. All is vanity and vexation of spiritvexation if we miss, and vanity if we gain. To one of these alternatives we are inevitably subjected. We must be disappointed in acquiring them, and this often the case; or in possessing them, and this always the case. Everything earthly falls short of hope, but impossible to form adequate expectation of the riches of glory of the inheritance in the saints. What to have God himself for our possession and exceeding joy! To be blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ! To realise happiness which solitude increases, trouble improves, and death perfects! Eye hath not seen, &c. While thus the heart of them that seek rejoices, the heart of others should be induced to seek him. He invites you to seek, therefore Seek ye the Lord while he may be found [Jay].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch. 16:7-11. Holy duties. Give thankscall uponmake knownsingtalkglory ye.
1Ch. 16:11. To seek his face is to desire his presence, smile, and favour consciously enjoyed. First we seek him, then his strength, and then his face; from the personal reverence we pass on to the imparted power, and then to the conscious favour. This seeking must never cease, the more we know the more we seek to know. Finding him, we must our minds inflame to seek him more and more. He seeks spiritual worshippers, and spiritual worshippers seek him; they are therefore sure to meet face to face ere long [Spurgeon]. Threefold seeking.
1. The Lord for mercy.
2. His strength for service.
3. His face for happiness [A. G. Brown].
1Ch. 16:12-15. Subjects of Remembrance. Marvellous works God has done, and wonderful judgments (words) God has uttered. Or
1. Gods faithfulness. He hath remembered his covenant (Psa. 105:8).
2. Our mindfulness of this faithfulness. Remember (1Ch. 16:12), Be mindful (1Ch. 16:15). If the Lord keeps his promise in memory, surely we ought not to forget the wonderful manner in which he performs it. To us it should be matter of deepest joy, that never in any instance has the Lord been unmindful of his covenant engagements, nor will he be so, world without end. O that we were as mindful of them as he is! [Spurgeon].
1Ch. 16:12 to 1Ch. 15:1. The operations of divine providence. Acts wonderful, beneficent, and memorable, comprehending the mightiest and most insignificant creatures.
2. The notice which should be taken of these operations. Amid displays of power and beauty we should not be deaf nor blind, but attentive, appreciative, and apt to learn. We should remember, relate, &c.
HOMILETICS
THE NATIONAL COVENANT.1Ch. 16:15-22
Its nature, blessings, and contracting parties all specially set forth. Learn
I. That Gods method of intercourse with men has ever been in the form of a covenant. A covenant is generally defined as an agreement between two parties, on certain termsa conditionary and a promissory; one to be performed and the other to be fulfilled. This method of divine procedure in Adam and Christ. God requires from us faith and obedience, then he will give life and salvation. In old time ever reminded of this by symbol and sacrifice. Hence the books of the covenant, the ark of the covenant, the blood of the covenant, and the tables of the covenant. The old covenant and the new covenant. We must acknowledge God. There is no religion without this idea of covenant with a personal God, and therefore all such views as those of Comte, Mill, and Spencer are, for all moral and religious purposes, wholly atheistical [Tayler Lewis].
II. That this covenant method of intercourse with men displays the sovereign will and free grace of God. Man not disposed, not able to make an agreement with his Maker. God might have left man in his guilty condition, without promise, hope, or mercy. But God graciously condescended to pledge his word and bestow his grace in Christ. Adam failed, in Christ everlasting life secured. In scripture everything is traced to the sovereign grace and mere good pleasure of God. Not to merit, foreseen belief, and holiness, but according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise and glory of his grace (Eph. 1:5).
III. That this covenant method of intercourse puts men under deep obligation to God. Rightly viewed, it affords no ground of complaint or despair, but for submission and hope.
1. They are chosen to great favours. His chosen ones. Elected, exalted in mind, character, and destiny.
2. They should render thanks for these favours. Never be slow to acknowledge debt and praise God for his mercy. He ceases not to be good, cease not to be grateful.
IV. The obligations of men to God for his covenant mercies can never cease. As long as we exist we depend upon God and should praise God. He never ignores his claims, nor alters his covenant.
1. It is of divine authority. Higher, more sacred, more certain than the law of man.
2. It is confirmed from time to time. Made with Abraham, confirmed to Jacob, established with Noah (literally, made to stand, Gen. 6:18), not because impaired, changed, or destroyed in itself. But it had been broken and forgottenlike something which had fallen down, it needed repetition and prominence. Hence
3. It is an everlasting covenant (1Ch. 16:17). To last as long as moral government through the ages of the world. Made with man as an immortal being, and in itself an evidence of his designed immortality. A covenant of eternity (Isa. 24:5).
THE INFANT NATION.1Ch. 16:6-22
If interesting to trace some mighty river from its source to its entrance into the sea, some magnificent building from foundation to its topstone, what to trace the beginning and watch the progress of Gods people! Early incidents and history briefly given.
I. The humble origin of the nation. Numbers noisy, attract, and commend. Israel few, even a few (very few, Psa. 105:12), lit. men of number, who could be counted at first; but the fewest of all people gradually increased and made numerous as the sands and the stars. Small churches, poverty of members, no barriers to God.
II. The wonderful preservation of the nation. Few, unsettled and helpless Israel ever exposed and kept.
1. In their journeys. Migrating from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. They were not lost, nor prevented from ending their journeys. The Lord guided them on every side.
2. Amidst their enemies. In Egypt, Philistia, and Canaan, the heirs of promise secure. This not by forbearance of neighbours, for many sought to injure and destroy, to cut off root and branch, but He suffered no man to do them wrong, &c.
III. The rich inheritance of the nation. The lot of your inheritance (1Ch. 16:18).
1. Not gained by their own skill. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, &c. (Psa. 44:3).
2. Bestowed by divine appointment. The lot of your inheritance. God planted and enriched them in gratuitous and sovereign favour. He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents (Psa. 78:55).
IV. The high destiny of the nation. Blessed and exalted above all others.
1. In their special relation to God. Children and chosen ones; bound to imitate their father in fervent prayer, holy faith, and obedience. If God sets his choice upon us, let us be more devout and zealous than others. A people near unto him.
2. In their elevation to bless others. Not put into Canaan to be secluded and shut up from intercourse with other nations, but to bless them. Israel a missionary people, gave a Bible and a Saviour to the world. To make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, in name, and in honour.
EVILDOING RESTRAINED.1Ch. 16:19-22
I resolve the words into three parts.
1. Here is the nearness and dearness of the saints unto God. They are dearer to him than kings and states, simply considered; that is, otherwise than as they in their persons are also saints; for you see for their sakes he reproved kings, and so showeth that he preferreth them to kings.
2. Here is the great danger to kings and states to deal with his saints otherwise than well. It appeareth many ways; for he doth not only in words give a charge not to touch them, but he carries it in a high way (for so God will do when he pleads their cause). Touch them not; as if he had said, Let me see if you dare so much as touch them; and it is with an intimation of the highest threatening if they should; upon your peril if you do so; for that is the scope of such a speech. In deeds he made this good; not that he did altogether prevent all wrong and injuries, for they received many as they went through those lands; but at no time did he let it go unpunished. He plagued Pharaoh for Abrahams wifes sake (Genesis 12), and also Abimelech (Gen. 20:3).
3. Here is the care and protection which God had over them, set and amplified
(1) By the number and condition of the persons whom he defended; though few men in number, that is, soon reckoned, for their power and strength, a few, or very small, as Septuagint.
(2) By what he did for them. He suffered no man, however great, to do them wrong, however small, not without recompense and satisfaction. Though the people had an ill eye at them (Gen. 26:11), God caused Abimelech to make a law on purpose, and to charge all his people in Isaacs behalf, and spake in the very words of the text, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall be put to death. [Thomas Goodwin].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch. 16:19 to 1Ch. 22:1. The condition of Israel. Few, very few, strangers and migrating. Men of number, accounted unworthy, not distinguished by external dignity and power, as Rome marks her communicants. Humblest parts of communities, but honoured of God.
2. The estimation in which they are held. Gods anointed kings and priests, ordained to reign with Christ. Gods prophets to declare and set forth his will.
3. The protection which they enjoyed. To them intrusted the word of life, preserved to the world. To them a safe passport to accomplish Gods design among men.
1Ch. 16:20 to 1Ch. 22:1. Gods people may often be removed.
2. They can never be injured.
3. Gods property in them will never be renounced [Spurgeon].
HOMILETICS
THE GREATNESS OF JEHOVAH.1Ch. 16:23-33
These verses, like Psalms 96, celebrate Jehovahs greatness. Great in essence and supremacy; great in mercy and dominion. All who hear and know this greatness are to tell it to others, that heaven and earth may rejoice in his reign.
I. Jehovahs transcendent greatness.
1. He is the only true God. The gods of the people are idols, images in wood or stone, vanities and nothings.
2. He is the Creator of the world. The Lord made the heavens. His Godhead, proved by his works, chief of which is the architecture of heaven, whose lamps shine, and whose rain falls upon all mankind.
3. He is glorious in operations. His works are marvellous. No petty deity presiding over one nation, or one department of nature. Great in power and act, infinitely to be adored. Earthly potentates count themselves famous and strong. God alone is great, Massillon declared, and imperial majesties bowed their heads.
II. Jehovah must be worshipped on account of his greatness. Worship the Lord. Tribes and families called to honour him in his courts. All worship be to God only is a fit motto of a city company.
1. By submitting to his authority. No worship without submission. Recognise his claims and authority. Give him the glory and strength of intellect, heart, and life.
2. By presenting our gifts. Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving springing from humble submission; gifts of money and effort prompted by love. To him who gives all, we should gladly bring an offering and come into his courts. None of you shall appear before me empty.
3. By a true spirit. God looks not at architecture and apparel. Worship must not be sinful and superficial; but reverent and sincere. (a) In the beauty of holiness. Purity is the white linen of the Lords choristers, says Spurgeon, righteousness is the comely garment of his priests, holiness is the royal apparel of his servitors. (b) In profoundest awe. Fear (tremble) before him, all the earth (Psa. 96:9). Jehovah no earthly sovereign, but clothed in omnipotent grandeur. Dread of idols, mere superstition. Holy fear the spirit of true religion.
III. Heathen nations shall know and recognise Jehovahs greatness. Declare his glory among the heathen (1Ch. 16:24). The name of God dishonoured by heathen idolatry, vices, and cruelties. But they shall hear of his wonders of grace and mercy. The duty, the privilege of the church to tell them. A truly loyal and living church will resolve to publish salvation to the ends of the earth.
IV. The world shall rejoice in the reign of the great Jehovah. Say among the nations, The Lord reigneth (1Ch. 16:31).
1. Joy in heaven. Let the heavens be glad.
2. Joy in earth. Let the earth rejoice.
3. Joy in which all creatures shall participate. The sea, no more troubled over shipwrecked mariners, and rehearsing grief of widows and orphans, shall adopt a cheerful note. The fields shall rejoice in culture, abundant harvests, and freedom from rapine. The trees of the wood, no longer sheltering horrid cruelty, shall sing out at the presence of God in the retirement and devotion of men. These verses are full of comprehensive beauty and power. They present the gathering together of everything under the confessed dominion of the reigning Christ. Things in heaven, as well as things on earth, rejoice together in the acknowledged blessing of the Lord of peace. The Psalm is throughout a very sweet strain of millennial prophecy [Arthur Pridham].
The truth that David learned to sing,
Its deep fulfilment here attains.
Tell all the earth the Lord is King!
Lo, from the cross a King he reigns! [Mrs. Charles].
THE BEAUTIFUL PLACE.1Ch. 16:27-29
Place, abode of the ark, the tabernacle and temple, apply to the sanctuary; public worship in Gods house.
I. Beautified by Gods presence. God pleased to locate his presence of old. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Here glory and honour are constant attendants. In God combined, not in outward show and parade, all that is mighty and lovely, powerful and resplendent. Displays of mercy and love beautify the place of his sanctuary and make the place of his feet glorious.
II. Beautified by attractive services.
1. Cheerful song. Sing unto the Lord. No dismal rites celebrated; no bacchanalian shouts heard; mourning turned into joy. Singing a fitting expression of love, a reverent method of worship.
2. Free-will offerings. No part given reluctantly, but gladly. Offerings responsive signs and inspiriting examples to fellow-worshippers.
3. Spiritual fervour. In Psalms 96 we have a triple call, sing sing sing. No discordant note, no voice silent. Jew and Gentile, heaven and earth should join. The sacred fire of praise should burn and bless in perpetual flame.
III. Beautified by loyal attendants. The house of God the centre of joys and fellowships.
1. Regular in attendance. They come before him, habitually, punctually, and reverently; do not forget to assemble themselves together as the manner of some, but resolve we will not forsake the house of our God.
2. Mindful of its interests. They bring their offerings, respond to its claims, contribute to its support, and encourage its enterprises.
3. Obedient to its rules. Law everywhere, and should be decency and order in Gods house In beauty of holiness, a certain prescribed attire like splendid robes of ancient priests; or in right form and spirit, in holy reverence [Boothroyd]. Holiness in thought and heart required. Repeated and solemn warnings on this point. I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me.
RELIGIOUS WORSHIP1Ch. 16:28-29
I. It is due to God. The glory due unto his name.
1. It is right. However much we adore we cannot give more than he deserves. All honour, natural and reasonable, due to him as Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, and Redeemer.
2. It is acceptable. Though not enriching, yet well pleasing to him. Whosoever offereth praise glorifieth me.
II. It befits our moral nature. Man made to worship, the only creature capable of it.
1. It meets our aspirations. We long for God, restless and dissatisfied without him, ever display anxiety to find him. Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat.
2. It satisfies our wants. Nothing but a personal God will do this. We feel for a living God. No sympathy with force, nor adoration of mere law. A senseless power satisfies no social or religious instincts, draws out no song or psalm. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.
3. It dignifies our character. In beauty of holiness. It detaches from earth and sin, gives beauty to contemplate, strength to imitate, and fear to humble and guide. Fellowship with God most holy and most exalting. It is good for me to draw near to God.
A GRAND PROSPECT.1Ch. 16:30-33
Here find a splendid prospect for the heathen, a grand missionary hymn for the Christian Church!
I. Jehovah reigns supremely. The Lord reigneth. No abstract principle, no blind force nor law rules the world. Infinite and unchangeable, absolute and independent, almighty and supremethe fountain of all being, filling heaven and earth with splendour.
II. The reign of Jehovah a cause of joy to the world. The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitudes of isles be glad.
1. It is a reign of righteousness. Others tyrannical and oppressive have produced injustice, bloodshed, and terror. Truth and justice conspicuous everywhere in his dominions, shines bright as stars in heaven. The heavens declare (put before us, in our sight) his righteousness (Psa. 97:6).
2. A reign of moral stability. The world, shaken with revolutions, impaired with sin, shall be stable, settled in government and free from invasions, that it be not moved. Society is safe, social and political order secure where Christ is supreme.
3. A reign of purity. Idolatry shall cease, peace prevail, the earth purified; blessed with the presence and delivered by the grace of Messiah. On this account earth may rejoice and heaven be glad. Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!
THE CLOSING PRAYER AND DOXOLOGY.1Ch. 16:35-36
Gods mercy had commenced deliverance, encouragement is given to pray for its completion. The prayer is based upon the promise, Deu. 30:3, and is a psalm of thanksgiving for its prospective accomplishment.
I. The Prayer.
1. In its spirit. Earnest, humble, and sincere.
2. In its purpose. (a) For deliverance. Save us and deliver us. (b) For unity. Gather us together. (c) For gratitude. To give thanks to thy holy name. No longer a scattered people, but united in Gods courts to triumph in praise. Gods people a prayerful people, saved, united, and grateful to God for his goodness. Hence
II. The Doxology.
1. Praise to God as their God. The Lord God of Israel.
2. Praise universal. Let all the people say, Amen.
3. Praise continual. For ever and ever. God blessed from eternity, will be through eternity, let him be praised without intermission, from everlasting to everlasting.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch. 16:23-33. A song of praise.
1. Setting forth Gods excellencies. Creator, Ruler, and majestic. Claiming homage and service as due to his great name.
2. Asserting Gods supremacy in the world. Above all gods, overruling physical nature and social communities for the welfare of men.
3. Predicting Gods universal kingdom. Triumphant over evil and bringing universal joy.
1Ch. 16:23-24. NoticeI. The end desired. To see the earth singing unto the Lord and blessing his name. II. The means suggested. The showing forth his salvation from day to day; declaring his glory, &c. III. The certainty of its accomplishment. The Lord hath said it. O sing, &c. When he commands, earth must obey [Treasury of David]. I. Declare among the heathen the glory of Gods perfections, that they may acknowledge him as the true God. II. Declare the glory of his salvation, that they may accept him as their only Redeemer. III. Declare the glory of his providence, that they may confide in him as their faithful guardian. IV. Declare the glory of his word, that they may prize it as their chief treasure. V. Declare the glory of his service, that they may choose it as their chief occupation. VI. Declare the glory of his residence, that they may seek it as their best home [William Jackson].
1Ch. 16:28-29. The claims of God to the worship and homage of his creatures. What I have to demonstrate isI. That God is entitled to the homage of his creatures, and claims it as proper and right. II. That these claims are made upon us, his intelligent creatures. It will therefore be necessary to show that we are capable of knowing God to all the extent necessary to excite in our minds the feelings of awe, reverence, and admiration, since these are essential to homage and worship. Also to prove that such claims are not only reasonable, but founded in justice and right. III. That the worship and homage required is such, that it not only does not degrade, but elevates the man that pays it; that it is not the hard requirement of despotism, but the righteous claim of infinite excellence, not the service of flattery and servility, the free-will offering of a discerning and admiring mind [J. Robinson].
1Ch. 16:29. The beauty of holiness. The religion of the gospel of Christ is the beauty of holiness, as it concerns its Author, its plan, its fruits.
1. As it concerns its Author. Whatever we can understand as meant by beauty or holiness, we see in the attributes of God, whether we consider them in all their harmony, or contemplate any one of them in particular.
2. As to its plan. Survey the gospel where we will, or regard whatever we can that is revealed concerning it, we find it to be all beauty; and we cannot call it by a more appropriate name than the beauty of holiness.
3. As to its fruits. There is a holy separation, a beautiful character of holiness, a separation as to character, feelings, and conduct; these are all the various fruits of grace; and so the man becomes beautiful in holiness [Legh Richmond, 17721827].
1Ch. 16:34. Thanks for divine goodness. I. God its source. II. Displayed in suitable ways. Mercy to the miserable. III. Lasting in its nature. Outweighing sin and rebellion. Endureth for ever.
1Ch. 16:36. The peoples amen.
1. Indicating attention, appreciation, and interest in the service.
2. A solemn sealing. Ratification and acceptance of what has been done.
3. A real duty. The people to respond (not the minister merely) with hearty and universal voice. Amen so be it.
HOMILETICS
MINISTRY BEFORE THE ARK.1Ch. 16:37-42
The sequel of this chapter describes the arrangement of services, appointment of musicians and porters, with their respective duties.
I. An orderly service. Asaph and his brethren officiated as singers; Obed-edom and Hossah served as doorkeepers, each in his place and in his time. Order gave each thing view [Shaks.].
II. A musical service. This chiefly at Gibeon, where Heman and Jeduthun presided over the sacred music. In both places musical instruments of God used.
III. A cheerful service. To give thanks to the Lord. It becomes the redeemed to praise God. The greater, more numerous Gods blessings, the greater honour and service we should feel are due to him. Gratitude is the memory of the heart.
IV. A perpetual service. At Jerusalem before the ark, ministry was continually as every days work required (1Ch. 16:37). At the altars at Gibeon, priests attended, incense burnt continually, morning and evening. A permanent local ministry and regular choir are established, in fixed place and due order. Prayer and praise should ever be kept up in Gods house, and in our own hearts and lives. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch. 16:43. Davids attention to his household. Personal religion was exemplified by David. I. By the work in which he had been engaged.
1. It was a glorious work.
2. It had been performed in a manner most acceptable to God. II. By the work to which he returned. He returned to bless his house, that is
1. To obtain blessing for them by prayers.
2. To render himself a blessing by his conduct. Consider
(1) How highly we are privileged.
(2) How we should improve our privileges [C. Simeon, M.A.]. He that had blessed the people (1Ch. 16:18) returns to bless his household (1Ch. 16:20). Piety in public and in privatepublic worship and family worship. A good man after public religious duties, returns joyous, thankful, and loving to his house (cf. Lange, 2Sa. 6:20). Ministers must not think that their public performances will excuse them from family worship; but when they have blessed the public assembly they are to return and bless their own households. And none is too great to do this. It is the work of angels to worship God; and therefore certainly can be no disparagement to the greatest of men [Benson].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 16
1Ch. 16:4-7. With harps. The meaning of song goes deep. Who is there that, in logical words, can express the effect that music has on us? A kind of inarticulate, unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the infinite, and lets us for moments gaze into that [Carlyle]. Like her friend Mdlle. Janotha, Jenny Lind believed her art was the gift of God, and to be dedicated to his service. I have always put him first, said she, in her last illness [Church Worker].
1Ch. 16:8-11. The Psalmist speaks of singing to the name of the Lord, blessing, extolling, thanksgiving, exalting (cf. 1Ch. 16:28-31). Just as the stem which is full of sap throws out many branches, so the believer who is full of a spirit of praise will give vent to it in many different forms [P. B. Power].
1Ch. 16:26. The Lord made the heavens. This verse is a notandum. What a tribute to astronomy is it that the Lord is so often done homage to as having made the heavens! Let the theology of nature be blended with the theology of consciencea full recognition of the strength and the glory which shine palpably forth in the wonders of creation, with the spiritual offerings of holy worship and holy service [Thomas Chalmers].
1Ch. 16:32-38. Sea roar, and trees of the wood sing.
His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines,
With every plant, in sign of worship wave
[Milton].
1Ch. 16:34-36. For ever. A line of praise is worth a leaf of prayer, and an hour of praises is worth a day of fasting and mourning [J. Livingstone]. It was the law in some of the old monasteries that the chanting of praise should never be interrupted, and that one choir of monks should relieve another in the holy service [Bib. Museum].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
LESSON SEVEN 1516
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT BROUGHT TO JERUSALEM
DAVIDS SONG OF THANKSGIVING
THE MINISTERS AND WORSHIP
8. BRINGING THE ARK TO JERUSALEM (1516)
INTRODUCTION
The completion of the movement of the ark to Jerusalem is accomplished at this time. Davids concern for worship is underscored in his appointment of Levitical ministers and his composition of a beautiful hymn of thanksgiving.
TEXT
1Ch. 15:1. And David made him houses in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. 2. Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath Jehovah chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever. 3. And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Jehovah unto its place, which he had prepared for it. 4. And David gathered together the sons of Aaron, and the Levites: 5. of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and his brethren a hundred and twenty; 6. of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty; 7. of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brethren a 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 a 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 heads of the fathers houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it. 13. For because ye bare it not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance. 14. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Jehovah, the 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 Jehovah.
16. And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and 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 Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers. 19. So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed, with cymbals of brass to sound aloud; 20. and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth; 21. and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead. 22. And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the song: he instructed about the song, because he was skillful. 23. And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. 24. And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow the trumpets before the ark of God; and Obed-edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark.
25. So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah 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 Jehovah, that they sacrificed 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: and David had upon him an ephod of linen, 28, Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps.
29. And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart.
1Ch. 16:1. And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God. 2. And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Jehovah. 3. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and wOrnan, to every one a loaf of bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins.
4. And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of Jehovah, and to celebrate and to thank and praise Jehovah, the God of Israel: 5. 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; 6. and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually, before the ark of the covenant of God.
7. Then on that day did David first ordain to give thanks unto Jehovah, by the hand of Asaph and his brethren. 8. O give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon his name; 9. Sing unto him, sing praises unto him; Talk ye of all his marvellous works. 10. Glory ye in his holy name; Let the heart of them rejoice that seek Jehovah. 11. Seek ye Jehovah and his strength; Seek his face evermore. 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. 14. He is Jehovah our God; His judgments are in all the earth. 15. Remember his covenant for ever, The word which he commanded to a thousand generations, 16. The covenant which he made with Abraham, And his oath unto Isaac, 17. And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant, 18. Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance; 19. When you were but a few men in number, Yea, very few, and sojourners in it; 20. And they went about 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 ones, And do my prophets no harm. 23. Sing unto Jehovah, all the earth; Show forth his salvation from day to day. 24. Declare his glory among the nations. His marvellous works among all the peoples. 25. For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods. 26. For all the gods of the peoples are idols: But Jehovah made the heavens. 27. Honor and majesty are before him: Strength and gladness are in his place. 28. Ascribe unto Jehovah, ye kindreds of the peoples, Ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength; 29. Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory due unto his name: Bring an offering, and come before him; Worship Jehovah in holy array. 30. Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is established that it cannot be moved. 31. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth. 32. Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; Let the field exult, and all that is therein; 33. Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before Jehovah; For he cometh to judge the earth. 34. O give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; For his lovingkindness endureth for ever. 35. And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us together and deliver us from the nations. To give thanks unto thy holy name, And to triumph in thy praise, 36. Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised Jehovah.
37. So he left there, before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every days work required; 38. and Obed-edom with their brethren, threescore and eight; Obed-edom also the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be doorkeepers; 39. and Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of Jehovah in the high place that was at Gibeon, 40, to offer burnt-offerings unto Jehovah upon the altar of burnt-offering continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the law of Jehovah, which he commanded unto Israel; 41. and with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were mentioned by name, to give thanks to Jehovah, because his lovingkindness endureth for ever; 42. and with them Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those that should sound aloud, and with instruments for the songs of God; and the sons of Jeduthun to be at the gate. 43. And all the people departed every man to his house: and David returned to bless his house.
PARAPHRASE
1Ch. 15:1. David now built several palaces for himself in Jerusalem, and he also built a new Tabernacle to house the Ark of God, 2. and issued these instructions: (When we transfer the Ark to its new home), no one except the Levites may carry it, for God has chosen them for this purpose; they are to minister to him forever. 3. Then David summoned all Israel to Jerusalem to celebrate the bringing of the Ark into the new Tabernacle. 410. These were the priests and Levites present: 120 from the clan of Kohath; with Uriel as their leader; 220 from the clan of Merari; with Asaiah as their leader; 130 from the clan of Gershom; with Joel as their leader; 200 from the subclan of Elizaphan; with Shemaiah as their leader; 80 from the subclan of Hebron; with Eliel as their leader; 112 from the subclan of Uzziel; with Amminadab as their leader. 11. Then David called for Zadok and Abiathar, the High Priests, and for the Levite leaders: Uriel, Asiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. 12. You are the leaders of the clans of the Levites, he told them. Now sanctify yourselves with all your brothers so that you may bring the Ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. 13. The Lord destroyed us before because we handled the matter improperlyyou were not carrying it. 14. So the priests and the Levites underwent the ceremonies of sanctification in preparation for bringing home the Ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel. 15. Then the Levites carried the Ark on their shoulders with its carrying poles, just as the Lord had instructed Moses.
16. King David also ordered the Levite leaders to organize the singers into an orchestra, and they played loudly and joyously upon psaltries, harps, and cymbals. 17. Heman (son of Joel), Asaph (son of Berechiah), and Ethan (son of Kushaiah) from the clan of Merari were the heads of the musicians. 18. The following men were chosen as their assistants: Zechariah, Ja-aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Ma-asseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom and Je-iel, the door keepers. 19. Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were chosen to sound the bronze cymbals; 20. and Zechariah, Azi-el, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Ma-aseiah, and Benaiah comprised an octet accompanied by harps. 21. Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Je-iel, and Azaziah were the harpists. 22. the song leader was Chenaniah, the chief of the Levites, who was selected for his skill. 23. Berechiah and Elkanah were guards for the Ark. 24. Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezerall of whom were priestsformed a bugle corps to march as the head of the procession. And Obed-edom and Jehiah guarded the Ark.
