must come from the depths of the heart, and must be in connection with the conversion of the whole soul to the Lord; for he alone can obtain forgiveness of all his sins in whose spirit there is no guile (Ps. xxxii. 2). But how often, sion made only with the lips! How, then, can a man hope for mercy and forgiveness through the hearing of prayer?--The Lord who guides the hearts of men as water-courses can bestow upon our enemies a forgiving and merciful heart, even as Israel experienced. For this, and not for the destruction of our enemies, we ought to pray.-Vers. 51-53. In the midst of our cries and prayers we should remember how dearly the Lord has purchased us for His own, by the blood of His son (Rom. viii. 32; 1 Cor. vi. 20; Rev. v. 9). The grace of God in Christ is the foundation of our assurance that the Lord will deliver us from all tribulation and sorrow, and will lead us to his heavenly kingdom. For this do we close our prayers with the words: For the sake of thine eternal love.-STARKE: God does not leave his people in the furnace of misery, but always guides them forth from it (Job iii. 22).— Our prayers, from beginning to end, must be grounded on the divine promises (2 Sam. vii. 25).

mysterious thoughts, expectations, and wishes. The effect of an answer to our prayers must be that we fear the Lord, and walk in His ways, not ouly in the time of need and trouble, but at all times, as long as we live. It is a priceless thing that the heart remains constant.-Ver. 41-43. Figthin days of fasting and humiliation, is this confesPetition. Even as Solomon bore witness that the house which he had built could not encompass Him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, so likewise he testified that the covenant made by God with Israel did not exclude all other nations from salvation, but rather aimed at leading all men to a knowledge of the truth. If a Solomon prayed for the attainment of this object, how much more does it become us to pray for the conversion of the heathen, and do our utmost that the people who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death may come to Him, a light set by God before all nations to lighten the heathen (Luke ii. 31, sq.). He who desires to know nothing of missions to the heathen fails to know the God who wills that help should be given to all men, and that all should come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. ii. 4).Solomon hoped that the heathen, when they heard the great deeds which the Lord did in Israel, would turn to that God; how much stronger becomes this hope when the infinitely greater scheme of salvation in Christ Jesus is declared to them! But how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach if they are not sent? (Rom. x. 14 sq.).— The acknowledgment of the name of God necessarily causes the fear of God. If an individual, or an entire nation, be wanting in the latter, they will also lack a true knowledge of God, let them boast as they will of enlightenment and enlightened religious ideas.-Vers. 44, 45. Sixth Petition. A people who undertake war should, above all, be sure that it is under the guidance of God. That alone is a just war which is undertaken with God's help, and in the cause of God, of truth, and of justice. A host going forth to battle should remember this: Nothing can be done in our own strength, we are soon quite ruined! (Ps. xxxiii. 16 $7.) and thereupon we should pray and entreat the Lord, from whom alone proceeds victory (Prov. 21, 31; Ps. cxlvii. 10 sq.).--Vers. 46-50. Seventh Petition. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Prov. xiv. 34). Thus the people Israel is a living example for all times, as a warning and as an admonition (1 Cor. x. 11).—The Lord has patience with each person, as also with whole peoples and governments, for He knows "there is no man who is not sinful." But when the riches of his goodness, patience, and long-suffering are despised, and a nation given over to hardness of heart and impenitence (Rom. ii. 4 sq.), He casts it away from before His face, and wipes it out as a man wipeth a dish (2 Kings xxi. 13), so that it ceases to be a people and a kingdom. The world's history is the world's final doom. The wrath of God towards all ungodly conduct of men is not a mere biblical form of speech, but a fearful truth, which he who hearkens not will learn by experience.--The saying: There is no man who sinneth not, must not be misused to apologize for sin as a natural weakness; it should rather warn and exhort us that we must not give the reins to that will which lieth even at the door, but rule over it (Gen. i. 4, 7); for he who committeth sin is the slave of sin (John viii. 34).—The confession: We have sinned, &c.,

