The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of Kings

Comp. Rev. i. 13, xv. 6.

326

On this sagan, the later title for the "second priest," see 2 Kings xxv. 18; Jer. lii. 24.

327

He refers to Wünsche, Die Leiden des Messias.

328

Mark ix. 49.

329

Lev. vi. 17, vii. 1, xiv. 13. On this whole subject see Edersheim, pp. 79-111.

330

See Judg. vi. 19-21; 1 Sam. ii. 13, xiv. 35; 1 Kings xix. 21; 2 Kings v. 17.

331

LXX., ὁλοκαύτωμα.

332

LXX., περὶ ἁμαρτίας. Chattath and Ashâm both imply guilt, debt, sin. "The trespass offering affected rights of property, but no precise definition of the two kinds of expiatory offerings can be based upon the statements made in the Pentateuch in respect to them. Perhaps they cannot all be referred to the same time and to one author; for they prescribe both sin and trespass offerings in cases of Levitical impurity, and also for moral offences. All Levites attempting to establish palpable distinctions between them must inevitably fail." (Kalisch, Leviticus, part ii., p. 272). The general scheme of sacrifices, as they now stand in the Pentateuch, is as follows: —

333

LXX., πλημμελεία.

334

LXX., θυσία σωτηρίον.

335

The phrase "wave offering" indicates the ceremony used by the priests in presenting peace offerings to God.

336

For the full development of these views, see Wellhausen's Prolegomena.

337

See Bishop Barry's article on Sacrifice in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, to which, in this paragraph, I am much indebted.

338

Lev. v. 11-13.

339

See Kuenen, Rel. of Israel, ii. pp. 259-76.

340

Speaker's Commentary, Leviticus, p. 508. In Lev. xvii. 11 – "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have ordained it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for the blood it is which makes atonement by means of the soul" – Kurtz points out that the blood is simply chosen as a symbol, and the superstition that there is any atoning virtue in the blood itself is excluded.

341

Pæd., ii. 2, § 19.

342

The Priestly Code is that part of the Pentateuch which is occupied with public worship and the function of priests – viz., most of Leviticus; Exod. xxv. – xl.; Numb. i. – x., xv. – xx., xxv. – xxxvi. (with inconsiderable exceptions)

343

In Psalm xl. 6, "Sin offering hast Thou not required." The Psalm is perhaps of the age of Jeremiah.

344

He argues that even in Chronicles it is not mentioned; and that there was no curtain (Parocheth) before the Holiest in Solomon's Temple (1 Kings vi. 31, 32. Comp. Ezek. xli. 23, 24; 1 Kings viii. 8). He considers that 2 Chron. iii. 14 (the only place in the Old Testament where Parocheth occurs except in the P.C.) cannot overthrow 1 Kings vi. 21, which speaks only of chains of gold between the Holy and the Holiest. (There was a curtain in Herod's Temple, Matt. xxvii. 51; Heb. ix. 3). But if there was no Parocheth in Solomon's Temple, the rule of Lev. xvi. 2, 12, 15 could not have been observed.

345

This caused immense perplexity to the Rabbis. Shabbath, xiii. 2; Chagigah, xiii. 1; Menachoth, xlv. 1.

346

1 Sam. xv. 22.

347

Amos v. 21-23.

348

Micah vi. 6-8. Some suppose that the words are attributed to Balaam (see verse 5).

349

Hosea vi. 6.

350

Isa. i. 11-16.

351

Jer. vii. 22, xi. 15.

352

Jer. xxxiii. 14-26 seems to speak in a different tone, but is probably an interpolation. It is not found in the LXX.

353

Psalm l. 8-14.

354

Psalm li. 16, 17. It is difficult to believe that the two last verses of the Psalm are not a later addition.

355

Psalm xl. 6.

356

Prov. xxi. 3.

357

Psalm lxix. 30, 31.

358

Mark xii. 32, 33. So in the Talmud: "Acts of justice are more meritorious than all sacrifices" (Succoth., lxix. 2).

359

Matt. ix. 13.

360

Matt. xii. 7.

361

Rom. xii. 1; 1 Peter ii. 5.

362

Heb. x. 4, 11.

363

Heb. xiii. 16.

364

Ecclus. xxxv. 1-15.

365

Comp. Ov., Trist., ii. 1, 75; Ep. xx. 81; Persius, ii. 45; Varro, ap. Arnob., c. Natt., vii. 1. "Dii veri neque desiderant ea, neque deposcunt."

366

Philo, De Victimis, 5.