25. Then David and the elders of Israel and the high officers of the army went with great joy to the home of Obed-edom to take the Ark to Jerusalem. 26. And because God didnt destroy the Levites who were carrying the Ark, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven lambs. 27. David, the Levites carrying the Ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the song leader were all dressed in linen robes. David also wore a linen ephod. 28. So the leaders of Israel took the Ark to Jerusalem with shouts of joy, the blowing of horns and trumpets, the crashing of cymbals, and loud playing on the harps and zithers.
29. (But as the Ark arrived in Jerusalem, Davids wife Michal, the daughter of King Saul, felt a deep disgust for David as she watched from the window and saw him dancing like a madman.)
1Ch. 16:1. So the Ark of God was brought into the Tabernacle. David had prepared for it, and the leaders of Israel sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. 2. At the conclusion of these offerings David blessed the people in the name of the Lord; 3. then he gave every person present (men and women alike) a loaf of bread, some wine, and a cake of raisins.
4. He appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the Ark by giving constant praise and thanks to the Lord God of Israel and by asking for his blessings upon his people. These are the names of those given this assignment: 5. Asaph, the leader of this detail, sounded the cymbals. His associates were Zechariah, Je-iel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Je-iel; they played the harps and zithers. 6. The priests Benaiah and Jahaziel played their trumpets regularly before the Ark.
7. At that time David began the custom of using choirs in the Tabernacle to sing thanksgiving to the Lord. Asaph was the director of this choral group of priests. 8. Oh, give thanks to the Lord and pray to him, they sang. Tell the peoples of the world About his mighty doings. 9. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises and tell of his marvelous works. 10. Glory in his holy name; Let all rejoice who seek the Lord. 11. Seek the Lord; yes, seek his strength, And seek his face untiringly. 12, 13. Oh descendants of his servant Abraham, O chosen sons of Jacob, Remember his mighty miracles, And his marvelous miracles, And his authority: 14. He is the Lord our God! His authority is seen throughout the earth. 15. Remember his covenant foreverThe words he commanded, To a thousand generations: 16. His agreement with Abraham, And his oath to Isaac, 17. And his confirmation to Jacob. He promised Israel, With an everlasting promise: 18. I will give you the land of Canaan, As your inheritance. 19. When Israel was few in numberoh, so fewAnd merely strangers in the Promised Land; 20. When they wandered from country to country, From one kingdom to another21. God didnt let anyone harm them. Even kings were killed who sought to hurt them. 22. Dont harm my chosen people, he declared. These are my prophetstouch them not. 23. Sing to the Lord, O earth, Declare each day that he is the one who saves! 24. Show his glory to the nations! Tell everyone about his miracles. 25. For the Lord is great, and should be highly praised; He is to be held in awe above all gods. 26. The other so-called gods are demons, But the Lord made the heavens. 27. Majesty and honor march before him, Strength and gladness walk beside him. 28. O people of all nations of the earth, Ascribe great strength and glory to his name! 29. Yes, ascribe to the Lord, The glory due his name! Bring an offering and come before him; Worship the Lord when clothed with holiness! 30. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world stands unmoved. 31. Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; Let all the nations say, It is the Lord who reigns. 32. Let the vast seas roar, Let the countryside and everything in it rejoice! 33. Let the trees in the woods sing for joy before the Lord, For he comes to judge the earth. 34. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love and his kindness go on forever. 35. Cry out to him, Oh, save us, God of our salvation; Bring us safely back from among the nations. Then we will thank your holy name, And triumph in your praise. 36. Blessed be Jehovah, God of Israel, Forever and forevermore. And all the people shouted Amen! and praised the Lord.
37. David arranged for Asaph and his fellow Levites to minister regularly at the Tabernacle, doing each day whatever needed to be done. 38. This group included Obed-edom (the son of Jeduthun), Hosah and sixty-eight of their colleagues as guards. 39. Meanwhile the old Tabernacle of the Lord on the hill of Gibeon continued to be active. David left Zadok the priest and his fellow-priests to minister to the Lord there. 40. They sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord each morning and evening upon the altar set aside for that purpose, just as the Lord had commanded Israel. 41. David also appointed Heman, Jeduthun, and several others who were chosen by name to give thanks to the Lord for his constant love and mercy. 42. They used their trumpets and cymbals to accompany the singers with loud praises to God, And Jeduthuns sons were appointed as guards. 43. At last the celebrations ended and the people returned to their homes, and David returned to bless his own household.
COMMENTARY
In spite of the reverses suffered in his previous attempt to locate the ark in the capital city, David was determined to complete this project. He fortified Jerusalem and continued to build houses in the city. These houses would be directly related to his government. As the king directed all of this activity Jerusalem came to be known as the city of David, peculiarly identified with him. As he was caught up in the business of establishing his government in Jerusalem David could not forget the ark of the covenant. A special tent was constructed in the city to serve temporarily as a shelter for the sacred vessel. The tabernacle constructed at Sinai in Moses day had been located at Shiloh in the tribe of Ephraim for many years. It was at Shiloh that Eli and Samuel ministered in the tabernacle (1Sa. 3:3). Later the tabernacle was moved to Nob (1Sa. 21:6) near Jerusalem. At this place David had been provided with shewbread and Goliaths sword as he fled Sauls wrath. There are indications that the tabernacle was moved to Gibeon where it most likely remained until the Temple was built. The ark had been captured by the Philistines, was returned to Beth-shemesh, moved to Kiriath-jearim and brought to the house of Obed-edom. During the three months after the death of Uzza, David laid careful plans for the moving of the ark. The sad experience with the oxen and the cart brought David to the decision announced in 1Ch. 15:2. Since the Levites had been appointed by Jehovah to carry the ark, this holy vessel must be carried on their shoulders (Num. 1:15-53). Boards, bars, pillars, sockets and curtain materials could be transported on carts; but the sacred vessels were to be carried in the arms of the Kohathite Levites. Once more, runners were sent throughout the kingdom to announce the happy occasion and a great assembly convened at Jerusalem. A careful distinction was made between the sons of Aaron and the Levites. Every priest in order to serve, had to be a Levite; however, all Levites were not qualified to serve as priests. The Kohathite Levites who were physically perfect and ceremonially clean qualified to serve as priests. The Merarites and Gershonites (Gershom) could serve as hewers of wood and draweres of water, but they could not do the work of the regular priests. Zadok and Abiathar (1Ch. 15:11) were the chief priests in Davids administration. Zadok (2Sa. 8:17) and Ahimelech (1Sa. 22:20) were sons of Ahitub. Abiathar was Ahimelechs son. Only one High Priest functioned in Israel at a given time. Zadok would have the primary responsibility in Davids day and Abiathar, his nephew, would serve as chief assistant. These two priests were called before David and he gave them special charge concerning the ark. Sanctify yourselves (1Ch. 15:12). David had read the Law. He had concluded that because they had failed to observe this regulation concerning the priests and the ark they had incurred the wrath of Jehovah. The priests were very willing to do exactly as David commanded. They would give their personal attention to this matter. The ark with staves in place would be carried upon their shoulders, in their arms. One hundred and twenty Kohathites, two hundred and twenty Merarites, and one hundred and thirty Gershonites were numbered and appointed to see that this mission would be accomplished. Others among the Levites were given specific appointments within the limits of Jehovahs Law. David made every effort to avoid any problem like that which had resulted in Uzzas death.
To make certain that everything was properly arranged for the occasion, David gave special instruction to those who would lead in the services. Singers, those who played on musical instruments, doorkeepers for the ark were all briefed regarding their respective duties. Psalteries, harps, cymbals, and trumpets were to be used. It was to be a happy day. The musical instruments were to be played skillfully with volume suited to the occasion. The singing was to be joyful. Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, Levitical master musicians and their assistants were charged to lead in worship through song. The musical instruments were of varying kinds and were designed to produce excellent balance in tone. Psalteries set to Alamoth produced a high pitch harmonizing with the singing voices of men. Harps set to the Sheminith which means the eighth or octave, produced a tone similar to that of the singing voices of men. This music was to be of the highest quality. Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, had special duties on this occasion. There is some question as to the exact nature of these duties. 1Ch. 15:22 mentions the song. The term used here may be translated in the carrying, possibly of the ark. So Chenaniah had specific assignment given him either with regard to the music or with regard to the actual carrying of the ark itself.[34] Berechiah, Elkanah, Obed-edom, and Jehiah were appointed to serve as doorkeepers for the ark. They probably served as a special guard to avoid any possibility of anyone touching the sacred vessel. Special assignments were made to seven of the priests who preceded the ark. These priests were also musicians who sounded trumpets as they led the procession. The trumpets were most likely made of silver like those designated for priestly use in Moses day (Num. 10:1-10). They were long, straight, narrow instruments with an expanded mouth. Such horns had been used to call people for a religious assembly, to announce the beginning of a new month or a new year, and to warn of an enemy attack. Originally there were only two silver trumpets. By the time of David and Solomon (2Ch. 5:12) their number had been increased to one hundred and twenty.
[34] Clarke, Adam, A Commentary and Critical Notes, Vol. II, p. 608.
The actual bringing in of the ark of the covenant is described in 1Ch. 15:25-28. The chronicler reflects the deep satisfaction experienced by all who shared in this joyous occasion. 2Sa. 6:12-16 provides the parallel record of these events. It was with utmost reverence that the priests approached the ark to move it. There were sad memories of another day. What will the God of Israel do today? Will He unleash His wrath or will He smile upon His people? In great fear the priests dared to lay hold upon the staves and carefully lift the sacred ark to their shoulders. The historian recorded the words, God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. In effect, Jehovah said, What you do here today meets my approval. In return, the priests offered animal sacrifices and rejoiced in Gods help. At regular intervals (six paces or measurements) along the route to Jerusalem the whole company stopped and offered sacrifices. The Levites were careful to wear the clothing appointed for them as they carried out the sacred service. The regular priests could be easily distinguished from the High Priest by their garments. David, as the king, was dressed in a beautiful linen robe. In addition, David also wore a linen ephod. Historically, the ephod was worn only by the High Priest (Exo. 28:4-12). Samuel, as a child in the tabernacle, also wore a linen ephod (1Sa. 2:18). The ephod was worn much like a vest or jacket. When the High Priest wore it, the breastplate was attached to it. Jehovah evidently approved Davids actions. In David the offices of king and priest were combined. This anticipated the time when the offices of king, priest, and prophet would all be united in Jesus Christ. All Israel joined in singing as the Levites played upon the musical instruments. The people also expressed their joy by shouting.
David was completely caught up in the joy of the occasion as he danced and played. He leaped about in half-circles. He led in the celebration. His wife, Michal, took exception to his actions. She most likely had not been a part of the great assembly as the ark was brought into Jerusalem. From the window of her room she observed the king and was not sympathetic with his attitudes or the manner of his self-expression. She judged him to be guilty of conduct unbecoming to his position as king. 2Sa. 6:23 says that Michal died childless. This curse was directly related to her severe judgment of David. Whereas Uzzah had died when the ark was moved on the earlier occasion, Michal is now cursed and through her there will be no son for David and no glory for her father, Saul.
1Ch. 16:1-3 of chapter sixteen are inseparably connected with the concluding verses of the previous chapter. The ark was brought to the special tent David had constructed in Jerusalem for this purpose. Chapter 1Ch. 15:1 made direct reference to this appointment. There are no indications that David had intended to return the ark to the original tabernacle. Many sacrifices had been lifted up to Jehovah that day; however, burnt and peace offerings are now presented as the ark is set inside the tent. In the whole round of offerings designated in Leviticus, chapters 17, the burnt offering was the basic form of worship and the peace offering was the concluding presentation. In the burnt offering the worshipper pledged total consecration to Jehovah. This was symbolized in the complete reduction of the animal to ashes. The peace offering involved the presentation of the blood and fat of the animal to Jehovah. The wave breast and the heave thigh were food for the priests. The offerer and his family feasted on the sacrifice. So Jehovah, priests, and the worshipper all shared in this happy occasion. The peace offering symbolized the wonderful covenant relationship between Jehovah and His people. So burnt and peace offerings were presented when the ark was set in its place. In his official capacity as king, ruling by divine appointment and governing Gods people by His sacred Law, David blessed Israel that day. With all of the rejoicing and the deep satisfaction that Jehovah had moved into Jerusalem, it was a time to give and receive gifts. Davids generosity was equal to the joy of this occasion. The record indicates that he gave bread, flesh, and raisin cakes to all who were gathered there that day. The bread may be described as circular perforated cakes. The portion of flesh is translated by some to mean a measure of wine. The dried pressed cakes of raisins or grapes completed this festive gift.
David made certain that all Levitical appointments were in order (1Ch. 15:4-6). The work of officiating priests is here carefully outlined. They are to celebrate the name of Jehovah. This may be translated to cause others to remember. Priests had a two-fold duty of officiating in the sacrifices at the altar and in serving as teachers for Israel. The name of Jehovah was a phrase used in reference to the total character of the God of Israel. It involved His complete self-revelation. When one sincerely called upon the name of Jehovah, he fully accepted Gods presentation of Himself and he agreed, without reservation, to do Gods will. The priests must celebrate Jehovahs name. They must lead the people in thanksgiving. This expression would proceed naturally out of the remembrance of Jehovahs provisions for Israel. The priests would also be leaders in formal praises and worship of the one true God. David, Israels king, clarified these matters. He used the cymbals of worship. Asaph had special responsibility in these matters. He used the cymbals in the musical service. Benaiah and Jahaziel were responsible for the trumpets. Zechariah was assistant to Asaph. The other men named in 1Ch. 15:1 to 1Ch. 16:6 played the psalteries and harps. This service was done with utmost solemnity before the ark of covenant of God.
The reader is impressed with the indication that these preparations were made for this special day in Israels history; but not for this day only. It was the chief work of the priests to lead in the whole round of worship day after day. A liturgy and order of worship had already been begun. Gods Word must be reduced to written form. The Law (or Torah) had already been prepared. It formed the basis for all sacred writings pertaining to Jehovahs people. Some of the prophets had written their records of Jehovahs Word. Other prophets were yet to come and leave with men their burning messages prefaced with the call, Hear the Word of the Lord. A few hymns, like the Song of Moses in Exodus 15, had been composed. The bringing of the ark into Jerusalem signaled the era for the flowering of Hebrew poetry and sacred song. David, himself, was called the sweet psalmist of Israel (2Sa. 23:1).[35] When Jesus made reference to the sacred writings in Luk. 24:44, He spoke of the law, the prophets, and the psalms. These three divisions include the entire Old Testament as we know it. David and the good men associated with him shared the major responsibility for the third division, the Psalms. The Book of Psalms was the hymnbook for the Hebrew church. In the section now under study, 1Ch. 16:7-36, it is of considerable interest that the hymn of praise used on this occasion contained portions from at least four hymns recorded in the Book of Psalms. 1Ch. 16:8-22 echo Psa. 105:1-15. 1Ch. 16:23-29 repeat Psa. 96:1-13. 1Ch. 16:34 repeats Psa. 107:1; Psa. 118:1; Psa. 136:1. 1Ch. 16:35 and 1Ch. 16:36 employ words and ideas used in Psa. 106:47-48.
[35] Oehler, Gustave F., Theology of the Old Testament, Zondervan Publishing Co., 1883, p. 373.
In the true spirit of priestly ministry 1Ch. 16:8-22 celebrate or cause Israel to remember what Jehovah had done for her. Call upon His name. Glory in His holy name. Fifteen times in twenty-nine verses the name Jehovah is used. Who is this God? He is Yahweh, the only existent God who has entered into covenant relationship with His people. What should Israel do in response to this great God? They are to give thanks, make Him known, sing praises, talk about Him, glory in His name, seek Him, remember His works, His miracles, His covenant, bring an offering, worship, tremble in His presence. When psalmists sang of Jehovahs wonders, they often recalled what he had done in the plagues sent on Egypt (Psa. 78:43). The covenant concept distinguished Israels God. The gods of the heathen, though made in the form of man, could not think, feel, will, speak, or move. Israels God was alive, real, a genuine person, intelligent, sympathetic, disposed to enter into reciprocal agreements with men, especially with Israel. The covenant first enunciated to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) and ratified with blood (Genesis 15), renewed to Isaac and Jacob, was still in force. When Jacob and his sons were forced by famine to find refuge in Egypt, Jehovah did not abandon His people. As Abimelech, king of Gerar (Gen. 20:7), was forbidden to harm Abraham, so Jehovahs mercies followed His people. O give thanks unto Jehovah, Glory ye in his holy name, priests and people sang.
1Ch. 16:23-26 carry the worshipper beyond the limits of the Hebrews. What He had been to Israel He will be to all mankind. Let all the peoples of the earth join in the song of praise. Before this wonderful vision could become reality, Israel would have to do her work. She must make Jehovah known to the peoples of the world. In large measure she failed in this task. The nations are to be brought into the presence of Jehovah in the same attitude of worship as demonstrated in Israels example. The nations are to sing to Jehovah, declare His glory, reverence Him as Creator, ascribe glory unto Him, bring an offering, worship in holy order, tremble in His presence, joyfully accept Jehovah as king. 1Ch. 16:26 contrasts Jehovah with heathen gods. The gods are idols (elilim), nothings. Paul said in 1Co. 8:4 that an idol is not anything. 1Ch. 16:26 does not recognize the reality of heathen gods. On the contrary, it is a strong denial of the existence of such. Once more, the basic revelation of Jehovah as the Creator is underscored. In a crescendo of praise, the Psalmist (1Ch. 16:28-29) calls for the proper recognition of Jehovahs deity. Even inanimate things such as the sea, the field, and the tree are called upon to join in hallelujah chorus. The role of Jehovah as judge of the earth, of all mankind, is mentioned in 1Ch. 16:34. Even when He comes in judgment, all men must know that Jehovah is good. He will judge according to His standard of righteousness. Loving-kindness is the term used to describe Jehovahs religious duty. In every instance He will do what ought to be done according to the circumstances. Finally, the song turns once more to Israels praise of Jehovah. This composition provided a very fitting hymn for this special occasion. The people willingly followed the leaders of worship.
The regular ministry for the service in the presence of the ark was carefully designated in 1Ch. 16:37-43. Special assignments on a continuing schedule were set up for the work in Jerusalem and for the tabernacle which at this time was in Gibeon.[36] The priests were to be very careful in observing all that is written in the law of Jehovah. When the ceremonies of this very special day were completed, everybody went home. David returned to his own quarters deeply grateful for the blessings he enjoyed, yet somewhat concerned about an unsympathetic wife.
[36] Clarke, Adam, A Commentary and Critical Notes, Vol. 11, p. 610.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XVI.
(1) So they brought the ark of God.1Ch. 16:1-3 are wrongly separated from the concluding verses of 1 Chronicles 15. The narrative is still parallel to 2 Sam. (2 Samuel 17-19 a). The differences are unimportant.
God.Samuel, Jehovah.
And set it.Samuel adds, in its place.
And they offered burnt sacrifices.Samuel, and David offered [a different word] burnt sacrifices before Jehovah. Our narrative takes care to make it clear that the priests and Levites ministered in the sacrifices.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Ch 16:3 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.
1Ch 16:3
2Sa 6:19, “And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house.”
1Ch 16:3, “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.”
Son 2:5, “Stay me with flagons , comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.”
Hos 3:1, “Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.”
1Ch 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.
1Ch 16:11
Psa 22:26, “The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.”
1Ch 16:8-22 Comments – Parallel Passage – 1Ch 16:8-22 has a parallel translation in Psa 105:1-15.
1Ch 16:23-33 Comments – Parallel Passage – 1Ch 16:23-33 is recorded as Psa 96:1-13.
1Ch 16:40 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 law of the LORD, which he commanded Israel;
1Ch 16:40
Psa 119:47, “And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.”
Psa 119:97, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.”
Psa 119:112, “I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.”
Psa 119:128, “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The offerings and Gifts
v. 1. 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, v. 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, v. 3. And he dealt to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread and a good piece of flesh, a measure of wine, and a flagon of wine, v. 4. And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, v. 5. Asaph, the chief, v. 6. Benaiah also and Jahaziel, the priests, with trumpets continually before the Ark of the Covenant of God,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
1Ch 16:1-3
These three verses rather belong to the close of the last chapter, and they carry on the parallel of 2Sa 6:1-23. in its 2Sa 6:17-19.
1Ch 16:1
In the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. So 1Ch 15:1 distinctly states that David had “pitched a tent” for the ark, and evidently to be ready for its arrival. On the other hand, there is no mention of any such tent having been got in readiness in 1Ch 13:1-14. or in 2Sa 6:1-11, which give the account of the attempt that disastrously failed. The expressions which are there used would rather lead to the conclusion that David’s intention was to take the sacred structure into his own home (2Sa 6:9, 2Sa 6:10; 1Ch 13:12, 1Ch 13:13), for a while, at all events. The (tent) of the original designates, when Intended strictly, a haircloth covering, resting on poles or planks (Exo 26:7, Exo 26:11; Exo 36:14, Exo 36:19). The first occasion of the use of the word is found in Gen 4:20. The (booth) was made of leaves and branches interwoven (Le 23:34, 40; 42; Deu 16:13). The (tabernacle) was the dwelling-place or pavilion, which owned to the ten inner curtains as well as the outer covering and the framework (Exo 25:9; Exo 26:1, Exo 26:12-15, etc.; Exo 39:32; Exo 40:2, Exo 40:29). The first occurrence of this word is in the first of these last-quoted references. Burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. The identical words of 2Sa 6:17, 2Sa 6:18, where the Authorized Version translates “burnt offerings and peace offerings.” These were the two great sacrificesthe former speaking of atonement (Le 2Sa 1:3-9, etc.), the latter of reconciliation effected and the enjoyment of peace (Le 2Sa 3:1-5, etc.). Neither here nor in the parallel place is any mention made of the altar upon which these sacrifices were offered.
1Ch 16:2
He blessed the people in the name of the Lord; i.e. reverently in the Name of the Lord, and as vividly conscious of being in his presence, he pronounces blessings upon the people, and by short ejaculatory prayer and holy wish further begs for them those blessings which God only can give. In the time of David and Solomon (1Ki 8:14) the king realized far more closely the idea of the paternal relation to the people than had ever been since the time of the patriarchs of the elder days.
1Ch 16:3
Each little clause of this verse is replete with interest. The royal giver, who now dealt to every one of Israel, was, after all, but a channel; yes, and only one channel, through which the fulness and the bounty of the royal Giver of every good and perfect gift, of all good whatsoever, of all things necessary to life and godliness, are supplied to every one of his creature-subjects. But it is highest honour, as servant and instrument alone, to figure forth him in any way. The second little clause tells us either that women took a recognized place on occasion of this joyous festival, or that the hospitality of such an occasion did not forget them and their homes. And the following three little clauses require closer examination. The word here translated “loaf” in the expression loaf of bread is , for which in this sense we may turn to Exo 29:23; Jdg 8:5; 1Sa 2:36; 1Sa 10:3; Pro 6:26; Jer 37:21. The corresponding word, however, in the parallel place is (for which see Exo 29:2, Exo 29:23; Le Exo 2:4; Exo 7:12, Exo 7:13; Exo 8:26; Exo 24:5; Num 6:15, Num 6:19; Num 15:20). The essential meaning of the former word is a circle, hence applied to the cake because of its shape, and of the latter word perforation, hence applied to the cake because it was perforated. A good piece of flesh. This is the Authorized Version rendering of , which occurs only in the parallel place and here. The Vulgate translates assatura bubulae carnis; the Septuagint, . The imagined derivation of the word from (ox) and (fire), or from (to burn), seems to be what has led to these translations, helped, perhaps, by the apparent convenience of adapting meat from the sacrifice to the bread. But Gesenius, Rodiger, Keil, and others prefer the derivation (to measure), and they would render “a measure” of wine. And a flagon. This is the Authorized Version rendering of the original , found in the parallel place as well as here, and also in the only other places (two in number, and in the plural) where it occurs (Son 2:5; Hos 3:1). But there is no doubt, or but little, that the rendering should rather be “dried, pressed cakes of raisins or grapes.” It is then to be derived from the root (to press). The substantive has both masculine and feminine form in plural. The Vulgate translates similam frixam oleo, which means a “baked cake of flour and oil;” and the Septuagint, in the parallel places. But here the Septuagint reads as the whole account of the loaf, the good piece of flesh, and the flagon.
1Ch 16:4-7
These verses contain a statement of the arrangement David made of a more permanent nature, but to date from this commencement, for the service of thanksgiving by the Levites.
1Ch 16:4
To minister; i.e. to officiate, as we should say, in the service before the ark. The verse seems to describe what should be the essence of that service. It was threefoldto record, to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel. The word here used for “record” is the Hiph. of (to remember), and is remarked upon by Gesenius as a title strictly appropriate to the character of the two psalms 38. and 70; on the head of which it stands, as meaning, “to make others remember” (see also such passages as Exo 20:24; 2Sa 8:16; 2Sa 18:18; 2Sa 20:24; Isa 43:26; Isa 63:7). The minds of the people were to be refreshed in this service and in their very psalm of praise (so note in this sense 1Ch 16:8, 1Ch 16:9, 1Ch 16:12, 1Ch 16:21, etc.), by being reminded or told, so far as the youngest of them might be concerned, of God’s marvellous and merciful deeds for their forefathers of many, many a generation. Then they were to give intelligent and hearty thanks. And, lastly, they were to offer to approach that purest form of worship which consists in adoring praise. One might imagine with what zest they would have accepted, with what fervour they would have added lip and instrument of music to itthat one verse which needed the revolution yet of nearly another three thousand years, that it might flow from the devotion or’ Addison.
“When all thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view I’m lost
In wonder, love, and praise.”
1Ch 16:5
Obed-edom. No colon should follow this name. And the first time of the occurrence of the name Jeiel in this verse should probably have shown the Jaaziel of 1Ch 15:18. The contents of this verse put us, then, into possession of this much, that Asaph presided (1Ch 6:39) at this musical service, and that his instrument was the cymbals (1Ch 15:19), with which time was kept; that Zechariah was next to him, and, with eight others formed a band, who played on psalteries (or lutes) and harps. If we may guide ourselves by verse 20, 21 of the preceding chapter, three of theseviz. Mattithia, Jeiel, Obed-edomperformed on the harp, the other six on the psaltery, or lute.
1Ch 16:6
Jahaziel. Probably the Eliezer, who in 1Ch 15:24 is coupled as priest with Benaiah, should stand in the place of this name or else vice versa.
1Ch 16:7
The rendering should run, On that day did David first commit to the hand of Asaph and his brethren to render praises to Jehovah; i.e. after the following manner and words. The word first marks the solemn establishment of set public worship in the metropolis.
1Ch 16:8-36
These verses, then, provide the form of praise which David wished to be used on this, and probably in grateful repetition on some succeeding occasions. David makes selections from four psalms already known; for it cannot be supposed that the verses we have hero were the original, and that they were afterwards supplemented. The first fifteen verses (viz. 8-22) are from Psa 105:1-15. The next eleven verses (23-33) are from Psa 96:1-13; but a small portion of the first and last of these verses is omitted. Our thirty-fourth verso is identical with Psalm evil. 1; Psa 118:1; Psa 136:1; and forms the larger part of Psa 106:1. It is, in fact, a doxology. And our thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth verses consist of a short responsive (“and say ye”) invocation, followed by another doxology. These are taken from Psa 106:47, Psa 106:48. Hereupon “all the people” are directed to find the final outburst of praise to Jehovah, and “Amen.” In the first of these selections (Psa 106:8-23) there is no material variation from the language of the psalm itself. Yet the original psalm has Abraham, where our own thirteenth verse reads Israel. And the original psalm uses the third person, where our fifteenth and nineteenth verses have the second person. In the second selection it is worthy of note that our Psa 106:29, “Come before him,” probably preserves the ante-temple reading, while Psa 96:8 was afterwards, to fit temple times, altered into, “Come into his courts.” The arrangement of all the succeeding clauses does not exactly agree with the arrangement of them found in the psalm, as for instance in the latter half of our verse 30 and in verse 31, compared with the clauses of Psa 96:10,Psa 96:11 of the psalm. Again, one clause of the tenth verse of the psalm, “He shall judge the people righteously,” is not found in either alternative position open to it through the inversion of clauses, in our verses 80, 81. The rhythm and metre of the psalm are, however, equally unexceptionable. The whole of the twenty-nine verses of this Psalm of praise (Psa 96:8 -36 inclusive) are divided into portions of three verses each, except the portion verses 23-27 inclusive which consists of five verses. As regards the matter of it, it may be remarked on as breaking into two parts, in the first of which (Psa 96:8 -22) the people are reminded of their past history anti of the marvellous providence which had governed their career from Abraham to the time they were settled in Canaan, but in the second (verses 23-36) their thought is enlarged, their sympathies immensely widened, so as to include all the world, and their view is borne on to the momentous reality of judgment.
