1 Chronicles 13:6

And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjathjearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) From this point our narrative coincides with that of 2Samuel 6:2-11. The original text was plainly the same, whether the chronicler drew directly from the Book of Samuel, or from another source. Such differences as appear consist of abridgments, paraphrases, and corrections.

All Israel.—Samuel, “All the people that were with him.”

To Baalah.—Joshua 15:60, “Kirjath-baal, which is Kirjath-jearim.” “Baaľs town” was doubtless the original name. “Town of woods” describes the position of the place. Our text appears more correct than that of Samuel, which has, “And David rose and went, and all the people that were with him, from BaalêJudah.” The Targum, LXX., and Syriac, translate that which the Authorised Version gives as a proper name, “The people that were with him of the cities lords men of Judah.” If this be right, perhaps “Baalah” has fallen out of the text of Samuel owing to its resemblance to the word baalê. lords. Kirjath־jearim is the modern ‘Erma, four miles east of Ain Shems (Bethshemesh).—Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, October, 1881.

The Lord, that dwelleth between the cherubims.—Rather, Jehovah, who sitteth upon the cherubim (comp. Psalm 16:11; Psalm 80:2; Isaiah 37:16).

Whose name is called on it.—The Hebrew is, “who (or which) is called Name.” The Israelites in later days avoided all mention of the Divine name of Jehovah, and substituted hashshēm “the Name” (comp. Leviticus 24:16, and the Third Commandment). A comparison with 2Samuel 6:2, however, suggests that a word meaning “upon it” (‘ālâw), has fallen out. In that case the literal rendering will be, upon which (i.e., the Ark) the Name (of Jehovah) is called= which is called by the name (of Jehovah). The Ark was often called “the Ark of Jehovah” (1Chronicles 15:3). The Hebrew and Targum of Samuel favour this. Some MSS. of Chron. read “there” (shām) instead of “name” (shēm). This, gives the meaning, who is invoked there (at the Ark). Comp. the LXX. οὗ ἐπεκλήθη ὄνομα αὐτοῦ.

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 13:6. David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, Kirjath-jearim — Which explication is justified by Joshua 15:9; Joshua 15:60, where the same city is called by both names: see note on 2 Samuel 6:2. The ark of God the Lord, that dwelleth between the cherubim — Showing himself in a singular manner present or visible between the cherubim, before which his name was called upon, 2 Samuel 6:1.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:6-14 Let the sin of Uzza warn all to take heed of presumption, rashness, and irreverence, in dealing with holy things; and let none think that a good design will justify a bad action. Let the punishment of Uzza teach us not to dare to trifle with God in our approaches to him; yet let us, through Christ, come boldly to the throne of grace. If the gospel be to some a savour of death unto death, as the ark was to Uzza, yet let us receive it in the love of it, and it will be to us a savour of life unto life.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Shihor - See the marginal reference and the 1 Kings 8:65 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6-14. David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah—(See on [376]2Sa 6:1-11).

whose name is called on it—rather, "who is worshipped there" (2Sa 6:2).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That is, to Kirjath-jearim; which explication is justified by Joshua 15:9,60, where the same city is called by both names.

Object. They are said to go from this Baale, 2 Samuel 6:2.

Answ. 1. Some learned men render that place also to Basle, the particle mem being sometimes used for to amongst the Hebrews, and especially amongst the Arabians.

2. Both were true; they first went to Baale for the ark, as is here said, and then went from Baale to bring, or to carry, (for the word signifies either,) or carrying, from thence the ark of God, as is there related. But of this and other difficulties or differences between these two relations, See Poole "2 Samuel 6:1" and following.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So David gathered all Israel together,.... The principal of them, even 30,000 select men, 2 Samuel 6:1.

from Shihor of Egypt; or the Nile of Egypt, as the Targum and other Jewish writers, called Shihor from the blackness of its water, see Jeremiah 2:18 though some think the river Rhinocurura is meant, which both lay to the south of the land of Israel:

even unto the entering of Hamath; which the Targum interprets of Antiochia, which lay to the north of the land; so that this collection of the people was made from south to north, the extreme borders of the land:

to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim; where it then was, and had been a long time, see 1 Samuel 7:1, from hence to the end of the chapter the account is the same with 2 Samuel 6:1, see the notes there; what little variations there are, are there observed. See Gill on 2 Samuel 6:1, 2 Samuel 6:2, 2 Samuel 6:3, 2 Samuel 6:4, 2 Samuel 6:5, 2 Samuel 6:6, 2 Samuel 6:7, 2 Samuel 6:8, 2 Samuel 6:9, 2 Samuel 6:10, 2 Samuel 6:11

Geneva Study Bible

And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjathjearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubim, whose name is called on it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim] Cp. Joshua 15:9; in Joshua 15:60 Kiriath-baal. Its site has not been certainly identified; cp. Kirkpatrick’s note on 2 Samuel 6:2.

