not of the sons of Levi; though they were not of the tribe of Levi. And that indeed was Jeroboam's sin; not that he chose mean persons, for some of the Levites were such; and his sin had not been less, if he had chosen the noblest and greatest persons, as we see in the example of Uzziah, 2 Chron. xxvi. 18, 19; but that he chose men of other tribes, contrary to God's appointment, which restrained that office to that tribe. Not of the sons of Levi; to whom that office was confined by God's express com cuously to any person of any other tribe. crimination of any particular tribe [so Dathe, Maurer, Ged., Booth.]. Professor Lee.- nis, of the extremities of the people, i. e., from the least to the greatest, without any regard to the proper tribe, Levi. Maurer.-isp?] ex universo populo, ex omnibus sine discrimine. Sic etiam dicitur xiii. 33, cf. ad Gen. xix. 4, et xlvii. 2. Male Schulzius, alii: ex infima plebe. Ver. 32, 33. TIT Bp. Patrick.—He made an house of high win of Spen places.] That is, saith Abarbinel, he made 12ájen-by byl nim was not one altar only, as there was at Jerusalem, but a great many high places. naib 32 וַיַּעַשׂ יָרָבְעָם חָג בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְׁמִינִי -mand; but he gave the priesthood promis אֲשֶׁר בִּיהוּדָה עָשָׂה בְּבֵית־אֵל לְזַבֵּחַ לַעֲנָלִים אֲשֶׁר an house or temple at Dan ; wherein there עָשָׂה וְהֶעָמִיד בְּבֵית אֵל אֶת־כֹּהֲנִי 33 וַיַּעַל עַל־ And made priests of the lowest of the הַבָּמוֹת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה : בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְׁמִינִי not be interpreted the lowest of the .32 .v הב' דגושא .33 .v מלבן קרי people, which were not of the sons of Levi.]? The Hebrew words miketzoth haam should people; but, as Abarbinel expounds it, "out of all the people;" he made anybody a priest though he was not of the sons of Levi. And Bochartus hath justified this exposition, by a great many examples of the use of these words in other places. Το this Jeroboam was forced, because the Levites would not serve his impiety (2 Chr. xi. 14), and therefore he expelled them all, and seized on their cities and lands, Whereby, as he eased the people of paying their tithes, there being none to demand them; so he gratified them by making priests out of every tribe and family; even "in the extremest part of the country," as the Hebrew words signify. Thus, as he transferred the kingdom from the house of David, so he transferred the priesthood from the family of Aaron, and let it loose, that any body might be admitted to that honourable employment. Which was a very popular thing, and ingratiated him no doubt, with the Israelites. And Cornel. Bertram thinks, that as he had priests, so he had Levites also of the same stamp; that is, some to officiate under the priests as they did. The former he called cohenim, as they were called in Judah; the other he called cemarim, who ministered as the Levites did; but in black, not in white garments, and thence had their name (De Republ. Judaica, cap. 16). 32 καὶ ἐποίησεν Ιεροβοάμ ἑορτὴν ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ ὀγδόῳ ἐν τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ μηνὸς κατὰ τὴν ἑορτὴν τὴν ἐν γῇ Ἰούδα, καὶ ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ὃ ἐποίησεν ἐν Βαιθὴλ τοῦ θύειν ταῖς δαμάλεσιν, αἷς ἐποίησε, καὶ παρέστησεν ἐν Βαιθὴλ τοὺς ἱερεῖς τῶν ὑψηλῶν, ὧν ἐποίησε. 33 καὶ ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ὃ ἐποίησε, τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ ὀγδόῳ ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ ᾗ ἐπλάσατο ἀπὸ καρδίας αὑτοῦ, κ.τ.λ. Au. Ver.-32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar [or, went up to the altar, &c.]. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing [or, to sacrifice] unto the calves that he had made and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 So he offered upon the altar [or, went up to the altar, &c.] which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense [Heb., to burn incense]. Commentaries and Essays.-32 and 33. Bp. Horsley. Of the lowest of the people; We have here an account of Jeroboam's rather, of the people at large, without dis-instituting a feast, in honour of his new gods, which he set up at Dan, and at Bethel, the altar, which he had made at Bethel, sain imitation of the feast of tabernacles at crificing to the calves he had made, and he Jerusalem, and by the clause, so did he in placed at Bethel the priests, &c. The whole Bethel, it should seem that he celebrated it translation relates to Bethel only, and the first at Dan, and afterwards at Bethel with difficulties that occur in the Hebrew text in the same rites as he did at Dan, and so the this place are removed. If it be objected, commentators I have consulted understand that the 33d verse will be an unnecessary it. Patrick, on the clause, so did he in repetition; I