1Ch 16:8-10
These verses are an animated invocation to thanks and praise.
1Ch 16:11-14
The call to thanksgiving and to the praise of adoration is nosy in these verses suceeded by an earnest admonition to practical seeking of the Lord, and mindful obedience to him.
1Ch 16:14-22
These verses rehearse the ancient and blissful covenant which had made Israel so to differ. These are called mine anointed my prophets, in harmony with what we read in the splendid passage, Exo 19:3-6. The substitution in our Exo 19:15, Exo 19:19 of the second person pronoun plural, in place of the third person of the psalm, helps speak the reality of this occasion and its dramatic correctness. The literal original of our Authorized Version in Exo 19:19, but few, even a few, is, men of number, i.e. men who could easily be numbered.
1Ch 16:23-36
The grandeur and unusual comprehensiveness of the adoration and homage here proclaimed, as to be offered to the omnipotent Ruler of all nations, should be well pondered. Our eye and ear may have become too familiar with it, but when put a little into relief, and referred to its original time of day, it is fit to be ranked among the strongest moral evidences of inspiration in the word and the speaker.
1Ch 16:23
This verse is composed of the latter half of each of the first two verses of the psalm (96.).
1Ch 16:34-36
These verses, from the first, forty-seventh, and forty-eighth of Psa 106:1-48, must have suggested the sad intermediate contents of that psalm, the significant key-note of which is sounded in our thirty-fifth verse. The suggestion in the midst of the unbounded gladness of this day is affecting, and must have been intended for salutary lesson and timely warning. In the midst of the fulness of praise and joy, the people are led to prayersay yeand the prayer is an humble petition for salvation, union, and protection from every enemy. God’s treatment of his anointed people had been on his part one continued protection and one prolonged salvation. Yet they had often neither prayed for these nor acknowledged them. Now they are led again by the hand, as it were, to the footstool of the throne.
1Ch 16:37-43
These verses give the now new-ordained distribution of priests and Levites, to minister and to attend to the service of praise before the ark. And the first of them may be considered to mark an important step in advance in the crystallizing of the world’s ecclesiastical institutions. Asaph and his brethren of song are left there before the ark of the covenant to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required. A permanent local ministry and choir are thus established, with a fixity of place on Zion, and regularity of time that had been hitherto unattainable.
1Ch 16:38
Obed-edom with their brethren. Explanation is needed of the plural pronoun “their.” Either another name is wanted with Obed-edom, or tacit reference is made to “Asaph and his brethren,” as though the name Asaph had not been followed in its own place by the clause “and his brethren.” Keil draws attention to the “three score and two” of 1Ch 26:8, in connection with the three score and eight of this place; and it has been proposed to make up this number by some of the sons of Hosah, of our following verse and of 1Ch 26:11. In this case the name Hesah might be the name missing before, “and their brethren.” Conjecture, however, has not sufficient clue here to warrant it, and the textual state of this verse must be debited with the obscurity. The ambiguity respecting the name Obed-edom has already (1Ch 13:14) been alluded to. Neglecting this ambiguity, it may be repeated that Obed-edom, son of Jedithun (as the Keri of this passage is) was a Merarite Levite, while Obed-edom son of Jeduthun (1Ch 15:25) was of Gath-rimmon, a Gittite (2Sa 6:10-12; Jos 21:24), a Kohathite (1Ch 6:66, 1Ch 6:69), and a Korhite (1Ch 26:1-5).
1Ch 16:39
While those above-mentioned were to officiate before the ark on Zion, those mentioned in this and following verses are the officiating staff at Gibson. It is now brought into prominence that the ark and the tabernacle are in two separate places. The great ordinary sacrifices and services, “all that is written in the Law of the Lord,” are carefully observed on the original altar (Exo 38:2) in the tabernacle. Other and special sacrifices evidently were offered in the presence of the ark. The tabernacle erected in the wilderness was first stationed at Shiloh (Jos 18:1; 1Sa 4:3, 1Sa 4:4). The occasion of its removal to Nob (1Sa 21:1; 1Sa 22:19) is not narrated. The present passage first tells us where it had been since the slaughter of the priests at Saul’s command by Doeg the Edomite. Some distinct statement, like that of 1Ch 21:29 and 2Ch 1:3, might have been expected here. Zadok the priest is given (1Ch 6:4-9) as in the line of Eleazar.
1Ch 16:40
To offer burnt offerings; i.e. the customary morning and evening sacrifices.
1Ch 16:41, 1Ch 16:42
Comparing these verses with 1Ch 16:4-6 and 1Ch 16:37-40, it may be supposed that we are intended to understand that of all who were set apart and who had been expressed by name (as e.g. 1Ch 15:4-24), some were now formally appointed to serve before the ark, and some in the tabernacle at Gibeon. The confusion existing in these verses by the repetition of the preposition with, and the proper names Heman and Jeduthun, betrays some corruptness of text. The Septuagint does not show them in the latter verse. The sons of Jeduthun are found in 1Ch 25:3.
1Ch 16:43
(See 2Sa 6:19, 2Sa 6:20.)
HOMILETICS
1Ch 16:1-43 -The inaugural services on Zion’s height, typical.
The greater part of the contents of this chapter must be viewed as borrowed matterthe appropriating of portions of sacred songs or psalms which already existed, to this individual occasion. The stricter homiletic treatment, therefore, of our 1Ch 16:7-36 may be better found in the portions of the psalms concerned, in their own proper place. But there are some larger aspects offered by the matter of this chapter, which may be appropriately considered in this place. And we may notice
I. FIRST OF ALL, THE GATHERING FORCE OF RELIGION. It has indeed already gathered such force as to conquer for itself the place which it holds on this great day of David. To this it has grown since the day of Seth and Enos, when we read of it thus, “Then began men to call on the Name of the Lord” (Gen 4:26). And though true it is that we may not critically make any great doctrine or argument depend on the uncertain exegesis of that one sentence, yet we know that the facts, so far as we require them now, were not distant from what the sentence says. The religion of mankind then, where existent at all, was the pure, individual, essential principle, Heaven-given and reigning in the hearts of a very fewthis still and evermore of necessity its essence. Then, however, when men could be numbered only by the score, it was manifestly impossible for religion to exhibit the “effects n which it does in the time of David. Nay, of ages afterwards it were, of course, true to say the same thing, and to add this also, that when, so far as numbers were concerned, it became possible, still it did not become fact. Through all these ages, however, with all receding tides, and notwithstanding some extraordinary checks, religion never became utterly lost to sight. Once during those ages it showed a number not. exceeding eight, another time not fewer than seven thousand, and, for the most part, what the number was, greater or less, God only knewhe alone could say. Yet through good report and ill, through good times and bad, it was acquiring strength unmeasured and immeasurable. It was insisting on its own vitality; it was proving the courage of its convictions; its tone was of no uncertain kind; its mien was ever of the undaunted. In patriarchal succession of families, what pungent lessons religion many a time taught and made itself known thereby! In Egyptian times, amid temptation and snare, what various knowledge and determination it was maturing! In the wilderness, how carefully by form, by sacrifice, by sign, by judgment, it was shaping individual and national life. Amid the dangers and the glories of the people’s settlement in the land of promise, amid the achievements of judges and leaders and captains, and the multitudinous strifes of little kings, its pronounced voice spoke the word and it was done, or, if the voice was silent, the people were undone. All this time, measurable only by thousands of years, it was betraying its existence, indicating its nature, betokening a large store of sleeping strength, and anything but seeming to exhaust or to strain its own energy. But now the principle of religion seems to have burst into full life. Its many and outspreading branches hang down with ripe and golden fruit. Now it is the light and life, the joy and strength, the reverence and pride of a whole nation, from the highest to the lowest. All business, all pleasure, all other thought or care, stand still to look, or throng to join in a scene festive of festivity itself. The day itself is ablaze, not with the ordinary light and heat of a splendid sun over Zion’s heights, but with the service and joy of religion in a hundred thousand heartsin “Jerusalem and all Judea,” but culminating in Zion. And it is all because “In Judah God is known, his Name great in Israel In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion.” Blessed glimpse of what it will be for this world, when “God shall all renew,” and the joy become universal.
II. THE ATTAINMENT OF A CONSPICUOUS AND FIXED HOME FOR RELIGION. Though the world of mankind is some three thousand years old, religion had been as yet but a wayfarer. It had never deserted men. Its spirit had influenced, guided, ruled their spirit; it had consoled their sorrows, heightened their joys ten thousand separate times; but it has not yet had an honoured dwelling-place, a worthy throne, a fixed home. To this it has now come, and to this it has been brought up by the willing enthusiasm of king and prophet, priest and people. There can be no doubt that its local habitation exposes it to some danger, to some misunderstanding. The long process of ages has been undoing, is still undoing the danger, correcting the misunderstanding. The city then emphatically set on a hill has never been hidden. Ten thousand others, the spiritual copies of it, have taken its name upon them, and have helped thereby to prove practically that Zion’s glory that day did not foreshadow the exclusiveness of an individual place, but only the sure foundation and settled firmness of God’s own Church, and its exalted, commanding prominence. The typical lessons, therefore, of the day on which David fixed the symbols and the services and the servants of a true, revealed religion on Zion are not to the effect that religion itself is anything less than a pure, silent, but mighty principle in the heart, but rather that it is to be the avowed, conspicuous, and abiding principle of the life, and of the life of all. The distribution of religion is emphatically not to be partial. The influences of it am emphatically not to be intelligible only to an initiated few. The force of it is emphatically not to expend itself invisibly, and exhaust itself according to individual fickleness or frailty. It is to state its character, its quality, its very nature before all the world, and under the blaze of publicity itselfa testimony for or against every man to the eye or ear of whom it has become proclaimed. And in spite of one or two temporary and superficial appearances to the contrary, these were the truths which that day was proffering to teach. For a while, perhaps, it was “Zion’s height alone;” some thought it was to be always “Zion’s height alone;” but faithful history and imperious necessity have proved the contrary, and have proved that to have been never meant,
“Not now on Zion’s height alone
Thy favoured worshipper may dwell.
* * * * * *
“To thee, at last, in every clime
Shall temples rise and praise be sung.”
III. THE ELEMENTS OF THE RELIGIOUS JOY OF A NATION‘S GRANDEST FESTIVAL. These are certainly not obscurely told here. They consist in thanks for all that is, and adoring praise for him, from whom all good is. The mind and memory have been stirred up, and from their depth and their breadth come the testimonials of his boundless compassion, mighty deliverance, tenderest mercy, good gift and grace. The heart knows the meaning, and, though often too insensible, now owns the joy. Happy is that teacher of religion who, with Divine help and the Divine Spirit, can make the mind and memory do this, some of their highest and most fruitful work. He will be a useful teacher, preacher, pastor, guide of souls. Angels very likely may spring at once to adoration’s highest reach and strain direct. But we are permitted to rise thither through the appeal to our nature of gratitude. The religious service and language of this day is the reiteration of appeal to give thanks, while the ground for doing so is simply and impressively told. This mingles a vein of pathos, of confession, of dependent prayer; and then acclamation and the praise not of thanksgiving, but of adoration, fill every heart and tongue. Such is the worship for such as we have been, when we get above. Such are the songs of heaven and its temple. Such the joy of each and of all, who there recount with the fulness of gratitude dangers past, sin forgiven, guilt cleansed away, salvation freely given, till the enraptured soul is lost in adoration and “glories in the praise” of Jehovah.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
1Ch 16:2–Sacrifice and blessing.
The manner in which David celebrated the reception of the ark into its appointed tent on the height of his city was thoroughly characteristic. He acted as a king, and as a kind of royal mediator between the God of heaven and the chosen people Israel.
I. HE BLESSED THE LORD IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE. For this was certainly the significance of the sacrifices, burnt offerings, and peace offerings. In offering them, the king was publicly acknowledging the authority of the supreme Lord, was publicly adoring and praising him as the God of the nation, and was publicly seeking his favour and countenance. Not that David offered these sacrifices with his own hands. What he did by means of the priests, whom he directed, he is represented as doing himself. It was a high day, a solemn and joyful festivity; and it was becoming that the Lord should be recognized, sought, and praised.
II. HE BLESSED THE PEOPLE IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. Probably he pronounced a solemn benediction, invoking the gracious regard of the God of Israel upon the chosen nation. With the ark of the covenant in their possession, in the midst of their metropolis, the people might well be encouraged to rejoice in the presence and favour of him who is ever the Source of all good. It is a proof of David’s policy that he took this opportunity of feasting the assembled multitudes. This would no doubt create a favourable impression upon all minds. Their spiritual privileges, and their happiness in having a king so considerate and liberal as David to reign over them, would be associated in their minds. They would connect their religion and their loyalty together, and would cherish happy recollections of the solemnities of the day.T.
1Ch 16:4–Ministerial service.
Although the Levites were set apart for the service of the Lord’s house, even from the days of Moses, it is certain that the Levitical services were more fully organized by David, and that from his time there was more of system and more of efficiency in their ministrations. There is so marked a difference between the Jewish Church and the Christian Church, that we can only apply the general principles of the former to the latter. Yet the text may well suggest to us that
I. PUBLIC WORSHIP HAS SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY. Worship, to be acceptable, must be from the heart. But out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. It is natural and appropriate that the sentiments and desires of the soul should find a vocal utterance; and it is also natural and appropriate that those who have the same tribute to offer should join together and offer it in common. The Book of the Acts in the New Testament sanctions such worship equally with these Books of Chronicles in the Old.
II. PUBLIC WORSHIP SHOULD CONSIST LARGELY OF THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. According to the text, the Levites recorded and celebrated the glorious deeds of the Most High, adored his attributes, gave thanks for his forgiving mercy, his bounty, and loving-kindness. We do not want less prayer in our congregations, but we do want more praise. “His mercy endureth for ever;” and while his mercy endures his praises should not cease.
III. PUBLIC WORSHIP SHOULD BE LED BY APPOINTED MINISTERS. Common sense may teach us so much. If praise is to be sung, some musical leaders must conduct it. If the Scriptures are to be read, some human voice must read them. If prayer is to be offered, some one must pour forth the language of petition, in which others may join, whether silently or audibly. If the gospel is to be heard by men, “how shall they hear without a preacher?” Scripture precedents abound for ministerial service.
IV. While public worship must be properly conducted, IT MUST NOT BE DELEGATED ANY FUNCTIONARIES OR OFFICIALS, WHOSE SERVICES MAY BE SUBSTITUTED FOR THAT OF THE PEOPLE. Levites under the old dispensation, pastors and teachers under the new, may aid the devotions of the people, but their offering cannot be accepted in the place of what God requiresa song, a prayer, from every heart. “Praise the Lord, all ye people!” The Christian Church admits of no exclusive priesthood; all Christians are priests unto God the Father, inasmuch as all offer to him sacrifices of willing obedience and grateful praise.
CONCLUSION.
1. A rebuke to the ungrateful and undevout, who, whilst they daily receive God’s mercies, acknowledge not the Giver.
2. A rebuke to the formal and ceremonial, who excuse themselves from offering sacrifices of praise on the ground that this “religious duty” is fulfilled by appointed officials.
3. A reminder and summons, to which all sincere Christians will do well to take heed. Some spiritual ministry and service may be fulfilled by every Christian; and it is a high honour to be permitted to lead the praises and the supplications of the people of the Lord.T.
1Ch 16:7-36 -A psalm.
When the king had organized a choir of musicians, had provided them with their instruments, had assigned them their duties and their maintenance, it remained for him to decide what they were to sing. He was himself “the sweet psalmist of Israel.” It is difficult for us to imagine what psalmody must have been before the time of David. It is a grand vocationthat of putting words of praise into the lips of worshippers. And it was a glorious burst of sacred song which pealed from the heights of Jerusalem when the sublime odes of David were first rolled to heaven upon the wings of the wind. What a revelation of God, what an inspiration for man, what new life to the world, when the psalms were first wrought into shape by the glowing heart and the glorious eloquence of David! The later Levitical psalms are perhaps more reflective and elaborate, but those composed by the lyrical sovereign of Israel have at once the simplest piety, the profoundest feeling, and the most vigorous eloquence. The occasion of the composition, or, at all events, the first public rendering of David’s odes, was one worthy of such efforts. When the ark found a resting-place in the city of David, when Jerusalem was consecrated by the public and regal recognition of the Divine Law, when the Levites solemnly addressed Jehovah in the name of Israel,then this magnificent psalm was sung, now in melodious recitative, and again in resounding chorus, to the accompaniment of cymbal, of trumpet, and of harp. It was a fitting inauguration of a series of sublime solemnities. When we examine the structure of the psalm, we are surprised and filled with admiration at the appropriateness, the beauty, the comprehensiveness of the composition. The psalm, as it is recorded in this place, agrees with what we find in the hundred and fifth, ninety-sixth, hundred and seventh, and hundred and sixth psalms. Taken as we here find it, it contains
I. AN ADMONITION AND SUMMONS TO PRAISE THE LORD. This is addressed to nature (1Ch 16:30-33), to mankind in general (veres 28), especially to Israel (1Ch 16:13).
II. A RECORD OF GOD‘S GOODNESS. And this both to the patriarchs (1Ch 16:15-18), and to Israel as a nation, to whom that goodness had been displayed in the most critical period of their history (1Ch 16:19-22).
III. PRAISE OF GOD‘S ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTER. (1Ch 16:24-29, 1Ch 16:34.) Never had these been so devoutly and at the same time so poetically celebrated as now and here.
IV. PRAYER FOR SALVATION. This petition (1Ch 16:35) flows most naturally out of what precedes. In the register of Divine acts, in the recounting of Divine attributes, a foundation had Been laid for this devout and urgent entreaty.
V. BLESSING AND AMEN. A glorious closing (1Ch 16:36) to a glorious psalm. “All the people” here concurred with, adopted as their own, the worship of the Levites. The reval psalmist’s heart must have beat high with sacred joy when his plans proved successful, when his ministers rendered his compositions in a manner worthy of their substance, and when the soul of a nation was raised into fellowship with God.T.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
1Ch 16:1-3–Hours of elation.
The path of human life lies, for the most part, along the level of simple and ordinary experiences, amid scenes and circumstances that annoy or depress but do not greatly grieve, or that please or gladden but do not excite to tumultuous delights. Sometimes, however, that path leads down into deep valleys of profoundest sorrow; sometimes it leads up to the high hills of exhilarating joy. Whether in the depth or upon the summit, we are in peculiar peril. We breathe an unusual air and are in danger of losing control of our full spiritual faculties. Men are sometimes overwhelmed by great sorrow or by supreme delight, and either lose their mental balance altogether or commit actions which they never cease to regret. It is a great thing to have a vent for our intenser feelings, a right channel through which they may safely flow, or rather a sphere in which they may spend their strength, to our own positive advantage and to the profit of others. Our text suggests such a sphere for our energies in the hours of elation. We are reminded
I. THAT WE MAY GO TO GOD IN SELF–PRESENTATION. In the midst of their rejoicing “they offered burnt sacrifices before God” (1Ch 16:1). The burnt offering was the type of self-dedication unto God. As the offerer brought his victim to be wholly presented to Jehovah, so we are invited to offer our whole selves unto the living God. Our intensest joys attend our greatest mercies, and these may well lead us to renew our vows unto our Redeemer, freely and gladly presenting ourselves, once more, to him whose we are.
II. THAT WE MAY GO TO GOD IN THANKFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. “They offered peace offerings” also: these are suggestive of the act of praise by which we render thanks to God for all his goodness to us. There can be no time so suitable for this as the hour of elation, when unusual Blessings have been conferred by him. We are bound to recognize him as the Source and Spring of all our joy.
III. THAT WE MAY GO TO GOD IN UNSELFISH INVOCATION. “When David had made an end he blessed the people in the Name of the Lord” (1Ch 16:2), i.e. he invoked the Divine blessing upon them. He doubtless used such words as these: “The Lord bless you, and keep you: the Lord make his face shine upon you,” etc. (Num 6:24-26). We have no power to impart blessedness by any direct volition of our own, but we can express our earnest desire that men may be blessed; and we can do one thing more and better than thatwe can solemnly and earnestly invoke the blessing of God to rest on those whom we love and with whom we desire to share our own prosperity and joy.
IV. WE CAN GO OUT TO OUR NEIGHBOURS IN GENEROUS KINDNESS. David’s good feeling took the form of hospitality (1Ch 16:3). He gave to every one then present, bread, flesh, and wine, wherewith to find nourishment and pleasure. When God, in his providence, sends us prosperity, we should distribute freely to our poorer fellows. We may distribute, as David did, of those things which furnish the table. We may let our generosity take other, possibly better, forms than this; we may spend our strength in securing education for the ignorant, position for the unemployed, privilege for the spiritually destitute, opportunity for the aspiring. If thus, in dedication, in thanks-giving, in invocation, in generosity, we escape from ourselves and go forth unto God and man, we shall pass scathless through the perilous hour of elation, and be not only unharmed by it but blessed in it.C.
1Ch 16:4-7, 1Ch 16:36-43.–Regular Divine service.
These verses may suggest to us wholesome truths respecting the constant worship of God as distinguished from acts of exceptional devotion.
I. THAT DEVOTION MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO EVAPORATE IN TEMPORARY EXCITEMENT, David was wise in not sending the people home (1Ch 16:43) until he had designed a plan or arrangement in virtue of which the thankful spirit of the people should express itself in ordinary and regular exercises (1Ch 16:4-37). The time of revival, of exceptional religious excitement, of spiritual ecstasy, may be very pleasant and promising, but it will end in nothing or in positive evil, if those who prompt and lead it do not devise measures by which it shall find due utterance in permanent institutions.
II. THAT SACRED THINGS MUST BE ENTRUSTED TO THE CHARGE OF CAPABLE AND RESPONSIBLE PERSONS. However admirable the institution, it will not take care of itself. Good things will soon wane and die if they be not taken charge of by living earnest souls. David sought and found the best men to be engaged in the service of praise (1Ch 16:5, 1Ch 16:6). In every part of Divine service, success can only be attained and maintained by competent and responsible men taking the matter in hand. If we trust to the intrinsic excellency of the exercise, and allow negligence or favouritism to enter, we may expect speedy, or, at any rate, certain decline and ultimate extinction. In God’s service let each post be assigned to that man whom he has made fittest for it, and who will feel that he is personally accountable for the way in which it is kept.
III. THAT INFERIOR POSTS ARE NOT WITHOUT A REAL IMPORTANCE IN THE SERVICE OF GOD. Much mention is made here (as elsewhere) of doorkeepers (1Ch 16:38-43; see Psa 84:10). The doorkeepers of our sanctuaries are men of humble position; nevertheless, they may contribute much by conscientious carefulness and Christian courtesy to the comfort, peace of mind, and devoutness of spirit of the worshippers; and thus to the cause of God. Any position in the service of the Supreme, of a gracious and almighty Redeemer, is one which we do well to “magnify” in our esteem, that we may do our duty therein faithfully, as unto the Lord as well as unto men.
IV. THAT PRAYER AS WELL AS PRAISE MUST BE INCLUDED IN DIVINE SERVICE. Though there was to be daily service at Jerusalem for the future, there must also be daily sacrifice at Gibeon (1Ch 16:39, 1Ch 16:40). The choir-master could not do the work of the priest; there must be sacrifice as well as praise. We should multiply our service of song and can hardly go too far in sacred psalmody; yet we must never make light of the prayer of confession, of the entreaty for Divine mercy, of our need to seek again the pardoning love of God.
V. THAT ONE MAN MAY LEAD, BUT ALL MUST PARTICIPATE IN, THE SERVICE OF GOD. David alone prepared and delivered the psalm. Asaph alone received it at the king’s hand, and made the musical arrangements (1Ch 16:5-7); but “all the people said Amen and praised the Lord (1Ch 16:36). It is well sometimes that one man should speak for others, they following and participating in thought, and saying “Amen” at the end, in token and utterance of their hearty assent. It is also wellperhaps betterthat “all the people” should utter together the words of prayer and praise. Most men can best follow the sense when they utter the sound of sacred words. This is a question fur individual and congregational aptitudes and preferences; the matter of importance is that, whatever method be adopted, the service of God shall be one in which all hearts unite in supplication, in adoration, in thanksgiving, in consecration.C.
1Ch 16:8-14 -The constituents of piety.
In our psalms and in our prayers we often indicate the real elements of religion as fully, and perhaps as clearly, as in our exhortations. In this psalm of David we have the essential principles of piety.
I. MINDFULNESS OF GOD‘S POWER AND GOODNESS. (1Ch 16:8, 1Ch 16:9, 1Ch 16:12.) We cannot feel toward him as we should except we consider “his deeds among the people,” except we “talk of all his wondrous works,” except we “remember his marvellous works.” Calling these to mind, we shall be powerfully and rightly affected by a realization of his Divine power and goodness. We shall naturally dwell on his works in nature, his power as displayed in the creation and sustenance of our own spirit and our own human life, his handiwork in the providential ordering of the world.
II. A SENSE OF HIS INTIMATE DIVINE RELATION TO US AND TO THE WHOLE WORLD. (1Ch 16:13, 1Ch 16:14.) As the children of Israel felt that they were chosen of God, having received direct and special communication and consideration; as they could speak of themselves as his “chosen ones,” and could say, “He is the Lord our God;” so we may and must feel that we all are the objects of his Divine regard, that he looks with benignant eye on us and stretches out the hand of Divine friendship toward us, that he is the Lord our God who has chosen us and whom we have chosen. And as they were taught to feel that “his judgments are in all the earth,” so we also are to think of him as the supreme almighty Power reigning and ruling everywhere, “speaking and it is done, commanding and it stands fast” (Psa 33:9).
III. THANKSGIVING IN MEMORY OF HIS GOODNESS AND MERCY. (1Ch 16:8, 1Ch 16:9.) A large part of the sacred service of the Jews consisted in praise. In heathendom there was much of deprecation, something of supplication, little or nothing of praise. God’s own people had such a sense of his absolute excellence that they “gave thanks at the remembrance of his holiness,” and such a remembrance of his distinguishing goodness to them that they sang psalms of praise because they were such large recipients at his hand. The piety of the Hebrew was vocal with constantly recurring praise; the psalms of the “sweet singer of Israel,” and of Jewish worship altogether, were so largely hymns of thanksgiving, that we always associate the thought of praise with the name of them. And from us, for whom as for them God has done such great things, for whom, indeed, God has done greater things than for them, it may well be that praise is found to be the prevailing note of our worship, the chief strain in our piety.
IV. JOY IN GOD. (1Ch 16:10.) The people were encouraged to “glory in God’s holy Name,” to triumph in the thought that they were worshipping him who was the “Holy One of Israel,” in every way worthy of their profoundest adoration; also to “rejoice” in him as in One the knowledge and service of whom was the spring of truest and abiding satisfaction. We may well do the same; and having “such an High Priest” as we have, such a Saviour and Divine Friend, such a Refuge of our soul, we may glory and rejoice with intenser joy than they.