367

A. Geiger, Judenthum und seine Geschichte, Sect. 5.

368

Vajikra R., 22 and 34 b. They got over Jer. xxxiii. 18 (in Yalkuth, on the passage) by saying, "He that doeth repentance it is counted to him as if he offered all the sacrifices of the land." They held that the place of sacrifices was taken by prayer, penitence, and good works. See Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, i. 275.

369

See Spencer, De Legg. Ritual., iii.; Dissert., ii., chap. 1.

370

Evang. Ebion, ap. Epiph., Hær., xxx. 16.

371

Mark vii. 19.

372

It was twice repaired – about b. c. 856 in the reign of Joash, and about two centuries later under Josiah.

373

See Isa. xxix. 13, 14; Ezek. xxxiii. 31; Matt. xv. 7-9; Col. i. 20-22, etc. Comp. Wellhausen, pp. 77-79.

374

Rev. xxi. 22.

375

1 Kings ix. 6-9. The phrase "at this house which is high" is uncertain. The Vulgate has "domus hæc erit in exemplum"; the Peshito and Arabic have "and this house shall be destroyed."

376

To form some notion of these buildings, see the excellent illustrations in Stade, i. 318-25.

377

The hill of Zion, the city of David, had become overcrowded, and the hill which lay to the north, which was called Millo, or "the border," had to be included in it. A narrow valley lay between them. "Mount Moriah, and its offshoot Ophel, remained outside the city, and the latter was inhabited by the remnant of the Jebusites" (Grätz, Hist. of the Jews, E. T., i. 121); Millo, LXX., ἡ ἄκρα. See 1 Macc. iv. 41, xiii. 49-52; Josephus, Antt., XIII. vi. 7.

378

1 Kings ix. 19.

379

The "linen yarn" of 1 Kings x. 28 seems to be an error. The Hebrew is מִקְוֵה; LXX., ἐκ Θεκουέ; Vulg., de Coâ; R.V., "in droves."

380

2 Chron. ix. 21.

381

See Max Müller, Lectures on Language, i. 191. The names Shen Habbim, "ivory" (Sanskr. ibhas, "elephant"), Kophim, "apes" (Sanskr. kapi), Tukkyim, "peacocks" (Tamil, togei), "algum trees" (Sanskr. Valgaka, LXX. πελεκητά, Alex. ἀπελέκητα, Vulg. thyina), all point to India. Aloes (ahalim, Psalm xlv. 8) are a fragrant tree of Malacca; cassia (Ind. koost), cinnamon (cacyn-nama) come from Ceylon. See Stanley, ii. 185. European history here first comes into contact with Sanskrit.

382

See Eccles. ii. 4-6. See on the extensive water-works, Ewald, iii. 252-57.

383

2 Chron. ix. 21.

384

נֶשֶׁק; LXX., στακτή, "oil of myrrh."

385

1 Kings x. 25.

386

See Cant. i. 9, iii. 6-11, iv. 8; 2 Chron. xi. 6; Josephus, Antt., VIII. vii. 3; Psalm xlv.

387

The great statue of Athene by Phidias was of this "Chryselephantine" work. Comp. "ivory palaces" (Psalm xlv. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 39; Amos iii. 15) and "ivory couches" (Amos vi. 4).

388

Josephus, Antt., VIII. v. 2; Hosea iv. 16; Jer. xxxi. 18, etc.

389

Ezek. xxvii., xxviii.; Zech. ix. 3.

390

The Abyssinian, confusing Sheba (Arabia Felix) with Seba (as do Origen and Augustine), call her Makeda, Queen of Abyssinia, and say that she had a son by Solomon named Melinek (Ludolphus, Æthiop., ii. 3), from whom all their emperors down to Theodore were descended. The legend of the Queen of Sheba is related in the Qur'an, Sura xxvii. 20-40 (chapter of the Ant). The Arabs call her Balkis, whose legends are narrated by D'Herbelot (Bibl. Or., s.v. Balki). Josephus identifies her with Nicaule (the Nitocris of Herod., ii. 100), Josephus, Antt., VIII. vi. 2. In the New Testament she is called "the Queen of the South" (Matt. xii. 42).

391

He had made two hundred large shields (tzinnîm, θυρεοί, scuta) and three hundred targets (maginnîm, ἀσπίδες, clypei) of gold at fabulous cost (1 Kings x. 16). They were all plundered by Shishak.

392

1 Kings x. 5, but "ascent" should perhaps be "burnt offering," as in margin of R.V. and in all the versions. Comp. 2 Chron. ix. 4 (LXX.). A special seat or platform of brass seems to have been assigned to Solomon in the Temple court (2 Kings xi. 14, xvi. 18, xxiii. 3; 2 Chron. vi. 13).

