learn that instead of From the number of

But by the enumeration, and from verse 39, we THIRTY they amount to "thirty and seven in all." these officers then being thirty-seven, it is almost self evident that □wbw, cannot denote the thirty, as rendered in verse 13, &c., but some particular description of men, or officers; for it can scarcely be said, with propriety, that we have thirty-seven out of thirty; and besides in the parallel place in 1 Chronicles there are sixteen added!* ww, should most probably be read, instead of shaloshim, thirty, shalishim, as it is in verse 8, and ch. 11. 11, and Exod. 14. 7, captains: where lxx. render rpioтaraç, which Jerome (on Ezek. 33.) says among the Greeks is the name of the second rank after the royal dignity.*

2 Sam. xxiv. 9. “And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men." In the parallel place in Chronicles xxi. 5, 6, the men of Israel are said to be 1,100,000, and the men of Judah 470,000; to reconcile which, it has been observed, that the embodied troops of the Israelites were not reckoned here; and that, there being twelve companies of 24,000 each, and allowing to each 1,000 officers, the deficiency is exactly supplied. So to account for the deficiency in Judah, some are of opinion that the legionary soldiers are included in the one account and not in the other.* It should, however, be observed, that the Syriac in Chronicles has 800,000, as in the parallel passage of Samuel.*

1 Kings v. 11. "And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year." Twenty thousand baths of oil' are mentioned in Chronicles (ch. 2. 10); and the Syriac, Arabic, and Septuagint also have here twenty thousand measures.' But as barley and wine are also spoken of there, it is probable, that the wheat mentioned here, and the small quantity of fine oil, was intended for the use of Hiram's own family, while that in Chronicles was for his workmen.*

1 Kings 5. 16. "Beside the chief of Solomon's officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work." In the parallel passage of Chronicles (ch. 2. 18), it is three thousand six hundred,' which is also the reading of the Septuagint here, and which is probably the true reading.*

1 Kings viii. 65, 66. "And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people." In the parallel passage of Chronicles (ch. 7. 10), this is termed the three and twentieth day of the seventh month,'

* Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

that is, the ninth day of the dedication; which Jarchi reconciles by supposing that Solomon gave them leave to return on the eighth day, and many of them did then return; and that he dismissed the remainder on the ninth, or 23d of the seventh month.*

1 Kings xiii. 20-22. "And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back: And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers." "A great clamour," says Dr. Kennicott, "has been raised against this part of history, on account of God's denouncing sentence on the true prophet by the mouth of the false prophet; but, if we examine with attention the original words here, they will be found to signify either, 'he who brought him back,' or, 'whom he had brought back ;' for the very same words, w¬x, asher heshivo, occur again, ver. 23, where they are now translated, 'whom he had brought back ;' and where they cannot be translated otherwise. This being the case, we are at liberty to consider the words of the Lord as delivered to the true prophet, thus brought back; and then the sentence is pronounced by God himself, calling to him out of heaven, as in Gen. 22. 11. And that this doom was thus pronounced by God, not by the false prophet, we are assured in ver. 26. 'The Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake unto him.' Josephus [and also the Arabic] asserts, that the sentence was declared by God to the true prophet."

1 Kings xv. 6. "And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life." Instead of Rehoboam, fourteen MSS., the Arabic, and some copies of the Targum, read Abijam. The Syriac has, 'Abia, the son of Rehoboam;' and the Editio Princeps of the Vulgate has Abia. This is doubtless the true reading, as otherwise it would be an unnecessary repetition of ch. 14. 30, and a repetition which interrupts the history of Abijah. This then agrees with 2 Chr. 13. 3, &c.*

2 Kings xv. 23. "And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days." That is, there was a constant spirit of hostility kept up between the two kingdoms, and no doubt frequent skirmishing between the bordering parties; but there was no open war till Baasha king of Israel began to build Ramah, which was, according to 2 Chr. 15. 19; 16. 1, in the thirty-sixth year of Asa; but according to ch. 16. 8, 9, Baasha was killed by Zimri in the twenty-sixth year of Asa, and consequently he could not make war upon him in the thirty-sixth year of his reign. Chronologers endeavour to reconcile this, by saying that the years should be reckoned, not from the beginning of Asa's reign, but, from the

separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. We must either adopt this mode of solution, or admit that there is a mistake in some of the numbers, probably in the parallel places in Chronicles, but which we have no direct means of correcting.*

1 Kings xvi. 8. "In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years." Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa, and reigned 24 years; yet he died and was succeeded by Elah in the 26th year of Asa; and, in like manner Elah, who began to reign in the 26th year of Asa, and was killed in the 27th, is said to have reigned two years. Thus it is evident that a part of a year is calculated as a whole year. In the Chinese annals, the whole year in which a king dies is ascribed to his reign, the years of the succeeding king being reckoned only from the beginning of the following year. Jackson's Chr. Ant. vol. II. p. 443.*

1 Kings xvi. 23. "In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah." As it is stated in verses 10 and 15, that Zimri began to reign in the 27th year of Asa; and as he reigned only seven days, and Omri immediately succeeded him, this could not be in the 31st, but in the 27th year of Asa. Jarchi, from Sedar Olam, reconciles this, by stating that Tibni and Omri began to reign jointly in the 27th year of Asa; and that Tibni dying about five years afterwards, Omri began to reign alone in the 31st year of Asa.*

after the third year,' i. e. Thus when Horace says, to be kept full nine Hence this statement