V. COMMUNION WITH GOD. (1Ch 16:11.) We do not enter into the full heritage of the people of God until we “seek the face of the Lord continually.” Both in his house and in our own home, we are to seek him, to “seek his strength,” to come consciously into his presence, to draw nigh with our spirit to his Spirit, to walk with him, to hold converse with him, to pour out our heart before him, to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, beholding his beauty as well as inquiring in his temple (Psa 27:4).C.
1Ch 16:15-22.–Human mindfulness of Divine promises.
I. THAT GOD HAS MADE DISTINCT PROMISES TO MANKIND. David speaks here of the “covenant which God made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac” (1Ch 16:15, 1Ch 16:16; see 1Ch 16:18 and Gen 17:2, Gen 26:3, etc.). We know that he also promised David that he should sit on the throne, and his children after him (1Ch 17:17). We think also of the primeval promise, looking far forward and embracing such large results (Gen 3:15). God has made “exceeding great and precious promises” to us in Christ; he promises to those who are in him pardon, peace, joy, the indwelling Spirit, sanctity, eternal life,
II. THAT OF THESE HIS PROMISES HE HAS GIVEN US ASSURING CONFIRMATION. He “confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant” (1Ch 16:17); he did this in word (1Ch 16:18) and in deed (1Ch 16:19-22). All the promises which are made to us in Christ are confirmed both in word and deed.
1. In Divine Word. By repeated assurances not only from the lips of the Lord himself, but also from the utterances of his inspired apostles. In Scripture we have the most abundant assurances that those who believe in Christ shall enjoy the favour of the eternal Father and possess everlasting life.
2. And also in Divine action; for we have the testimony of all succeeding generations of Christian men, who bear unvarying witness that “God is faithful, who hath called us to the fellowship of his Son” (lCo 1Ch 1:9). This is surely a confirmation of God’s working; for are not all these witnesses his workmanship? are they not his husbandry, his building (Eph 2:10; 1Co 3:9)?
III. THAT IT BEHOVES US TO KEEP THEM IN CONTINUED AND LIVELY REMEMBRANCE. “Be ye mindful always of his covenant” (1Ch 16:15). In the day of spiritual awakening, in the midst of earnest Christian work, in the time of trouble, in the hour of spiritual struggle and misgiving, in the valley of the shadow of death, we have especial need to be mindful of the promises of God. But they should never be far from us, they should be always within reach, like a sword at our side, like bread beneath the roof, that we may draw them at the approaching danger, that we may resort to them when our heart is a-hungered. We may add, though it is not in the text
IV. THAT WE MUST NOT FAIL TO COMPLY WITH THE CONDITIONS ATTENDING THEM. God’s promises are never unconditional: there is always an “if” implied if not expressed (2Sa 7:12; 1Ki 2:4; Psa 132:11, Psa 132:12). His promises to us of eternal life are conditional on
(1) our acceptance of Jesus Christ, and
(2) our faithfulness unto death.C.
1Ch 16:23-36.-The broader aspect of Hebrew piety.
It cannot be denied that there was an aspect of exclusiveness in the religion of Jewry, as seen in the days of our Lord. But it is a question how far this was a lawful and how far an unlawful development of the teaching which had come from above. To some extent it was necessary that the people of God should be separated, in intercourse as well as in thought and sympathy, from the nations around them. We may, however, be assured that the narrow and bigoted ideas which were so firmly embedded in the Jewish mind were the product of their own misconstructions of the Divine Word. Our text, indeed, shows:
1. That the Jewish nation was taught to feel that God was their God in a peculiar sense. He was continually spoken of, in worship, as “the Lord God of Israel” (1Ch 16:36). He had not dealt with any nation as with Israel: he had not made known his judgments to any people as he had to them (Psa 147:20). He was their God, inasmuch as he had shown peculiar and distinguishing favour to them.
2. That they looked to God for deliverance and separation from other nations. “Save us and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen” (1Ch 16:35). They were led to regard surrounding peoples, with their idolatries and immoralities, as foes over whom they might religiously triumph, and from contact with whom they would wisely shrink. Yet, on the other hand, in distinction from this element of exclusiveness and this narrowness of view and ambition, we have certain elements of breadth. They were taught to regard
I. THE ENTIRE EARTH AS GOD‘S CREATION, AND THE WHOLE WORLD AS UNDER HIS RULE. They sang “of his marvellous works among all nations” (1Ch 16:24). So far were they from imagining that the gods of other nations made those lands, while Jehovah brought themselves and their own land into being, that they sang continually, “All the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens” (1Ch 16:26); “The world also shall be stable, that it be not moved” (1Ch 16:30). They undoubtedly believed that the God whom they worshipped had unbounded sovereignty over all lands and nations.
II. THE HEATHEN AS THOSE WHO OUGHT TO WORSHIP GOD. They were invited, in their public worship, to express the sentiment that it was only “due to the Name of the Lord” that “all the earth” “should sing to him, and show forth his salvation from day to day;” that all “kindreds of the people” should ascribe “glory and strength” unto him (1Ch 16:23, 1Ch 16:28, 1Ch 16:29). They expressed, before God, their desire that his glory might be declared among the heathen (1Ch 16:24), that all the earth should fear him (1Ch 16:30). They evidently felt that it was right and due that anthems of praise should be sung to Jehovah by every lip, that before him every knee should bow.
III. THE HEATHEN AS THE FUTURE INHERITANCE OF GOD. In their higher moods and more exalted hours, they looked forward to the time when all the world should be subject to the Divine sway. How far this grand hope took possession of the popular mind we cannot tell, but it was not beyond the reach of those who thought the most and saw the furthest (1Ch 16:31-35). All inanimate creation was invoked to rejoice, because the Lord was coming to judge the earth, because the good and merciful One (1Ch 16:34) was to reign over all the nations (1Ch 16:31). It is for us:
1. To rejoice that what was only dimly foreshadowed to them is clearly revealed to us. We have a clear vision of the blessed and glorious time when “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” etc.
2. To rejoice that God’s gracious purpose is being fulfilled before our eyes. All nations are coming and worshipping, etc. (Psa 86:9).
3. To do our part in our generation towards the blissful consummation. God has committed unto us the word of reconciliation (2Co 5:19).C.
1Ch 16:29.-The right, the acceptable, and the beautiful thing.
Why should we worship God? “Wherewithal shall we come before the Lord?” How shall we honour and please him? These are three questions to which our text will suggest replies. We are reminded
I. THAT TO REVERENCE GOD IS THE ONE RIGHT THING FOR US TO DO. There are many things which it is well, proper, right, for us to do; things which make for the well-being of others; things which contribute to our own ennoblement and self-respect. But the thing which, above all others, it is right for us to do is to revere and honour God, to “give unto the Lord the glory due to his Name.” That which is due to our kindred and friends, that which is due to ourselves,this is as nothing compared with the reverence, obedience, and submission which are due to him from whom we come, without whose creative energy we had not been, without whose sustaining power we should cease to be, “in whom we live, and move, and have our being,” to whom we owe everything we are and have. To serve God is to secure ourselves against the worst evils; it is to avail ourselves of our highest privilege; it is also, and foremost of all, to discharge our deepest obligation; it is to render that which is due indeed.
II. THAT TO BRING TO GOD OUR CONTRIBUTION MAY BE AN ACCEPTABLE THING TO Do. “Bring an offering, and come before him.” It is true that he “needeth nothing’ at our hand; that “if he were hungry he would not tell us;” that “every beast of the forest is his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psa 1:1-6.). It is also true that there were conditions under which God was “pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering” (Psa 51:19). And it is also true that the Divine Lord who sits over against the treasury is pleased with the two mites which the widow gives of her poverty. We may “bring an offering” now that may be very large and “munificent” in the sight of men, which shall be very lightly esteemed, or even weigh nothing or less than nothing, in the sight of the holy and the pure One. But then we may “bring an offering” that may be very small in man’s reckoning, which, laid by the hand of love on the altar, shall weigh much in the balances of heaven.
III. THAT TO WORSHIP GOD MAY BE A BEAUTIFUL THING TO DO. “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” That which is called Divine worship may be an altogether unbeautiful thing in his sight. That which is rendered carelessly, slovenly, thoughtlessly, stiffly, heartlessly, or hypocritically, is utterly unbeautiful before him. But there is worship of another kind. We render our service in the beauty of holiness when:
1. From a pure desire to give to God our best, we worship him most tastefully. When, thus prompted and with this aim in view, we erect for his worship the costly and beautiful building, we sing his praise with perfected harmony, we read his word and preach his truth with cultured carefulness.
2. We bring to his worship the most excellent and requisite graceshumility, faith, docility, gratitude, adoration, generosity, consecration of spirit. Then, when clothed upon with these beautiful garments of the soul, do we most truly “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”C.
HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER
1Ch 16:1.-The ark and the tabernacle.
“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.” The incident of Uzza has distracted the attention due to the return of the ark. The preacher has laboured to justify the ways of God to men; has expounded the sanctity attaching to the ark as the immediate throne of God, the strict injunctions as to its removal, its covering, its Levitical bearers, and the strictness with which access to it was limited to the high priest alone once a year, and shown that during its sojourn in Abinadab’s house, familiarity had permitted a lighter and less reverent regard to possess those about it. So that when it was brought back it was in a right spirit, but in a wrong way. This irreverence found its penalty in the death of Uzza; but finding God’s blessing rested on the house of Obed-edom, David resumes the purpose he had framed of bringing the ark to Jerusalem. This event is not sufficiently considered. We are apt to imagine that from Moses to Solomon there was a continuous identity of service and of sanctuary; that the expressions which we read in the psalms of devotion to the tabernacles of God had been the habitual expressions of God’s people for centuries; whereas it is far otherwise. It is probable that never, till the reign of Hezekiah, was the sacrificial service of God confined to one sacred spot. Samuel sacrificed at Ramah; David, on the threshing-floor of Araunah; Solomon, at Gibeon; others at Carmel, Beersheba, Bethel. The true worship of the true God finding many centres when the Law of Moses contemplated it should have but one, the later historian, imbued with stricter sentiments of a later day, brings it as a fault against almost all the good kings of Judah, that, though they abolished all idolatry, “nevertheless the high places were not taken away;” but our text brings us face to face with something more striking than this multiplication of centres of sacrifice. It reminds us that, for a space of about a hundred years, the ark of God and the tabernacle of God, which God had joined together, had been put asunder. Never since the ark was taken by the Philistines in Samuel’s boyhood, had it returned to the tabernacle. It rests in Beth-shemesh for a few months, then for nearly a hundred years in Kirjath-jearim, in the house of Abinadab. During all the time of Samuel we hear very little of the tabernacle at Shiloh, and, I think, nothing of the ark. In Saul’s reign the tabernacle is at Nob, and still the ark is separated. The ark, God’s earthly throne, the holiest centre of all Mosaic worship, had no tabernacle, with its altars and its regular service. The tabernacle had its altars of burnt and of peace offerings, but no presence within the veil. It was a first court without a second; a staircase which seemed to lead nowhere. So that for a hundred years the tabernacle worship was cut in twohere altars; there ark. Perhaps one may almost say, cut in three during part of this period; for the high priest came with his ephod, and lived with David. So that the priesthood with its service stood thus: Abiathar, with his ephod, “inquiring of God,” kept company with David; some of the priestly families repaired to Nob after the massacre of the three hundred priests by Saul, and there offered the appointed sacrifices; while at Kirjath-jearim was the ark, in charge of a Levities! family, “neglected in the days of Saul,” but doubtless sought by individual worshippers. To make the confusion more complete, Samuel, David, Solomon, all sacrifice where is neither ark nor tabernacle, and when David brings the ark to Jerusalem, he builds a new tabernacle to receive it, with its proper arrangement of altars, while still leaving the old one at Nob, to continue for some time longer (until the reign of Solomon), on its own lines, its series of sacrifices and worship. I do not bring this state of confusion forward to justify it, or suggest that all the ordering of God’s house, concerning which so many minutest precepts had been given, were unimportant and superfluous. It was undoubtedly a vast gain to all subsequent generations when, in Zion, the tabernacle of God rose supreme above all other places honoured by his worship. It was a still grandee service when all the high places where sacrifice had been offered were destroyed. It was fitting that the one God should have one earthly throne, everywhere accessible, but in one place revealed. The one temple rendered something of the same sort of service that the one Bible did in later times; it kept “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” But while, as we shall see, the centering of all sacrificial worship in one spot rendered grand service, yet it is well to contemplate the state of external confusion registered in the facts thus brought before us, and endeavour to learn their lessons. What are these?
I. First of all obviously, there is this: THAT THE EXTERNAL ORDERING OF GOD‘S HOUSE NEVER REALIZES ITS IDEAL. As elsewhere, so here. The ideal and the real go not hand-in-hand. The most that reality can say is, “I follow after, if that I may attain.” The letter of the holiest and wisest law never gets complete accomplishment. The very generation to which the Law of Sinai was given neglected one of most important sacraments, circumcision, through all the wilderness journey between Egypt and Canaan. Somehow the very eminence of judges and prophets made, for centuries, God’s tabernacle at Shiloh play an inconspicuous part in the history of the nation. In the instance of our text the tabernacle is really cut in two, and the holy place is at Nob, while the holy of holies is miles away at Kirjath-jearim. Solomon’s temple was hardly consecrated before it was desecrated by the neighbourhood of idolatrous temples in Jerusalem itself. The secession of the ten tribes deprived them of any temple services, save the irregular ones instituted by Jeroboam. There is always something missing, or something crooked, in the external institutions of religion. The Lord’s Supper at Corinth is desecrated by selfish conviviality, even in Paul’s lifetime; and some disciples had been baptized who did not so much as know there was a Holy Ghost. When the Church went in for more order, the lack of the power and the charity of earlier times became more conspicuous. Churches that have retained more of external unity have lacked vitality; and Christian communities which have been marked by great vitality have lacked unity of charity and action. In Tertullian’s days the Church almost entirely lost the use of the sacrament of baptism by men postponing the observance of it to life’s end, fearing there was no further or other washing away of sins after it had taken place. To-day she has almost entirely lost the use of the same sacrament by applying it at life’s beginning to those absolutely unconscious of its meaning. God is arrays amongst us, but not always the ark, the sacraments, the proper order. Reality is roughnever more than a mere approximation to what we desire. And if so, there should be charity for differences, and we should address ourselves rather to the maintenance of” the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
II. The second lesson to be learned is: GOD MAKES THE MOST OF ALL THAT IS IMPERFECT, AND MAKES THE BEST OF WHAT IS WRONG, In what utter hopelessness would the religious state of Israel have appeared to any ancient High Churchman! The altars without the ark; the ark without the altars; no high priest with the ark. All the suggestion of Divine mercy on the one hand and Divine lordship on the other, which the ark suggested, lost. Both in places undistinguished. It was, for the time, an utter collapse of the entire system of sacrificial worship as instituted by Moses. And in these circumstances what do we witness? The utter disappearance of faith and godliness? Far from it. True, there was a general coldness, or such a state of things would not have been permitted to endure. But God did not abandon his people because ark and altar were separate. The same love which ordained all these arrangements for high, united, solemn fellowship with himself, bent its energies to supply the void caused by their neglect in some other way. Is the ark taken and the priesthood degenerate? God raises up Samuel the prophet. Are altars and tabernacles neglected because weak through separateness? God comes near, and, through Abiathar, Gad, Nathan, and other prophets, makes up for the lack of priestly service. Has he virtually no outward dwelling? He comes nearer to individual souls, and woos them with the mystic voice which the sheep hear and gladly follow; so that faith, service, goodness, are all found. There are probably about seventy psalms written by David, most of them in the first half of the psalter. Many of these, written after the ark had found a new dwelling in Jerusalem, breathe a profoundly spiritual attachment to “the house of God.” But the greater part of them, written prior to that event, are altogether void of allusion to either tabernacle or altar; but, like the rest, rich in devoutest recognition of the nearness, preciousness, and help of God. An old Catholic theologian supposed that, just as in the absence of rain, the usual means of fertility, there was a “mist that came up and watered Eden,” similarly, in the absence of all usual means of grace, God invents fresh methods by which he reaches and refreshes the hearts of men; even so, amidst the cold and unspiritual half-century that intervened between the death of Samuel and the establishment of the ark in Jerusalem, there were still all the Divine activities going on; and the devout found in “the Law” what they missed in “the service.” And God waked many, many hearts to seek after him. In this lesson also there is vast importance. We are too apt to say a blessing is impossible unless such and such arrangements are made. Some said in olden times, “Where the Church is the Spirit is; and outside the Church is no salvation.” Some in modern times hold sacraments essential to salvation. Some with more reason, but still going beyond Scripture, think Jesus can only save those who know his history. God works the more to bless us, the more through our ignorance we frustrate his means of grace. If through presumptuousness we neglect any duty, it is a sin which he will. sternly correct; but if through ignorance we neglect any duty, God will try and make up our loss. The evangelical Churches of to-day have mostly, I think, lost a sacrament. God makes the other sacrament do double duty, and loads it with double blessings.
III. THE EXTERNAL ORDERING OF GOD‘S HOUSE IN GOD‘S WAY CARRIES WITH IT A GREAT BLESSING. David was Israel’s second Moses. He rehabilitated the whole tabernacle service with its solemn united access to God; helped the people to unite in approaching God, by bringing priests, ark, and altar under one tabernacle. He did more; arranging for the services of the sanctuary, he gave a liturgy for the closet. While in the sacrifices men found the proper form for approaching God, in the psalter they caught the proper spirit. In my judgment the stronger grip that Judah took of the Law of God than Israel; her greater wealth in saintly kings and prophets; her unity; her power to learn the sweet uses of adversity; her recurrence after the Captivity to a purer and more ardent service of God than she had ever reached before; her grander service to mankind; her endurance in national existence till the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus; the strange persistence that has marked the children of Judah from that day to this; all were due in a great degree to the tabernacle of David, the temple of Solomon, the temple of Ezra. From the hour when the ark rested in Zion, Zion was the sacred centre of the land, the source of holy influences binding men to God and to one another. Was it only external arrangements that David made? And is it only an external arrangement that he makes who builds a chapel, or erects a school, or helps men to come together unitedly to observe God’s sacraments and learn his ways? David, who knew more of private communion with God than any of us, said, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” Let there be no latitudinarianism, the poor substitute for true charity. If we can help to give back to the Church of Christ a lost sacrament, a neglected truth, a means of freer fellowship with one another and with God, we do something on which the blessing of God will rest, and from which the good of man will flow.G.
HOMILIES BY F. WHITFIELD
1Ch 16:1-43.–David’s thanksgiving psalm.
After having brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom and set it in the tent that David had made for it, there was a general offering of sacrifices by David and the congregation as thank offerings to the Lord, and David blessed the people. Of these thank offerings he ordered that certain portions should be given to every man and woman in Israel”a loaf of bread, a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.” Having done this, he set in order the service of the Levites in the holy tent on Zion. “Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph and his brethren? The meaning of this passage is that David committed to Asaph the carrying out of the service of song; that liturgical singing was then to be introduced. This beautiful psalm was doubtless composed by David himself for liturgical song in the public worship. The first half of the psalm (1Ch 16:8-22) recurs in Psa 105:1-15; the second half (Psa 105:23-33) in Psa 96:1-13.; and the conclusion (verse 34-36) in Psa 106:1, Psa 106:47, Psa 106:48. There is a swelling ascription throughout the psalm, commencing with Psa 106:8. From that verse down to the end of Psa 106:22 the call is to Israel to praise the Lord. From Psa 106:23 to Psa 106:29 the call is to the heathen or Gentile nations to praise the Lord. From Psa 106:30 to Psa 106:34 the call is to the whole earth and to inanimate nature to praise him. Psa 106:35 seems a prophetical anticipation which David commands to take the form of a prayer that the time may soon come when God’s ancient people shall be gathered to their own land, and when the Church of God redeemed from among men shall assemble round his throne throughout eternity to praise his holy Name. Then the earthly people of God, having accepted the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, and the Church of Christ gathered to him at his coaling, shall sing their hallelujahs of praise, and the glory of the Lord fill heaven and earth.W.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
1Ch 16:1-3.–Signs of entire consecration.
When the ark was safely placed within the curtains of David’s new tabernacle on Mount Zion, and the fact of God’s dwelling with his people was freshly impressed by the permanent presence of his symbol, it was fitting that, in some most solemn and expressive way, the full consecration of the people to the service of Jehovah should be declared. For this purpose special burnt offerings and peace offerings were presented. The special features of these two kinds of offering may be indicated so as to bring out their particular adaptation to the circumstances of the day. The victim, in the case of the “burnt offering,” might be any kind of animal fit for sacrifices, but it must be a male. And it must be wholly offered, and burnt with fire. Kurtz says that this “burning by fire” marked it as an expression of perpetual obligation to complete, sanctified self-surrender to Jehovah. This kind of offering embodied the general idea of sacrifice, and in a sense represented the whole sacrificial institute. “The peace offering’ was presented upon the acceptance of any special Divine mercies, and portions of the victim were restored to the offerer, who, with his family and friends, feasted on them. “This sacrificial feast was peculiar to the peace offerings, and indicated that the atonement was complete, that the sin was covered and cancelled which had separated the offerer from Jehovah, who now welcomed him to his table, and in this meal gave him a pledge of reconciliation” and acceptance. So the two offerings, together with the subsequent feast, signified thankful recognition of God’s mercies, entire consecration to God’s service, and a happy realization of God’s acceptance. These were precisely suitable to the occasion of the restoration of the ark.
I. ONE THING IS RIGHT FOR MANTO BE WHOLLY GOD‘S. Right because of the Divine relations; right because of the Divine claims; and right because of the Divine mercies. Our Lord expressed the duty of man in a brief sentence, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and mind, and soul, and strength.”
II. THIS MAN MAY FITTINGLY DECLARE IN A SOLEMN PUBLIC ACT. Because, in his love and loyalty to God, he should wish to influence others by his own consecration. A man may not keep his religious life to himself; he is responsible to God for making it a gracious persuasion and power upon others. Press the duty of the public modes of expressing our dedication to God, such as “confirmation” and “joining the Church.” Such acts of public consecration may be wisely and helpfully renewed on special occasions. Illustrate by such a public acknowledgment of God as was made at the “thanksgiving” for the recovery of the Prince of Wales. That was, for this Christian age, just such a scene as David’s offering of burnt and peace offerings.
III. IN OLDEN TIMES THE APPROPRIATE ACT WAS OFFERING A BURNT OFFERING. In it the sacrificer consecrated to the Deity alone the enjoyment of the whole victim, and it represented the full and complete surrender of the man himself to God. It was called the whole burnt offering, or perfect sacrifice, because the whole creature was as it were sent up to God on the wings of fire. It signified that the offerer belonged wholly to God, and that he dedicated himself soul and body to him, and placed his life at his disposal.
IV. SUCH AN OFFERING WAS RIGHTLY MADE EVERY DAY. At the morning and evening services; and the offering was doubled on the sabbath (Exo 29:38-44; Le Exo 6:9-13). “Every morning and evening a lamb was sacrificed, with its usual meat and drink offering, as a burnt offering on behalf of the whole covenant people, and the evening victim was to be so slowly consumed that it might last till the morning, an expressive symbol of that continual self-dedication to God, which is the duty of man.”
V. SUCH OFFERINGS WERE RENEWED ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS. These were
(1) at the new moon,
(2) the three great festivals,
(3) the great Day of Atonement, and
(4) the Feast of Trumpets.
On every great national occasion a solemn public reassertion of the nation’s full consecration to God was made by means of the burnt offering. For us such offerings are appropriate at the new year, birthdays, etc.
VI. SUCH OFFERINGS MIGHT BE REPRESENTATIVE, AND OFFERED IN THE NAME AND ON THE BEHALF OF OTHERS. As was the case with Job’s offerings for his children, and in some degree with David’s offerings on this occasion. This point leads on to dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ as our great Burnt Offering, which we make ours by faith, and present to God as the solemn pledge that our “whole selves we dedicate to him,” and hold as his. “Every such sacrifice was a type of the perfect offering made by Christ, on behalf of the race of man, of his human nature and will to the will of the Father.” Compare St. Paul’s pleadings, “I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”R.T.
1Ch 16:8-10.-The duty of praise.
David calls upon the people, as a matter of solemn duty, to “give thanks unto the Lord and sing psalms unto him.” Dr. Goulburn well says, “Praise is the religious exercisethe one religious exercise-of heaven. Angels are offering it ceaselessly, resting not night or day. Saints are offering it ceaselessly in paradise, Nature in her every district is offering it ceaselessly. From the heavens, which declare the glory of God, and the firmament which showeth his handiwork, down to the dew-drop which sparkles with the colours of the rainbow, and the lark, who tunes his cheerful carol as he salutes the rising sun, the whole creation sends up one grand chorus of praise to the throne of God.” The sincere heart will ever fee! disposed to sing
“I’ll praise my Maker with my breath;
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers;
My days of praise shall ne’er be past,
While life, or thought, or being last,
Or immortality endures.”
I. PRAISE IS DUE TO GOD. “For his mercy endureth for ever.” Recall the reasons for praise each man can find, and each nation, especially noting those which are associated with religion, and illustrated in the connections of this passage.
II. PRAISE IS REQUIRED BY GOD. AS the fitting mode of expressing our feeling towards him and our sense of what he is and does. His own declaration is, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.”
III. PRAISE IS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD. It is to him as “sweet-smelling incense.” It is the sacrifice he most desires.
IV. PRAISE IS SERVICEABLE TO GOD. It is a gracious influence. It draws forth right feeling in men. The praise of one calls out the praise of many, and so aids in carrying on God’s purpose in the blessing of men.
These points sufficiently suggest of themselves lines of treatment, and scarcely need further elaboration. But it may be well to discuss the question how far our praise must needs be intelligentshaped, that is into forms that our minds can distinctly grasp and fully follow. Cannot soundmusic without wordsby its tone and character find adequate utterance for soul-emotion? Illustrate by the power of music to express varying emotion. A great musical composer gives us ‘Songs without Words.’ On this point the following passage from a sermon of the great Florentine preacher, Savonarola, may be suggestive. It refers directly to prayer, but it is equally applicable to praise:“In prayer, a man may be attending to the words, and this is a thing of a wholly material nature; he may be attending to the sense of the words, and this is rather study than prayer; and lastly, his whole thoughts may be directed to God, and this alone is true prayer. It is unnecessary to be considering either sentences or languagethe mind must be elevated above self, and must be wholly absorbed in the thought of God. Arrived at this state, the true believer forgets the world and its wants; he has attained almost a foreshadow of celestial happiness. To this state of elevation the ignorant may arrive as easily as the learned. It even frequently happens that he who repeats a psalm without understanding its words utters a much more holy prayer than the learned man who can explain its meaning. Words, in fact, are not indispensable to an act of prayer: when a man is truly rapt in the spirit an uttered prayer becomes rather an impediment, and ought to yield to that which is wholly mental. Thus it will be seen how great a mistake those commit who prescribe a fixed number of prayers. God does not delight in a multitude of words, but in a fervent spirit.” Apply to the difficulty often felt in mentally following the words and truths and figures of our hymns, and show how true praise is not dependent on precise mental apprehensions. Also carefully impress that private acts of praise, however numerous, orderly, or sincere, can never relieve a man from the duty of joining in the praises of the great congregation.R.T.
1Ch 16:11.-God’s strength and God’s face.
We are bidden, in seeking the Lord, to seek both his strength and his face; and these two are set in such a connection of parallel sentences that we may assume them to be differing expressions for the same thing, though each helps to throw light on the other. The uses of the terms in the Book of Psalms need careful study. In this passage God’s strength is thought of as having been illustrated in the successful bringing back of the ark; but that event was quite as fully a proof of the Divine favourit indicated that God’s face was turned smilingly towards both the king and the people. Such experiences of God’s “strength” and “face’ should establish the permanent resolve to seek that “strength” and “face” in all the more ordinary scenes in the life of the individual and the nation. For “strength,” comp. 1Sa 15:29; Psa 27:1; Psa 29:1; Job 9:19; Psa 46:1; Psa 62:11; Psa 68:34; Psa 73:26, etc.; Isa 26:4; Isa 45:24. For “face,” comp. Psa 31:16; Psa 67:1, etc.