answer, that repetitions like Bethel, thus comments, "what he had done this are very common in the style of the in Dan, he did also in Bethel, for hitherto Old Testament. But this recapitulation will hath been related only what he did in the appear more proper here, when it is conremotest place." See also his comment on sidered that this verse is connected with the the latter part of the 33d verse. Now here following, verse 1 of chap. xiii., and should it may be objected, 1st, That it is not rea- not have been separated from it. It is the sonable to suppose, that Jeroboam would introduction to another narration, and anoinstitute his new feast, and celebrate it first ther subject concerning the people, &c., and at Dan, the remotest corner of the kingdom, should have begun the next chapter, not but at Bethel, near his own royal residence, ended this. And in this view our version of which appears by the tenor of the future the beginning of this 33d verse is very history to have been the capital seat of idol- proper, So he offered (often carries this atry, the rival of the temple at Jerusalem, sense) upon the altar he had made at Bethel, "the king's sanctuary and the king's court,' in the fifteenth day of the eighth month, and as it is called, Amos vii. 13. 2dly, That, ordained a feast, and offered upon the altar, this clause excepted, there is the greatest and burnt incense. And behold there came a reason to conclude from the tenor of the man of God, i. e., while, or, as he was doing narration, that the whole transaction was this, a man of God came. This 33d verse performed at one time, and at one place, then is designed to introduce the ensuing and that at Bethel. 3dly, by supposing he story, and therefore not an unnecessary celebrated it first at Dan, and then at repetition. But further, this verse explains Bethel, so as he did at Dan, a plain ab- the former, as it fixes the transaction to one surdity follows, i. e., that he celebrated the day, as well as the former, and consequently same feast both at Dan and at Bethel, the to one place, and that Bethel expressly; and same day of the same month; for it was the therefore it was but one transaction, and fifteenth day of the eighth month that he the same as that spoken of in the 32d celebrated the feast; but the distance of the verse. places, together with the time the celebration of such a solemn feast would necessarily take up, renders the very supposition of such a thing absurd. These difficulties ocurred vers. 1. to me in reading this passage. I then Bp. Horsley.-33 Of his own heart. For looked into the Greek version, and all these, many of Kennicott's Codd. have difficulties vanished; all was plain and consistent, and that only by a different reading Maurer.-] quem (mensem) of one word in the text for instead of "so excogitaverat seorsum a Judæis, i. e., pro , did he at Bethel," it has o eñoσev ev lubitu suo. K'ri: '', quam scripBaion; he offered upon the altar which he turam post alios assensu suo probavit had made at Bethel; reading either, N, Hitzigius Begriff, p. 128. Cf. Neh. (and one MS. has now, as in ver. 33) vi. 8: TN ?. Sed religio est, or,, which more nearly resembles P, the lectionem receptam mutare, ubi bonum senword now in the Hebrew text, which is often sum fundit. used in the relative sense of N. (See Ken. In ver. 33 there is another extramany instances of this in the note on Jer. ordinary mistake, , præter, instead of vii. 21, 22.) Here then we find, that Jero-, ex corde suo, as it is in the text of MS. boam celebrated this new feast, not at 4, and Camb. 1. This word is also right in Dan first, and afterwards at Bethel on the marginal Keri; which, Leusden tells us, the same day, but at Bethel, he offered on we are by no means to say is the truer read VOL. II. Dathe.-Male h. 1. capita sunt divisa. Cum hoc versu novum caput incipere debet. Nam apodosis manifeste est in initio 1. 5 M ing, because then the text must be allowed | ἄνθρωπος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐν to be corrupted: but the Keri nam, ex corde Βαιθήλ, καὶ τοὺς λόγους, οὓς ἐλάλησε τῷ suo only explains what is meant by 71, βασιλεῖ, καὶ ἐπέστρεψαν τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ præter. Strange indeed! If it be true, πατρὸς αὐτῶν. that præter is explained by er corde suo, it is in truth a marvellous explanation; and perhaps it is only to be paralleled by ei explained by non! · τοῦτο τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐλάλησε Κύριος, κ.τ.λ. Au. Ver.-3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken. Au. Ver.-11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and his sons [Heb., son] came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. Bp. Patrick.-His sons came and told him.] In the Hebrew it is, "his son came and told him," &c., that is, one of his sons came first, and told all the foregoing passages; and afterward came all the rest of them, and confirmed what he had related. Houb.