Commentaria in I Paralipomenon
Chapter 16
1. And they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent which David had pitched for it: and they offered holocausts and peace offerings before God. 2. And when David had made an end of offering holocausts and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. 3. And he divided to every one of them, from the man to the woman, a loaf of bread, and a piece of roasted beef, and fine flour fried with oil. 4. And he appointed before the ark of the Lord some of the Levites to minister, and to record his works, and to glorify and praise the Lord God of Israel: 5. Asaph the chief, and the second after him Zacharias; and Jahiel, and Semiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mathathias, and Eliab, and Banaias, and Obededom: Jehiel over the instruments of psalteries and harps: and Asaph to sound with cymbals: 6. and Banaias and Jaziel the priests, to sound the trumpet continually before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 7. In that day David appointed Asaph chief to give praise to the Lord, and his brethren.
8. Give glory to the Lord, and call upon his name: make known his designs among the nations.
9. Sing to him, yea, sing praises to him: and relate all his wonders.
10. Praise ye his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.
11. Seek ye the Lord, and his power: seek his face evermore.
12. Remember his wonderful works which he hath done: his signs, and the judgments of his mouth,
13. O ye seed of Israel his servants: ye children of Jacob his chosen. 14. He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth. 15. Remember for ever his covenant: the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,
16. Which he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac.
17. And he appointed it to Jacob for a precept: and to Israel for an everlasting covenant. 18. Saying: To thee will I give the land of Chanaan, the lot of your inheritance.
19. When they were but few in number, very few and sojourners therein.
20. And they passed from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people.
21. He suffered no man to hurt them, but reproved kings for their sakes.
22. Touch ye not my anointed: and do no evil to my prophets.
23. Sing ye to the Lord, all the earth: show forth from day to day his salvation.
24. Declare his glory among the Gentiles, his wonders among all people.
25. For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: and he is to be feared above all gods. 26. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
27. Praise and magnificence are before him: strength and joy in his place.
28. Bring ye to the Lord, ye families of the nations, bring ye to the Lord glory and empire. 29. Give to the Lord glory to his name, lift up sacrifice, and come ye in his sight: and adore the Lord in holy beauty.
30. Let all the earth be moved at his presence: for he hath founded the world immovable.
31. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, and let them say among the nations: The Lord hath reigned.
32. Let the sea thunder, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all things that are in them.
33. Then shall the trees of the wood praise before the Lord: because he is come to judge the earth.
34. Give ye thanks to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
35. And say ye: Save us, O God our saviour: and gather us together, and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and may glory in thy psalms.
36. Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity; and let all the people say:
Amen, and a hymn to the Lord.
37. So he left there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren, to minister in the sight of the ark continually, every day, and in their turns. 38. And Obededom, and his brethren, sixty-eight: and Obededom the son of Idithun, and Hosa, he appointed porters; 39. and Sadoc the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the Lord on the high place, which was in Gabaon, 40. to offer holocausts to the Lord upon the altar of holocausts continually, morning and evening, according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which he commanded Israel. 41. And after him Heman, and Idithun, and the rest that were chosen, each one by his name, to give praise to the Lord: for his mercy endureth for ever. 42. Heman also and Idithun sounded the trumpet, and played on the cymbals, and all instruments of music, to sing to God; and the sons of Idithun he made porters. 43. And all the people returned to their houses; and David, to bless his own house also.
8. Give glory to the Lord.—David commanded Asaph and his companions to sing this hymn to God in thanksgiving that he had transferred the ark (and God residing in it) to his own citadel of Sion, so as to have God as if always present, protecting, directing and strengthening, near him. Now this hymn is compounded from Psalm 104 up to verse 23, from which point it is compounded from Psalm 95. It is recounted here a little differently from what is contained in those psalms, because David seems to have first dictated it here in a rough form, and then in the Psalter to have polished and refined it further. It is a psalm, and belongs to the Psalter; wherefore I shall explain it there, as in its proper place. Meanwhile I shall here note briefly those points in which it differs from the psalms cited.
11. Seek ye the Lord and his power.—The interpreter reads azzo, that is, his power or strength, that is, the ark in which God showed his might, by overthrowing Jericho and the Chanaanites through it. For David invites all to come to the ark and to adore God before it. But the Septuagint, reading with other points azu in the imperative Kal, translate in Psalm 104:4: Be ye strengthened, that is, ye shall be strengthened. For God will strengthen and fortify you, so that no enemy, no adversity, no temptation can prevail against you.
21. He suffered no man to hurt them.—Vatablus: to do them violence; for in Hebrew azar signifies both to slander and to do violence. Hence the Septuagint, Psalm 104:14, translate: He left no man to harm them.
27. Praise (the Septuagint: confession) and magnificence are before him: strength and joy in his place.—Vatablus: Celebration and magnificence are before him, power and gladness in his place. But Psalm 95:6, the Septuagint translate: Confession and beauty in his sight; holiness and magnificence in his sanctification. In Hebrew, in his sanctuary, namely in the ark, and the tabernacle of the ark erected by David.
28. Bring ye to the Lord glory and empire.—The Hebrew has, and strength. The sense of these two verses is, as if to say: Render to God in this tabernacle before the ark confession, that is, praise, and magnificence, that is, a magnificent proclamation of his magnificent works; which magnifies God, that is, shows him to be great, nay the greatest; likewise strength and joy, that is, that you celebrate his mighty deeds, by which he fought for Israel; and so he has given us matter for rejoicing and triumph.
29. Adore the Lord in holy beauty.—The Hebrew, in the beauty of holiness, that is, in the holy ark. Vatablus, in the splendid and magnificent sanctuary; but Psalm 95:9: “Adore the Lord,” it says, “in his holy court.”
32. Let the sea thunder, and the fulness thereof.—Vatablus: Let the sea resound, and whatever is in it, namely all the fishes, gems, pearls, etc.; for the waves of the sea in a tempest dashed against one another give forth a roaring and as it were thunder. But Psalm 95:11 has: “Let the sea be moved (tremble before the majesty and omnipotence of God) and the fulness thereof.” Again, the sea thunders when it sends up vapours on high, which, shut up in the clouds and dashed together, when they burst forth with force, stir up thunders and lightnings. Let the sea therefore thunder, to show the power of God its Creator, and to strike the wicked with fear of him.
39. And Sadoc the priest (the High Priest) and his brethren the priests (the lesser) before the tabernacle of the Lord which was in Gabaon.—Sadoc had held the pontificate under Saul, after Saul had slain Achimelech the High Priest. For then the son of Achimelech, namely Abiathar, fled to David. Wherefore the High Priest with Saul was Sadoc; with David, Abiathar. But Saul being dead, David was unwilling to abrogate the pontificate of Sadoc, but divided it between them so that Abiathar held the pontificate in Jerusalem where the ark was; Sadoc in Gabaon, where the tabernacle made by Moses was.