I. GOD‘S STRENGTH STRENGTHENETH MAN. Open and explain that man’s physical energy depends upon his vital force, and his religious life upon his spiritual force. God has access to these secret sources, and can renew them with his own vitality. He “strengtheneth us with strength in our soul.” He makes “all grace abound, so that we may have all-sufficiency in all things.” The experience of the religious life unfolds the marvellous adaptations and fitnesses of Divine grace to the thousandfold needs that arise. No matter what may be our circumstances of perplexity and difficulty, there is always strength for us in God. It may come as an efficient help for bearing actual life-burdens, or for doing actual life-duties; and we should undertake none without prayerfully seeking to lay hold of the Divine strength. How it can be perfect in human weakness, so that a man may be strong to bear the unusual ills, and zealous to do the unusual duties, of life, is taught us in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, after him, in the example of his servant St. Paul. But we should be quite sure that it will come as an inward renewal, if it may not come for the achievement of material success. We may be “strong in the Lord and in the power of his might;” and this is the assurance of the eternal triumph, if it is not of the earthly.
II. GOD‘S STRENGTH IS CONNECTED WITH GOD‘S FACE. He gives his strength with a smile. The turning of his face towards us is the sign of his approval and acceptance. The influence of such a mark of Divine regard may be illustrated.
1. It cheers and encourages. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
2. It recovers us from depressions. There can be nothing overwhelming in our circumstances if God smiles on us. We look into his face and feel that they are causing him no anxiety, and so our heads are lifted up. He can make “ways in seas and paths in great waters.”
3. It renews our fervour and zeal. The smile tells of such love that we feel we can do or bear anything for his sake.
4. It glorifies the right; for it is only on that God ever smiles. He approves the good, but turns away from the evil. And that must ever seem to to be the most beautiful on which God’s smiling face can rest.
Press, in conclusion, how the promises assure us that just these two things, or, better, this two-sided thing, God’s strength and face, he is ever ready to give to those who with true hearts wait upon him. Those promises in effect say, “I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee.” And the uplifted smile says, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.”R.T.
1Ch 16:12-14.-The contents of a godly memory.
“Remember, recall the records of Divine dealings; set afresh before your minds your own personal experiences of the Divine goodness and mercy.” The conception of the “solidarity of the race” is matched by that of the essential unity of the race, in its mental and spiritual experiences, throughout all the ages. Really to know God’s dealings with any one people is to know his dealings with all peoples. And therefore the story of his relations with the Jews is so minutely recorded, and so graciously preserved for us on whom the “ends of the world are come.” And yet, further, it may be shown that an individual experience really affords the race-type. God is essentially to each what he is to all. We too often fix our attention on the changeable accidents of a man’s career, and then think that his experience is unique. If it were so it were of little use to keep any record of the Divine dealings with men, for one man’s experience could not help another. What then, are the usual contents of the godly memory? We can only deal with such as are suggested by the terms of the verses before us.
I. IT HOLDS ITS OWN PERSONAL MEMORIES OF GOD‘S GOODNESS. Not merely has the godly man a general belief in God and God’s merciful ways, but he has the assurance that God has been merciful to him. He can see in page after page of his life’s story how guidance, restraint, comfort, teaching, and strength have come in precise adaptations to his own conditions and needs. He can speak of the “good hand of his God which has ever been upon him for good.” The importance of fixing the memory of God’s dealings by pious attention to them at the time, and by frequent review of them afterwards, should be pointed out. A richly stored memory becomes an unfailing well-spring of comfort in later life. To our view all our past should be dotted over with pillars we have raised, on which we have inscribed our “Ebenezer””Hitherto the Lord hath helped us;” and at any time we should be able to look back and bid these pillars remind us of the “wonderful works that he hath done.”
II. IT HOLDS THE RACE–MEMORIALS OF GOD‘S GOODNESS. Scripture tells us of God’s dealings with men, both before he separated the Jewish people and while he had them under his special leadings. “The God of the whole earth shall he be called.” It is characteristic of David’s psalms that they are full of large broad thoughts of God’s relations to the whole world. And both Scripture and secular history should provide us with stores for the memory, as they reveal God’s workings towards his gracious ends of substantial and eternal good. If Israel may say, “He is the Lord our God,” it must go on to say, “His judgments are in all the earth.”
III. IT HOLDS THE COVENANT PEOPLE‘S MEMORIALS OF GOD‘S GOODNESS. This is the. peculiar treasure of the godly. We have the Bible records of the covenant raceGod’s peculiar people, whom he had chosen for himself. Show what a large portion of the good man’s memory is taken up with the Scripture story of Israel. God’s ways with his covenant people are to us the model and example of all his dealings, and upon these we argue what he is and will be in his ways with us. But they are wonderful ways, marvellous works; often mysterious, often severe; ways of judgment as well as mercy.
Impress that the use of due occasions for considering the contents of the memory, for refreshing the memory, and for making new grounds of praise and trust, is a most important, but often neglected, part of Christian duty, bearing direct relation to Christian strength and joy.R.T.
1Ch 16:15.–Abiding thoughts of the covenant.
Comparing the first clause of this verse with the answering clause in Psa 105:8, it would seem that it is rather a statement concerning God than a counsel given to man; and it may be rendered, “He hath remembered,” or “He hath been mindful always of his covenant.” But man may very properly be urged to keep God’s covenant ever in mind, on the very ground that God himself, in Divine faithfulness, keeps it ever before him. We may dwell on the moral influence exerted by cherishing thoughts of those covenant conditions under which God has been graciously pleased to set us. Explanations should be given of the Adalnic covenant, or covenant of creation; the patriarchal covenant, renewed again and again in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the Mosaic covenant, solemnly accepted by God and the people at Sinai, and made the condition of the national prosperity; and the Christian covenant, pledged for all believers in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It should be shown how fully the Mosaic covenant became interwoven with Jewish thought; and how, by fresh and arousing incidents, the claims of the covenant were renewed; and also how, to the more devout Jewish mind, that covenant was glorified. The following points will be suggestive. It is morally helpful to keep before us
I. THE HONOR OF BEING IN THE DIVINE COVENANT. All accesses to God are honourable. Compare our estimate of the honour of presentation to an earthly sovereign, and our sense of the yet higher honour of coming into direct relations of friendship and service with him. Illustrate by Abraham’s oppressed feeling at the honour of close communion with the Lord and permission to intercede for Sodom, or by the surprised feeling of St. Paul when he thinks of himself as being a co-worker together with God. This “honour” exercises a moral influence on us especially in this, that it inspires us to be our best. It makes us feel, “What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?’
II. THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING IN THE DIVINE COVENANT. For we must be favoured above others; and if we are right-minded, all signs of special favour and regard bow us down in humility, as they did David, leading him to say, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him?” Seeing that there is “no respect of persons with God,” it is necessary that we should keep from associating favouritism with his dealings. If he brings somea fewunder a special covenant, it is only for the service of the many, and with a view to the final blessing of the whole through them. So the sense of “privilege” should always be associated with the “humility” of the true servant; and we remember the covenant that we may be ever kept humble under God’s gracious hand.
III. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BEING IN THE DIVINE COVENANT. For it involves solemn pledges bearing relation to the
(1) maintenance of a high character;
(2) rendering of a pure witness; and
(3) doing an earnest work.
These may be set forth in both their Jewish and their Christian phases. The sense of responsibility has this moral influenceit cultures earnestness and diligence, and it arouses the whole powers to the attainment of “faithfulness.”
IV. THE REWARDS OF BEING IN THE DIVINE COVENANT. Those rewards come in the fulfilment of the promises attached to the covenant. In the Jewish case they concerned material good, national peace and prosperity. In the Christian ease they concern moral and spiritual blessings, with earthly good conditioned upon the Divine wisdom and will. Rewards have this moral influencethey brighten, cheer, and encourage those who may be in the midst of toil and trouble.
In each of the above it may be shown how the sense of covenant-relations is corrective of the precise forms of worldly influence to which we are subject. And, in conclusion, we may dwell upon the holy rest of the thought that God himself is in pledged and holy covenant with us in Christ Jesus.R.T.
1Ch 16:23-25.–Christian joy a witness.
These verses reappear in Psa 96:1-13. In that psalm the sacred nation is charged to praise Jehovah, and to spread the good tidings in all places. Such praise is fitting, seeing that all other deities are nothing, and Jehovah is God alone. Calvin, writing on this psalm, says, “It is an exhortation to praise God, addressed not to the Jews only, but to all nations. Whence we infer that the psalm refers to the kingdom of Christ; for till he was revealed to the world his Name could not be called upon anywhere but in Judaea.” It is said that when the sun is going out of sight the pious Swiss herdsman of the Alps takes his Alpine horn and shouts loudly through it, “Praise ye the Lord.” Then a brother herdsman on some distant slope takes up the echo, “Praise ye the Lord.” Soon another answers, still higher up the mountains, till hill shouts to hill, and peak answers to peak, the sublime anthem of praise to the Lord of all. Characteristic of the psalmist is joy in God: and in this he is the one great Scripture example; Isaiah, perhaps, coming next after him, and St. Paul having much of the same feature marking even his toilsome and suffering life. Joy, as an element of religious life, must in part depend on:
1. Disposition. Some are of sanguine and hopeful, others of desponding, disposition. Some can easily turn everything into song, while others can never get beyond stern prose. We are not responsible for our natural dispositions, but we are for their due modification, harmony, and culture. Often latent and unsuspected faculties can be developed, and it is seldom wise to excuse failure and shortcoming on the ground of “human nature'”
2. Poetical faculty. Where this is given joy and song would seem to Be easy; yet, on the other side, it may be said that poets are often sad-toned men, probably because accompanying the poetical faculty is a power of insight which brings to the poet’s eye the wrong that lies at the heart of so much that is seemingly good. But this cannot apply to thoughts and views of God. Insight and faculty can only find reasons for joy and song when they have to do with him and his all-merciful ways.
3. Youthful piety. Those who seek God early, as David did, usually have a brightness and gladness and joy of full trust on their whole religious lives Which the later-renewed can never reach. This is one of the best of the rewards given to early piety.
4. Earnest soul-culture. This, by leading to renewals of trust, to firmer hold of revealed truth, and to deeper experiences of Divine communion, bears directly upon the joy side of Christian feeling. When attained, Christian joy becomes a witness for two reasons or in two ways.
I. IT MEETS THE COMMON SENTIMENT THAT A THING MUST BE GOOD IN ITSELF IF IT TENDS TO MAKE US BRIGHT AND HAPPY. How common this sentiment is may be shown from ordinary life. The people who always cheer us, we feel sure, must be good people, and the same may be said of books, etc. In this way, therefore, our personal joy in God may become a gracious moral power on all who are around us. And hazy Christians have a most noble and blessed witness.
“Sing on your heavenward way,
Ye ransomed sinners, sing.”
A weary world sadly needs the sweet relief and cheering of much Christian song.
II. IT SETS CHRISTIANITY IN A DISTINCT AND IMPRESSIVE CONTRAST WITH ALL OTHER RELIGIONS. They are familiar enough with the sentiment of fear. In perilous rebounds they know seasons of intense sensual excitement, which caricature true joy. But the prevailing tone of all other religions besides Christianity is sad. Only the Christian may “abound in joy through the Holy Ghost.” Who could sing before that Athenian altar whereon was inscribed, “To the unknown God”? And who could fail to sing ann give praise, that might look into the face of the Father of Jesus, and say, “This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our Guide even unto death “?R.T.
1Ch 16:29.–Sincerity and fervour in worship shown by gifts.
In accordance with the Mosaic regulations, and as a fitting expression of pious feeling, the people were enjoined to “bring an offering, and come before him.” By an “offering“ here we are to understand a gift rather than a sacrifice (see Ma 1Ch 2:8-10). From the very earliest beginnings of the human race it was distinctly apprehendedwhether by following the instincts with which God endowed man, or by special Divine revelations, we cannot saythat a man can and may give himself to God by and through the presentation to God of something that he has. This is the underlying principle of all tithes, offerings, and sacrifices. Nothing presented to God can be acceptable unless it carries with it the person presenting, seeing that what he cares for is man‘s love and trust and service. Illustrate from the case of Cain and Abel, each bringing a thank offering from that in which God had blessed him. Show how the principle gained development in the Mosaic system; the regular devotement of property being enjoined, and gifts being required in connection with all sanctuary attendances. Show that the principle has our lord‘s commendation, and passed over into the early Church, forming one of the first impulses of awakened Christian feeling (see Barnabas), and being specially commended to the attention of the Churches by the apostles (Act 2:45; Gal 2:10; 1Co 16:1, 1Co 16:2). It may be enforced
I. THAT CHRISTIAN FEELING STILL IMPELS GIFTS. The sense of indebtedness and of thankfulness always wants this mode of expression.
II. THAT CHRISTIAN FEELING STILL SEEKS RIGHT SPHERES FOR GIFTS. These are found in every age in connection with Divine worship. And as Christ is not now with us in the body, we find spheres for gifts in helping and blessing others for his sake.
III. THAT CHRISTIAN FEELING STILL SEEKS TO SERVE GOD BY ITS GIFTS. Letting them be
(1) signs to him, and
(2) inspiring examples to our fellow-men.
Press the duty of seeking right ideas concerning the trust of money, and the due apportionment of it so that God may be glorified in its use.R.T.
1Ch 16:29.-The claims of God to the worship and homage of his creatures.
What I have to demonstrate is:
1. That God is entitled to the homage of his creatures, and claims it as proper and right.
2. That these claims are made upon us, his intelligent creatures. It will therefore be necessary to show that we are capable of knowing God to all the extent necessary to excite in our minds the feelings of awe, reverence, and admiration, since these are essential to homage and worship. Also to prove that such claims are not only reasonable, but founded in justice and right.
3. That the worship and homage required is such that it not only does not degrade, but elevates the man that pays it; that it is not the hard requirement of despotism, but the righteous claim of infinite excellence; not the service of flattery and servility, but the free-will offering of a discerning and admiring mind (J. Robinson).R.T.
1Ch 16:29.-The clothing of true worshippers.
The expression “in the beauty of holiness” is rendered in the Septuagint Version, “in his sanctuary;” and by the Syriac Version, “with reverence and thanksgiving? A similar expression is found in 2Ch 20:21, “That should praise the beauty of holiness;” this is translated by Bertheau, “in holy attire;” and by Malvenda, “Praise the Lord with the same costume, and dignity, and magnificence, as in the temple.” The term “beauty of holiness” may be regarded as including inward devotion, and also with outward reverence. Jennings and Lowe, in their note on Psa 96:9, translate, “in holy vestments;” and they quote a passage in Ecc 1:11, where it is said that Simon the high priest “put on the robe of honour, and made the garment of the sanctuary honourable.” For man external forms of worship are necessary, but in his relations to them there is a constant peril of formality, and so a constant need for a watchful and careful culture of the spiritual life and feeling which alone can make forms acceptable. Illustrate the danger of formality by the Jewish wearing of the tallith, etc; and by exaggerated rabbinical regulations. Note with what constant anxiety our Lord taught that they who “worship the Father must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Holiness, as here used, has no precise equivalent. It includes “sincerity,” and also “reverence,” but it should be thought of as embracing “whole-heartedness“ and “devout earnestness” and “spiritual preparedness.” The term may be suggestively compared with the “integrity” of David and the “perfect” of the New Testament. The worship-clothing which is expressed in the term “beauty of holiness” may be treated as including
(1) humility;
(2) reverence;
(3) sincerity;
(4) earnestness;
(5) preparedness;
(6) and openness to receive.
In the Christian Church is a “kingdom of priests,” a “holy priesthood,” then we should be devoutly anxious to secure the priestly clothing for our high and noble spiritual worship.R.T.
1Ch 16:31.–God’s present reign.
“The Lord reigneth,” or “Jehovah is king.” David saw, in the restoration of the ark, a new and solemn resumption of his direct government by Jehovah; and of this glorious fact he bids the people make acknowledgment and render witness. Explain fully the Jewish conception of the theocracy, and show how it was connected with a present and abiding outward symbolat first the pillar-cloud, and then the ark. The importance of the theocratic idea, and the actual influence of it on mind and heart, depended on the differing religious dispositions of the people. To the worldly minded Jew it would be a vague notion, a sort of sublime, but impractical, philosophical conceptiona sort of hereditary national sentiment, and nothing more. To the truly spiritually minded man it was the first, most impressive, and most practical of all truths. It was the thought that put glorious meaning into commonplace life and labour. Life has its holy issues, and it might well have its shrouded mysteries, for “the Lord reigneth.” This Jewish notion passes over into Christianity, and we realize Jehovah’s present spiritual reign in the administration of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Maccabean times there was a tendency to lose the idea that “the Lord doth reign,” and to substitute for it a phrase which indicated a great outlooking for a coming Deliverer and a golden age, “the Lord shall reign.” And a similar evil tendency still affects the Christian Church; failing to realize Christ’s present rule, some sections of the Church keep looking on to some fancied near time, when Christ shall come again and take to himself his great power and reign. And the antidote is full and faithful teaching on the point of which the psalmist makes so muchthe present direct, and every way practical, present reign over the earth and the Church, of Jehovah, apprehended in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keeping the present reign in Christ before our minds, it may be instructive to show
I. THAT CHRIST‘S LIFE ON EARTH HELPS OUR APPREHENSION OF THE REIGN. The reign of God the Spirit must ever seem to man an unreal, intangible thing, unless it can take some outward and material shape; and yet that shape and form must be such as will in no sense imperil the spiritual character of the reign. No merely human sovereignty could be satisfactory, for none could be worthy of that sublime royalty which it presumed to represent. Christ’s life on earth was the theocracy materialized for human apprehension. Our Lord’s humanity sets God before our thought in human terms and figures such as we can understand. And the kingship of Jesus was felt and acknowledged by friend and foe, wherever he went, and not exclusively by those disciples who knew him most intimately. His teaching was given “with authority;” his personal relations were a rule. It can be no wonder that people should cast their garments in his way, and wave palm branches, and shout, saying, “Hosanna to the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord!” His life is the earth-picture of the Divine reign over the hearts and lives of men.
II. THAT CHRIST‘S GLORY IN HEAVEN MAKES US REALIZE THE REIGN AS A SPIRITUAL REIGN. It takes all the merely carnal features out of it. The reign is such a one as our exalted, glorified, ascended, spiritual Lord and Saviour may have, who is “Lord of lambs the lowly, King of saints the holy.” The risen, heavenly Christ we feel must have, as the sphere for his rule, not our bodily actions only, but our wills, our choices, our affections; gaining, as he must, his beginnings in our souls, and extending his holy authorities over all the relations we sustain.
Explain and impress how, in our common, everyday life, we can realize the theocratic conception, and practically live in the joy and impulse of being daily “in the great Taskmaker’s eye.”R.T.
1Ch 16:33.-God always coming to judge.
“Judgment” is, in Scripture, a large and comprehensive term. It is sometimes synonymous with “rule,” or “government,” because in ancient monarchies actual magistracydue personal consideration and decision of rival claims, or accusations of crimestook a prominent place. Sometimes reference is intended to that appointment of deserts in men’s earthly experiences which may be regarded as a Divine judgment continually working. And sometimes the allusion is to that great occasion on which the anomalies of life are to gain permanent adjustment, and the issues of human conduct to be eternally fixed. Whatever other figures for God may gain attraction to us, we may not lose our thought of him as the “Judge of all the earth.” We fix attention on the fact that the judging of God is no merely future thing, the glory of a coming day. It may be urged that
I. GOD IS “EVER COMING TO JUDGE” IN THE WITNESS OF MEN‘S CONSCIENCES. No man has to wait for his judgment. He has it at once in the inward conviction of the rightness or wrongness of his action. We should never, in our thought, separate conscience from the inward voice of God our Judge.
II. GOD IS EVER “COMING TO JUDGE” IN THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SIN AND SUFFERING. Suffering being the proper issue of sin, and necessarily connected with it by God in order to reveal its character. All suffering may be regarded as a beginning and present illustration of God’s judgment.
III. GOD IS EVER “COMING TO JUDGE” IN THE CONVICTIONS WROUGHT BY THE PRESENCE AMONG US OF HOLY MEN. Illustrate how Enoch and Noah carried God’s judgment on their sinful generation, in the conviction produced by their holy lives. And in the fullest sense this was true of the Lord Jesus as the holiest of men. His presence among them was God’s abiding judgment on a sinful and adulterous generation. ]n measure the same is true still of both private and public spheresthe presence of holy men and women tests us, and, too often, both judges and condemns.
IV. GOD IS EVER “COMING TO JUDGE” IN THE ORDERINGS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Calamities, and even disappointments, are signs of the Divine presence recognizing and dealing with wilfulness and sin. And this is quite as true when we are able to trace the natural laws according to whose legitimate workings the calamities or failures may have come.
V. GOD IS SURELY ALSO COMING WITH HIS FINAL JUDGEMENT ON THE LIVES AND RECORDS OF NATIONS AND OF MEN. Of that fact we are well assured; of the manner and method of it we have only as yet vague poetical figures, which we are unable to trans- late into earthly fact. Enough is told us to make the thought of coming judgment a present moral power. David connected the Divine “judgment” with “righteousness” and with “truth,” as these, he knew, had been so gloriously manifested in the fulfilment of ancient promises. “These being the characteristics of Jehovah’s judgment to which the view is directed in this psalm, the essentially joyous tone of it is accounted for.” Think aright of God’s judgment, and of it we may even learn to sing.R.T.
1Ch 16:36.–The people’s Amen.
With this incident should be compared the public response of the people at the seasons for the renewal of the covenant (Jos 24:16-24, etc.). In the united cry of the people, when David’s psalm closed, we have their acceptance of all that had been said in their behalf. The word “amen” means “firm, faithful, verily;” and the proper signification of the word is when one person confirms the word of another, and expresses his wish for the success and accomplishment of the other’s vows and declarations. For Scripture use of the word, see the following representative passages: Num 5:22; Deu 27:15; 1Ki 1:36; Psa 41:13; Psa 106:48; Jer 28:6; Mat 6:13; Rev 22:20. The following early authorities confirm the fact that the word “Amen” was repeated aloud as a response by the Christian congregations:Justin Martyr, A.D. 138, notices that the people present say the “Amen” after prayer and thanksgiving. Dionysius of Alexandria, A.D. 232, speaks of one who had often listened to the thanksgiving, and joined in the “Amen” which followed. Cyril of Jerusalem, A.D. 320, says that the Lord’s Prayer is sealed with an “Amen.” And Jerome, A.D. 331, speaks of the thundering sound of the “Amen” of the Roman congregations. It is very interesting to note that all the hymns found in the third book of ‘Chaldaean Magic’ close with an Accadian word Kakama, which is represented in Assyrian as amanu, and is precisely the “Amen” with which we are accustomed to close our prayers and hymns. The word was used in the services of the synagogue. “The formula of consecration in the Holy Eucharist is in most ancient liturgies ordered to be said aloud, and the people respond aloud, Amen.” “In most Greek liturgies also, when the priest in administering says, ‘Soma Christou,’ the receivers answer, ‘Amen.’ We may dwell on
I. THE COMMON WORSHIP. Whenever a congregation of people gathers together for worship in connection with religious ceremonial, only some of them can take actual part by voice or by act. All may share in sympathy, interest, and common feeling. This is illustrated in David’s bringing up the ark. All shared, but only a few were actually engaged in the ceremonial.
II. THE REPRESENTATIVE VOICE or voices, of priest or of singers, of minister or of clerk. Such voices and actors should be conceived as
(1) set forth by the people to act for them;
(2) understanding the wants, conditions, and feelings of the people; and
(3) speaking for the people.
III. THE GREAT AMEN. This is to be regarded as solemnly sealing, acknowledging and accepting what has been said or done in the people’s name. It is curious that it should come to be spoken by the minister, not the people.
Impress the interest
(1) to God of the people’s Amen;
(2) to the representative speaker; and
(3) to the people themselves.
Show the importance of regarding it as a solemn duty to attend so fully to Divine service, that, in uttering our Amen, we intelligently and solemnly take what is said, or what is done, and make it oursour own.R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
. The Removal of the Ark to Jerusalem, with the Solemn Hymn sung on this occasion: 1 Chronicles 15, 16
1Ch 15:1 And he made him houses in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.
2Then David said, None should carry the ark of God but the Levites; for the Lord hath chosen them to carry the ark of God, and to minister to Him for ever 3And David gathered all Israel to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord unto its place which he had prepared for it. 4And David assembled the sons of Aaron, and the Levites. 5Of the sons of Kohath: Uriel the chief, and his brethren a hundred and thirty. 6Of the sons of Merari: Asaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty. 7Of the sons of Gershom: Joel the chief, and his brethren a hundred and thirty. 8Of the sons of Elizaphan: Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred. 9Of the sons of Hebron: Eliel the chief, and his brethren eighty. 10Of the sons of Uzziel: Amminadab the chief, and his brethren a hundred and twelve. 11And David called Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab. 12And said unto them, Ye chiefs of the Levites, sanctify yourselves with your brethren, and bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. 13For because ye were not at the first, the 14Lord our God broke out upon us, because we sought Him not aright. And the priests and Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of 15Israel. And the sons of the Levites bare the ark of God, as Moses commanded by the word of the Lord, upon their shoulders, with staves upon them.
16And David said to the chiefs of the Levites, to appoint their brethren the singers with instruments, psalteries, and harps, and cymbals, sounding, to lift up 17the sound with gladness. And the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan son of Kushaiah.1 18And with them their brethren of the second degree: Zechariah , 2 and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, 19and Jeiel, the porters. And the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, with cymbals of brass to sound aloud. 20And Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries, in the way of maidens. 21And Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps after the octave to lead. 22And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites;3 for he instructed in bearing, for he was skilful. 23And Berechiah and Elkanah were door-keepers for the ark 24And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nathaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew4 with the trumpets before the ark of God; and Obed-edom and Jehiah were door-keepers for the ark.
25And David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains of thousands, were going to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obededom 26with gladness. And when God helped the Levites bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord, then they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. 27And David was clothed with a robe of byssus, and all the Levites bearing the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the bearing [the singers];5 and upon 28David was a linen ephod. And all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of cornet, and with trumpets, and with 29cymbals sounding, with psalteries and harps. And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, then Michal, daughter of Saul, looked out from the window, and saw King David leaping and playing; and she despised him in her heart.
1Ch 16:1.And they brought the ark of God, and set it in the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God. 2And David made an end of offering burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and blessed the people in the name of the Lord. 3And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a measure [of wine], and a grape cake.
4And he appointed before the ark of the Lord ministers of the Levites, to record, and to thank and to praise the Lord God of Israel. 5Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, Jeiel,6 and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with psalteries and harps; and 6Asaph sounding with cymbals. And Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests with 7trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. On that day then David ordered for the first time to thank the Lord by Asaph and his brethren.7
8Thank ye the Lord, call on His name,
Make known His deed among the peoples.
9Sing ye to Him, play ye to Him;
Muse on all His wonders.
10Glory ye in His holy name;
Let the heart of them that seek the Lord be glad.
11Seek ye the Lord and His strength,
Seek ye His face continually.
12Remember His wonders that He hath done,
His signs, and the judgments of His mouth.
13O ye seed of Israel His servant,
Ye sons of Jacob, His chosen.
14He the Lord is our God,
His judgments are in all the earth.
15Remember His covenant for ever
The word He commanded to a thousand ages.
16Which He made with Abraham,
And His oath unto Isaac.
17And appointed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel for an everlasting covenant.
18Saying, To thee I give the land of Canaan,
The line of your inheritance.
19When ye were small in number,
Few, and strangers in it.
20And they went from nation to nation,
And from one kingdom to another people.
21He let no man do them wrong,
And reproved kings for their sake.
22Touch not mine anointed,
And do my prophets no harm.
23Sing ye to the Lord, all the earth;
Proclaim from day to day His salvation.