-11...700" 191 No12", et venit filius ejus, et narravit... Græci Intt. Vulgatus et Syrus legunt, TED" 12 1", et venerunt filii ejus et narraverunt, ut et legendum: nam subsequitur hoc eodem versu, DaNÍ DIIDO”, et narraverunt hæc patri suo; qui numerus Maurer.-Hoc est signum s. documentum, pluralis viget etiam sequenti versu. Nihil Jovam loqui, i. e., hoc est signum, ex quo frigidius, quam quod ait in hunc locum David cognoscatur, rem vs. 2 predictam Dei jussu Kimki, venisse primum unum ex filiis prome prædixisse, eamque eventum suum habi- phetæ, deinde alios, eo narrante, etiam Sed potest etiam verti: hoc est venisse, et eadem patri suo iterasse. Nam signum, quod Jova pronuntiat, ut vaticinii in contextu (narraverunt hæc) non vs. 2 fides cognosci possit. habet nominativum alium, quam, nec filii alii venisse memorantur, qui eadem narrarent. Sed tamen hic habemus Davidem turam esse. Ver. 4, 8. Houb.-4: Lege moon, compre- Kimki confitentem, male consociari narhendite eum. Deficere monet circulus raverunt cum filius, atque adeo enallagen supernus in Codicibus, quomodo et punctum numeri, ad quam sæpe grammatici reKibbuts. Sed sæpe hodierni ipsi Codices currunt, vituperantem. non omittunt illud numeri pluralis, subsequente affixo ; ut Grammatici novi jus non habeant sancire illud 1, ante affixum 17 deficere ex Hebr. linguæ indole. 8 NN: Similiter deficit : nam forma legitima est, intrabo; neque expungitur num. sing. nisi in futuro, præfixo nexu, ut Ver. 11. Ver. 12. Houb.-12, ad eos; mendose, pro DT, ut alibi sæpe, ubi etiam codices plerique ; sic hoc loco quatuor Codices Orat. . ויבוא pro ויבא in καὶ προφήτης εἰς πρεσβύτης κατῴκη ἐν Βαιθήλ, καὶ ἔρχονται οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ διηγήσαντο αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ ἔργα ἃ ἐποίησεν ὁ -18 19 καὶ ἐπέ 18 – καὶ ἐψεύσατο αὐτῷ· Au. Ver.-18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LoRD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine | from ver. 27, for that may be rendered conhouse, that he may eat bread and drink cerning him. And therefore our translation water. But he lied unto him. is better, as is manifest from ver. 21. 19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. Ken. A great clamour has been raised against this part of the history, on account But he lied unto him. So he went back of God's denouncing sentence on the true with him, and did eat, &c. Brought him back. So Sept., Vulg., which I think the true reading. The rest, he went back with him. prophet by the mouth of the false prophet: Ged. Thus he deceived him, and brought|but if we examine with attention the original him back and he ate, &c. words here, they will be found to signify either he who brought him back; or, whom he had brought back; for the very same words, occur again in ver. 23, where they are now translated, whom he had brought back; and where they cannot be translated otherwise. This being the case, we are at liberty to consider the word of the Lord as delivered to the true prophet thus brought back; and then the sentence is pronounced by God himself, calling to him out of heaven, as in Gen. xxii. 11. And that this doom was thus pronounced by God, Houb.-, decipiens eum: Melius Græci Intt. et Syrus et Arabs, 27, decipiebat autem... Nam nexus in hoc transitu sententiæ ad sententiam videtur esse necessarius. Ver. 20. not by the false prophet, we are assured in דְּבַר יְהוָה אֶל־הַנָּבִיא אֲשֶׁר הֵשִׁיבוֹ : פסקא באמצע הפסוק καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτῶν καθημένων ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης, καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς τὸν προφήτην τὸν ἐπιστρέψαντα αὐτόν. Au. Ver. 20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD come unto the prophet that brought him back. Ken. We have here a Masoretic piska or hiatus, the little circle of omission being ver. 26: "The Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, according to the word of the Lord which we spake unto him.” Josephus expressly asserts that the sentence was declared by God to the true prophet. The Arabic asserts the same. Ver. 23, 24. sab nibop ib-wana ininų 23 24 וַיֵּלֶךְ וַיִּמְצָאֵהוּ אַרְיֵה . השלחן ° ויהי placed between the two words הֵשִׁיבְוֹ: בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְמִיתֵהוּ וגו' The sense is, And it came to pass, as they sat at table that the word of the Lord came, &c. The Arab. version only 23 καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰ τὸ φαγεῖν αὐτὸν ἄρτον has the word here omitted, which reads, As καὶ πιεῖν ὕδωρ, καὶ ἐπέσαξεν αὐτῷ τὸν ὄνον, they sat at table and did eat, that the word καὶ ἐπέστρεψε, καὶ ἀπῆλθε. 24 καὶ εὗρεν of the Lord came, &c. αὐτὸν λέων ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, καὶ ἐθανάτωσεν αὐτὸν, K.T.. Pool.