2. Tarihler 1:10 Yorum

In the close of the foregoing book we read how God magnified Solomon and Israel obeyed him; God and Israel concurred to honour him. Now here we have an account, I. How he honoured God by sacrifice (Ch2 1:1-6) and by prayer (Ch2 1:7-12). II. How he honoured Israel by increasing their strength, wealth, and trade (Ch2 1:13-17).

This chapter relates, how that Solomon being confirmed in his kingdom, went to Gibeon to sacrifice Ch2 1:1, that the Lord appeared there to him, and what passed between them, Ch2 1:7 and that when he returned from thence to Jerusalem, he increased in splendour, wealth, and riches, Ch2 1:13.

“There was no wise man like you before you, and there will not be after you.” Therefore, because the Lord had given [Solomon] an abundance of prudence, “like the sand of the sea,” that he might judge his people “in wisdom,” thus he could exercise many virtues at the same time.

The truth, and the whole Word, is full of difficulty and obscurity; and as it were with a small instrument we are undertaking a great work, when with merely human wisdom we pursue the knowledge of the self-existent, and in company with, or not apart from, the senses, by which we are borne hither and thither and led into error, we apply ourselves to the search after things that are only to be grasped by the mind, and we are unable by meeting bare realities with bare intellect to approximate somewhat more closely to the truth and to mold the mind by its concepts. Now the subject of God is harder to come at, in proportion as it is more perfect than any other and is open to more objections, and the solutions of them are more laborious. For every objection, however small, stops and hinders the course of our argument and cuts off its further advance, just like people who suddenly check with the rein the horses in full career and turn them right round by the unexpected shock. Thus Solomon, who was the wisest of all people, whether before him or in his own time, to whom God gave breadth of heart and a flood of contemplation, more abundant than the sand, even he, the more he entered into the depth, the more dizzy he became, and he declared the furthest point of wisdom to be the discovery of how very far off it was from him.

Solomon, and the chiefs of the congregation, go to Gibeon, where was the tabernacle of the Lord, and the brazen altar; and there he offers a thousand sacrifices, Ch2 1:1-6. The Lord appears to him in a dream, and gives him permission to ask any gift, Ch2 1:7. He asks wisdom, Ch2 1:8-10, which is granted; and riches, wealth, and honor besides, Ch2 1:11, Ch2 1:12. His kingdom is established, Ch2 1:13. His chariots, horsemen, and horses, Ch2 1:14. His abundant riches, Ch2 1:15. He brings horses, linen yarn, and chariots, at a fixed price, out of Egypt, Ch2 1:16, Ch2 1:17.

SOLEMN OFFERING OF SOLOMON AT GIBEON. (Ch2 1:1-6) Then Solomon spake unto all Israel--The heads, or leading officers, who are afterwards specified, were summoned to attend their sovereign in a solemn religious procession. The date of this occurrence was the second year of Solomon's reign, and the high place at Gibeon was chosen for the performance of the sacred rites, because the tabernacle and all the ancient furniture connected with the national worship were deposited there. Zadok was the officiating high priest (Ch1 16:39). It is true that the ark had been removed and placed in a new tent which David had made for it at Jerusalem [Ch2 1:4]. But the brazen altar, "before the tabernacle of the Lord," on which the burnt offerings were appointed by the law to be made, was at Gibeon. And although David had been led by extraordinary events and tokens of the divine presence to sacrifice on the threshing-floor of Araunah, Solomon considered it his duty to present his offerings on the legally appointed spot "before the tabernacle," and on the time-honored altar prepared by the skill of Bezaleel in the wilderness (Exo 38:1).