2 Chronicles 1:5 - Exposition

The brazen altar . This statement is introduced to lay stress on the fact that, though the ark indeed was not with the tabernacle, the brazen altar of burnt offering assuredly was there, this constituting the place, the proper spot, for sacrifice and worship. (For the account of the brazen altar and its making, see Exodus 27:1-8 ; Exodus 38:1-7 ; also Numbers 16:38 , Numbers 16:39 .) This altar of burnt offering is often spoken of as the altar, to distinguish it from the altar of incense ( Exodus 30:1 ; Exodus 39:38 ; Numbers 4:11 ). Bezaleel . (For detailed genealogy, see our 1 Chronicles 2:3-20 ; also Exodus 31:2-5 ; Exodus 35:30-35 .) He put before . The reading ( שָׁם ), "was there before , " is to be preferred, tallying as it does exactly with Exodus 40:6 . This was the reading understood by the Septuagint and Vulgate. The majority of manuscripts, however, and the Syriac Version, have שָׂם . Sought unto it . The analogy of the use of this word would make to be preferred the translation "sought him," i.e. the "Jehovah" just spoken of. But whether the object of the verb be in this place Jehovah or the altar, it would seem probable that the clause purports to say that Solomon and his people were accustomed to repair thither, while now they were about to repair thither with a very vast burnt offering.