393

Josephus says that she introduced the balsam plant into Palestine, which, in later years at Jericho, became a great source of revenue. Jer. viii. 22, xlvi. 11; Ezek. xxvii. 17; Josephus, Antt.; VIII. vi. 6, XIV. iv. 1, XV. iv. 2; Pliny, H. N., xii. 54, xiii. 9 (but see Gen. xliii. 11).

394

Psalm lxxii. 15. Spices, Herod., iii. 107-113. For one hundred and twenty talents we should probably read twenty (comp. Josephus, Antt., VIII. vi. 6), i. e., twelve thousand pounds. Into the riddles of Balkis (1 Kings x. 1, "hard questions"; LXX., αἰνίγματα), and all the strange Talmudic and Arabian legends which have gathered round her visit, we need not enter. I may perhaps refer to my little monograph on Solomon (pp. 134-37), in the Men of the Bible series.

395

The 666 gold talents of his revenue are estimated at £3,613,500, and this is described as his own revenue, exclusive of tolls, tributes, etc. (1 Kings x. 15). Presents reached him from "kings of the mingled people" (Jer. xxv. 24), Pachas of the country (פֶחָה Ezra v. 6; Neh. v. 14).

396

See Weil, Biblische Legenden; D'Herbelot, Bibl. Oriental, s.v. Soliman ben-Daoud; Qur'an, Suras xxii., xxvii., xxviii., xxxiv. "Suleyman" means "Little Solomon," a term of affection.

397

Stanley, Lectures, ii. 166, 167.

398

See Euseb., Præp. Evang., x. 11.

399

Lev. xxv. 23, 24. See Judg. i. 31, 32.

400

Hence, perhaps, the name "Galilee of the nations" (Isa. ix. 1). Comp. "Harosheth of the nations" (Judg. iv. 2, 13). Hazor was in this district.

401

Milman, Hist. of the Jews, i. 321.

402

1 Kings ix. 10-13. There was a place called Cabul in Asher (Josh. xix. 27). Ewald thinks that Cabul was a sort of witticism meaning "as nothing." Josephus (Antt., VIII. v. 3) says that in Phœnician χαβαλὼν means "not pleasing," and that Hiram would not take the cities. Nothing can be made of the allusion to this transaction in 2 Chron. viii. 1, 2. Why did Solomon re-occupy these cities? and why did Hiram give him one hundred and twenty talents of gold? The gloss put on the matter by late tradition cannot conceal the fact that Solomon tried to diminish his embarrassments by alienating some of the sacred territory.

403

The later Jews chose the name "Alexander" as the Western equivalent for Solomon: hence the names "Alexander Jannæus," etc.

404

1 Kings iii. 15. See Ecclus. xlvii. 12-21.

405

"L'amour du luxe et de la nouveauté le conduira peu à peu à défaire l'œuvre de son père, à ruiner le peuple dont il pouvait faire le bonheur, à detruire les institutions, et à dédaigner le culte national, auquel il avait d'abord cherché à donner le plus grand éclat." – Munk, Palestine, p. 285.

406

1 Kings ix. 25.

407

Modern criticism generally regards the Book of Deuteronomy, or some elements of it, as "the Book of the Law" which was found in the Temple by the high priest Hilkiah in the reign of Josiah. We shall speak of this in the following volume (in 2 Kings). See Deut. xvii. 18.

408

LXX., ἦν φιλογύνγς. Vulg., adamavit mulieres alienigenus.

409

Some suppose that this clause about Milcom is an interpolation from 2 Kings xxiii. 13.

410

See Exod. xxxiv. 11-17; Deut. vii. 1-4. The Talmud makes one of its dishonest attempts to get rid of the fact; Shabbath, p. 56, b. Sanhedrin, ff. 55, 56. Justin Martyr preserves a tradition (Dial. c. Tryph., 34) that Solomon in taking a Sidonian wife worshipped idols at Sidon. Muslim tradition attributes Solomon's idolatry to the tricks of demons who assumed his form (Qur'an, Sura ii. 99; but see Sura xxxviii. 30).

411

Prov. xxxi. 3.

412

The Song of Solomon (vi. 8) gives him, besides the 'alamoth ("damsels") "without number," the sixty wives (saroth), and the eighty concubines, who were partly perhaps their slaves.

413

Parmen. ap. Athen., Deipnos., iii. 3. Comp. Quint. Curt., Vit. Alex., iii. 3. Amehhate of Egypt had more than three hundred and seventeen wives (Brugsch, Egypt, iii. 607, E.T.). Rehoboam, who had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, left twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. Solomon, so far as we know, had only one son and two daughters.