Vers. 54-61. Solomon's final address to the people contains a psalm of praise (ver. 56), a wish for a blessing (vers. 57-60), and a warning (ver 61).-Ver. 56. It is a gift of God, for which we must thank and praise him, if we can lead a quiet and peaceful life, in all godliness and honesty (1 Tim. ii. 2). The rest which God promises to his people and has granted unto them, under Solomon the peaceful prince, was merely a temporal one. But we have this good saying: There remaineth a rest for the people of God (Heb. iv. 9). This word will not fail if we do not harden our hearts, if we hear his voice, and strive assiduously to attain to that rest, where God shall wipe away, &c. (Rev. xxi. 4).—Vers. 57, 58. The aid and bless. ing of God have no other object than to turn thy heart to Him, that thou mayest walk in His way. He only forsakes those who have forsaken Him (Ps. ix. 11).-All keeping of the commandments, all mere morality, without submission of the heart to God, is worthless-a mere shell without the kernel.-Vers. 59, 60. The words which rise out of the depths of the heart to God reach Him and abide with Him; He forgets them not (Rev. viii. 3, 4).—That the Lord is God, and none other, seems nowhere more conspicuous than in the choosing and leading of the people Israel, in which He has revealed Himself in His might and glory, in His holiness and justice, His faithfulness and mercy (P's. cxlv. 3-12). No better proof of the existence of a one living God than the history of Israel.

Ver. 61. The best and greatest wish which a king can form for his people, a father for his children, a pastor for his flock, is: May your heart be righteous, i. e., whole and undivided before the Lord our God. He who elects to side with Him must do so wholly and entirely; all “halting between two opinions" is an abomination to Him: the lukewarm He will "spue out of His mouth." Be thou on the Lord's side, and He will be with thee.

Vers. 62-66. The temple-dedication, a thanks. giving feast (ver. 62), a covenant feast (ver. 65, vide Historical and Ethical, 11), a feast of great

gladness (ver. 66).--WÜRT. SUMM.: For great bene- | praised, on account of the sinful abuse which has fits mer should offer great thanksgivings, and gained the upper hand. Ver. 66. Even as Solo-; indeed should prove their gratitude by promoting the true service of God, and by benevolence to the poor and needy (Ps. 1. 14).—At public thanksgiving-feasts there should be not only banquets, but prince and people, high and low, rich and poor should bow unto the Lord, to serve him with one accord and steadfastly.-Ver. 63. So they dedicated, &c. PFAFF: This was indeed a holy temple-consecration. O! how entirely otherwise are those of to-day constituted in general, which should be abolished or reformed rather than

1

mon blessed his people, even so his people blessed their king. The prince alone who prays for his people can expect them to pray for him. Well for that land where prince and people wish well to each other, and make supplication for each other, for there mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace shall kiss each other (Ps. lxxxv. 10). When a man has rendered unto God what is of God, he can go forth to his daily labor with joy and gladness. To praise and thank God makes the heart glad and willing to work.

F.- Various matters connected with the accounts of Solomon's architectural works.

(CHAP. IX. 1-28.)

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AND it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord [Jehovah], and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he 2 was pleased to do, that the Lord [Jehovah] appeared to Solomon the second time, 3 as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there forever; 4 and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes 5 and my judgments; then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised [spake] to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail 6 thee a man upon the throne of Israel. But if ye shall at all [altogether 3] turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statues which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and 7 worship them; then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my 8 sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: and at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and 9 to this house? And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord [Jehovah] their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord [Jehovah] brought upon them all this evil.

10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the 11 two houses, the house of the Lord [Jehovah], and the king's house, (Now Hiram

the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty 12 cities in the land of Galilee. And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities 13 which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. And he said, What

cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the 14 land of Cabul' unto this day. And Hiram sent to the king six-score talents of gold.

15 And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord [Jehovah], and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of 16 Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites 17 that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's 18 wife. And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, and Baalath, and 19 Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, and all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his 20 dominion. And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites.