24Tell ye among the nations His glory,
His wonders among all the peoples.
25For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And He is to be feared above all gods.
26For all the gods of the peoples are idols;
But the Lord made the heavens.
27Majesty and honour are before Him,
Strength and gladness are in His place.
28Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people,
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
29Give to the Lord the glory due to His name;
Bring an oblation, and come before Him;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
30Tremble before Him, all the earth:
The world will also stand fast without moving.
31Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
And let them sing among the nations, The Lord reigneth.
32Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
Let the field rejoice, and all that is therein.
33Then shall the trees of the wood sing out
Before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth.
34Thank ye the Lord; for He is good;
For His mercy endureth for ever.
35And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation,
And gather us and deliver us from the heathen,
To thank Thy holy name,
To glory in Thy praise.
36Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
For ever and ever.
And all the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord.
37And he left there, before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, for the days work in its day. 38And Obed-edom8 and their brethren sixty and eight; and Obed-edom, son of Jedithun, and Hosah, to be porters. 39And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the Lord, in the high place that was at Gibeon. 40To offer burnt-offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt-offering continually morning and evening, and for all that is written in the law of the Lord, which He commanded Israel. 41And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were expressed by name, to thank the Lord, that His mercy endureth for ever. 42And with them, Heman and Jeduthun,9 were trumpets and cymbals for loud sounding, and [other] instruments of God; and the sons of Jeduthun were at the gate. 43And all the people went every man to his house; and David turned in to bless his house.
EXEGETICAL
Preliminary Remark.Instead of the brief description of the parallel text 2Sa 6:11-23, our author gives a detailed account: 1. Of the preparations for the solemn act of transferring the ark into its new sanctuary in Jerusalem,1Ch 15:1-24, including a. The erection of the tent for the reception of the ark, 1Ch 15:1; b. a conference of the king with the priests and Levites, 1Ch 15:2-16; and c. the selection of the Levites appointed for the chief part in the solemnity (and therefore designated by name), 1Ch 15:16 to 1Ch 24:2. Then follows the execution of the so prepared holy act itself, 1Ch 15:25 to 1Ch 16:3; at the close of which comes the description of the first solemn service before the ark in its new sanctuary on Zion, 1Ch 16:4-43, in-cluding the psalm of praise and thanks then sung, 1Ch 15:8-29. This long closing section is (except the last verse) peculiar to the Chronist. On its credibility, and especially on the genuineness and age of the psalm of praise and thanks, see at the close of these expositions.
1. The Preparation for the Removal; and first, a. The erection of the tent on Zion: 1Ch 15:1.And he made him houses in the city of David. This may be understood of the building of other houses besides the palace built with the aid of Hiram of Tyre, 1Ch 14:1 (Berth., Kamph.); but as the verb used is , not , it appears rather to refer to the internal finishing of a palace for the abode of the king and his wives.And he prepared a place for the ark of God. This was probably in the immediate neighbourhood of the kings house adjoining it; for here the one of the two existing high priests, Abiathar the Ithamaride, who, since the massacre at Nob, was constantly about David (as it were his court or domestic priest, while Zadok of the house of Eleazar officiated at Gibeon), was to exercise his functions.And pitched for it a tent, we may suppose, after the model of the old tabernacle still existing at Gibeon (1Ch 16:39 f., 1Ch 21:29; 1Ki 3:4 ff.), but only as a provisional sanctuary.
2. Continuation. b. The conference with the priests and Levites: 1Ch 15:2-15.Then David said, namely, at the end of the three months, 1Ch 13:14.None should carry, properly, it is not to carry. With this confession of the sole right of the Levites to carry the ark (comp. Num 1:50; Num 4:15; Num 7:9; Num 10:17), David acknowledges that it was unlawful to convey it on a waggon, 1Ch 13:7.
1Ch 15:3. And David gathered all Israel, by its natural representatives, the elders and captains of thousands; see 1Ch 15:25, and comp. 2Sa 6:15 : all the house of Israel. Of this summons to a previous consultation in Jerusalem nothing further is reported, 2 Samuel 6 :
1Ch 15:4. And David assembled the sons of Aaron, and the Levites; he formed of these representatives of the priesthood an inner circle in the assembly of the people, to hear their counsel regarding the order of the solemnities. The sons of Aaron are the high priests Zadok and Abiathar, 1Ch 15:11; the Levites are the six chiefs named in 1Ch 15:5-10, with their brethren.
1Ch 15:5. Of the sons of Kohath: Uriel the chief; see 1Ch 6:9. The Kohathite chief is named first, because the ministry of the most holy, the carrying of the most holy vessels of the tabernacle, belonged to the Kohathites, the family from which Aaron the high priest sprang, Num 4:4; Num 4:15; Num 7:9 (Keil).On the Merarite chief Asaiah, comp. 1Ch 4:15; on Joel, the chief of the sons of Gershom, 1Ch 6:21.
1Ch 15:8-10 name the chiefs of three other Kohathite families, those of Elizaphan (= Elzaphan son of Uzziel, Exo 6:22), of Hebron (son of Kohath, Exo 6:18; comp. 5:28), and of Uzziel. The last named is probably not different from the Kohathite Uzziel, father of Elizaphan, Exo 6:22; there are thus formed of the sons of this two houses, of which one is named after Elizaphan, the other after Uzziel himself, and not any of his other sons. There are then in all four Kohathite houses, with one Merarite and one Gershomite, here represented: a strong preference of the house of Kohath, which is not surprising, because the conveyance of the ark specially belonged to them.
1Ch 15:11. And David called Zadok (of Eleazar, 1Chr 5:27 ff.) and Abiathar (of Ithamar), the high priests, who then acted together; see above on 1Ch 15:1, and comp. 1Ch 24:3; 2Sa 15:24 ff; 2Sa 20:25.
1Ch 15:12. Ye chiefs of the Levites, literally, ye chiefs of the fathers of the Levites; comp. 1Ch 8:6; 1Ch 8:10.Sanctify yourselves with your brethren, properly, ye and your brethren. The sanctifying consisted in keeping from their wives, from contact with unclean things, and also in washing the body and the clothes; comp. Gen 35:2 with Exo 19:10; Exo 19:15, also 2Ch 30:3To (the place) I have prepared for it, . The same elliptical construction (with omitted , or immediate connection of the relative sentence with the preposition) see in 2Ch 1:4; comp. 1Ch 29:3; 2Ch 16:9; 2Ch 30:18; Neh 8:10 (Ew. 333, b).
1Ch 15:13. For because ye were not at the beginning, or ye were not those who bare the ark. At the beginning, on the former occasion, when three months before the ark was brought from Kiriath-jearim, 13. On the peculiar construction (from and ), comp. = Mal 1:13, and Ew. 91, d. in this compound signifies for this, that, because; comp. Ew. 222, a, 353, a.The Lord our God broke out upon us (1Ch 13:11), because we sought Him not aright, because we approached Him not in the manner prescribed by law, had neglected to testify our reverence to Him by keeping the legal regulation, that only Levites should bear the holy things
1Ch 15:15. And the sons of the Levites bear the ark of God. An anticipation, occasioned by that which was said in the verse before of the immediate execution of the order for the purification of the Levites. See the particulars, 1Ch 15:25 ff.Upon their shoulders, with staves upon them, upon their shoulders. On (from , waver), the pole, comp. Num 13:23 (also Lev 25:13; Eze 34:27). In the Pentat. the poles are besides called Exo 25:13 ff., etc.
3. Close. c. The appointment of the Levitical singers for the solemnity: 1Ch 15:16-24.To appoint their brethren the singers with instruments, properly, with instruments of song, that is, to accompany the singing. Such (comp. Neh 12:36) are now named in three classes: 1. , (Sept.), or nablia (Vulg.), guitarlike instruments, consisting of an oblong chest with flat bottom and convex sounding board, over which strings of wire were stretched, called by Luther, in accordance with the Sept. (and the Arab, santir), psalteries, by others harps or nablia; 2. (Sept. , Vulg. lyr), harps or lute-like instruments, rendered by Luther not unsuitably, harps, though lutes would perhaps be more correct [rather should the former be called lutes]; 3. (equivalent to the older. term 2Sa 6:5; Psa 150:5), here more fully defined by the epithet , clear-sounding (making to hear), which belongs neither to all the three instruments (Berth.), nor to the too remote their brethren the singers (Kamph.), but, as in 1Ch 15:19; 1Ch 15:28; 1Ch 16:5; 1Ch 16:42, only to ; comp. Bttch. Neue exeg.-krit. Aehrenl. iii. 223 f. (who, however, assigns to the term the unsuitable meaning, beating time).To lift up the sound with gladness, to express or signify joy; comp. 1Ch 15:25; 2Ch 23:18; 2Ch 29:30. This telic clause refers not merely to the clear-sounding cymbals, but to the chief sentence.
1Ch 15:17. And the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel. That this Heman was of the family of the Kohathites, and Asaph of the Gershonites (comp. 1Ch 5:18; 1Ch 5:24), is not here stated; only of the third song-master Ethan is his family, or his descent from Merari, expressly mentioned. On the name of Ethans father, Kushaiah, see Crit. Note.
1Ch 15:18. And with them their brethren of the second degree. On , the second in rank, comp. the sing., 2Ki 23:4 and 1Ch 16:5.Zechariah and Jaaziel. For the certainly spurious after , see Crit. Note. The here named Jaaziel is certainly identical with the Aziel, 1Ch 15:20, and with the Jeiel, 1Ch 16:5, or rather these names are to be changed into the present one.And Obed-edom and Jeiel the porters. The office of doorkeeper does not exclude their acting also as musicians, as 1Ch 15:21 shows. After Jeiel, as the same verse teaches, the name Azaziah must have fallen out, so that originally there were not thirteen but fourteen persons named as musicians of the second order. After these singers and musicians have been mentioned by name (and in two orders or ranks, 1Ch 15:17-18), they are again brought forward, 1Ch 15:19-21, divided into three choirs, after the musical instruments or. which they played.
1Ch 15:19. The Cymbal Players: Heman, Asaph, and Ethan.With cymbals of brass to sound aloud, they were bound, had this to do. The cymbals were wholly of brass; comp. 1Co 13:1 : , and Joseph. Antiq.vii. 12. 1 Chronicles 3 : . The loud-sounding () of the three cymbal players was designed to beat time or direct; for in 1Ch 15:17 they are placed before as leaders.
1Ch 15:20. The Players on Psalteries or Nablia: Zechariah and Seven Others. Of these, who are here repeated with slight changes from 1Ch 15:18 (instead of Jaaziel, the second is here called Aziel; and at the end of the first series stands here Maaseiah before Benaiah, there inversely), it is here stated that they played with psalteries in the way of maidens. is certainly the name of that tone, which sounds in a high, clear voice, that is, the soprano, as the following , after (or on) the octave, is equivalent to on the bass, al ottava bassa. Comp. Del. on Psa 6:1; Psa 46:1.
1Ch 15:21. The Harp or Lute Players: Mattaniah and Five Others.With harps after the octave to lead. How this leading or directing expressed by is distinct from that which is expressed, 1Ch 15:19, by , we can no longer define; at all events, it was not such directing as could belong only to the music-master. Comp. Delitzsch on Psa 4:1.
1Ch 15:22-24 bring forward the other Levites engaged in the solemn procession.And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, for bearing. (or as perhaps is to be read, with R. Norzi, ) is scarcely to be understood of any presiding or overseeing action of Chenaniah (as the Sept. , Vulg. propheti prerat ad prcinendam melodiam; Luth. to instruct in singing; L. Lavater, supremus musicus; Kamph. and others, the leader in execution, etc.). The phrase is rather to be referred to the bearing of the ark, which, according to 1Ch 15:23 f., is here in question (comp. also in 2Ch 35:3 and Num 4:19).With this agrees, rightly conceived, 1Ch 15:27, as well as the later mention of Chenaniah in 1Ch 26:29, where he is placed over the outward business of the Levites (rightly Berth. and Keil; undecided Kamph.).Instructed in bearing; for he was skilful, acquainted with the ritual, experienced in the ceremonial relative to the bearing of the ark. Whether we take as inf. abs. Kal in the sense of the verb.-fin., instruct (J. H. Mich., Gesen., etc.), or as imperf. of = , be chief, command (Berth., etc.), or as a subst. in the sense of instructor (Keil), the meaning of presiding, directing, leading, is at all events expressed by the word.
1Ch 15:23. And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark, who were to guard not so much the doors of the ark itself as those of the tent that gave access to it; thus, in general, to guard the ark. As these two at first, and then at the close of the following verse, Obed-edom and Jehiah also, are named as doorkeepers of the ark, we must regard the former two as going before the ark during the solemn procession, and the latter two as following after. Close by the ark, however, either immediately before it or on the two sides, the seven priests blowing trumpets, 1Ch 15:24, may be supposed to go.
1Ch 15:24. And Shebaniah blew with trumpets before the ark of God. Whether the Kethib (denom. from ) or the Keri (Hiph. of ) is read does not affect the sense. The blowing of trumpets here is according to the prescription, Num 10:1-10, and the example of the compassing of Jericho, Jos 6:4-6.And Obed-edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark. Of these, Obed-edom was a son of Jeduthun, 1Ch 16:38, and so perhaps different from him of the same name among the singers, 1Ch 15:18; 1Ch 15:21 (though he also, 1Ch 15:18, is called a doorkeeper). Perhaps also the Jehiah named with him is not to be identified with Jehiel there (1Ch 15:18; 1Ch 15:21) named with Obed-edom (against Raschi, Berth., etc.). It is plain that according to all this the whole procession included the following divisions:1. The singers arranged in three choirs; 2. Chenaniah the captain of the bearers (as it were marshal); 3. Two doorkeepers; 4. Seven priests blowing trumpets close by the ark; 5. Two doorkeepers. After these followed, 1Ch 15:25, the king, with the elders and captains of thousands.
4. The Execution of that which was resolved in the Assembly: 1Ch 15:25 to 1Ch 16:3.And David and the elders of Israel, and the captains of thousands (commanders over the thousands, chiliarchs). connects this with 1Ch 15:3, after the details concerning the preparations have intervened. The parallel 2Sa 6:12 wants this connecting , and does not mention the elders and chiliarchs along with David.
1Ch 15:26. And when God helped the Levites, permitted them without danger or harm to convey the ark, thus to escape the fate of Uzza. The offering of seven bullocks and seven rams seems to have been made at the close of the procession, after the conveyance had been successfully conducted. Otherwise 2Sa 6:13, where (at least in the Masoretic text) David, after the bearers of the ark had made the first six steps, offered a sacrifice. It is probable that both accounts are original, and that the two must be harmonized and combined.
1Ch 15:27. And David was clothed with a robe of byssus. Instead of these words ( ), 2Sa 6:14 presents (with the addition ). That is corrupted from , and from (Berth., etc.; also Bttcher, Neue Aehrenlese, iii. 224), might be assumed, if the , wanting in our text, did not create a difficulty. For this assumption, according to which the Chronist shall have thought it unbecoming to speak of David (and, with Berth., the Levites also) dancing, though in15:29 and 1Ch 13:8 he states, or at least implies, this fact quite freely, it is at all events easier to regard both texts as abbreviations of one and the same narrative contained in the common sources of our author, which, besides the dancing of David (which the Chronist merely presupposes, while the author of 2 Samuel gives it prominence), contained full reports of the clothing of David, and of the Levites around him. It is accordingly to be supposed that the Chronist has taken only these latter reports in full, because the statement concerning the clothing of the king and the Levites appeared more important for the purpose of describing fully the religious aspect of the procession, as this import of it was more conspicuous here; for the dress which the king wore had a priestly character (Keil; comp. Movers, p. 168). That the verb , to be wrapt up, belongs to the later usage of speech, or rather, is properly Chaldaic (Dan 3:21), can scarcely bring into question the justice of this harmonistic assumption (against Bttch.).And all the Levites and the singers, and Chenaniah. To these also obviously applies the being clothed with a robe of byssus, which is first said of David. All these, who are here in apposition with David, are described as adorned with priestly attire, with the mel of byssus (comp. the byssus attire of the Levites and singers in the dedication of the temple by Solomon, 2Ch 5:12, and for the mel, the upper garment of distinguished persons, 1Sa 2:19; 1Sa 15:27; 1Sa 18:4; 1Sa 24:5; Ezr 9:3; Job 29:14). The closing sentence, and upon David was a linen ephod, first names the distinguishing part of the clothing of the king as the sovereign of the priestly people (comp. 2Sa 6:14). The designation of Chenaniah as the master of the bearing ( with the double article; comp. Ew. 290, d) is to be understood according to 1Ch 15:22; the unmeaning: the singers, after , appears spurious (see Crit. Note); even if we understood of musical performance, this addition would be disturbing.
1Ch 15:28. With shouting, and with sound of cornet, etc. Shorter and simpler 2Sa 6:15, without naming the several instruments.
1Ch 15:29. Then Michal saw King David leaping and playing. Instead of 2Sa 6:16 has . This brief reference to the well-known history, fully reported in 2Sa 6:16; 2Sa 6:20-23, of the dispute between David and Michal, shows sufficiently that the Chronist did not wish to be silent concerning this matter from dogmatic or sthetic considerations. Moreover, 1Ch 15:29 to 1Ch 16:3 agrees in all essentials with 2Sa 6:16-19 a.1Ch 16:3. To every one a loaf of bread ( , the more usual phrase for the rarer used in 2 Samuel 6, 19), and a measure (of wine), and a grape cake. The , occurring only here and 2 Samuel, is explained by the Vulg., Chald., and Syr., and by several Rabbis and moderns (Ew., Berth., Kamph.), as a piece of flesh (roast), as if from , ox, and , or rather from = , to burn. But the reference of the word to , in the sense of the Aethiopic safara = metiri, to measure, is better ascertained, according to which, (with prosthet.) signifies a portion of drink, a measure of wine (de Dieu, Gesen., Rdiger, Keil, etc.). On , grape or raisin cake (from , to make firm, press), comp. Son 2:5, Hos 3:1, and the equivalent , 1Ch 12:40.
5. The First Solemn Service before the Ark in Jerusalem, and the Institution of Divine Service in general: 1Ch 16:4-43.a. The Levite appointed for service by David: 1Ch 16:4-6.And he appointed (properly, gave; comp. 1Ch 16:7) before the ark of the Lord ministers of the Levites, namely, as the addition to record, etc. shows, singers and players for the purpose of sacred singing, Levitical ministers (, Sept.).To record, and to thank, and to praise., literally, to bring to remembrance, to pray at the of the meat-offering (Lev 2:2; comp. Psa 38:1; Psa 60:1, and Del. on the first passage). , properly, to confess (Sept., ), refers to the singing of psalms that prominently confess and express thanks to God, as refers to the praises of the hallelujah songs.
1Ch 16:5.Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, literally, and as his second, his next man (follower); comp. Est 10:3. Of the three song-masters and fourteen musicians named in the list 1Ch 15:19-21, a part only are named again: of the song-masters only Asaph, and of the musicians only nine (namely, six of the eight nebel-players and three of the six kinnor-players), and also, 1Ch 16:6, of the seven trumpet-blowers, only two, Benaiah and Jahaziel, the latter of whom did not appear in 1Ch 15:24. As we possess no parallel report to compare with the contents of our section, nothing definite can be conjectured of the relation of the present names to those of the longer series, and it must be left uncertain whether Jahaziel be identical with the Eliezer named, 1Ch 16:24, along with Benaiah.
6. Continuation. b. The song of praise and thanks by Asaph and his brethren: 1Ch 16:7-36. On that day then David ordered for the first time . . . by Asaph, etc. Properly, then David gave over . . . by the hand of Asaph; , here to hand over, arrange. not by the chief, by Asaph, but first, for the first time; comp. , Isa 40:21. This is the first introduction of the new cultus. Along with Asaph are named his brethren, the Levites arranged with (and under) him, enumerated in 1Ch 16:5-6. We may observe, moreover, how clearly this verse, especially by its , announces the following song as an ideal composition, characterizing only in general that which was to be sung by the musicians, but not expressing a stereotype form. Had the author wished to convey the sense that the song was sung for all time so as he communicated it, and not otherwise, he would have added, and he commanded them thus to sing, or, to sing this song.
1Ch 16:8 ff. Thank ye the Lord, call on His name, etc. Of the eight strophes of the song, the first four (1Ch 16:8-22) correspond to the opening of Psalms 105 (1Ch 16:1-15); the next three (1Ch 16:23-33) to Psalms 96; the last (1Ch 16:34-36) to the first and last two verses of Psalms 106, with some unimportant variations which are here to be noted.First Strophe: 1Ch 16:8-11 ( = Psa 105:1-4): Summons to sing praise to the Lord and to seek His face.Second Strophe: 1Ch 16:12-14 ( = Psa 105:5-7): Summons to think of the wonders of the Lord and His judgments. Here are the first variants, namely, 1Ch 16:12, instead of , and, 1Ch 16:13, instead of of which the latter only is of any consequence. On account of the parallelism with the sons of Jacob, the seed of Israel appears the better reading.Third Strophe: 1Ch 16:15-18 ( = Psa 105:8-11): Summons to think of the covenant made by the Lord with the fathers.Remember His-covenant for ever.Psalms 105 rather: He remembereth, etc. ( for ). Our reading, corresponding better with the application of the song to the end proposed in 1Ch 16:7, appears to be substituted for the more original one of the Psalm.
1Ch 16:16. And His oath unto Isaac. For Psa 105:9 presents the weaker form (found also in Amo 7:9; Jer 33:26), a critically unimportant variant, like that in 1Ch 16:18 a, where stands for .Fourth Strophe: 1Ch 16:19-22 ( = Psa 105:12-15): Reason of the summons to remember the covenant of the Lord with the fathers, because the Lord has so truly and mightily protected them according to His promise.When ye were small in number. Instead of Psa 105:12 presents . To address the children of Israel again corresponds better with the aim of the Psalm; this variant is thus similar to that in 1Ch 16:15, but affords no presumption in favour of the priority of this or that reading.
1Ch 16:20. And from one kingdom.Psalms 105 omits the and ( before ); critically unimportant, as also the two following variants (1Ch 16:21, for , and, 1Ch 16:22, for ).Fifth Strophe: vers, 2327 ( = Psa 96:1-6): All the world shall concur in praise of the greatness and glory of God.The first verse of this passage seems compounded of the first two verses of Psalms 96, the first members being omitted. Whether this be an abbreviating process of the Chronist, or an amplifying one of the Psalmist, it is hard to determine; much may be said for each of the two assumptions (see Keil).
1Ch 16:27. Strength and gladness are in His place ( ; comp. for this late, but in Aram, frequent, , Ezr 6:16; Neh 8:10). On the contrary, Psa 46:6 : strength and beauty in His sanctuary ( )Sixth Strophe: 1Ch 16:28-30 (= Psa 96:7-9): All nations shall worship God with offerings and confessions.
1Ch 16:29. Give, to the Lord the glory due to His name, etc. Instead of two, this verse has, to our surprise, three members: the first two correspond to Psa 96:8; 1Ch 16:9 there to our 1Ch 16:29 c and 1Ch 16:30 a. The disturbance of the parallel in our verse rests on this, that after 1Ch 16:31 a ( = Psa 96:11 a) the verse-member Psa 96:10 a is placed, but Psa 96:10 c is altogether omitted. Thus, in our text, the verse beginning with give to the Lord the glory; on the contrary, in Psalms 96, that beginning with say among the heathen (1Ch 16:10), forms the exception to the otherwise constant bipartition of the verse. It is impossible, however, to arrive at a certain result on which side the priority lies (see on 1Ch 16:31).Bring an oblation, and come before Him.Psa 96:8 b: and come to His courts (for ). This variant is similar to that in 1Ch 16:27, where in His sanctuary of the Psalm is changed into the more general in His place, because the mention of the sanctuary (as here of the courts) does not seem to comport well with the time and aim of the present song, which was sung before the erection of the temple.
1Ch 16:30. Tremble before Him, all the earth. For Psa 96:9 has , an unimportant difference,Seventh Strophe: 1Ch 16:31-33 ( = Psa 96:10-13): Even the inanimate creation will exult before the Lord of all nations coming to judgment. 1Ch 16:31 a corresponds to Psa 96:11 a, but 1Ch 16:31 b to Psa 96:10 a.And let them say among the nations, etc., is in Psa 96:10 a: say among the nations ( instead of ). it is too much to say that this summons, addressed to the Israelites after the words tremble before Him, all the earth (which there go immediately before, as 1Ch 16:9 b), yields a rather tame thought, and speaks for the priority of the text of Chronicles (Keil). The position of the present summons among mere appeals to the representatives of inanimate nature, as the heavens, the earth, the sea, the field, may appear surprising and disturbing. There is something excited and wavering in the line of thought and mode of expression, there as well as here.
1Ch 16:32 b. Let the field rejoice, etc. For Psa 90:12 a presents , in which the poetic and archaic , instead of the prosaic seems not without significance.
1Ch 16:33. Then shall the trees of the wood sing out. For this Psa 96:12 b has all trees of the wood. The second member of this verse corresponds to the first in Psa 96:13, as far as the repetition of for He cometh , which occurs only once here. Psa 96:13 b, the close of the whole Psalm, is wanting in our text, which the defenders of the priority of the latter explain thus: that when the contents of our verses 2333 were made a distinct Psalm, it was found necessary to make at the close a suitable addition; whereas the matter may as well be explained by the abbreviating habit of our author (as the later compiler of the present song).Eighth Strophe: 1Ch 16:34-36 ( = Psa 106:1; Psa 106:47-48): Repeated summons to thank God, and to pray for His further help, with the closing doxology.Thank ye the Lord: for He is good, etc. This verse is found not merely at the head of Psalms 106, but also of Psalms 107, 118, 136. (comp. also Psalms 118, 29 and Jer 33:11); as an old and favourite liturgical form, it is not necessarily to be regarded as taken from Psalms 106 in particular.
1Ch 16:35. And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation. Similar, but not verbally so,Psa 106:47, where and say ye is wanting, and for God of our salvation stands the Lord our God.And gather us and deliver us from the heathen. For this Psa 106:47 has: and gather us from the heathen. The two following members agree verbally with the parallel verse of the Psalm.Blessed be the Lord, etc. This closing doxology, which recurs exactly in Psa 106:48, forms there the close of the fourth, book of the Psalter, together with the words: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord, which are here changed into the historical notice: and all the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord ( for the jussive , and for ). Even in these last deviations from the similar passages of the Psalter there is nothing that could prove with certainty the priority of our text, and a partly imitative, partly devious, procedure of the Psalmist. With regard to the doxology which was originally nothing else than the liturgical close of the fourth book (analogous to those at the close of Psalms 41, 72, , 89), it is much more probable that our author changed, for his own purpose, this doxologincal formula, which may have been attached to Psalms 106. long ago, from liturgical use. And the more probable this must appear to the unprejudiced mind, the more clearly all the other differences between our text and that of the corresponding Psalms appear as alterations, occasioned by the revising and compiling habit of the Chronist, of that which was before him in the Psalter. Comp. the closing remarks.
7. Division of the Levites and Priests for Divine Service (as continuation and close of the list of Levitical singers and players in 1Ch 16:4-6): 1Ch 16:37-43.Asaph and his brethren. The before the accus. of the object, according to later usage.For the days work in its day, literally, for the matter of the day on its day, that is, according to the service required for every day; comp. 2Ch 8:14; 2Ch 31:16.
