Will Vaus

These chapters focus largely on Solomon’s dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after all the building was complete. There is one glaring mistake in 2 Chronicles 5. Verse 9 mentions that the poles for carrying the Ark of the Covenant are there, in the Holy of Holies, “to this day”. However, that cannot be true from the perspective of the author of Chronicles, for at the end of the book it is clearly stated that all the precious contents of the Temple were carried off to Babylon and that the Temple itself was burned (2 Chronicles 36:18-19). 2 Chronicles 5:9 appears to be an instance of the Chronicler copying something from Kings, or from an earlier source, that is no longer true from his perspective. It is often the case, when reading the Bible, that we see “the seams showing through”. That is to say that we can see where the final editors of various books have not perfectly covered over, or disguised, the seams where they have sewn together the pieces from the va...

This is my 500 th blog post since joining Blogger in 2006! Without further ado, here it is…. Throughout these chapters, the Chronicler emphasizes the qualities that made King David a great man of God. David… Inquired of God. (1 Chronicles 14:10, 14) Commanded the gods of the Philistines to be burned. (14:12) Did as God had commanded him. (14:16) Prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. (15:1) Commanded that no one but the Levites were to carry the ark of God. (15:2) Appointed certain of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord… (16:4) Appointed the singing of praises to the Lord by Asaph and his kindred. (16:7) Went home to bless his household. (16:43) Desired to build a house for the ark of God (17:1 ff.) Notice that when the ark is brought up to Jerusalem, David dances before the ark, just as in 2 Samuel, and his wife Michal despises him. However, there is no suggestion here, as there is in 2 Samuel, that Davi...

In 2 Samuel 5 we read about all the tribes of Israel anointing David as king at Hebron. Then David captures the Jebusite city of Jerusalem and makes it his stronghold. King Hiram of Tyre sends the necessary men and supplies to build David a grand palace in his new headquarters. Once he is settled there, David takes even more concubines and wives. I cannot imagine how David kept track of the birthdays in his family let alone anything else! David continued to battle against the Philistines and God gave him victory because David repeatedly “inquired of the Lord”. In chapter 6, we learn of David’s efforts to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He was, at first, frustrated in this plan because one of the men accompanying the ark, Uzzah, reached out to steady it and God struck him down. This story has probably bothered many people over the centuries, but it has upset no one more than David. In fact, the author(s) of 2 Samuel tell us that David was simultaneousl...

In 1 Samuel 5 we learn about what happened to the Ark of the Covenant after it was stolen by the Philistines. The Philistine god, Dagon, falls down before the Ark, thus showing the superiority of YHWH, and the hand of the Lord is heavy upon the people, striking them with tumors. Thus, in 1 Samuel 6, the Philistines end up sending the Ark back to the Israelites, but not without an offering of gold formed in the shape of tumors. The Ark ends up, for a time, in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh where some Levites offer burnt offerings and sacrifices in thanksgiving for the Ark’s safe return. The author of 1 Samuel says that the stone on which these offerings and sacrifices were made is “a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.” Thus, this story was obviously linked to a physical place where this stone resided and could be seen by the Israelites at the time that 1 Samuel was composed. Some of the Israelites who receive the Ark in Beth-shemesh end...

Lawrence Boadt provides the following introduction to the next section of the Hebrew Scriptures into which we are moving…. The two Books of Samuel and the two Books of Kings trace the last days of the period of the judges and the first days of Israel as a monarchy. It is a fateful moment of change, and the high drama is helped by the stunning reversal in fortune that the change made. The period of Samuel, the last judge, and of Saul, the first king, marked the most desperate moments of danger Israel had ever faced; the following reign of David and his son Solomon marked the highest success the nation would ever achieve in its long history. But kings would prove to be a mixed blessing for an Israel that prided itself on being a league of tribes with a great deal of local freedom and equality. While kings provided strong government, they did it at the expense of every Israelite’s jealously guarded rights. Since many of these rights were rooted in the covenant with ...

Deuteronomy 9 begins by emphasizing that Israel’s “status as a treasured people depends on actions: faithfulness to the covenant. Israel is not intrinsically better than anyone. What is special about Israel is rather that it has been given a singular opportunity to follow a path that will ultimately bring blessing to all the families of the earth.” [1] Deuteronomy 9:9 mentions a miracle not mentioned in Exodus, namely that Moses survived on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights without food or water. Perhaps it is mentioned here to underscore the point that while the Israelites were complaining in the wilderness about food and water, if they had simply trusted YHWH, he would have performed miracles to help them survive. Another new point, made in Deuteronomy 9:20, is that YHWH was angry at Aaron over the golden calf incident. Moses has not mentioned this before, perhaps because it would have caused the Israelites to doubt the wisdom of Aaron standing as h...

Exodus 39:21 provides a case in point about how errors have crept into the Bible over time. Friedman notes, A major sentence is missing from the Masoretic Text (and the Septuagint) here. A Dead Sea scroll and the Samaritan text add it: “And they made the Urim and Tummim, as YHWH had commanded Moses.” Presumably it was omitted from the MT because the scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the phrase “as YHWH had commanded Moses” to the second. This is another case of the scribal phenomenon known as haplography, and it shows that even important matters can be lost by scribal errors of copying. [1] The conclusion of the account of the construction of the Tabernacle at the end of Exodus 39 and the beginning of Exodus 40 mirrors the language about God’s completion of the creation of the universe in Genesis 1:31-2:3. This reminds us of the role of the Tabernacle in divine-human communication, but it also reveals that God’s creation, the universe, as described in G...