21 Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel, their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond service 22 unto this day." But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and 23 rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.

24

25

26

But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.

And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord [Jehovah], and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the Lord [Jehovah]. So he finished the house.

And king Solomon made a navy of ships" in Ezion-geber, which is beside 27 Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants 28 of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four 15 hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL.

1 Ver. 3.-[The Sept. here insert, “I have done to thee according to all thy prayer."

2 Ver. 5.--[Many MSS. replace the preposition by by, and certainly, if the former is the true reading, it is

used in the sense of the latter, as is frequently the case, cf. Gesenius, s. v. A. 4.

3 Ver. 6.—[The Heb. is here in the usual intensive form, which is preserved in all the versions, while the English expression implies the slightest dereliction instead of complete apostasy.

Ver. 6.-[The Sept. put Moses instead of the personal pronoun as the nominative.

5 Ver. S.-The words at and which are not in the Heb. The latter is given in the Heb. of 2 Chr. vii. 21, and supplied here by the Chald. All the other versions give house in the not, and omit the relative. The Syr., followed by the Arab has this house shall be destroyed." Vulg. "shall be for an example."

Ver. 9.-[According to the Sept. the time of this vision is determined as after the completion of the palace by the addition to this verse," Then Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David into his house which he had built for himself in these days."

read

7 Ver. 13. [The Sept. say he called them öptov-coast, boundary, omitting the name Cabul altogether. They doubtless

▪ Ver. 15.—[Vers. 15-25 are transposed by the Vat. Sept. from their place here and inserted after x. 22.

9 Ver. 18.—The k`thib is decidedly to be preferred to the k'ri. [In connection with this and with the author's remarks on this name in the Exeg. Com. the following facts are to be borne in mind: the reading of the k'ri

is found in many MSS. instead of the present k'thiband in our printed editions a space is left in the text for the missing while the vowel points are those of Tadinor. All the versions, except the Sept., give either Tadmor or its equivalent Palmyra; the Sept. gives according to the Alex. Oeppá0, which shows that the was before them, or according to the Vat. in x. 22 'Ie@epμá0. Keil, who adopts this rendering, explains the words "in the land" (which the author considers an insuperable difficulty) by the remark of Tremellius in regno Salomonis et intra fines a Deo designatos, connecting the word with "built" in ver. 17. The expression in 2 Chr. viii. 4, is simply "Tadmor in the wilderness;" but the previous verse has recorded his successful attack upon Hamath-zobah, and it is thus implied that Tadmor was in that region. 10 Ver. 19. [Many MSS., followed by the Chald. and Vulg., insert “all."

11 Ver. 21.-Until all the buildings were finished.

12 Ver. 26. The Sept., Chald., and Arab., both here and in ver. 27, have ship in the singular.

13 Ver. 28.-(The Vat. (not Alex.) Sept. reads a hundred and twenty, while 2 Chr. viii. 18 has four hundred and fifty.-F. G.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Vers. 1-2. And it came to pass when Solomon had finished, &c. Cf. 2 Chron. vii. 11-22.

instance (according to Ewald), aqueducts, reserthe divine appearance of ver. 2 took place after voirs, &c. It is very distinctly stated here, that the completion of the temple and palace, as well Solomon built, besides the temple and the palace, a number of other buildings, of which mention is as several other buildings. But because the divine made in vers. 15 and 19. Chron. says: all that he address, ver. 3 sq., refers to the prayer at the desired to build, for All which he was pleased to have already mentioned in our remarks on chap. temple-dedication, some have concluded, as we do; i cannot, therefore, mean, as Thenius viii. 1, that the appearance immediately followed thinks, "pleasure-buildings," as distinguished the dedication: and that the latter, accordingly, from necessary and useful ones, but rather from occurred thirteen years after the completion of the the words of vers. 19, "in all the lands of his temple. But there is no reason whatsoever for dominions," must signify public works which he such a conclusion. The dedication had been perhad undertaken for the benefit of the latter, as for formed in a spirit and manner that could have

