28 `Famine, when it is in the land, pestilence, when it is, blasting, and mildew, locust, and caterpillar, when they are, when its enemies have distressed it in the land -- its gates, any plague and any sickness;
And it cometh to pass, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, come up hath Shishak king of Egypt against Jerusalem -- because they trespassed against Jehovah -- with a thousand and two hundred chariots, and with sixty thousand horsemen, and there is no number to the people who have come with him out of Egypt -- Lubim, Sukkiim, and Cushim -- and he captureth the cities of the bulwarks that `are' to Judah, and cometh in unto Jerusalem. And Shemaiah the prophet hath come in unto Rehoboam and the heads of Judah who have been gathered unto Jerusalem from the presence of Shishak, and saith to them, `Thus said Jehovah, Ye have forsaken Me, and also, I have left you in the hand of Shishak;'
And out of the smoke came forth locusts to the earth, and there was given to them authority, as scorpions of the earth have authority, and it was said to them that they may not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but -- the men only who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads, and it was given to them that they may not kill them, but that they may be tormented five months, and their torment `is' as the torment of a scorpion, when it may strike a man; and in those days shall men seek the death, and they shall not find it, and they shall desire to die, and the death shall flee from them. And the likenesses of the locusts `are' like to horses made ready to battle, and upon their heads as crowns like gold, and their faces as faces of men, and they had hair as hair of women, and their teeth were as `those' of lions, and they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings `is' as the noise of chariots of many horses running to battle; and they have tails like to scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their authority `is' to injure men five months; and they have over them a king -- the messenger of the abyss -- a name `is' to him in Hebrew, Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath a name, Apollyon.
And I have recompensed to you the years That consume did the locust, the cankerworm, And the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, My great force that I did send against you.
Be ashamed, ye husbandmen, Howl, vine-dressers, for wheat and for barley, For perished hath the harvest of the field.
What is left of the palmer-worm, eaten hath the locust, And what is left of the locust, Eaten hath the cankerworm, And what is left of the cankerworm, Eaten hath the caterpillar. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, And howl all drinking wine, because of the juice, For it hath been cut off from your mouth. For a nation hath come up on my land, Strong, and there is no number, Its teeth `are' the teeth of a lion, And it hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness. It hath made my vine become a desolation, And my fig-tree become a chip, It hath made it thoroughly bare, and hath cast down, Made white have been its branches.
In those days hath Hezekiah been sick even unto death, and he prayeth unto Jehovah, and He speaketh to him, and a wonder hath appointed for him;
After these things and this truth, come hath Sennacherib king of Asshur, yea, he cometh in to Judah, and encampeth against the cities of the bulwarks, and saith to rend them unto himself.
And Jehoshaphat standeth in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Jehovah, at the front of the new court, and saith, `O Jehovah, God of our fathers, art not Thou -- God in the heavens? yea, Thou art ruling over all kingdoms of the nations, and in Thy hand `is' power and might, and there is none with Thee to station himself. `Art not Thou our God? Thou hast dispossessed the inhabitants of this land from before Thy people Israel, and dost give it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend to the age, and they dwell in it, and build to Thee in it a sanctuary for Thy name, saying, If evil doth come upon us -- sword, judgment, and pestilence, and famine -- we stand before this house, and before Thee, for Thy name `is' in this house, and cry unto Thee out of our distress, and Thou dost hear and save. `And now, lo, sons of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir, whom Thou didst not grant to Israel to go in against in their coming out of the land of Egypt, for they turned aside from off them and destroyed them not, and lo, they are recompensing to us -- to come in to drive us out of Thy possession, that Thou hast caused us to possess. `O our God, dost Thou not execute judgment upon them? for there is no power in us before this great multitude that hath come against us, and we know not what we do, but on Thee `are' our eyes.' And all Judah are standing before Jehovah, also their infants, their wives, and their sons.
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Stretch out thy hand against the land of Egypt for the locust, and it goeth up against the land of Egypt, and doth eat every herb of the land -- all that the hail hath left.' And Moses stretcheth out his rod against the land of Egypt, and Jehovah hath led an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; the morning hath been, and the east wind hath lifted up the locust. And the locust goeth up against all the land of Egypt, and resteth in all the border of Egypt -- very grievous: before it there hath not been such a locust as it, and after it there is none such; and it covereth the eye of all the land, and the land is darkened; and it eateth every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail hath left, and there hath not been left any green thing in the trees, or in the herb of the field, in all the land of Egypt.'