-Unto the prophet that brought him back; so he makes this prophet publicly to call himself liar, and to pronounce a terrible sentence against him, to whom he professed so much kindness. Indeed the Hebrew words are ambiguous, and by others rendered thus, to the prophet whom he had brought back; which agrees very well with the Hebrew phrase, and may seem to be the best translation, by comparing ver. 23, where the very same phrase is so rendered; and ver. 26, where this message is said to be spoken to him. But these arguments are not cogent; not that from ver. 23, because it is a common thing for the same phrase in divers verses, and sometimes in one and the same verse, to be diversely used; nor that Au. Ver.-23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. : 24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. Bp. Horsley.-23 For the prophet whom he had brought back. In the 20th verse these same words are understood to express "the prophet who brought him back;" and in the 26th verse, the words ON N'INT necessarily bear that meaning. The LXX finish the sentence with the word ; and That he saddled the ass for him, for the prophet: so he returned and went away. 24 And a lion met him, &c. By this reading the impropriety is avoided of taking the same phrase in opposite senses. Houb.-23 Postquam panem edit et bibit, propheta, qui eum reduxerat, stravit ei asinum. ὅτι γινόμενον ἔσται τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐλάλησεν ἐν λόγῳ κυρίου ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον ἐν Βαιθὴλ καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς οἴκους τοὺς ὑψηλοὺς τοὺς ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ. Au. Ver.—32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. Dr. A. Clarke. In the cities of Samaria.] It is most certain that Samaria, or as it is Hec verba called in Hebrew Shomeron, was not built at : ויחבש לו החמור לנביא אשר השיבו male expediunt, qui non adhibent criticam this time. We are expressly told that Omri, manum. Arias sic, et stravit ei asinum, ipsi king of Israel, founded this city on the hill prophetæ quem reduxerat eum, promiscue which he bought for two talents of silver, habens prophetam cum viro Dei, etsi hæc in from a person of the name of Shemer, after pagina sacra distinguuntur. Nam toto in whom he called the city Samaria or Shohoc capite propheta est propheta senex, qui meron (see chap. xvi. 24); and this was fifty in Bethel habitabat, vir Dei is propheta, qui years after the death of Jeroboam. How de Juda in Bethel venerat. Clericus: stravit then could the old prophet speak of Samaria, Bethelensis asinum prophetæ, quem reduxerat, not then in existence, unless he did it by the vitio interpretandi eodem, quo Arias; quod spirit of prophecy, calling things that are not idem vitium est apud Vulgatum. Græci as though they were; as the man of God Intt. omittunt, in Codice called Josiah by name three hundred years Rom. in Codice autem Alex. tantum ultima duo verba, et similiter Syrus. Nihil tam obvium, quam ut pro ", legatur, propheta, ut intelligatur prophetam senem de Bethel stravisse asinum viri Dei, quem a se dimittebat, ne propheta et vir Dei temere permisceantur. before he was born? Some suppose that the historian adds these words because Samaria existed in his time, and he well knew that it did not exist in the time of the old prophet; for himself, in the sixteenth chapter, gives us the account of its foundation by Omri. After all, it is possible that God might have given this revelation to the old prophet; and thus by anticipation, which is the language of prophecy, spoke of Samaria as then existing. This is the solution of Houbigant, [Alex.] καὶ ἐθανάτωσεν αὐτὸν κατὰ το ῥῆμα and is thought sound by many good critics. κυρίου, ὃ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ. Ver. 26. Au. Ver.-26- therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn [Heb., broken] him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him. Houb.-29": Lege eum interfecit, ut supra ver. versu 26 duo Codices Orat. Unto him. ", plene, et 24 et ut hoc Pool. Or rather, concerning him; for so the particle lamed is oft used, as Gen. xx. 13; Psal. iii. 2; xci. 11, compared with Matt. iv. 6. See the notes on ver. 20. Houb.-32 ww, in urbibus Samariæ. Si relinquitur numero plur. accipiendum erit Samaria, ut regnum Samariæ, quod nos sequimur. Sed haud scio an meliùs v2, in urbe. Non semel scriptum fuit per errorem, pro . Omittunt Græci Intt. ", et sic habent po, ut urbem Samariam; nam convertunt év Eaμapeía, in Samariâ, Cæterùm nos, habebunt, futuro tempore, quia nondum ædificata erat Samaria. Nec mirum videri debet, prophetam nominare Samariam, antequàm ædificetur; postquàm vir Dei nominavit Josiam, qui longo tempore regnavit, post ædificatam Samariam. Ver. 33. — καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν καὶ ἐποίησεν ἐκ μέρους : εί τίς τοῦ λαοῦ ἱερεῖς ὑψηλῶν· ὁ βουλόμενος ἐπλήρου |