414

Cant. vi. 8.

415

The Vatican MS. of the LXX. adds Syrian and Amorite princesses to the number. Marriages with Sidonians and Hittites are expressly forbidden in Exod. xxxiv. 12-16, and with Canaanites in Deut. vii. 3 (comp. Ezra ix. 2 and Neh. xiii. 23).

416

Numb. xxv. 3.

417

See Prov. ii. 10-22, v. 1-14, vi. 24-35, etc. (contrast Psalm cxliv. 12-15).

418

In 1 Kings xi. 9-25 the mischief inflicted by Rezon and Hadad is represented as a punishment for Solomon's apostasy. It has been said that here "the pragmatism belongs to the redactor," because these enemies sprang into existence when he came to the throne. But, as I have here represented it, nothing seems more probable than that Rezon and Hadad were practically impotent to inflict much damage before the period of Solomon's decline. (Verse 23 is omitted in some MSS. of the LXX.)

419

An isolated anecdote of the exterminating war is preserved in 1 Chron. xi. 22, 23, from which it would seem that Egypt had interfered in favour of Edom.

420

Renan conjectures that the real Egyptian name is Ahotepnes. The LXX. wrongly calls this Pharaoh Sheshonk (Σουσακείμ), who came later, and whose queen's name was Karaäma (not Thekemina, as the LXX. says).

421

Canon Rawlinson (Speaker's Commentary, ad loc.) points out that fugitives once received at Eastern courts found it very difficult to get away, e. g., Democedes, Herod., iii. 132-37. Histiæus, in leaving the court of Persia, has expressly to say that he had lacked nothing – τεῦ δὲ ἐνδεὴς ὤν; Herod., v. 106; comp. 1 Kings xi. 22.

422

1 Kings xi. 14: "The Lord stirred up an adversary" (שָׂטָן).

423

Stade, i. 302. In 1 Kings xi. 22, 25 the text is corrupt. Verse 25 should partly be transferred to the end of verse 22, and should run, "And Hadad returned to his own land," i. e., to Edom. (Edom has been confused with "Aram.")

424

The additions to the LXX. call her Sarira. But the names "Sarira," "Enlamite," "Ano" are all suspicious; and possibly the LXX. additions may be only part of some Alexandrian Haggadah.

425

In 2 Chron. ix. 29 the LXX. reads "Joel." He wrote "visions" against Jeroboam, a life of Ahijah, and a book "on (or after the manner of) genealogies" (2 Chron. ix. 29, xii. 15, xiii. 22). Jerome (on 2 Chron. xv. 1) identifies him with Oded.

426

2 Chron. ix. 29. Perhaps 1 Kings xi. may be borrowed from the historic records of Ahijah.

427

For in the LXX. 1 Kings xi. 29-39 is absent in some MSS., as well as 1 Kings xiv. (Ahijah and Abijah), which has been added from the Greek version of Aquila. In verse 29, for "Ahijah the Shilonite" we have in some MSS. of the LXX. "Shemaiah the Elamite" or "Eulamite."

428

1 Kings xi. 29, addition of LXX.

429

The square cloth worn over the other dress, and now called abba, seems to represent the salemâh (שַׂלְמָה) here mentioned.

430

The story is usually made to apply to Jeroboam's new robe; but in the addition to the LXX., where the action is ascribed to Shemaiah, the word of the Lord says to him, λάβε σεαυτῷ ἱμάτιον καινὸν τὸ οὐκ εἰσεληλυθὸς εἰς ὕδωρ κ. τ. λ. The method of "acted parables" was common among the Hebrew prophets (See Jer. xiii., xix., xxvii.; Ezek. iii., iv., v., etc.); but this is the earliest recorded instance of the kind.

431

Not "two tribes," as the LXX. says. But neither the number 1 nor the number 2 are literally exact, for certainly Jeroboam did not command the territory of Simeon, south of Judah. The adherence of Benjamin, or part of Benjamin, to Judah was mainly a geographical accident, due to the fact that Jerusalem lay in both tribes (Josh. xv. 8, xviii. 16; Jer. xx. 2). Late in David's reign a Benjamite (Sheba, son of Bichri) had headed a revolt against David (2 Sam. xx. 1).

432

1 Kings xi. 34-39.

433

The story occurs in the additions to the LXX., and is highly improbable. Shishak came to the throne, according to R. S. Poole, about b. c. 972; others date his accession in 975 or 988. No such name as Tahpanes or Thekemina is found in the Egyptian records, and the wife of Shishak was Karaämat.

