Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78], at sacred-texts.com
2 Chronicles Chapter 5
Ch2 5:1 contains the conclusion of the account of the preparation of the sacred utensils as in Kg1 7:51, and with it also the whole account of the building of the temple is brought to an end. The ו before את־הכּסף and את־הזּהב corresponds to the Lat. et - et, both - and also. As to David's offerings, cf. Ch1 18:10 and Ch1 18:11; and on the whole matter, compare also the remarks on Kg1 7:51.
The first part of the celebration was the transfer of the ark from Mount Zion to the temple (Ch2 5:2-14), and in connection with this we have the words in which Solomon celebrates the entry of the Lord into the new temple (Ch2 6:1-11). This section has been already commented on in the remarks on 1 Kings 8:1-21, and we have here, consequently, only to set down briefly those discrepancies between our account and that other, which have any influence upon the meaning. - In Ch2 5:3 the name of the month, האתנים בּירח (Kg1 8:2), with which the supplementary clause, "that is the seventh month," is there connected, is omitted, so that we must either change החדשׁ into בּחרשׁ, or supply the name of the month; for the festival is not the seventh month, but was held in that month.
Instead of הלויּם, we have in 2 Kings הכּהנים, the priests bare the ark; and since even according to the Chronicle (Ch2 5:7) the priests bare the ark into the holy place, we must understand by הלויּם such Levites were also priests. - In Ch2 5:5, too the words הלויּם הכּהנים are inexact, and are to be corrected by Kg1 8:4, והלויּם הכּהנים. For even if the Levitic priests bare the ark and the sacred utensils of the tabernacle into the temple, yet the tabernacle itself (the planks, hangings, and coverings of it) was borne into the temple, to be preserved as a holy relic, not by priests, but only by Levites. The conj. ו before הלוים has probably been omitted only by a copyist, who was thinking of הלוים הכהנים (Jos 3:3; Deu 17:9, Deu 17:18, etc.). - In Ch2 5:8 ויכסּוּ is an orthographical error for ויּסכּוּ, Kg1 8:7; cf. Ch1 28:18; Exo 25:20. - In Ch2 5:9, too, מן־הארון has probably come into our text only by a copyist's mistake instead of מן־הקּדשׁ (Kg1 8:8).
נתן אשׁר, who had given, i.e., laid in, is not so exact as שׁם הנּיח אשׁר (Kg1 8:9), but may be justified by a reference to Exo 40:20.
Ch2 5:11-13 describe the part which the priests and Levitical singers and musicians took in the solemn act of transferring the ark to the temple-a matter entirely passed over in the narrative in Kg1 8:11, which confines itself to the main transaction. The mention of the priests gives occasion for the remark, Ch2 5:11, "for all the priests present had sanctified themselves, but the courses were not to be observed," i.e., the courses of the priests (1 Chron 24) could not be observed. The festival was so great, that not merely the course appointed to perform the service of that week, but also all the courses had sanctified themselves and co-operated in the celebration. In reference to the construction לשׁמור אין, cf. Ew. 321, b.
All the Levitic singers and musicians were also engaged in it, to make the festival glorious by song and instrumental music: "and the Levites, the singers, all of them, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, and their sons and brethren, clad in byssus, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, stood eastward from the altar, and with them priests to 120, blowing trumpets." The ל before כּלּם and the following noun is the introductory ל: "as regards." On the form מחצררים, see on Ch1 15:24; on these singers and musicians, their clothing, and their instruments, see on Ch1 15:17-28 and Ch2 25:1-8.
Ch2 5:13 runs thus literally: "And it came to pass, as one, regarding the trumpeters and the singers, that they sang with one voice to praise and thank Jahve." The meaning is: and the trumpeters and singers, together as one man, sang with one voice to praise. כּאחד is placed first for emphasis; stress is laid upon the subject, the trumpeters and singers, by the introductory ל; and היה is construed with the following infinitive (להשׁמיע): it was to sound, to cause to hear, for they were causing to hear, where ל c. infin. is connected with היה, as the participle is elsewhere, to describe the circumstances; cf. Ew. 237. But in order to express very strongly the idea of the unisono of the trumpet-sound, and the singing accompanied by the harp-playing, which lies in כּאחד, אחד קול is added to להשׁמיע. By וגו קול וּכהרים all that was to be said of the song and music is drawn together in the form of a protasis, to which is joined מלא והבּית, the apodosis both of this latter and also of the protasis which was interrupted by the parenthesis in Ch2 5:11 : "When the priests went forth from the holy place, for...(Ch2 5:11), and when they lifted up the voice with trumpets and with cymbals, and the (other) instruments of song, and with the praise of Jahve, that He is good, that His mercy endureth for ever (cf. Ch1 16:34), then was the house filled with the cloud of the house of Jahve." The absence of the article before ענן requires us thus to connect the יהוה בּית at the close of the verse with ענן (stat. constr.), since the indefinite ענן (without the article) is not at all suitable here; for it is not any cloud which is here spoken of, but that which overshadowed the glory of the Lord in the most holy place.
Ch2 5:14, again, agrees with Kg1 8:6, and has been there commented upon.