2 Chronicles 1:3

2Ch 1:3 So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that [was] at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

Ver. 3. Went to the high place.] This word is usually taken in an ill sense: but here in a good. {a} See on 1Ki 3:4.

{a} Vatab.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 1:3-4. Solomon, &c., went to the high place at Gibeon — Upon which the tabernacle was placed; whence it is called the great high place, 1Ki 3:4. But the ark, &c. — David had separated the ark from the tabernacle, and brought it to Jerusalem, because there he intended to build a far more noble and lasting habitation for it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:3 Tabernacle: See study note on Exod 27:21.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Read 1 Kings 3:4.

So called, because that God thereby showed certain signs to the congregation of his presence.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(3) The tabernacle of the congregation of God.—Rather, God’s tent of meeting; viz., with man (Exo_25:22; Exo_27:21; Num_17:4). Solomon repaired to Gibeon because “that was the great high place” (1Ki_3:4). We learn from our text why Gibeon stood pre-eminent above the other high places. (Comp. 1Ch_6:31 sqq.; 1Ch_16:39 sqq.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. and all the congregation] The attendance of the chief representatives of the people at the great sacrifice with which Solomon seems to have inaugurated his reign is probable in itself, but it is passed over in the brief notice in 1Ki_3:4.

at Gibeon] Cp. 1Ch_16:39; 1Ch_21:29; 1Ki_3:4. It was a city of Benjamin. The Chronicler defends this instance of high-place worship by his explanation that the Tabernacle was on the high place.

the tabernacle of the congregation] R.V. the tent of meeting (cp. R.V. Preface, p. vi.). So 2Ch_1:5.

in the wilderness] See Exo_25:1 ff; Exo_35:4 ff.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon,.... They agreed to his motion, and went with him thither, see Kg1 3:4.

for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness: by the Lord's direction; where was also the altar of the Lord, and so most proper to offer sacrifice on, which was what Solomon went thither to do; see Ch1 21:29.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To the high place; upon which the tabernacle was placed; whence it is called the great high place, 1Ki 3:4.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

All the congregation; i.e. in the persons of their captains, judges, princes, and family representatives. The high place at Gibeon. It may readily be allowed that even nature and instinct would suggest a certain fitness in selecting high places, and the impressive grandeur of groves, for the worship of the High and Lofty One and for the offerings of sacrifice to him. It was not otherwise historically. (Gen_12:7, 8 22:3, 4 31:54) However, first, it was part of the education of a nation (situated in the heart of the young world) in the unity of the one God, that its worship should be offered in one place, and the smoke of its sacrifices ascend from one altar; and secondly, it was not difficult to foresee that the very force that lay in the associations, which dictated the choice of some places (not least, certainly, "the grove"), would constitute their weakness and snare. The prohibitions, therefore, of the Mosaic Law, (Deu_12:5, Deu_12:11, Deu_12:14, Deu_12:19, Deu_12:21, Deu_12:26) witnessed to by such corroborations as are found in commands to obliterate certain Canaanitish traces, that looked long time a different way (Lev_17:8 Lev_26:30; Num_33:52; Deu_33:29; Jos_22:29; 1Ki_20:23) approve themselves as in thorough harmony with what all would feel to be the genius of the religious education of Israel, and, through Israel, of the nations of the world. The wonder that impresses us is rather that means were not found to abide by the "letter" of the Law to a far greater degree during all the generations that elapsed before the people were settled in their land, and were gathered in their temple so typical. Is it not possible to regard this as an impressive instance of how, even in a system that sought to be of the closest and most exclusive, the spirit," by force of circumstances, resented the tyrannous bondage of the "letter"? Anyway, for ages from the time of that prohibition, the nation had the moral principle as their guide rather than any possibility of keeping safe within a commandment"s "letter" (so see Jud_1:6:25, 26 13:17-24; 1Sa_7:10 1Sa_13:9 1Sa_16:5 1Sa_10:5; 1Ch_21:26; 1Ki_18:30) Even now, accordingly, the prohibited is still the observed, and by Solomon, too, in the steps of David, even if it be necessary to describe it as the "winked at." And to the "high place" at Gibeon Solomon and all the representatives, the congregation of Israel, have to repair in order to do sacrifice. The tabernacle was now at Gibeon, whither it had come from 1Ch_16:39, 1Ch_16:40; 1Sa_21:1, 1Sa_21:6; from which latter reference, speaking of the "shew-bread," it comes that we know the tabernacle to have resided at Nob awhile; for the circumstance is not positively narrated in any passage of the history (but see also. (1Sa_22:9, 1Sa_22:11) Gibeon was one of the four Hivite cities, the other three being Beeroth, Chephirah, and Kirjath-jearim. It had its first fame from its "wiliness". (Jos_9:3, Jos_9:4, etc.) By the directest road, it was five miles distant from Jerusalem, in the direction of the sea. It was further noted for the encounter between Joab and Abner. (2Sa_2:12-17) Again, for the slaying of Amasa by Joab, (2Sa_20:6-10) and for the death of Joab himself at the hand of Benalak, at the very horns of the altar. (1Ki_2:28-34) Although the exact date of the lodging of the tabernacle at Gibeon is not told us, nor even the person who was answerable for briging it there, yet there can be no reasonable doubt that it was David, as we read (1Ch_16:40) of his appointing the priests to offer "the daily sacrifices" there, on the brazen altar of Moses, when Zadok was at their head, and Heman and Jeduthun were their resident musicians. In what particular part of Gibeon or of its immediate neighbourhood the tabernacle was stationed cannot be said with any certainty. Amid a considerable choice of likely places, one forming part of Gibeon itself, and just south of El-Tib, seems the likeliest, and to be preferred to the suggestion of Stanley ("Sinai and Palestine," p. 216), of Neby-Samuil, which is a mile distant. The present imposing occasion is the last of any importance on which Gibeon is brought before us (see also 1Ki_8:3; 1Ch_9:35) There was the tabernacle. The removal of the tabernacle to Gibeon no doubt followed immediately on the destruction of Nob by Saul. (1Ch_16:39, 1Ch_16:40, compared with 37; 21:28, 29) Moses made in the wilderness. (see Ex 25 Ex 26 Ex 27 Exo_33:7-10)