434

Compare the names Eshbaal, Meribaal, Jerubbaal, Baaljada, with Ishjo (LXX. 1 Sam. xiv. 49, Heb.), Mephibosheth Eliada. In later days Baal was changed into the nickname Bosheth, "shame": hence Ishbosheth, Jerubesheth, Mephibosheth. See Kittel, ii. 87.

435

See Kittel, Gesch. der Hebr., ii. 169-76.

436

See Buddæus, Hist. Eccl., ii. 237.

437

"The fifth light shining with a beauty pureBreathes from such love that all the world belowCraves to have tidings of him true and sure.Within it is the lofty mind, where soDeep knowledge dwelt, that, if the truth be true,Such insight ne'er a second rose to know." Parad., x. 109-114, and Dean Plumtre's notes.

438

Qur'an, xxxiv. 10; Chapter of Sebâ (Palmer's translation, p. 151).

439

Sale's Koran, ii. 287; Palmer's Qur'an, ii. 152.

440

The Earl of Lytton.

441

"Rehoboam" means "enlarger of the people" (comp. Eurudemos); Jeroboam, "whose people is many" (Poludemos; comp. Thiodric, Thierry). But Cheyne makes it mean "the kingdom contendeth" (Kleinert, Volkstreiter).

442

So we read in the LXX. Cod. Vat., and (partly) in the Vulgate (see Robertson Smith, The Old Testament, p. 117). Unless Jeroboam had spontaneously returned from Egypt on hearing of the death of Solomon, there would hardly have been time to summon him thence. 2 Chron. x. 2 represents the matter thus. Possibly his name has crept by error into 1 Kings xii. 3. See Wellhausen-Bleek's Einleitung, p. 243.

443

In the LXX. the Ephraimites complain of the expensive provision for Solomon's table. "Thy father made his yoke grievous upon us, and made grievous to us the meats of his table." LXX. (Cod. Vat.), καὶ ἐβάρυνε τὰ βρώματα τῆς τραπέζης αὐτοῦ.

444

Dante, Inferno, Cant. xxvii.

445

They are called yeladim, which surely cannot apply to men of forty, so that Rehoboam was probably little more than a youth, na'ar (2 Chron. xiii. 7; comp. Gen. xxxiii. 13).

446

Herod., ii. 124-28.

447

"My little finger." Heb., "my littleness"; LXX., ἡ μικρότης μου. But the paraphrase is perfectly correct (Vulg., Pesh., Josephus, and the Rabbis).

448

"Virga si est nodosa et aculeata scorpios vocatur, quia arcuato vulnere in corpus infigitur" (Isodore., Orig., i. 175).

449

2 Sam. xx. 1.

450

Or, "Now feed thine own house" (LXX., βόσκε, reading רעה for ראה); and the LXX. adds, "For this man is not (fit) to be a ruler, nor to be a prince." Evidently the revolt was the culmination of those jealousies which the haughty tribe of Ephraim had already manifested in the lives of Gideon, Abimelech, and David.

451

Heb., "strengthened himself."

452

In fact, the δωδεκάφυλον became more of a reminiscence than anything else. Simeon, for instance, practically disappeared (1 Chron. iv. 24-43).

453

1 Kings xii. 17.

454

In 1 Kings xix. 3 it is reckoned as belonging to Judah (comp. Josh. xv. 28), being really a town of Simeon (Josh. xix. 2); but from Amos v. 5, viii. 14, we should infer that it was at any rate largely frequented by Israelites.

455

1 Kings xvi. 34; 2 Kings ii. 4.

456

See Stanley, Lectures on the Jewish Church, ii. 269-71.

457

Amos v. 11, vi. 4-6.

458

2 Kings iv. 18, 22, viii. 1-6; Stanley, ii. 271.

459

See Ewald, iv. 9 (E. T.).

460

2 Chron. xx. 37.

461

Zech. xi. 4-17, xiii. 7-9.

462

If we may regard Kobolam as a real person (2 Kings xv. 10, LXX.). Thus, in the Northern Kingdom twenty kings belong to nine different dynasties in two hundred and forty-five years; and in the Southern only nineteen kings of one dynasty rule for three hundred and forty-five years.

463

Jeroboam lived for a time at Penuel, on the east of the Jordan, perhaps to escape all danger from Shishak's invasion. For Penuel, on the eastern side of the Jabbok, see Gen. xxxii. 22, 30; Judg. viii. 8, 17. It was important as commanding the caravan route from Damascus to Shechem.

464

Zech. x. 4 (R.V., "exactors").

465

Hist. of Isr., iv. 12.