given no cause for such a sharp warning and severe threatening as are found in vers. 6-9; and yet this threatening seems to be the principal thing in the divine discourse. It is very possible that it was occasioned by circumstances of a later date. The meaning in this case would be: I have indeed heard thy prayer at the dedication of the temple, and will do that for which thou hast besought me; but take warning. If ye turn away from me I will destroy Israel, &c. In like manner Seb. Schmidt: quod Deus distulerit hanc apparitionem usque ad tempus, quo Salomonis peccatum appropinquabat, ut non diu antequam fieret eum serio moneret. If this view be rejected we must think, with Keil (in the Commentary of 1846), that the writer wished to say all that he had to remark

concerning Solomon's different buildings, in the same place in our chapter, and "that he made the

transition-formula, ver. 1, at the same time the heading of the following section, in which not only is the divine appearance mentioned, but an account

also is given of Solomon's undertakings after he had finished all the buildings."

high" (2 Chron. vii. 21); we must, therefore, adhere to the text-reading. It cannot, however, be translated: and "this house, exalted as it may be, whosoever passes by the same, shall," &c. (De Wette, von Meyer, and others), but only as Keil has it: "this house shall stand high, i. e. stand high in its destruction, a conspicuous example, a warning to all passers by." The Vulgate translates, moreover, directly: et domus hæc erit in exemplum; but the Sept., more in the sense of the Chronicles: kai oikos ovтos ỏ výniós, пaçó diamоpεvóμevos ĖKOTηOETαι. But we must supply what is understood, namely, that the house is destroyed. Keil thinks there is an allusion to Deut. xxiv. 19; xxviii.

1, in by. Vers. 8 and 9 mean that what was

threatened in the law in Deut. xxix. 23-26, shall be fulfilled. does not denote a scornful

hissing, but, as the connection with requires, a hissing of terror. Cf. Jer. xix. 8; xlix. 17.

Ver. 10. And it came to pass at the end of twenty years. In vers. 2-9 the author has given an account which concerns the temple, the most important of all Solomon's buildings. From ver. 10 on, he gives further information respecting them; how Solomon was enabled to undertake his many and, in part, expensive buildings; that is to say, through his treaty with Hiram, vers. 11-14; and also by the levy which he raised, vers. 1525; and finally by the voyage to Ophir, which brought him gold, vers. 26-28 (Keil).-The seven years of the temple-building (chap. vi. 38), and the thirteen years of the palace-building (chap. vii. 1), are included in the twenty years of ver. 10. There is no historical connection between the section vers. 10-14, and that in vers. 1-9. The heading in ver. 1 is therefore repeated on account of the following collective remarks on the different buildings.

Vers. 3-9. And the Lord said unto him, &c. We may conclude from the words: "as at Gibeon," that it took place, as then, in a dream (chap. iii. 5). I have hallowed this house my, &c., i. e., I have appointed it by my glory (chap. viii. 10, 11; Ex. xxix. 43: 7) to be the place where I reveal my holiness (cf. Histor. and Ethic. 2, on chap. vi.). The parallel passage in 2 Chron. vii. 12, says: I have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice; which means that, as Jehovah was known and honored as the Holy One, through sacrifice, so sacrifice was also His appointed means of atonement and sanctification for the sacrificer. The house was essentially a place of sanctification. Our author evidently left out what the Chron. adds in vers. 13 and 14, because it is partly contained in ver. 3. For vers. 4 and 5 see on chap. ii. 4, and viii. 25. When David is here, as in chap. iii. 14, held up to Solomon as a model in keeping Jehovah's commandments, it is not because David never broke a divine law, or never sinned, but because he kept inviolate the first and chief commandment upon which the existence of Israel depended (Ex. xx. 2-5); because in every situation in which he was placed, in prosperity and adversity; amongst his compatriots or in banishment among the heathen, he remained loyal to Jehovah, and never discovered the slightest leaning to idolatry. The threat, vers. 6-9, is the same as in Lev. xxvi. 14; Deut. viii. 19; xxviii. 15, 37; Josh. xxiii. 16, and is therefore not one that was made for the first time after the captivity, as some have said. Thenius rightly remarks that the style and living force of the address are proofs that "we have an ancient utterance before us here." Swing, ver. 7, is a proverb which every one has in his mouth, a proverb of universal truth; every one will adduce Israel as a terrible example, and will mock them (Isai. xiv. 4; Mic. ii. 4). Thenius and Bertheau, by reference to Mic. iii. 12; Jer. xxvi. 18; Ps. lxxix. 1, read instead of by, in in its whole extent, but only the northern part of it, originally belonging to Naphthali; it was called vers. 8, D, i. e., ruins, and this certainly facilitates the translation of the word very much. But, district or country of the heathen no MS. nor old translation reads it thus; and (Isai. viii. 23; 1 Macc. v. 15). Solomon fixed upor Chron. says expressly: "this house which is it as an equivalent because it bordered on the ter