1Ch 16:38. And Obed-edom and their brethren sixty and eight. That here should be read, according to what follows: and Obed-edom and Hosah and their brethren, see Crit. Note. If, indeed, in the next clause of our verse: and Obed-edom and Hosah to be porters, another Obed-edom were meant, as the distinction of this as son of Jedithun (possibly, 1Ch 26:4, a Korhite Jedithun, and not the Merarite singer Jeduthun) appears to indicate, some other name than that of Hosah must be supplied along with the former Obed-edom. Even in 1Ch 15:21; 1Ch 15:24 there seem to be two different Obed-edoms, a singer, 1Ch 16:21, and a porter, 1Ch 16:24. Yet the diversity of the two named in our verse is by no means certain; for in 1Ch 26:4-8, of Obed-edom with his sons and brothers, sixty-two men are mentioned as porters, which nearly agrees with the present number sixty-eight, and seems to point to the identity of the first-mentioned and the second Obed-edom. 1Ch 16:42 of our chapter also shows clearly enough the identity of the present Jedithun with Jeduthun. In the notorious defectiveness of the text, besides, we cannot attain to a certain decision.
1Ch 16:39. And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, 1Ch 16:37, still acts as the governing verb. For the continued religious use of the sanctuary at Gibeon under David, see on 1Ch 15:1. It is to be remarked that Zadok is designated only as priest, not as high priest, as he was made first by Solomon; see 1Ki 2:27; 1Ki 2:35.
1Ch 16:40. To offer burnt-offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt-offering. The mention here of burnt-offerings only at Gibeon proves nothing against the assumption that they were also offered in the sanctuary at Jerusalem; and 1Ch 21:26; 1Ch 21:30 shows directly and expressly that these offerings were made here also, no doubt under the direction of Abiathar (comp. 1Ch 18:16).Continually morning and evening. Comp. the prescriptions of the law, Exo 29:38; Num 28:3; Num 28:6.And for all (that was prescribed besides the daily burnt-offering; comp. Numbers 28) that is written., briefly for .
1Ch 16:41. And with them, etc., with Zadok and his brethren. This refers to the singers at the sanctuary in Gibeon, where Heman, Jeduthun (Ethan), and a number of subordinates were appointed. The Chronist points indeed to a list before him, in which the Gibeonite singers were named (on , comp. 1Ch 12:31), but does not specify them, because the singers under Asaph at Jerusalem, who are enumerated 1Ch 16:4-6, interested him most.
1Ch 16:42.And with them, Heman and Jeduthun, were trumpets and cymbals. So, according to the Masoretic reading, which, however, appears suspicious, from the absence of the names Heman and Jeduthun in the Sept. (comp. Crit. Note), and gives no very suitable sense. If we erase the two names, the sense comes out: and with them were, that is, they had trumpets and cymbals, a phrase somewhat strange, but still affording a suitable sense, which is at all events to be preferred to the artificial and forced emendation of Bertheau (And Heman and Jeduthun were playing aloud with trumpets and cymbals, and with them the others chosen, with song-instruments of God).For loud sounding,. This epithet belonging to the defines the cymbals as giving the tone, or intoning the melody, and thus being a means of leading the song for the song-masters Heman and Jeduthun; comp. on 1Ch 15:16; 1Ch 15:19.And (other) instruments of God, other instruments of religious music besides those named, especially psalteries and harps.And the sons of Jeduthun were at the gate; they were appointed to guard the entrance of the Gibeonite tabernacle. These are obviously Obed-edom, Hosah, and their brethren, who had been designated, 1Ch 16:38, as doorkeepers.
1Ch 16:43. And all the people went every man to his house; essentially as in 2Sa 6:19-20, where this closing verse of our chapter has its parallel in an otherwise much more concise report. The narrative there added, of Davids altercation with Michal (comp. 1Ch 15:29), our author omits as a scene of a purely domestic character, unsuitable to his purpose.And David turned in to bless his house, on this festive day, as he had before (1Ch 16:2) blessed the whole people in the name of the Lord.
Appendix: On the Credibility of the Contents of 1 Chronicles 16
As 1 Chronicles 12, notwithstanding its exclusive transmission by our author, makes the impression of the highest credibility, the statistical data and registers also of our section, just because they are mostly of a concrete and detailed kind, afford the warrant of a true rendering of the historical facts. Important there as well as here is the reference to greater and richer registers, that must have served the Chronist as sources, without being exhausted by him; comp. the characteristic 1Ch 12:31, 1Ch 16:41, and such specifications of names as 1Ch 16:4-6 and 1Ch 16:38 ff., which clearly indicate in the author a process of abstracting and contracting more copious lists. It is manifest enough that he was in a position, as belonging himself to the corps of Levitical singers after the exile (Introd. 3), to draw these statements from the full fountains, and to depend on copious written and oral traditions.
Only with respect to the song given in 1Ch 16:8-36, at the dedication, the assumption of strict historical accuracy appears to be given up on account of its relation to several parallel Psalms; and an ideal composing process of the writer, similar to that of Livy and Thucydides in their speeches, is assumed as necessary. We know not, in fact, what could stand against the admissibility of this assumption, defended by Bertheau, Kamph., Dillmann, Davidson, Ewald (Bibl. Jahrb. vi. 24), Delitzsch (Komm. zum Psalter, ii. p. 93 f.), A. Khler (Zeitschr. fr luth. Theol. 1867, p. 295 ff.), C. Ehrt (Abfassungszeit und Schlvss des Ps., Leipzig 1869, p. 41 ff.), Hupfeld, and others. If, of recent scholars, on the one hand Hitzig (Die Psalmen, 2 Bd. 1865, p. 8. ff.), on the other Keil (Komm. p. 155 ff.),the former impelled by a hypercritical zeal to show the Maccabean origin of those Psalms to be probable, the latter by an apologetic motive in favour of the Chronist,have endeavoured to prove our form to be original, and the passages of the Psa 105:1-15; Psa 96:1-13; Psa 106:1; Psa 106:47-48, to be mere fragments of the original song, against this the following considerations remain still in force:
1. The constitution of both the texts, even if the greater number of defects and corruptions occur in the Psalms, and the text of Chronicles be comparatively older and better, admits of no certain conclusion with respect to the greater or less age of the one or the other recension. For, irrespective of the many cases in which Chronicles most probably contains the later readings (for example, 1Ch 16:27, ; 1Ch 16:32, 1Ch 16:29, for ; and again, 1Ch 16:27, for ), the more archaic form of the text cannot of itself decide in favour of priority, as younger mss., and certainly Hebrew as well as Greek and Latin, often enough present a more original text than older ones, and the text of the passages in the Psalms are not to be judged according to their external written form. For the text of the Psalms, while they were in liturgical use, was more exposed to alterations from the influence of the later speech than that of a historical book; and on this ground, more ancient turns and phrases in Chronicles could not be at once maintained as proofs that Chronicles was original and the Psalms an imitation (Berth.).
2. If we consider the matter and line of thought in our song, and compare it with the corresponding Psalms, the latter appear simple, well connected, and well-ordered wholes in a higher degree than the former. The transition from strophe four to strophe five of our song (see 1Ch 16:22; 1Ch 16:28) is abrupt and sudden. We expect that after 1Ch 16:22, either the agency of Jehovah in the early time of Israel will be further depicted, as is done in Psalms 105, where complete connection and unity of thought prevails10, or at least, by a description of His agency in the heathen world or in inanimate nature (comp. Psalms 104), the way will be prepared for the summonses contained in 1Ch 16:23-33. A similar hiatus again appears between 1Ch 16:33-34 (or between strophes seven and eight), and also after the section parallel with Psalms 96. For the summons of 1Ch 16:34, as appears undeniable from 1Ch 16:35, is to be regarded as specially directed to Israel; but Israel is not spoken of either in 1Ch 16:34 or in the whole preceding paragraph, 1Ch 16:23-33. If Hitzig thinks that here the end of the song only returns to its beginning, he has not sufficiently considered that petitions such as those contained in 1Ch 16:35, for the deliverance and gathering of Israel from the heathen, do not occur at the beginning of the song, and that these petitions come in here quite unexpectedly after the previous line of thought in 1Ch 16:8-33; whereas they are very well introduced in Psa 106:47, after 1Ch 16:40-43.
3. Decisive for the priority of the Psalter is the transference of the closing doxology of the fourth book of Psalms (Psa 106:48) by the redactor of our song; see on this passage, and comp. Delitzsch on the Psalm.
4. The manner in which the song is introduced (see on 1Ch 16:7) points also to an ideal composing activity of the author of it.
5. Our combining of a number of passages from the Psalms into one whole should not be regarded as a product of mere trifling and insipid compilation, like the Homeric or Virgilian cantos of the declining old classical poetry, because it applies to a festal song to be used for a definite liturgical purpose, and because nothing certain can be opposed to the assumption, that not the Chronist in the times after the exile, but the writer of his source, the older report (certainly before the exile) which he follows throughout the section 1Ch 16:4-42, is to be regarded as the author of the present composition.
6. Whether the present attempt to exhibit the opening of the worship on Zion in Davidic strains is to be considered older than the composition of our book, or contemporary with it, we are not to find an offence against the obligation of historical fidelity in this ideal composition, which seeks to reproduce the fundamental tone of the song sung on that occasion. The author knew that in the religious festivals of his people songs were sung of the tone of Psalms 96, 105, 106, from the oldest times; hence he puts in the mouth of the Levitical singers in Davids time a song formed out of these Psalms as a probable expression of the spiritual thanksgiving presented to the Lord by the community of that day, without in the least making himself guilty of a falsehood. He appears on this ground as little a falsifier as the author of the song of Mary, of Zacharias, or of Simeon in the introductory chapter of Lukes Gospel, the verbal recitation of which, according to the form there given, need scarcely be insisted on, and the harmony of which with so many characteristic phrases of the Psalms and Prophets, has its historical precedent in the relations of our song to the Psalms in question.
[Psalms 96, 105, , 106 are anonymous in the Hebrew; but on examination, there is no convincing reason why they may not have been composed by David. Psalms 96 is actually ascribed to him in the Sept., with the following remarkable addition: when the house was built after the captivity. Here the captivity seems to refer to the captivity of the ark when far from the sanctuary, 1 Samuel 4, and the house to the tabernacle which David erected on Zion. The other two Psalms may be as old as David; and there is therefore no reason to doubt the historical veracity of the statement made by the Chronist, that David selected from these Psalms the piece that was actually sung at the dedication of the tabernacle on Zion.J. G. M.]
Footnotes:
[1] , without variation, while in 1Ch 6:29 the name is , and so the Sept. read here (Vulg. Casaj).
[2] after has come into the text by a mistake of the pen, as the before the next name shows. on the contrary, the name seems to have fallen out at the close of 1Ch 15:18 (see Exeg.).
[3] . So most editions, in the first place; whereas R. Norzi has even the first time.
[4] Kethib: . Keri: (partic. Hiph.). The same variation recurs 2Ch 5:13, where, however, the Keri is to be read as partic. Pi. ().
[5]The words are wanting in the Pesh. At least, should apparently be erased as unmeaning (comp. Exeg.), though the Sept. and Vulg. have it.
[6]Instead of after 1Ch 15:18 is certainly to be read here, in the first place (After ), .
[7]The variants in this song, from its parallel in the psalter (Psalms 105, 96, 106, see in Exeg.
[8]After , as the plur. suff. in shows, must at least one name, probably (See the following), have fallen out.
[9]The names were not read by the Sept. ( , …), and appear to be repeated by mistake from the preceding verse, which also begins with .
[10]For the picture of the benign sway of God over Abraham, in 1Ch 16:10-15 of this Psalm, forms only the beginning of that which is said in the further course of the same picture, of Jacob, of Joseph and his brethren, of Moses, and of the whole of Gods people in the patriarchal and Mosaic times.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This chapter contains an account of the finishing work, in bringing up the Ark to the Holy City. David’s gifts to the people in consequence thereof, and the Psalm of praise David delivered upon the occasion.
1Ch 16:1
No doubt, after the breach of Uzzah, and which, had occasioned great grief in David’s heart, the Lord’s approbation, in his bringing home the ark, had wrought in David’s mind a proportionate joy, There were many things which served to contribute to the joy of this high festival. The ark had been long removed from Israel. The people had often mourned after it and the want of its presence had given much sorrow of heart not only to David but to many a gracious soul: the bringing it home was, therefore, a subject of great delight to the people at large. But to David it must have been eminently so. Reader! you have never known, perhaps, the want of ordinances; but if you have, you may form some idea what the restoration of the ark must have been from its long absence, in your own enjoyment of the return of those hallowed seasons. But, Reader, think from hence, what joy of the heart that must be, when after nights of the hidings of Jesus’s presence, he hath come again, leaping over the mountains, and skipping over the hills.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Psalm for the Day
1Ch 16:7
I shall use this text illustratively, rather than literally and grammatically. There is a song in the heart of it; we are in quest of that song. The picture is full of colour, the picture is almost alive. Let us regard the incident as typical and ideal.
I. In very truth there is a special psalm for every day in the week. We should expect the psalm as confidently as we expect the dawn. But who looks out for David with his psalms, for Asaph with his harp and his attendant choir? Yet there they are, and they are often wasted upon us, and we say it is very oppressive, melancholy and ghostly silent. If we only knew, the air is alive with music, but we do not hear it, our ears are waxed heavy that they should not hear, and the festival proceeds every day unseen, unheard, an anonymous and neglected providence. The psalm for the day would suit no other day quite so well. Unless, therefore, we sing the psalm on the very day for which it was intended, it will drop into prose, it will be as a bird with its wings closed, when it might have been as an angel flying in the midst of heaven. The psalms are being distributed, where are the Asaphs that stretch out corresponding hands and receive the great gifts of God? We are prone to turn life into moan and threnody and winter wail; we find a species of melancholy joy in being joyless; affectation makes a trade of its own disappointments and dejections; vanity seeks to create a reputation by showing you how it can weep over its own degradation; resist the devil and he will flee from you! Get hold of the psalm, make room for David; he has a right to sit in every house.
II. Take this David as typical and ideal, and this Asaph in the same light, and regard the text as suggesting that there are memorable psalm-days in life; then you will get a great lesson that will go with you through all the week of time and sing you out of your despair.
1. When the child was born David delivered a psalm to the Asaph of the time. The incoming of the child was the incoming of the psalm; the psalm was waiting, and the moment the cry went up, A man-child is born into the world! the psalm followed.
2. When the child died David delivered a psalm to Asaph. The poets can write in darkness; the poets do not ask for candle-light in which to inscribe their pages with immortal verse. Poets can see in the dark: to God there is no darkness. When the child died David handed this psalm: While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept, for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious unto me, that the child may live? but now that he is dead, wherefore should I fast? I will arise and take sacramental bread, and praise the Lord that the centre of gravity has changed, and that my soul is not here but there.
Never miss the psalm for the day. To repeat, expect the psalm as surely as you expect the dawn. Sometimes the psalm will come just as the dawn comes; the dawn comes quietly, silently, growingly, every few minutes the light seems to secure a further conquest upon the darkness and the shadow, and then the brighter morning, and then the zenith flame: such is the growth of the psalm in the consciousness and in the heart of men.
Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. I. p. 105.
Consecration of the Commonplace
1Ch 16:37
‘So he left there, before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required.’ That was the law of service in the tabernacle, and that is the law of service in the lives of all who would give themselves to God. The temple service was the day’s work; the day’s work was the temple service.
I. The tabernacle and its symbolism have passed away. We have heard of another temple, even the temple of the heart; of another altar the unseen altar of sacrifice. But we do not understand, or we but imperfectly understand, how that the law of that altar is written in the day’s work. Too often we think of the law of that altar as something remote and separate. Ever and again we let the thick of the world come between us and it. We look on the day’s work as something that stands between us and the way of worship. We do not understand that the law of the altar is written in life just as we have to live it. It is bound up in the daily demand. It is involved in our immediate circumstance. The shadow of the Cross lies on all our toil for bread; and the manifold imperatives of earth are but the laws of heaven translated into a language that all who would do right can understand.
II. We cannot hear too much about the divinity of toil, as long as we know what we are talking about. There is no divinity in toil for toil’s sake. There is no spiritual glory and beauty in mere effort. Let us not deify labour. A man may work like a slave, and never catch a glimpse of God in all his toiling. But once let a man see the altar where the ultimate requirement of his work is written and the whole doing of it may be laid, and the seeming gulf between work and worship disappears.
‘As every day’s work required.’ That is the defining line of the service of faith. That is the measure of God’s demand. Sometimes we do not understand this. We feel the consecrating power of solemn duties and great sorrows; and of those days that bring us face to face with definite and final moral choices. But every day is not a great day in this sense. More often life’s demands are monotonous, and the situations it creates for us day by day are unheroic, fretful, and even belittling. The very toils and troubles and besetments of our lives seem essentially commonplace. Sometimes the littleness of it all makes us sick at heart.
‘As every day’s work requires.’ The day’s work! The thing you are tired of; the thing you think you know so well; the thing that holds for you no surprises, no revelations, no thrills of joy, no abiding satisfactions of spirit. The face of God, the peace of Jesus Christ, the light of the Spirit you may find all these in the day’s work if only you will believe it. This is God’s way into our lives. This is our way into His life. This is the secret of sainthood serving the Divine Master as every day’s work requires, recognizing the Divine law in all human necessity.
P. Ainsworth, The Pilgrim Church, p. 192.
Daily Service
1Ch 16:37
That was the law. ‘So he left there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required.’ Not as yesterday’s work required, not as tomorrow’s work might require, but as every day’s work required within its own twelve hours or twenty-four.
I. ‘As every day’s work required.’ There is only one time Now. ‘Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.’ Now is God’s great opportunity given to us all. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is unborn, today is now, and the golden portal rolls back to let us into the larger liberty. Things are not to be done at any time. That is where so many people go into confusion and into final bankruptcy, and spend their days at the public expense, and complain that it is very hard to go to the workhouse at the last. There is no need for any man to go to the workhouse; if every man will do as every day’s work requires, he need never bend his head under the doorway of a workhouse. To so many people there is no regular time; that is the reason of failure, that is the leak. The great secret of successful life is discipline, promptitude, military obedience now! altogether! the best I can; as every day requires.
That was the way that Jesus Christ lived. In that apparently coldly ethical doctrine there is a great evangelical gospel; the Son of God is hidden in that disciplinary prose: I must work the works of Him that sent Me: are there not twelve hours in the day? I must work while the light lasts; the night cometh wherein no man can work: I must not postpone Monday’s duties to be done in Tuesday’s light. That is success, mastery; he who obeys that rule is king, no man can take his crown. That was Christ’s rule, and he that obeys in one obeys in all must do it or his soul would be ill at ease till he had struck the last blow due on the day’s responsibility.
II. Let us enlarge the meaning of the word ‘day’. The term day is one of the most flexible terms in Holy Scripture, in poetry, and in general experience. ‘In six days the Lord made heaven and earth.’ I have no doubt of it; but I do not know what ‘day’ means. We speak of ‘our day’: does it mean from eight o’clock in the morning until eight o’clock in the evening? is the word ‘day’ there a term of clock-time, or does it relate to centuries, eras, epochs? We say, ‘Our little systems have their day’: does that mean a chronometer day? or a larger and variable period? Evidently it means the latter. So the text may be expanded without a change of word. ‘As every day’s work required’ as the time needed, as the exigency demanded, as the epoch called for, as the century required.
We read of men who fell asleep after serving their generation ‘and having served his generation, he fell on sleep’. And he serves the next generation best who serves the present generation well.
What is it that covers and sanctifies all days? the little day of twenty-four hours or twelve, and the great day of long centuries and piled millenniums? That permanent and all-sovereign quantity or force is Jesus Christ. It is said of Him, He is the same yesterday, today, and for ever; He describes Himself as He that is and was and is to come Alpha, new as the dawn; Omega, venerable as the sunset of millenniums, He abides in the Church, He is ever on the throne, He gives the order of the day, He has a message for every morning. If we could lay hold of that great truth we should have a united Church at once.
Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. II. p. 165.
Reference. XVI. 41. Prof. Charteris, Christian World Pulpit, 1890, p. 195.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
David’s Thanksgiving
1Ch 16
THROUGHOUT the Old Testament we are continually reminded of the conjunction of the Old and the New. This conjunction is set forth most distinctly in this verse. The ark of God represented that which was historical, and the tent which David had pitched for it represented the work of the current day. David did not make the ark; he only made the tent which it glorified. This indeed is all that we can do for any of the great revelations of God at this late period of history. We receive the Bible, we do not invent it or re-edit it; it is ours, however, to build a tent for its reception; that is to say, a sanctuary or a church in which it is to be publicly read to the people. We made the church, we did not make the Bible. We must be careful, therefore, how we interfere with that which we did not create. We are at liberty to reconstruct our churches, but no man may add to the Word of Life or take away one line from its sacred integrity. It is not humbling to us that we have to receive some gifts and simply conserve them. The greatness of the gift destroys the possibility of humiliation. Where the gift is small, and unworthy of our progressive nature, there may indeed be some degree of humiliation connected with its continuance; but where the gift is, so to say, of the very nature of God himself, his highest thoughts, his supreme concern, then the custody of such a gift invests the custodian with eternal honour. The danger is lest we should merge the quality of the one possession with the quality of the other, thus imagining that the ark is only upon a level with the tent, or that the tent is of equal value with the ark itself. When will men learn to distinguish between things that differ and between things of relative importance in the kingdom of Christ? The ark consecrated whatever building it entered into, and so the Bible consecrates every edifice in which it is reverently read. “Our earthly house of this tabernacle” is a phrase which relates to all institutions and ceremonies of intermediate or secondary value, and all such institutions and ceremonies are to be regarded as subservient to the revelation of the ark of God, or in our case the revelation of the cross of Christ, which takes the place of the ancient ark, as representing the conjunction of law and mercy in the atonement made for sin by the Son of God. David “pitched” the tent, but he only “brought the ark;” David’s solicitude for holy things was none the less that he did not create or build the ark itself: he did what lay within his power with a cheerful heart and an industrious hand, and therein lay all the honour of his useful ministry. One thing more however was done, namely, the offering of burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. Such sacrifices and offerings derived the whole of their value from the presence of the ark. In this respect the ark performed the office of mediation. So in the Christian Church to-day all offerings, sacrifices, and acts of adoration, are utterly valueless except as they are offered at the cross and sanctified by the spiritual meaning of Christ’s offering.
“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. 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” ( 1Ch 16:2-3 ).
Here again is a service having a distinctly twofold relation, the one upward towards God, and the other downward towards the people. David could not have blessed the people if he had not first offered the burnt offerings and the peace offerings commanded by the law. What is this whole office but another way of stating the two cardinal commandments Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself? David’s first and long lingering look was towards God, in his majesty and holiness and condescension: then, having, so to say, identified himself with the living God, David turned towards the people and pronounced a priestly benediction upon them. The people were blessed in the name of the Lord; that is to say, the benediction was intensely religious; humanity was baptised in the divine name, and glorified by that name, and united indissolubly in that name. Looked at amongst themselves men appear to be separated and dissociated one from another, each having his individual characteristic and each asserting his personal claim. The human race is thus an endless series of jealous and angry rivalries. Something is needed to bring the whole into vital relations part with part, and that something is “the name of the Lord.” This was the designation given to the uniting force in the old dispensation; in the Christian economy the uniting energy is found in the Son of man. Apart from the mediation and rule of Jesus Christ men must live in perpetual conflict, misunderstanding one another, and urging upon one another unrighteous and unreasonable claims. The reconciliation of all human interests is in the Son of God. Where Jesus Christ reigns in the heart every concession is made to his authority; men ask one another what Christ would have them do, and they concur in sweet consent to seek his will and to abide by it, knowing that however much personal relations may be changed as to attitude and value, in the end it will be shown that Jesus Christ knew what was in man, and knew also what was best for every man to be and to do. Even if this were only a sentimental energy, it is full of beneficence in reference to all human relations: it checks ambition, it subdues selfishness, it enables the man to magnify the virtues of others, and it creates in the soul that sweet courtesy and brotherhood without which trustful and helpful life is impossible.
Not only did David bless the people in the name of the Lord, but dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, some outward and visible sign of goodwill and fellowship; he dealt to every one a loaf of bread a round cake a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine, rather, a raisin-cake, or mass of dried grapes. Soul and body are cared for in the Church. However high the enthusiasm, however ecstatic the joy, Jesus Christ never neglected what was practically needful in the case of every man. This is what the Church should do at all times. Its worship should be supreme, a very rapture of gladness; then it should be a benediction pronounced upon the people; and then it should be a gift of what is needful for the body as well as for the soul. All the wants of men should be supplied in the Church and by the Church. We are too much afraid of the word “secular” when we speak of religious relations and fellowships. We say that bread and flesh and wine belong to the market and not to the sanctuary. In a very narrow sense that may be true, but in the widest sense the Church should be the inclusive institution. It would seem that this principle was recognised by Jesus Christ when he said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things” bread and flesh and wine “shall be added unto you.” All the tenderest memories of the heart should cluster around the Church. Men should be able to say, It was at the Church I found reconciliation with God, peace with my fellow-men, a blessing fitted for the heart in all its faculties and aspirations, contentment of mind all blessings indeed for the body, all healthy and helpful enjoyments and recreations needed for the relaxation of the mind, and the retuning of its powers to resume the higher music of life. When did Jesus Christ ever send any one away from the Church to get a want supplied by some other minister? He had everything in his own hand, and he opened that hand without stint or grudging, that the whole hunger of mankind might be satisfied.
After appointing certain Levites to minister before the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel; after appointing Asaph the chief and others to follow him in the service of music, with psalteries and with harps, with a sound of cymbals, and with trumpets, David himself delivered a psalm to thank the Lord, calling upon Asaph and his brethren to set that psalm to music. Viewed as an ancient song the psalm is full of gracious suggestion. It calls upon the people to “give thanks unto the Lord.” The exercise of gratitude has an ennobling and a purifying effect upon the heart which practises it. David repeatedly insists upon the offering of thanks unto the Lord. This is not sentimental religion, it is religion founded upon reason, and suiting itself to the fitness of things. To receive benefits without returning thanks for them is to depress the mind from the elevation which is possible to it, and take away from the mind what may be called its wings, on which it flies back to the All-giving God, that he may be blessed for the blessings he has bestowed. David will have this expression of gratitude rendered in song “Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him.” This is the highest form of worship. Not only judgment, conscience, will, affection, but imagination and music are pressed into this holy service. What mouth can speak words of evil after it has been filled with religious song? Would not the attempt to send forth from the same mouth praise and cursing convict any man of an irony amounting to falsehood? With which of them should the mouth be credited, with the praise or with the curse? In which was the real man expressed? Happy he who can answer that his whole soul is uttered in religious music and aspiration, and that when any other word escapes his lips it is but an occasional break or flaw in the steady outgoing and uprising of his soul towards heaven.