And Elisha spake unto the woman whose son he had revived, saying, `Rise and go, thou and thy household, and sojourn where thou dost sojourn, for Jehovah hath called for a famine, and also, it is coming unto the land seven years.'
and there is a great famine in Samaria, and lo, they are laying siege to it, till the head of an ass is at eighty silverlings, and a forth of the cab of dovesdung at five silverlings. And it cometh to pass, the king of Israel is passing by on the wall, and a woman hath cried unto him, saying, `Save, my lord, O king.' And he saith, `Jehovah doth not save thee -- whence do I save thee? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the wine-vat?' And the king saith to her, `What -- to thee?' and she saith, `This woman said unto me, Give thy son, and we eat him to-day, and my son we eat to-morrow; and we boil my son and eat him, and I say unto her on the next day, Give thy son, and we eat him; and she hideth her son.'
`Famine -- when it is in the land; pestilence -- when it is; blasting, mildew, locust; caterpillar -- when it is; when its enemy hath distressed it in the land `in' its gates, any plague, any sickness, -- any prayer, any supplication that `is' of any man of all Thy people Israel, who know each the plague of his own heart, and hath spread his hands towards this house, then Thou dost hear in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, and hast forgiven, and hast done, and hast given to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, (for Thou hast known -- Thyself alone -- the heart of all the sons of man), so that they fear Thee all the days that they are living on the face of the ground that Thou hast given to our fathers.
And it cometh to pass, in the days of the judging of the judges, that there is a famine in the land, and there goeth a man from Beth-Lehem-Judah to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
`Jehovah doth cause to cleave to thee the pestilence, till He consume thee from off the ground whither thou art going in to possess it. `Jehovah doth smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with extreme burning, and with sword, and with blasting, and with mildew, and they have pursued thee till thou perish `And thy heavens which `are' over thy head have been brass, and the earth which `is' under thee iron; Jehovah giveth the rain of thy land -- dust and ashes; from the heavens it cometh down on thee till thou art destroyed. `Jehovah giveth thee smitten before thine enemies; in one way thou goest out unto them, and in seven ways dost flee before them, and thou hast been for a trembling to all kingdoms of the earth; and thy carcase hath been for food to every fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth, and there is none causing trembling. `Jehovah doth smite thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and with emerods, and with scurvy, and with itch, of which thou art not able to be healed. `Jehovah doth smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart; and thou hast been gropling at noon, as the blind gropeth in darkness; and thou dost not cause thy ways to prosper; and thou hast been only oppressed and plundered all the days, and there is no saviour. `A woman thou dost betroth, and another man doth lie with her; a house thou dost build, and dost not dwell in it; a vineyard thou dost plant, and dost not make it common; thine ox `is' slaughtered before thine eyes, and thou dost not eat of it; thine ass `is' taken violently away from before thee, and it is not given back to thee; thy sheep `are' given to thine enemies, and there is no saviour for thee. `Thy sons and thy daughters `are' given to another people, and thine eyes are looking and consuming for them all the day, and thy hand is not to God! The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labour, eat up doth a people whom thou hast not known; and thou hast been only oppressed and bruised all the days; and thou hast been mad, because of the sight of thine eyes which thou dost see. `Jehovah doth smite thee with an evil ulcer, on the knees, and on the legs (of which thou art not able to be healed), from the sole of thy foot even unto thy crown. `Jehovah doth cause thee to go, and thy king whom thou raisest up over thee, unto a nation which thou hast not known, thou and thy fathers, and thou hast served there other gods, wood and stone; and thou hast been for an astonishment, for a simile, and for a byword among all the peoples whither Jehovah doth lead thee. `Much seed thou dost take out into the field, and little thou dost gather in, for the locust doth consume it; vineyards thou dost plant, and hast