1 Kings xviii. 1. "And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth." This form of expression, both in Hebrew and Latin, means some time between the third and fourth year. Nonum prematur in annum, he means that it was years,' and not any space between eight and nine. agrees with that of our Lord (Luke 4. 25), and St. James (ch. 5. 17), who say that the drought lasted three years and six months; and the fact itself is attested by Menander, who, as cited by Josephus, says it happened in the time of Ithobalus, the father of Jezebel.*

2 Kings viii. 26. "Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel." In the parallel passage of Chronicles (ch. 22. 2), it is said, ' forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign;' but this is evidently a mistake, as it makes the son two years older than his own father! For, his father began to reign when he was thirty-two years old, and reigned eight years, and so died, being forty years old. See ver. 17. Twenty-two is doubtless then the true reading in Chronicles, and it is supported by several MSS. and Versions.*

* Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

N

2 Kings xxiv. 6. "So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers." As Jehoiakim was buried with the burial of an ass,' (Jer. 22. 18, 19; 36. 30), the expression, slept with his fathers,' can only mean that he died, without determining what became of either body or soul.*

Ibid. "And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead." As this man reigned only three months, and was a mere vassal of the king of Babylon, his reign is scarcely reckoned; and therefore Jeremiah (ch. 35. 30) says of Jehoiakim, he shall have none to sit upon the throne of David.'*

2 Kings xxiv. 8. "Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months." In the parallel place (2 Chr. 36. 9) he is said to be only eight years old; but this must be a mistake, for we find that having reigned only three months, he was carried captive to Babylon, and there had wives; and had he been of such a tender age, it could scarcely have been said that, as a king, he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.'* The Syriac and Arabic in Chronicles agree with the parallel place in Kings, and have ' eighteen years; which, as Scaliger observes, is no doubt the genuine reading.*

2 Kings xxv. 19. “And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city." In the parallel place of Jeremiah, (ch. lii. 25.) it is said that he took seven who were men near the king's person: the same number is found in the Arabic in this place; while the Chaldee has no less than fifty: but in Jeremiah, this, as well as all the rest of the Versions, reads seven. Probably they were no more than five at first; or, perhaps, Jeremiah reckoned with the five the officer that was set over the men of war, and the principal scribe of the host, mentioned here, as two with the five; and thus made seven in the whole.*

1 Chron. i. 36. "The sons of Eliphaz; Teman, and Omar, Zephi, and Gatam, Kenaz, and Timna, and Amalek." Here, according to our present text, Timna is reckoned among the sons of Eliphaz; but it appears from the parallel passage of Genesis, (ch. 36. 12.) that she was the concubine of Eliphaz, and mother of Amalek. Agreeably to this, the Arabic, and the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, read here, Timna, also, who was the concubine of Eliphaz, bare him Amalek.”

6

1 Chron. xi. 13. "He was with David at Pas-Dammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines." In Samuel it is a piece of ground full of lentiles;' and there is probably a mistake of yw, seorim, barley,' for owy, ádashim, 'lentiles,' or vice versa. Some, however, think there were both lentiles and barley in the field, which is not unlikely.*

1 Chron. xix. 7.

"So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and

the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba." Thirty-two thousand soldiers, exclusive of the thousand sent by the king of Maachah, are mentioned in the parallel passage, (2 Sa. 10. 6.); but of chariots or cavalry there is no mention; and the number of chariots stated here is prodigious, and beyond all credibility. But as the word, raichev, denotes not only a chariot, but a rider, (see Is. 21. 7.), it ought most probably to be rendered here, in a collective sense, cavalry; and then the number of troops will exactly agree with the passage of Samuel. It is probable, that they were a kind of auxiliary troops who were usually mounted on horses, or in chariots, but who occasionally served as foot soldiers.*

1 Chron. xix. 18. "But the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians seven thousand men which fought in chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host." Compared with 2 Sam. x. 18. "And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there." On the apparent discrepancy in the numbers of the charioteers, see p. 48, supra. Respecting the 40,000 horsemen in Samuel being termed footmen in Chronicles, it may be observed, that if these troops were, as we have supposed, a kind of dismounted cavalry, the terms footmen and horsemen might be indifferently applied to them.*

1 Chron. xxi. 11, 12. "So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee either three years' famine," &c. In 2 Sam. 24. 13, it is seven years; but the Septuagint has there rpia εтη, three years, as here; which is, no doubt, the true reading, the letter 1, zayin, seven, being mistaken for >, gimmel, three.*

1 Chron. xxi. 20. "And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves." The Syriac and Arabic say, 'David saw the angel,' and make no mention of Ornan in this place; but the Septuagint says, Και επέστρεψεν Ορνα, και είδε τον Βασιλέα, 6 And Orna turned, and saw the king;' and one of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. has an, hammelech, the king,' instead of TM, hammalách, the angel.' Houbigant translates it in the same manner; and vindicates his version from the parallel place, (2 Sa. 24. 40.), where it is said he saw David; but not a word is there of his seeing the angel. It is true that the seeing of David is mentioned in ver. 21; but Houbigant supposes that this verse refers to his seeing the king while he was at a distance; and the 21st to his seeing him when he same into his threshing-floor. In the first case, he and his sons were afraid when they saw the king coming, and hid themselves; but when he entered the threshing-floor, they were obliged to appear before him.*

1 Chron. xxiii. 1. "Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man,

* Comprehensive Bible, Notes in locis.