Vers. 3-5.

The ark and the altar; obedience and sacrifice.

How came it to pass that the ark was in one place, and the tabernacle and the brazen altar in another? How did it happen that the ark was in Jerusalem, and the altar of sacrifice at Gibeon? Surely they should have been together. So it was originally ordained; so it was at the beginning; and that was the final disposition. There was something irregular and not according to the commandment in the arrangement described in the text. It is difficult to understand how such a departure from the Divine plan could exist in a dispensation in which careful and even minute conformity to detail was accounted a virtue. The connection and the disconnection of these two institutions may suggest to us

I OUR TWOFOLD OBLIGATION AS SYMBOLIZED BY THE ARK AND THE ALTAR.

1. Of these one is worship or sacrifice. Men approached the altar of Jehovah with their gifts or sacrifices, and they then came consciously into his presence; they brought their oblations to him; they made a direct appeal to him for his mercy and his blessing. This forms one part., and a large part, of the obligation under which we rest toward God. Jew or Gentile, under any dispensation whether old or new, we are sacredly bound to draw near to God in reverent worship, to bring to him our pure and our costly offerings, to entreat of him his Divine favour, to pay unto him our vows.

2. The other is obedience. The ark contained the sacred tables of the Law on which were written by the hand of Moses the ten commandments. This was the great treasure of the ark, and it was always associated with these two tables; it was, therefore, the symbol of obedience. Both Jew and Gentile are under the very strongest bonds to "obey the voice of the Lord," "to keep his commandments," to do that which is right in his sight, and to shun all those things which he has condemned.

II OUR TEMPTATION. We are often tempted to do in life and in fact what was pictured here to put a distance between the altar and the ark, between worship and obedience. Too often there is a very wide gap, even a deep gulf, between the two. One man makes everything of forms of devotion, and nothing of purity and excellence of conduct. Another makes everything of behaviour, and nothing of worship. We are led, either by the current of the time or by the inclination of our own individual temperament, to go off in one direction and to leave the highway of Divine wisdom; to exaggerate one aspect of truth and to depreciate another; to put asunder what God has joined together and meant to go together. And this exaggeration, this separation, ends in error, in faultiness, in serious departure from the mind and the will of God.

III OUR WISDOM. As, later on, the ark and the altar were reunited, as they both stood within the precincts of the temple, and spoke of the vital connection between sacrifice and obedience, so should we see to it that, if there has been any separation of these two elements of piety in our experience, there should be a reunion and, in future, the closest association.

1. The habit of obedience should include the act of worship; for worship isone of those things which God has enjoined.

2. Each act of obedience should spring from the impulse which worshipfosters a desire to please and honour the present and observant Lord.

3. Worship should lead up to and end in obedience; for "to obey is betterthan sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" The devotion that ends in service, in purity, in truthfulness, in fidelity, in self-forgetting kindness, is after the mind of Jesus Christ. Let the ark never be far from the altar, but worship and obedience be always in close companionship. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

there was

(See Scofield "1Ch 16:37").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Solomon and the entire assembly with him, etc. It is customary for Scripture to abbreviate, [as we find:] (Jonah 2:11): “And the Lord said to the fish, and it spewed Jonah onto the dry land,” and similarly (I Chron. 21:27): “And the Lord said to the angel, and his sword was returned to its sheath.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.