The whole song which David indited was founded upon history “Give thanks unto the Lord, make known his deeds among the people,” and again, “Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth.” When men are called upon to praise God from a historical standpoint, their song may indeed be loud and sweet, for all the facts of history come to suggest the sentiment and to ennoble the music. The worshippers are not praising a God who is in the clouds, far off and unseen; he is one whose judgments are in all the earth, whose proofs of existence and government are to be found in the heart of every man who takes part in singing his praise. Nor will the psalmist have the covenant forgotten. When great miracles and wonders are wrought in the sight of all the people, he traces these tokens back to the covenant which God made, and the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Nothing occurs in the history of providence which surprises the psalmist in such a degree as to suspend his recollection of the ancient covenant. Whatever occurs, occurs as a comment upon the divine word. Nowhere does he say that anything new has been spoken, but everywhere he shows that some new illustration is being constantly given of the strength and goodness of the covenant of God. Hear how he speaks “Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” Thus, what we found in the first verse is repeated in the psalm. In the highest music true and simple history is never forgotten; whatever flowers of poetry or song may blossom in the psalmist’s garden, he always finds underneath them the solid rocks of divine covenant and providence. He is not forgetful of the fact that there were times when the covenant seemed to be set aside, and when God’s people were in a state of chaos, and were almost at the mercy of those who despised them “When they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people; he suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” Through all the undulation of circumstances there ran the unchangeable line of promise. We are not to look at our circumstances and suppose that the divine purpose is as mutable as themselves, always coming, always going, often disappointing the heart, and throwing down the pride of man into confusion and shame. In life we find what we have found in the first verse of this chapter a conjunction of the divine and the human, the immutable and the changeable, the covenantal and the circumstantial. What is it that has changed? In no case is the change to be found in the covenant of God, but always in the conduct of the people and their outward relations to one another, and to the peoples round about. Wherever good men wander they are still God’s anointed, and are still reckoned among his prophets; though they be homeless wanderers in the desert, they do not lose their divine election, or any of the honour which that election implies; though the Son of man had not where to lay his head, he was still the Son of man. When we turn away our eyes from our circumstances to the divine covenant we shall find rest and peace, yea, a double assurance, an infinite comfort and security. We do not trust for our illumination to lights which men have kindled, but to those luminous orbs which lie beyond the touch of the hands of men. “My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth: he will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” So great was the religious joy of David, that he would have all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues unite in the psalm of adoration. Even for this universal praise he assigns a reason, that reason being the greatness of the Lord. David does not call the people to worship One whose greatness was unattested, but to worship him who reigns over all the earth, a gracious Sovereign, a loving Father, whose mercy endureth for ever. It is indeed this word that gives the song all its nobleness and value ” his mercy endureth for ever.” All men may not be able to appreciate power or glory, but who cannot respond to the appeal of mercy, compassion, pity; love? The answer of the people showed that there was something in the song which touched every instinct “And all the people said Amen, and praised the Lord.” Some songs at once establish their claim to universal confidence. They come to us as if we had heard them in some other world; they have not to make their way into our affection and regard, instantly they attach themselves to the memory and awaken within us all our noblest powers; we feel indeed as if we must take part in them, as if to withhold our voices from the utterance of such songs were to deny the heart some gracious and inviolable right. Herein lies the great appeal of Jesus Christ. His gospel is not a lesson to be learned in a foreign tongue, a doctrine to be represented by dreams which are strange to our minds and to our senses; it is rather a gospel which needs only to be spoken in order to find its echo throughout our whole nature: it is the gospel we need; it is the very word we have been waiting for; it fulfils our expectation; it fills the heart to overflow.
Now the song is ended, the work of detailed religion began. David “left before the ark of the covenant of the Lord Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required” ( 1Ch 16:37 ). So it is in our own religious life. There are days of high festival and thrilling song, when the whole life seems to be given up to the joy of music; then there comes the time when we must descend from rapture to daily toil, to detailed and critical service, to all the minor industries which are at once a test of character and a blessing to those who are interested in their discharge. Every day has its work. We must see to it that there are no arrears in our Christian service. He who leaves over from one day to another what he ought to have done on the first will find his life crowded and confused. Discipline is the very soul of religion. We do not grow in grace by fits and starts, by doing two days’ work in one, or by showing our great skill and energy in the discharge of arrears; we grow little by little, line by line, almost imperceptibly, and only at the end do we see how minute has been the process, how detailed the whole exercise through which the mind has passed. David himself had his detailed work to attend to; we read in the forty-third verse, “David returned to bless his house.” We cannot always live in public; it is true that we have tent-work to do, temple-work, sanctuary-work, great public and philanthropic appeals to respond to, but when all that which is external or public has been done, every man must bless his own home, make his own children glad, make his own hearthstone as bright as he possibly can, and fill his own house with music and gladness. The danger of the day probably is that men may live too much in public; that they may care more for the platform than for the hearthstone, and be rather anxious to take part in the loud trumpeting of the sanctuary than in the quiet and loving household. This ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone. We are not called upon to give up either the public or the private, but to find a way of uniting them, and making the one balance the other in discipline, in service, and in gladness.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XX
BRINGING UP THE ARK AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CENTRAL PLACE OF WORSHIP
2Sa 6:1-7:29
The wars are now all over, and there has come a period of rest. The first thing that impresses David’s mind is this: “I have made Jerusalem the capital of the nation, and Mount Zion is the chief place in Jerusalem, but in order to keep this people unified, God must be present. Off yonder at Gibeon is the tabernacle and the brazen altar, a part of the people worshiping there, and there is an altar of sacrifice but no altar at Jerusalem. Ten miles off yonder at Kirjathjearim is the ark of the covenant; it has been there forty-eight years. Lost in the days of Eli to the Philistines, and returned by the Philistines and stopped at that place, and there another part of the people are worshiping.” You can see how David’s mind would be fastened upon the thought that he must bring that ark with its symbol of divine presence to his capital, but in order to bring it he must have a place to put it, so he selects a site for it and builds a tent, something like the tabernacle which Moses built, which was still at Gibeon, and it remained there until Solomon built the Temple. After Solomon built the Temple, the tabernacle was no longer regarded. It passes out of history.
It has been a characteristic of this man’s life to consult God in everything that he does. Now the priest carried two jewels on his Ephod called the Urim and Thummim, and through the Urim and Thummim God answered questions propounded. That Ephod with the Urim and Thummim had been carried by Abiathar to David in the cave of Adullam. All along through life he had that with him, and through these brilliant jewels in some way, we do not know just how, God answered questions propounded. There was also instituted an order of prophets who became the mouthpieces of Jehovah, so that if a man wanted to know Jehovah’s will he would go to the seer, or prophet, as David went to Nathan, and as Saul went to Samuel. These were two ways in which God communicated with the people the priest way, through the Urim and Thummim, and the prophet way, through their inspiration. It is the object of David to gather together at Jerusalem everything sacred the ark, tent, and altar, and the precious Urim and Thummim, so that here now in every way he may hear from God.
Sometimes God communicated with individuals in dreams and visions, but ordinarily through the two ways I have pointed out. We see why he wanted to get the ark up there, and how important in order to perpetuate unity and solidarity of his kingdom; all who would confer with God must come to his capital.
While David was king it was not an absolute monarchy. There was what was called the Convocation of Israel the general assembly. This section commences: “And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader.” Notice that he did not settle matters by a mere ipse dixit “words spoken by himself.” It was not by mere royal edict. He wanted the people to see and commit themselves to it, that this was the best thing to do for the nation. Sometimes a pastor becomes arbitrary in deciding what to do when he could accomplish his object a great deal better if he would confer with his brethren. David was not just a boss; he wanted everybody committed. After this consultation it was decided that they would go for the ark, and our text tells us how they brought it from Kirjathjearim on a cart drawn by oxen and that when the oxen stumbled and the cart looked as though it were going to turn over, Uzzah, one of the men who had been guiding it, reached out his hand to stop it, and God struck him dead instantly. That made a deep impression upon David and the people as deep as when Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire upon the altar and the lightning leaped from God and destroyed them; an impression as solemn as when at Peter’s words Ananias and Sapphira fell dead under the stroke of God. The question is, why? The answer is found in the Mosaic law, that while carts might be used to carry the external things, the posts of the enclosure, and the curtain of the enclosure, the things of the sanctuary had to be carried by men, and staves were fitted into each piece heavy enough to require it so that four men might carry it. They might put the other things in a cart, but these sacred things had to be borne by men. In the next place, only certain men could touch it without death. They must not only be of the tribe of Levi, but of the family of Kohath. In Numbers we have the order of the encampment of the twelve tribes, three on each of the four sides; the Levites made an inner circle, and the position of the Kohathites and their duties. Whenever the trumpet sounded the Kohathites had to pick up the ark to carry it. In this case the law was violated, and God, in order to show that there must be reverence for sacred things, and that his precise commands must be carried out, made the breach on Uzzah.
We now come to a question of David, and it is a great text 1Ch 13:12 : “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” What a theme for a sermon! If I were to preach on that I would show that wherever the ark was there was safety and blessing. After it stopped at Kirjathjearim that place was blessed; after it stopped at the house of Obed-Edom that home was blessed. Since that ark was a symbol of divine presence and divine guidance, it was a supreme question, “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” How shall I get the ark of God into my family, so that there will be safety, guidance, peace, and love? You see what kind of a sermon could be made out of it.
The whole vast crowd went back to Jerusalem and left the ark there. It was a good thing to have, but a bad thing to touch. It stayed at the house of Obed-Edom three months, and every hour it brought a blessing to that home. Our text tells us that David had made him houses in the city of David and prepared a place for the ark, if he could ever get it there: “How shall I bring it home to me?” The house that David built for himself was a palace.
The riches that he had made, the commerce that he had instituted, culminated in a treaty with Hiram, king of Tyre. Tyre was the great naval power of that age what England is now and through his alliance with Hiram he obtained the best artificers in wood and metal, skilled workmen, and cedars from Lebanon. These huge trees were floated to Joppa, and from Joppa brought across the country to Jerusalem, and so David had a fine house. When he went into that house the day it was finished, he wrote a song Psa 30 . I told you about his gratitude; whenever a blessing came, it brought immediately from him an expression of thanksgiving to God. He wrote Psa 30 and sang it at the dedication of the house. He dedicated this house of his to God. The song commences: I will extol thee, O Jehovah; for thou hast raised me up, And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Jehovah my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol; Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
I told you that in studying the psalms, you would get the interpretation of the inner life of David, and that you could tell from the psalms what events of his life most impressed him. Arrange the Davidic psalms in order, as they express the life of David. You will commence, of course, with the twenty-third, then the eighth, etc. There was a great difference between the Gave of Adullam and this fine palace. Some people do not get a home until late in life. Lorenzo Dow used to sing that he never had a home, and when a friend made him a present of a home, he declined it because it kept him from singing his favorite hymn.
David, hearing that the blessings of God had been on ObedEdom, and wanting this blessing brought to Jerusalem, studied the law and the law told him how to handle the ark; that the Kohathites should bear it, the Levites only should come near it; so he set out again with a vast host nearly 1000 singers to go after the ark.
Three chief singers led with cymbals, then three more men led the lute or psaltery-crowd, and three more men led the harp-crowd, and the priests blew the trumpets for signals. On page 127 (1Ch 15:19 ) we have: “So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed, with cymbals of brass to sound aloud; and Zechariah and Asiel, and Shemiramoth and Jehiel, and Unni and Eliab, and Maaseiah and Benaiah with psalteries set to Alamoth.” “Alamoth” means female choir; “Sheminith,” male choir. He started out to get the ark home, and when he got to the place they sang this song, Psa 15:1 : Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, And speaketh truth in his heart; He that slandereth not with his tongue.
Then when the Kohathites lifted up the ark, he said, “Let God arise, and his enemies be scattered,” the song that Cromwell sang before battle. And now having picked up the ark, the priests with the trumpets gave the signals to the cymbal-band., the psaltery-band whose singers were maidens, and to the harp-band. When that vast host drew near to Jerusalem, they sang Psa 24:7 . Lift up your heads, O ye gates, And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors.
They marched in and deposited the ark in its place in the tent and then David repeated the words of Moses: “Return to thy rest, O Lord,” then followed refreshments, and then followed the benediction.
I will not go over the pageantry, but will present this thought: The Harmony tells us (p. 128) “On that day David first ordained to give thanks unto the Lord, by the hand of Asaph and his brethren.” In other words, as soon as he got the ark in its place, he instituted that remarkable worship which has never been equalled from that day to this; there was something every day, morning sacrifice and evening sacrifice. He appointed 24,000 Levites to various services around the sanctuary. There were twelve different bands, twenty-four pieces each, for each month of the year, and on great occasions these 288 pieces would be in one grand band with a choir of 4,000 voices; but every month of the year a certain band would know that it would have to go in. There were a great many singers, male and female; singers corresponding to cymbals, singers corresponding to harps, and singers corresponding to cornets. I do not suppose that history has a parallel to this organization of music. It became somewhat greater in Solomon’s time, but David was the organizer.
We now come to one of the most important lessons in the Bible (p. 131). You will understand that Deu 12:10-11 , is the key passage for interpreting the present section. Here is the direction that after they get over into the Promised Land and their enemies are subdued, the kingdom is settled, all the wars ended, then God will designate a central place of worship for his house. David was familiar with the passage in Deuteronomy. He now believes that the provisional days are over, and that the time has come for God to have fixed habitation where all must come, in fulfilment of that passage, and he purposes in his heart to build the most magnificent house for God that the world has ever seen (2Sa 7:1-3 ). He was not mistaken in the divine purpose to have a central place of worship; he was not mistaken that Jerusalem was the place, but he was mistaken as to the time when, and the man by whom this glorious Temple of God should be erected. It is important for you to see wherein he was mistaken and wherein he was not mistaken. God commends him for his zeal: “It was well that thou didst purpose this in thine heart.” “That is a good thing, but you are not the man to do it.”
The Bible assigns two reasons why David was not the man. In 1Ki 5:3 , Solomon, who was the right man, uses this language: Thou knowest how that David, my father, could not build a house for the name of Jehovah his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until Jehovah put these under the soles of his feet. In other words, the military power of David had not fully given rest; the time of rest had not fully come; a partial rest had come, but not the full rest necessary to the establishment of this house. Solomon then adds: But now Jehovah my God hath given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. That is the first reason.
We find another reason in 1 Chronicles. David is speaking: “But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build a house for my name, because thou art a man of war, and hast shed blood” (1Ch 28:3 ). He refers to it again as follows: “But the word of Jehovah came to me saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build a house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight” (1Ch 22:8 ).
Now go back to the passage in Deuteronomy: “When you have gotten over into that country and have obtained rest from all your enemies, then this permanent house of God shall be built.” David mistook, (1) the time the wars were not yet ended; (2) the person he had been a man of war and had shed blood abundantly, and the builder of the house of God must be a prince of peace. We will have use for this thought when we come to consider the antitype. Whereupon the message to David, the message of our text (and I want you to see that this divine message to David made the deepest impression ever made upon his mind by any event of his life) made a stronger impression upon the Jewish mind after his time than any preceding thing. You will find the psalms full of references to it, and the prophets magnify it above every promise, particularly Isaiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, and you will find that this message that Nathan, from God, delivered to David, thrilled the Jewish heart with marvelous expectation of the Messiah, David’s son, the Great King that was to come. Frequent reference is made to it in the New Testament, and Matthew’s whole Gospel was written on the thought of the coming of the King. This is his great theme.
In order to see how this impressed David, notice the exact words spoken to him (2Sa 7:4-7 ): “And it came to pass the same night, that the word of Jehovah came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith Jehovah, shalt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even unto this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, Why have ye not built me a house of cedar?” “During the period of the judges, when I selected a judge like Samson, or Gideon, or Barak, did I at any time say to any of these judges that the time had come to build me a permanent house?” (Read 2Sa 7:8-16 .) That was the message and it is very easy to see from the context that at the time it made a most wonderful impression upon the mind of David, as you further note from his prayer following right after it. (Read 2Sa 7:18-19 ; 1Ch 17:16-17 .) Consider particularly these words: “And this too after the manner of men, ‘O lord Jehovah.” Luther translates that passage thus: “This is after the manner of a man who is God, the Lord.” That is to say, such a promise cannot fulfil itself in a man of low degree. The Chronicles passage has it: “Thou hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree.” David does not understand that his son Solomon is to exhaust the meaning of this passage.
In order to prove the impression made on David’s mind, let us read all of Psa 72 which closes with the words of David and ends a book of the Psalms. The subscription is: “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.” You may easily gather from this psalm that when this promise was made through Nathan that God would build him a house house meaning family except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain to build it, since children are a heritage of the Lord. The King in his mind appears from Psa 2 . (Read Psa 2:1-8 .) Then again in Psa 110:1 “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” This king is to be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Then in Psa 89 . (Read Psa 89:2-4 .) Notice again in Psa 45 . (Read the entire psalm.) Now we want to know how this promise to David impressed the mind of the prophet. (Read Isa 11:1-10 .)
The genealogies of both Matthew and Luke prove that Jesus was a descendant of David. (Read Luk 1:31-33 ; Luk 1:68-70 .)
Another passage (Read Heb 1:5 ). “Again” here refers to Christ’s resurrection. His soul had gone up to God at his death on the cross to make atonement, and after the atonement returned for the body, and when the resurrection took place God said, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” Again, in Hebrews, he says that Moses built a house, the tabernacle, and Solomon, the lineal son of David, built a house, the Temple. But the Temple that Solomon built was out of unfeeling rock, unthinking stone, quarried as rough ashlars from the mountains; then by certain processes smoothed and fashioned into things of beauty, to be fitted into the earthly Temple of the Lord, which is a type of human beings, quarried as rough ashlars from the mountains of sin; then by the marvelous works of regeneration and sanctification, they become smooth ashlars ready for fitting into the temple of God, the living temple, to be a habitation for God, through the Spirit, to the end of the world. See also the last chapter of Revelation.
My point is, that while this promise of God through Nathan rested for the time being on Solomon, who did build a house, that it looked to a higher than Solomon, to a more distant day. Let us read Luther’s translation again: “This is after the manner of a man who is God, our Lord.” When you study the vast literature of the Old Testament say such a series as Hengstenberg’s Christology or Hengstenberg’s Kingdom of God, or any good commentary on 2Sa 7 and parallel passages in Chronicles, you will find that they regard this promise made to David as the most remarkable ever made. The prophetic light grew brighter all the time. Way back yonder the seed of the woman, Abel, then Seth, Shem, Abram, Isaac, Jacob. . . David, but here the messianic light becomes most brilliant in this promise.
QUESTIONS
1. What are the general conditions of affairs at this point, and what prompted David to bring up the ark from Kirjathjearim?
2. In what three ways did God communicate with his people, and what was the bearing of these on the removal of the ark and tabernacle to Jerusalem?
3. What course did David pursue, and the lesson therefrom, what incident here shows the sanctity of the ark and the impression made by it, and what Mosaic law was violated here?
4. What text here for a sermon, and the line of thought suggested?
5. Give an account of the building and dedication of David’s house.
6. What course did David pursue before attempting again to bring up the ark?
7. Describe the procession that went after the ark. What psalm did they sing as they started?
8. What did David say when the Kohathites lifted up the ark, and what general sang it before battle?
9. What song did they sing as they approached Jerusalem, and what did David say when they deposited the ark in the tent?
10. Describe the course of worship instituted by David.
11. Cite the direction for the establishment of the central place of worship; what David’s purpose concerning it; wherein was he not mistaken, and wherein was he mistaken?
12. Why was not David the man to build the Temple?
13. What message brought to David by Nathan, what impression did it make on his own mind, on the Jewish mind, and what Old Testament and New Testament references to it?
14. What was Luther’s translation of, “And this too after the manner of men O Lord Jehovah,” and what its meaning?
15. What was the impression made on David’s mind, and what was the proof?
16 How did this promise to David impress the mind of Isaiah?
17. Who was the immediate fulfilment of this promise to David, who the remote fulfilment, and what the New Testament proof?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1Ch 16:1 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.
Ver. l. And they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings ] Those pointed them to Christ, freeing them from their sins, both from the crime and from the curse: these taught them thankfulness for Christ, and all benefits in and by him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 Chronicles Chapter 16
I said but little of the Psalm that was sung on that day, delivered by David to Asaph and his brethren. In point of fact, it consists of portions of several Psalms put together in what might seem a singular manner, but surely with divine wisdom. They are taken from the 4th and 5th books of Psalms – I suppose most here are aware that the Psalms consist of five books with definite characters. The 4th book consists of those Psalms that anticipate the establishment of the kingdom of Jehovah; and the 5th book, the results of that kingdom. However, there is this particularly to be noted – that the ark of God was now pitched in a tent provisionally in Jerusalem. It was no longer with the tabernacle. This was a most striking change, and it belonged to the peculiarity of David’s position. The authority of the king was the centre of Israel now – the type of the Lord Jesus – for God has reserved the place of chief honour for His Son, and David represents this. Hence we see that the priests retired into a secondary place; the king came forward prominently. So it is said, “He left there, before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, Asaph and his brethren to minister before the ark continually.” The ark, which was the throne of Jehovah in Israel, was new in this close connection with the king more than with the priests. By-and-by all was ranged round this centre, but it was only a provisional state of things.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
brought the ark. See note on 1Ch 15:3. This was in 951-950 B.C. A Sabbatic year.
the ark. See notes on 1Ch 13:3, and Exo 25:22.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4. See note on 1Ch 14:10-16.
the tent. See note on 1Ch 15:1.
offered = brought near. Hebrew. karab. App-43.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 16
In chapter sixteen,
They brought the ark of the covenant, and they set it in the midst of the tent, the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and they offered the burnt sacrifices and the peace offerings before God ( 1Ch 16:1 ).
And then David ordered a choir.
And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to record ( 1Ch 16:4 ),
Now that idea of recording was for remembrances. To record the things that God had done so that the people could remember the glorious works of God. And so part of the Psalms are psalms of remembrance. Psa 38:1-22 and Psa 70:1-5 , you’ll read the titles above the psalms: the psalm of David for remembrance. These are the… what they call the recording psalms or the record psalms. To make a record of what God had done to bring the people into remembrance. And then some of the psalms were those of thanksgiving, giving thanks unto the Lord, and then other psalms of just praise to the Lord God of Israel.
Now Asaph was the chief musician appointed by David, and next to him, Zechariah and these other fellows.
And Asaph made a sound with cymbals ( 1Ch 16:5 );
They played, of course, a psaltery; whatever type of instrument that was. And with harps; whatever a harp was in those days.
Now on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren ( 1Ch 16:7 ).
So David gave him the lyrics, and these guys started singing and worshipping the Lord with this song or psalm.
Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance; and when ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it. And when you were from went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people; he did not allow any man to do you wrong: yea, he reproved the kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be reverenced above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD hath made the heavens. Glory and honor are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place. Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory that is due his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him, all the earth: and the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let the men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: and let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein. And then shall the trees of the wood sing out in the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. And say ye, Hosanna, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel for ever and ever. And all of the people said, Amen, and they praised the LORD ( 1Ch 16:8-36 ).
So glorious psalm of thanksgiving and praise that David gave. The first that was sung in the establishing of the worship for the children of Israel as once again they built the tabernacle, brought the ark of the covenant, and began to establish the worship of God once more as the heart of the nation. And so David then appointed Asaph and his brethren to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required.
And the people departed to every man: and David returned to bless his house ( 1Ch 16:43 ).
You know, after this glorious time of praise and worship and all. And then David in chapter seventeen expresses his desire to build a house of God. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
1Ch 16:1-3
1Ch 16:1-3
THE ARK PLACED IN THE TENT PREPARED FOR IT;
DAVID APPOINTS MINISTERS TO SERVE BEFORE THE ARK;
AND DELIVERS AN APPROPRIATE PSALM TO ASAPH;
THE ARK BROUGHT INTO JERUSALEM
“And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had prepared for it: and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God. And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offerings and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Jehovah. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins.”
These verses actually belong to the record of bringing the ark into Jerusalem in the previous chapter. “They make it clear that the sacrifices were presented by the whole community of Israel with the Levitical priests performing their proper functions. David appears here, not as a priest, but as the king who supervised the proper activities of worship.”
E.M. Zerr:
1Ch 16:1. All of the articles of furniture for the regular services were at Gibeon except the ark. That would constitute an emergency which justified David in making the sacrifices in another manner in Jerusalem. Many items of the law were somewhat neglected under the various difficulties forced upon the nation. Wanton disregard for the ordinances was not passed over, but circumstances for which a leader was not responsible often tempered the justice of God.
1Ch 16:2-3. A blessing pronounced by a man of authority, such as David, was more than a mere expression of good will. It carried with it the favor of God. These people had just completed a march of some distance, hence the dealing out of food was in order and would be considered one of the blessings.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The Ark was brought in with great rejoicing, and we have the psalm sung on the occasion. This great psalm of praise sung by the trained musicians is a compilation of parts of three found in the Book of Psalms, and its three movements are distinguished by the three quotations.
The first part consists of the first fifteen verses of Psa 105:1-45. This is a general ascription of praise which merges into a call to remembrance of the works of God, and of His government covenant with the people. A slight change is made. In the psalm from which the quotation is made it is declared that God remembered His Covenant. In the form in which it was sung when the Ark was brought in men are called on to remember that Covenant.
The second movement (verses 1Ch 16:23-33) is a quotation from Psa 96:1-13; Psa 1:1-6; Psa 2:1-12; Psa 3:1-8; Psa 4:1-8; Psa 5:1-12; Psa 6:1-10; Psa 7:1-17; Psa 8:1-9; Psa 9:1-20; Psa 10:1-18; Psa 11:1-7; Psa 12:1-8; Psa 13:1-6. In this the sacrifice of praise moves on to a higher level, and expresses itself in adoration of God for what He is in Himself in majesty.
The third division (verses 1Ch 16:34-36) is a quotation of the opening and closing sentences of Psa 106:1-48, verses 1, 47, and 48. Here again praise moves into a yet higher sphere, and consists of an expression of thankfulness to God for what He is in Himself in mercy.
These movements indicate a growth of experience, centering in the presence of the Ark among a people as the symbol of divine interest and nearness. First, it was that around which God led them and made His Covenant with them. Second, it became the assurance of the display of His power and glory under differing circumstances in their history. Finally, its restoration, after a period of neglect, was the sure token of His mercy.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
1Ch 16:29
Beauty consists in delicacy of proportion, a harmony of parts conveying to the mind sweet associations of thought. Holiness is the subdued reflection of the bright things of heaven, the image of God traceable in His creatures, a spirit of love, and peace, and order, gathering all things gracefully into a unity of being and a singleness of purpose. Then is not holiness true beauty?
I. Our services on earth are done best when they copy most the worship of heaven. There the beauty of saints and angels is their awe. The nearest to God will always be the most reverential. To a well-ordered mind it is a very solemn thing to draw near to the immediate presence of the Most High.
II. There should always be a certain preparedness of mind in coming before God, remembering what we are: poor sinners coming into the presence of infinite purity to exercise the highest function and privilege of human existence.
III. It is part of the constitution of a Church, without which it cannot be “beautiful,” that every member should be exercising in some way his own proper gift for the service of God and the extension of His kingdom. For a Church is to be a centre-a centre of expansion, always extending itself, light and love always radiating from it.
IV. The acme of holiness itself is love. Let your sympathies go out and give expression to the thought you feel. Let the Church be more what it ought to be, “one family,” and so “grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ.”
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 9th series, p. 87.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
they brought: 2Sa 6:17-19, 1Ki 8:6, 2Ch 5:7
in the midst: 1Ch 15:1, 1Ch 15:12, 2Ch 1:4, Psa 132:8
they offered: 1Ki 8:5, 2Ch 5:6, Ezr 6:16-18
Reciprocal: 2Sa 7:2 – curtains 1Ki 3:15 – before 1Ki 8:1 – out of the city 1Ch 6:31 – after that 1Ch 6:38 – Izhar 1Ch 17:1 – under curtains 2Ch 5:2 – out Ezr 6:17 – offered Psa 42:4 – for I Psa 43:3 – tabernacles Psa 66:15 – I will offer Ecc 9:7 – eat Mal 3:4 – as
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ch 16:1-3. So they brought back the ark of God For these three verses, see notes on 2Sa 6:17-19. A flagon of wine A draught of wine. Hiller and Waterland.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ch 16:7. David delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph. The sublime and well chosen pieces sung before the ark, will be found and illustrated in Psalms 105.
1Ch 16:22. Touch not mine anointed. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were in the divine esteem kings, prophets, and priests. God reproved Abimelech and Pharaoh on Abrahams account: yet all men are amenable for conduct and character.
1Ch 16:42. Musical instruments. They were uniformly sanctioned by the prophets. See on Psalms 150.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ch 15:25 to 1Ch 16:3. See notes on 2Sa 6:12-19.
1Ch 16:4-6. This appointment of Levites to serve before the Ark refers to the permanent arrangements as distinct from the temporary appointment of Levites to bring up the Ark to Jerusalem (1Ch 15:17 ff.).
1Ch 16:7-36. This psalm of thanksgiving and praise is, with only slight variations, a compilation from the Psalter, viz. vv. 1Ch 16:8-22 = Psa 105:1-15; 1Ch 16:23-33 = Psalms 116; 1Ch 16:34-36 = Psa 106:1; Psa 106:47 f. (see the notes on these Pss.).
1Ch 16:37-43. A continuation of 1Ch 16:4-6 dealing further with the duties of the priests and Levites.