laboured, and wine thou dost not drink nor gather, for the worm doth consume it; olives are to thee in all thy border, and oil thou dost not pour out, for thine olive doth fall off. `Sons and daughters thou dost beget, and they are not with thee, for they go into captivity; all thy trees and the fruit of thy ground doth the locust possess; the sojourner who `is' in thy midst goeth up above thee very high, and thou goest down very low; he doth lend `to' thee, and thou dost not lend `to' him; he is for head, and thou art for tail. `And come upon thee have all these curses, and they have pursued thee, and overtaken thee, till thou art destroyed, because thou hast not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep His commands, and His statutes, which he hath commanded thee; and they have been on thee for a sign and for a wonder, also on thy seed -- to the age. `Because that thou hast not served Jehovah thy God with joy, and with gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things -- thou hast served thine enemies, whom Jehovah sendeth against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in lack of all things; and he hath put a yoke of iron on thy neck, till He hath destroyed thee. `Jehovah doth lift up against thee a nation, from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle it flieth; a nation whose tongue thou hast not heard, a nation -- fierce of countenance -- which accepteth not the face of the aged, and the young doth not favour; and it hath eaten the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, till thou art destroyed; which leaveth not to thee corn, new wine, and oil, increase of thine oxen, and wealth of thy flock, till it hath destroyed thee. `And it hath laid siege to thee in all thy gates, till thy walls come down, the high and the fenced ones in which thou art trusting, in all thy land; yea, it hath laid siege to thee in all thy gates, in all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given to thee; and thou hast eaten the fruit of thy body, flesh of thy sons and thy daughters (whom Jehovah thy God hath given to thee), in the siege, and in the straitness with which thine enemies do straiten thee. `The man who is tender in thee, and who `is' very delicate -- his eye is evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his sons whom he leaveth, against giving to one of them of the flesh of his sons whom he eateth, because he hath nothing left to him, in the siege, and in the straitness with which thine enemy doth straiten thee in all thy gates. `The tender woman in thee, and the delicate, who hath not tried the sole of her foot to place on the ground because of delicateness and because of tenderness -- her eye is evil against the husband of her bosom, and against her son, and against her daughter, and against her seed which cometh out from between her feet, even against her sons whom she doth bear, for she doth eat them for the lacking of all things in secret, in the siege and in the straitness with which thine enemy doth straiten thee within thy gates. `If thou dost not observe to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honoured and fearful name -- Jehovah thy God -- then hath Jehovah made wonderful thy strokes, and the strokes of thy seed -- great strokes, and stedfast, and evil sicknesses, and stedfast. `And He hath brought back on thee all the diseases of Egypt, of the presence of which thou hast been afraid, and they have cleaved to thee; also every sickness and every stroke which is not written in the book of this law; Jehovah doth cause them to go up upon thee till thou art destroyed,
and I have brought in on you a sword, executing the vengeance of a covenant; and ye have been gathered unto your cities, and I have sent pestilence into your midst, and ye have been given into the hand of an enemy. `In My breaking to you the staff of bread, then ten women have baked your bread in one oven, and have given back your bread by weight; and ye have eaten, and are not satisfied.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 6
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 6 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The words with which Solomon celebrates this wondrous evidence of the divine favour, entirely coincide with the narrative in 1 Kings 8:12-21, except that in 2 Chronicles 6:5. the actual words of Solomon's speech are more completely given than in 1 Kings 8:16, where the words, “and I have not chosen a man to be prince over my people Israel, and I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there,” are omitted. For the commentary on this address, see on 1 Kings 8:12-21.