1

Vers. 11-14. Now Hiram the king of Tyre, &c. The section in vers. 11-14 is easily seen to be an excerpt, which has gaps not to be filled with perfect certainty. According to chap. v. 1-6, Solomon had made a compact with Hiram, by the terms of which he was to indemnify him by the delivery of certain natural productions; no allusion is made here to any further recompense in the way of territory, nor to any payment of gold which Solomon had obtained from Hiram. It is plain, therefore, that the twenty cities were an equivalent for the 120 talents of gold mentioned in ver. 14. Probably Hiram had at first agreed to the proposition; but upon a closer inspection he was not pleased with these towns, though he had to abide by his agreement. This is the only explanation of the fact that no answer from Solomon to the question in ver. 13 is recorded. may conclude, from the account of their joint enterprise in ver. 26 sq., that the friendly relations of the two kings continued, it is probable that Solomon satisfied him in some other way.

As we

The land is not the later province of Galilee

was therefore "built," i. e., fortified by Solomon, Josh. xix. 36; 2 Kings xv. 29. Megiddo (cf. on chap. iv. 12) lay in an important military position, and the Jordan (meadows) valley, thus being the for it formed an entrance to the plain of Jezreel way from the sea-coast to central and north Palesbetween Beth-horon and the Mediterranean sea; it Gezer, also once a Canaanitish royal city, lay in the southerly portion of the tribe of Eph

tine.

ritory of Tyre, and, as its name shows, was not so much inhabited by Israelites as by heathens (cf. 2 Sam. xxiv. 7).—The is not, as in chap. xx 32, an expression of intimacy, but is a prince's title (1 Macc. x. 18; xi. 30). The designation, which Hiram gave the land of the twenty cities, is also given to a place or district in the tribe of Asher (Josh. xix. 17), and is derived from raim (Josh. xvi. 3). What Hazor was to the north vincire, to chain, to close; thus describing the dis- and the lower Beth-horon were to the south; an and Megiddo to the central part of Palestine, Gezer trict as closed (but not pawned, as some allege), by virtue of its geographical position. This is army could much more easily penetrate to the much more natural than the explanation, accord- of Judah (cf. Thenius on the place). Ver. 16 is a capital from those places, than from the mountains ing to which is from, i. e, sicut id, parenthesis, and tells how Gezer came into Solomon's possession. Probably, it was the capital of quod evanuit tanquam nihil (Maurer, Gesenius), or a district that extended to the coast, into which formed by and=Sa (Thenius), and meaning Pharaoh entered from the sea. The great import"As nothing." How could Hiram give the dis-ance of the situation of this place made its possession very valuable to Solomon. Whether the town trict a permanent name, which contained rather a mockery of himself than of the land? The asser-ed, or not until Solomon's time, is uncertain; at was built again immediately after it was destroy. tion of Josephus (Antiq. 8, 5, 3), that Xaraẞiv means ouк apέokov in Phoenician, is utterly with out foundation. We have no need to seek the reason of the name in Hiram's exclamation: "What cities are these," &c.; the second sentence of ver. 13 is quite independent of the first. In order to reconcile the conflicting assertion in 2 Chron. viii. (that Hiram gave cities to Solomon, who peopled them with Israelites), with the passage under consideration, it is generally supposed that Solomon had, in the first place, given up twenty cities to Hiram, but as they did not please Hiram, took them back again (Keil). But in cannot, in itself, mean to give back, and our pas sage also, which is the fullest, would in this case be quite silent about what it intends to state, Lamely, that Hiram had received an equivalent. Our passage cannot, at any rate, be disproved by the short, abrupt assertion of Chron. The question may be asked, too, if these cities were the same as in Kings. Perhaps later tradition, which Chron. follows, changed the circumstances so, because people could not believe that Solomon should have given up Israelitish land to Tyre, contrary to the law, Lev. xxv. 23 (cf. Bertheau on 2 Chron. viii. 1).

