2 Ch. xxxiv. 8-14, is also parallel with 2 Kings xii. 4-8. But a passage has been interpolated with a view him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection......of Moses, the servant of the Lord, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?' And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord. And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the Lord the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. Now, it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought into the king's office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord. So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it. And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister, and to breach shall be found.' But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said unto them, 'Why repair ye not the breaches of the house? now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house.' And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house. But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Lord: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord. And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the Lord: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders that wrought upon the house of the Lord, and to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. Howbeit, there were not made for the house of the Lord bowls of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or ves to aggrandize the Levites; for, in verses 12, 13, they are placed over the work to superintend it. Levitical scribes are mentioned, (verse 13,) who were not needed in this business. We cannot, however, so clearly detect the same motive in the interpolation of 2 Sam. xxiv. 3-9, which has been made in 1 Ch. xxi. 3-6. Here the speech of Joab has been altered, and he is made to say, "Are not all the people servants of my lord?" [David?] (verse 3.) We might suppose, from verse 6, that the tribe of Levi was not included in the enumeration, because the census was made for a warlike purpose, if the Chronicler had not himself given us another reason, that "the king's word was abominable to Joab." We cannot agree with Movers and Keil, who think Benjamin was not included, because the census was interrupted by the pestilence, (1 Ch. xxvii. 24.) Besides, 2 Sam. xxiv. 5-9,-which is an account of the journeys to take the census, — will not allow this hypothesis." III. APOLOGETIC OMISSIONS AND ALTERATIONS; Compare xxxiv. 8-14. offer withal, and spoons, and vessels | sels of silver, of the money that was of gold and silver. And they offered brought into the house of the Lord; burnt-offerings in the house of the but they gave that to the workmen, Lord continually all the days of Je- and repaired therewith the house of hoiada." the Lord. Moreover they reckoned not with the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully. The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the Lord: it was the priests'." The Chronicler seems to have had the earlier account before him, and to have colored it intentionally to suit his purpose.] a Compare 2 Ch. xxiii. 17—20, with 2 Kings xi. 18-20. PASSAGES TO ENHANCE THE GLORY OF THOSE KINGS WHO SUPPORTED THE PUBLIC WORSHIP Of Jehovah. 1. Omissions.-In 1 Ch. xiv. 3, the concubines of David are omitted, though they are mentioned in the parallel, (2 Sam. v. 13.) In 1 Ch. xvii. 13, no mention is made of the chastisement which is threatened the posterity of David in 2 Sam. vii. 14-“ If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him." In 2 Sam. viii. 2, it is said: "And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive: and so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts." In the parallel, (1 Ch. xviii. 3,) this cruelty is omitted— "He smote Moab; and the Moabites became David's servants." In 2 Sam. xii. 31, amongst other torments, it is said David made the men of Rabbah " pass through the brick-kiln," which is omitted in 1 Ch. xx. 3.a The omission of larger passages may be accounted for in the same way. Thus, for example, the Chronicler makes no mention of Nathan's touching apologue, or of David's adultery with the wife of Uriah, which is dwelt upon at length in 2 Sam. xi. 2-xii. 26. Nothing is said of the murder of Saul's seven sons, whom David gave up to satisfy the vengeance of the Gibeonites, which is related in 2 Sam. xxi. 1-11. Nothing is said of the strange women of Solomon, his seven hundred wives, his three hundred concubines, or of his idolatry, so distinctly set forth in 1 Kings xi. It is on the same principle that we [This omission may be explained on the supposition that the Chronicler did not understand the term 2, or was not familiar with this method of torture, and omitted to mention what he did not understand.] may account for the omission of the troubles in David's family, the wickedness of Amnon and Absalom, and, in general, the whole contents of 2 Sam. xiii.-xx." 2. Alterations.-In 2 Sam. v. 21, the Philistines left their idols at Baal-perazim, and David, with his men, took them away. In 1 Ch. xiv. 12, he burns them with fire." 3. Passages are added to enhance the Glory of the Kings.-2 Kings xx. 21, is the plain statement, "and Hezekiah slept with his fathers." In 2 Ch. xxxii. 33, it is said, "Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death." Besides, (verses 27-29) there is a detailed statement of his great wealth and honor, which are not particularly mentioned in the parallel account. In 2 Kings xxiii. 30, Josiah died, and "his servants brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre." In 2 Ch. xxxv. 24, 25, it is added: "And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel and behold, they are written in the Lamentations." IV. HATRED AGAINST ISRAEL. This often appears in the peculiar accounts of the Chronicles, and lies at the bottom of the disagreement between the following passages: a [These omissions are the more striking, since the character of both David and Solomon was so well known, and their offences were so flagrant. An historian who would omit the offences of these kings, the trouble in David's own family, must write with some other design than that of telling the whole truth.] See Movers, 1. c. p. 220. b [The English Bible has "burned" in both cases, though it gives the true meaning in the margin of 2 Sam. v. 21.] 1 Kings xxii. 48, 49. "Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber. Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, 'Let my ser 2 Ch. xx. 35-37. "And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly and he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. Then Eliezer......vants go with thy servants in the prophesied against Jehoshaphat, ships.' But Jehoshaphat would saying, 'Because thou hast joined not " thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works.' And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish." [This partiality of the books of Chronicles shows itself in the whole narrative. The books of Kings are perfectly impartial in respect to the kingdom of Israel. There is no indication in them of a political and religious hostility. They only censure the kings of Israel as founders of the false, Israelitish form of worship. Their impartiality shows itself in the circumstance that these books give the history of Israel as minutely as that of Judah, sometimes even more minutely, but with a preference for the latter, which is particularly obvious in the accounts of the achievements of Elijah and Elisha. Now, the Chronicles omit every thing which can add to the honor of Israel. This renders the book suspicious. The whole of 2 Ch. xiii. is a striking instance of this hostility to Israel.] § 191. CHARACTER OF THE PECULIAR ACCOUNTS OF THE The results of this comparative criticism place these books in an unfavorable light, and tend to weaken the |