Commentaria in I Paralipomenon
Chapter 28. Synopsis of the Chapter
David, having called together the princes of the kingdom, exhorts them as well as Solomon to keep God’s laws exactly: then, verse 11, he gives Solomon the plan of the temple and of all its parts and vessels, which he had received from heaven from God.
1. And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the captains of the tribes, and the chiefs of the companies who served the king: the captains also of thousands and of hundreds, and those who were over the substance and possessions of the king, and his sons with the eunuchs, and the mighty and most valiant of the army in Jerusalem. 2. And the king rising up, and standing, said: Hear me, my brethren and my people: I had a mind to build a house, wherein the ark of the covenant of the Lord might rest, and the footstool of our God: and I prepared all things for the building. 3. But God said to me: Thou shalt not build a house to my name, because thou art a man of war, and hast shed blood. 4. But the Lord the God of Israel chose me out of all the house of my father, to be king over Israel for ever: for of Juda he chose the princes: and of the house of Juda, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father, he was pleased to choose me to be king over all Israel. 5. And of my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons) he chose Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel, 6. and he said to me: Solomon thy son shall build my house, and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be a father to him. 7. And I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he continue to do my commandments and judgments, as at this day. 8. Now therefore before all the assembly of Israel, in the hearing of our God, keep and seek after all the commandments of the Lord our God, that you may possess the good land, and leave it to your children after you for ever. 9. And thou, Solomon my son, know the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the thoughts of minds. If thou seek him, thou shalt find him: but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. 10. Now therefore, because the Lord hath chosen thee to build the house of the sanctuary, take courage, and do it. 11. And David gave to Solomon his son a description of the porch, and of the temple, and of the treasures, and of the upper floor, and of the inner chambers, and of the house of the mercy seat, 12. and also of all the courts which he had in his mind, and of the chambers round about for the treasures of the house of the Lord, and for the treasures of the holy things, 13. and of the divisions of the priests and Levites, for all the works of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of the ministry of the temple of the Lord. 14. Gold by weight for every vessel of the ministry. Silver also by weight for the diversity of vessels and works. 15. And for the golden candlesticks, and for their lamps, gold according to the measure of every candlestick and of the lamps. In like manner also for the candlesticks of silver, and for their lamps, he gave silver by weight according to the diversity of the measure. 16. He gave gold also for the tables of proposition according to the diversity of the tables: in like manner also silver for other tables of silver. 17. For the fleshhooks also, and the phials, and the censers of the purest gold, and for the little lions of gold, he distributed gold by weight according to the quality of the measure for each little lion. In like manner also for the lions of silver he set apart a different weight of silver. 18. And to the altar on which incense is burnt he gave the purest gold: that of it might be made the likeness of a chariot of the cherubims spreading their wings, and covering the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 19. All these things, said he, came to me written by the hand of the Lord, that I might understand all the works of the pattern. 20. And David said to Solomon his son: Act like a man, and take courage, and do it: fear not, and be not dismayed: for the Lord my God will be with thee, and will not leave thee, nor forsake thee, till thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. 21. Behold the courses of the priests and Levites for all the ministry of the house of the Lord stand by thee, and are ready, and both the princes and the people know how to do all thy commands.
1. With the eunuchs.—Eunuchs formerly presided over the royal court, and especially the women’s quarters; hence any prefects of the court or palatines are called eunuchs, as I said on Genesis 37:36.
18. And to the altar on which incense is burnt (namely the altar of incense, which was in the Holy place facing the Holy of Holies) he gave the purest gold, that (the Hebrew, Septuagint and Royal Latin have: and that) of it might be made the likeness of a chariot of the cherubims spreading their wings, and covering the ark of the covenant of the Lord.—You will ask: What and what kind was this “chariot of Cherubim”? Was it the same as the Cherubim of Moses and of Solomon, who are enumerated in 3 Kings chapters 6 and 8? of the covenant, because the Cherubim standing over the ark, with joined wings, presented as it were a seat to God, so that the ark was subject as it were his footstool, as I said on Exodus 25.
4. For of Juda he chose the princes.—The Hebrew, Chaldee and Septuagint have it in the singular, prince; but a prince, that is, princes succeeding one another in continuous series, according to that of Genesis 49:10: “The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent,” doubtless the Messias, or Christ, to be born of Juda and David.
9. And thou, Solomon my son, know the God.—“Know,” that is, acknowledge him, so that you may firmly believe, and often think upon and esteem the immense majesty, power, justice and goodness of God; that this knowledge and frequent thought and meditation may impel you to worship, fear and love him continually.