Vers. 15-19. And this is the reason of the levy, which, &c. It was chiefly through Hiram's

aid that Solomon was enabled to undertake his

It

buildings, but it was also a great assistance to him that he could use the Canaanites that were left in the land to perform this tribute labor. scems from Judges ix. 6 and 2 Kings xii. 21, that Nie does not mean merely a wall of earth (filling up), but a building (2) or a collection of buildings that serve to fortify a place, i. e., fortifications, rampart, citadel. David had made such for Zion (2 Sam. v. 9), and Solomon renewed it, cf. chap. xi. 27; 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. "It can only have been where Zion rises highest, and consequently most reeds fortification" (Thenius). The walls of Jerusalem do not here mean the walls of Zion, the upper city, but those of the lower city (see on chap. iii. 1), so that the temple mountain was included. Hazoc, a town in the tribe of Naphthali, formerly a Canaanitish royal city, was not far from the northern frontier of Palestine, and

any rate, he fortified it. Baalath is a town in the tribe of Dan (Josh. xix. 44), according to Josephus (Antiq. viii. 6, 1), not far from Beth-horon and Gezer; it has been wrongly asserted to be identical with Baal-gad at Hermon (Josh. xi. 17), because the directly following is to according to 2 Chron. viii. 4, and the later denotes the large and rich city of Palmyra, situated between Damascus and the Euphrates (Keil). But the connection of with Baalath, Gezer, and Beth-horon indisputably denotes a southern city, especially as the more northern fortresses, Hazor and Megiddo, were named before. is also named as a southern place in Ezek. xlvii. 19; xlviii. 28. The addition

TT

in the wilderness, in the land," can only mean, in the wilderness that lay in Palestine, which is the wilderness of Judah; it is therefore unwarrantable to add D, i. e., Syria, after as some have done. Thus Thamar was the most southern fortress, and "commanded the passes which led salem" (Thenius). A fortified city was very neces to the most frequented routes from Edom to Jerusary and important in this very place, and it is inexplicable that Solomon should have left the south distant city of Palmyra, beyond the confines of without any fortress, and yet have fortified the Palestine. As in all doubtful cases, so here the statement of the books of the Kings merits the preference over that of the Chron., which has given occasion to the k'ri. Besides, occurs nowhere else, and it is much more probable that

has been changed into the famous than the reverse. The account of the fortresses that protected the land is followed (ver. 19) by an account of the buildings required for storage of victuals and materials of war. The cities of store were not dépôts of merchandise (Ewald), but magazines of produce of the soil reserved for times of need (2 Chron. xvii. 12; xxxii. 28). For the cities for chariots and horsemen see chap. x. 26.

Vers. 20-23. And all the people that were left, &c. Ver. 20 refers back to ver. 15, and after it has been stated for what purpose Solomon raised the levy, it now informs us whom it in