Solomon's dedicatory prayer likewise corresponds exactly with the account of it given in 1 Kings 8:22-53 till near the end (2 Chronicles 6:40-42), where it takes quite a different turn. Besides this, in the introduction (2 Chronicles 6:13) Solomon's position during the prayer is more accurately described, it being there stated that Solomon had caused a high stage ( כּיּור , a basin-like elevation) to be erected, which he ascended, and kneeling, spoke the prayer which follows. This fact is not stated in 1 Kings 8:22, and Then. and Berth. conjecture that it has been dropped out of our text only by mistake. Perhaps so, but it may have been passed over by the author of the books of Kings as a point of subordinate importance. On the contents of the prayer, which begins with the joyful confession that the Lord had fulfilled His promise to David in reference to the building of the temple, and proceeds with a request for a further bestowment of the blessing promised to His people, and a supplication that all prayers made to the Lord in the temple may be heard, see the Com. on 1 Kings 8:22. The conclusion of the prayer in the Chronicle is different from that in 1 Kings 8. There the last supplication, that the prayers might be heard, is followed by the thought: for they (the Israelites) are Thy people and inheritance; and in the further amplification of this thought the prayer returns to the idea with which it commenced. In the narrative of the Chronicle, on the other hand, the supplications conclude with the general thought (2 Chronicles 6:40): “Now, my God, let, I beseech Thee, Thine eyes be open, and Thine ears attend unto the prayer of this place” (i.e., unto the prayer spoken in this place). There follows, then, the conclusion of the whole prayer - a summons to the Lord (2 Chronicles 6:41.): “And now, Lord God, arise into Thy rest, Thou and the ark of Thy strength; let Thy priests, Lord God, clothe themselves in salvation, and Thy saints rejoice in good! Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the pious deeds of Thy servant David.” הסדים as in 2 Chronicles 32:32; 2 Chronicles 35:26, and Nehemiah 13:14. On this Thenius remarks, to 1 Kings 8:53 : “This conclusion is probably authentic, for there is in the text of the prayer, 1 Kings 8, no special expression of dedication, and this the summons to enter into possession of the temple very fittingly supplies. The whole contents of the conclusion are in perfect correspondence with the situation, and, as to form, nothing better could be desired. It can scarcely be thought an arbitrary addition made by the chronicler for no other reason than that the summons spoken of, if taken literally, is irreconcilable with the entrance of the cloud into the temple, of which he has already given us an account.” Berth. indeed thinks that it does not thence follow that our conclusion is authentic, and considers it more probable that it was introduced because it appeared more suitable, in place of the somewhat obscure words in 1 Kings 8:51-53, though not by the author of the Chronicle, and scarcely at an earlier time. The decision on this question can only be arrived at in connection with the question as to the origin of the statements peculiar to the Chronicle contained in 2 Chronicles 7:1-3.
If we consider, in the first place, our verses in themselves, they contain no thought which Solomon might not have spoken, and consequently nothing which would tend to show that they are not authentic. It is true that the phrase קשּׁבות אזניך occurs only here and in 2 Chronicles 7:15, and again in Psalms 130:2, and the noun נוּח instead of מנוּחה is found only in Esther 9:16-18 in the form נוח ; but even if these two expressions be peculiar to the later time, no further conclusion can be drawn from that, than that the author of the Chronicle has here, as often elsewhere, given the thoughts of his authority in the language of his own time. Nor is the relation in which 2 Chronicles 6:41, 2 Chronicles 6:42 stand to Psalms 132:8-10 a valid proof of the later composition of the conclusion of our prayer. For ( a ) it is still a question whether our verses have been borrowed from Ps 132, or the verses of the psalm from our passage; and ( b ) the period when Psalms 138:1-8 was written is so doubtful, that some regard it as a Solomonic psalm, while others place it in the post-exilic period. Neither the one nor the other of these questions can be determined on convincing grounds. The appeal to the fact that the chronicler has compounded the hymn in 1 Chron 15 also out of post-exilic psalms proves nothing, for even in that case it is at least doubtful if that be a correct account of the matter. But the further assertion, that the conclusion (2 Chronicles 6:42) resembles Isaiah 55:3, and that recollections of this passage may have had some effect also on the conclusion (2 Chronicles 6:41), is undoubtedly erroneous, for דויד חסדי in 2 Chronicles 6:42 has quite a different meaning from that which it has in Isaiah 55:3. There דּוד חסדי are the favours granted to David by the Lord; in 2 Chronicles 6:42, on the contrary, they are the pious deeds of David, - all that he had done for the raising and advancement of the public worship (see above). The phrase וגו קוּמה , “Arise, O Lord God, into Thy rest,” is modelled on the formula which was spoken when the ark was lifted and when it was set down on the journey through the wilderness, which explains both קוּמה and the use of לנוּחך , which is formed after בּנוּחה , Numbers 10:36. The call to arise into rest is not inconsistent with the fact that the ark had already been brought into the most holy place, for קוּמה has merely the general signification, “to set oneself to anything.” The idea is, that God would now take the rest to which the throne of His glory had attained, show Himself to His people from this His throne to be the God of salvation, endue His priests, the guardians of His sanctuary, with salvation, and cause the pious to rejoice in His goodness. בטּוב ישׂמחוּ is generalized in Psalms 132:9 into ירנּנוּ . פּני פ השׁב , to turn away the face of any one, i.e., to deny the request, cf. 1 Kings 2:16.