11. The house of the mercy seat,—that is, the Holy of Holies; for in it was the propitiatory above the ark, from which God, propitious, gave oracles to the High Priest and benefits to the people.
12. The treasures of the holy things.—He means the treasuries or storehouses in which the money offered to God and sanctified, that is, consecrated, was kept.
13. And of the divisions of the priests and Levites.—So he calls the 24 classes into which the priests and Levites were divided, of which he spoke in chapters 23 and 24.
17. The little lions of gold, etc., and for the lions of silver.—No mention is made of these little lions and lions in the description of the temple, 3 Kings chapters 7 and 8, wherefore it is uncertain in what place and for what use they were set. Now the Septuagint, Vatablus, Pagninus and Abulensis, instead of kephir, that is, little lion, reading caphor, translate, bowls or cups.
chapters 7 and 8. Our Jerome Prado on chapter 1 of Ezechiel, page 35, thinks they are the same. For he says that Solomon made a chariot out of the pair of Cherubim made by Moses, because to the two Cherubim of Moses he added two others; and so from a pair he made a chariot. For he added a wagon with wheels, on which the ark should be placed. So Prado.
But I say that this chariot is quite another, and the Cherubim other than those two which Moses made, and the other two which Solomon added to them, 3 Kings chapters 6 and 8. This is clear first, because those were beside the ark in the Holy of Holies; but these were made in the Holy place above the altar of incense, as is said here.
Secondly, because here Scripture says that Solomon made them in the likeness; therefore they were not the same, but like the Cherubim of the ark.
Thirdly, because the Cherubim of Solomon added to those of Moses did not make a chariot, nor one thing; but were altogether distinct from them. For the Mosaic ones placed above the ark turned their faces toward each other, and embraced one another with their wings as with outstretched hands; but the Solomonic ones were placed at the side of the ark, to cover and veil it together with the Mosaic Cherubim: and each of them was on the same side, spreading their wings through the whole length of the Holy of Holies, so that one Cherub with his outer wing touched the southern wall, and the other with his outer wing touched the northern wall of the Holy of Holies. Therefore they could not make a chariot, but only one side of a chariot or car.
Fourthly, of the wagon with wheels on which the ark should rest, which Prado asserts, Scripture has nothing anywhere.
I say, then, that Cherubim were made not only about the ark, but also on the altar of incense, and that these are treated of here. They were like the Cherubim of the ark. For as those with outspread and joined wings covered the ark, so these with outspread and joined wings covered the altar of incense, as if offering a seat or throne to God, and God sitting upon them seemed to receive the smoke of the incense which was burned to him on the altar.
It is called a “chariot” in Hebrew merkaba, that is, a car, not because there were four Cherubim; for there were only two, each of which, looking at one another with faces turned toward each other, with two wings outspread, and with their wings joined to those of the other placed opposite, made a four-sided or square figure, and so as it were a “quadriga,” that is, a square car. So Abulensis.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: David gave “the purest gold,” that from it might be made the altar of incense, and upon it a car of Cherubim, like the car of Cherubim covering the ark of the covenant, which Moses made. This sense the Hebrew requires, What the Cherubim signified literally and mystically I have said at length on Exodus chapter 25, Ezechiel chapter 1, and Apocalypse chapter 4.
19. All these things, said he, came to me written by the hand of the Lord, that I might understand all the works of the pattern.—God, therefore, described on a tablet the whole idea of the temple and delivered it through the hand of an Angel to David, that he might deliver the same to Solomon, who should build the temple according to it. A like idea of the tabernacle God delivered to Moses, Exodus chapter 25, verse 40: “Look,” he says, “and make it according to the pattern that was shown thee on the mount (Sinai).” For “pattern,” or paradigm, as the Septuagint translate, he calls the idea, or delineation, of the tabernacle of the temple, both as a model and in letter and word, so that he might explain in letters and written words the very delineation of the idea, which otherwise, being obscure and involved, could scarcely have been understood by David from mere sight. Wherefore, that he and Solomon might understand it, God explained it in words, by writing in expressed letters: so shalt thou make the Holy place, so the Holy of Holies, so the court, so each altar, so the candlestick, so the table of the loaves of proposition, and that of such material, such form, such height. And this is what David says here: “All these things came to me written by the hand of the Lord, that I might understand all the works of the pattern.” So Abulensis.