that dwelleth between the cherubims] R.V. that sitteth upon the cherubim; cp. Ezekiel 1:26.

whose name is called on it] R.V. which is called by the Name; the God whose is the ark is here distinguished from the gods of the nations as the God who bears the ineffable Name.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - To Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim (see Joshua 15:9-11; 1 Samuel 4:7; 2 Samuel 6:2; where the name is spelt with a final yod instead of he). A third name of this same place, Kirjath-baal, is found in Joshua 15:60; Joshua 18:14. Probably the present 'Arms, a ruin (i.q. Kirjath-arim, Ezra 2:25) on the brink of the valley of Sorek, may be the place (see Conder's 'Bible Handbook,' p. 419, 2nd edit.). We read in Joshua 9:17-27 how the men of Kirjath-jearim had been made by Joshua "hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord." Hither to this Kirjath-jearim the ark had been conveyed from Bethshemesh (1 Samuel 7:1, 2), and here it "abode" long time, "for it was twenty years." Perhaps the word "abode" in this passage may be equivalent to abode unmoved (1 Samuel 14.18, 19). For though the chronology from the death of Eli, through the remainder of Samuel's career and of Saul's, seems almost hopelessly uncertain, yet it would appear certain that the interval exceeded twenty years, to the time that David now takes in hand to bring home, as it were, the ark. The ark of God, the Lord. Though the Authorized Version of this passage is better and cleverer than that of the parallel (2 Samuel 6:2), yet it is left somewhat obscure. The comma should follow the name God. Jehovah sitting upon the cherubim then follows as a clause in apposition, while the last three words (as the name is called, rather than whose name) state that clause to contain "the Name of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 31:9; 1 Samuel 4:4; 1 Samuel 5:3; 1 Samuel 6:8). Bertheau, following Thenius, proposes to change the Hebrew ֵשם into שָׁם. But there are abundant objections to this. 1 Chronicles 13:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

As the whole assembly approved of David's design (כּן לעשׂות, it is to do so equals so much we do), David collected the whole of Israel to carry it out. "The whole of Israel," from the southern frontier of Canaan to the northern; but of course all are not said to have been present, but there were numerous representatives from every part, - according to 2 Samuel 6:1, a chosen number of 30,000 men. The מצרים שׁיחור, which is named as the southern frontier, is not the Nile, although it also is called שׁחר (Isaiah 23:3 and Jeremiah 2:18), and the name "the black river" also suits it (see Del. on Isaiah, loc. cit.); but is the שׁיחור before, i.e., eastward from Egypt (מצרים על־פּני אשׁר), i.e., the brook of Egypt, מצרים נחל, the Rhinocorura, now el Arish, which in all accurate statements of the frontiers is spoken of as the southern, in contrast to the neighbourhood of Hamath, which was the northern boundary: see on Numbers 34:5. For the designation of the northern frontier, חמת לבוא, see on Numbers 34:8. Kirjath-jearim, the Canaanitish Baalah, was known among the Israelites by the name Baale Jehudah or Kirjath-baal, as distinguished from other cities named after Baal, and is now the still considerable village Kureyeh el Enab; see on Joshua 9:17. In this fact we find the explanation of י אל ק בּעלתה, 1 Chronicles 13:6 : to Baalah, to Kirjath-jearim of Judah. The ark had been brought thither when the Philistines sent it back to Beth-shemesh, and had been set down in the house of Abinadab, where it remained for about seventy years; see 1 Samuel 6 and 1 Samuel 7:1-2, and the remarks on 2 Samuel 6:3. שׁם נקרא אשׁר is not to be translated "which is named name," which gives no proper sense. Translating it so, Bertheau would alter שׁם into שׁם, according to an arbitrary conjecture of Thenius on 2 Samuel 6:2, "who there (by the ark) is invoked." But were שׁם the true reading, it could not refer to the ark, but only to the preceding משּׁם, since in the whole Old Testament the idea that by or at the resting-place of the ark Jahve was invoked (which שׁם אשׁר would signify) nowhere occurs, since no one could venture to approach the ark. If שׁם referred to משּׁם, it would signify that Jahve was invoked at Kirjath-baal, that there a place of worship had been erected by the ark; but of that the history says nothing, and it would, moreover, be contrary to the statement that the ark was not visited in the days of Saul. We must consequently reject the proposal to alter שׁם into שׁם as useless and unsuitable, and seek for another explanation: we must take אשׁר in the sense of ὡς, which it sometimes has; cf. Ew. 333, a.: "as he is called by name," where שׁם does not refer only to יהוה, but also to the additional clause הכּרוּבים יושׁב, and the meaning is that Jahve is invoked as He who is enthroned above the cherubim; cf. Psalm 80:2; Isaiah 37:16. - On the following 1 Chronicles 13:7-14, cf. the commentary on 2 Samuel 6:3-11.