Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 6 Mar 2021
Omitting greyed-out text should bring delivery time down around 45 minutes.
We ended our last study in the middle of 2 Samuel 6 with David being stopped in his tracks from moving the ark from Kiriath Jearim where it had been during King Saul’s reign up to Jerusalem, David’s new capitol city.
1 Chronicles 15:1-24, which we had as our OT reading, fills us in on what David was doing during those three months that he left the ark outside of Jerusalem. He researched the law regarding the holy things, set up a tabernacle tent to put the ark in, recruited the two high priests as well as priests of the proper Levitical Kohathite line for transporting the ark, plus lots of other priests, and instructed them in the laws from the book of Numbers on carrying the ark, made sure they were properly consecrated, and organized them into a big worship band to accompany the procession. The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 15 also notes that David recruited all the “elders” of Israel and all the army majors (“officers of thousands”).
Now we pick up in 2 Samuel 6 verse 12 “Presently, it was communicated to King David, saying, ‘Yahweh has blessed the household of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God.’ Then David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the City of David with happiness. And when it came to pass that the carriers of the ark of Yahweh had stepped six steps, he sacrificed {bulls} and {fatted-lambs}. Then David twirled around with all his might before Yahweh (and David was clad in a linen ephod). So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of Yahweh with fanfare and with the sound of the shophar-horn. Now, while the ark of Yahweh was entering the City of David, Mikal, daughter of Saul looked down through her window and saw David the king leaping and twirling around before the presence of Yahweh, and she despised him in her heart. Anyway, they brought in the ark of Yahweh, and they displayed it in its place – in the middle of the tent which David had pitched for it, and David offered up whole-burnt offerings before the presence of Yahweh – as well as peace-offerings. Then, when David had finished offering up the whole-burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of Army-hosts. He also shared out to all the people – to the whole crowd of Israel, to both man and woman, to each one – one loaf of bread and one clump of dates and one clump of raisins. Then all the people went, each to his home. And when David returned to bless his home, Mikal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, ‘My, how he honored himself today, the king of Israel who revealed himself today before the eyes of maidservants of his man-servants! When he revealed himself, he revealed himself to be one of the nobodys!’ Then David said to Mikal, It was before the presence of Yahweh, who distinguished me from your father and from all his household to command that I {become} the one who presides over the people of Yahweh – over Israel, therefore I will play before the presence of Yahweh. I will be made light of even more than this, and I will be lowly in my eyes, but with the maidservants of whom you spoke – with them I will be honored.’ So as for Mikal daughter of Saul, until the day of her death, a birth never happened for her.”
The opening verse sets the tone for this whole second half of the chapter with the words “baruch/blessed” and “simchah/gladness/happiness/rejoicing.”
The special presence of God was bringing fabulous blessing to Obed-edom’s household (and, although it is not stated explicitly here what the nature of those blessings was, having children one of the most iconic evidences of God’s blessing in Biblical culture),
so David, confident of the blessing of God’s presence, brings the ark into his community with rejoicing.
And note that the one person in the story who does not rejoice and who is a “wet blanket” about this celebration is described at the conclusion of the story as being without the stereotypical divine blessing of children.
Moses warned the people of God in Deuteronomy 28:47-48 that if they “...did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.” If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness...
Joy and the expectation of God’s blessing are essential for a right relationship with God. This is a balancing doctrine to what we covered in the first half of 2 Samuel 6. Now, in the second half of chapter 6, we see that worship includes not only solemn reverence but also celebration.
As we meditate on verses 12-23, let’s explore what God-honoring celebration looks like. It includes external actions of Speaking blessing, Dancing, Shouting, Costumes, Fanfare, Sacrifice, and Feasting, as well as internal attitudes of Gladness, Heartiness, and Humility.
v.13 describes sacrifices being offered after taking six steps.
The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles1 explains that they offered seven bulls and seven rams because, as they began to move forward, they could discern that God was with them. Everything is o.k.! They have properly discovered and implemented God’s will for the transportation of the ark, and God is blessing the endeavor now, so they stop and offer sacrifices.
Whether they offered these sacrifices only at the beginning (Goldman, Gill) or every six steps (Tsumura, K&D) is a matter of debate.
The shur/ox/bull/steer in the Masoretic Hebrew text of this passage is the kind of animal prescribed in Leviticus 4 for the peace offering. They had found peace with God and now they were employing the peace offering to celebrate the favor with God they had found.
Only its inedible parts were offered up to God in smoke; the meat was cooked for a celebratory meal – so perhaps David sent the meat back to mobile barbecue units at the back of the parade or something.
Later on in v. 18, David offers more peace offerings in the tabernacle. And then in v.19, he shares bread and dried fruit2 with everybody there. Food is an important part of Biblical fellowship.
These peace offerings, however, prefigured Jesus’ offering of Himself to make peace between us and God, so the New Testament calls Jesus “our peace” and calls the message about what Jesus did “the gospel of peace.”
Acts 10:36 “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” (NIV)
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (NIV)
Colossians 1:19-20 “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (NKJV)
Eph. 2:13-17 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.” (NKJV)
The closest thing we have in the New Testament to a sacrifice of peace offerings shared as a meal is the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus was sacrificed on the cross once for all time, so the sacrifice itself is not repeated, but the memorial of it is repeated every Lord’s Day.
Those who believe that Jesus is the sacrifice who made peace between you and God can partake with glad confidence that you are right with God and can savor the goodness of being under God’s favor.
That is part of celebrating God’s blessing with gladness.
We read in v. 14, that after David saw God blessing his venture, and after he had offered peace offerings to God, he then danced before the LORD with all his might.
The Hebrew word for “danced” is a unique one found nowhere else in the Bible, but it seems to indicate twirling around – perhaps full pirouettes or perhaps a sort of “twist” dance-move.
In verse 16 this verb is accompanied by the verb for “leaping,” and the parallel account in 1 Chronicles describes him as “skipping and playing/laughing.”
Now, in popular music concerts and spectator-sports, even those of northern European ancestry have no qualms about jumping up and down (or moving back and forth like the K-State Wabash cannonball move), so why are such motions taboo in some church cultures?
In our family’s search to find local halls suitable for hosting our Scottish Country Dances, we have discovered that some of the churches in town won’t even let us use their buildings on a weekday for dancing when there’s nobody else using the building.
This is probably rooted in abuses of the expression of dancing which people in those churches have noted in the past, and that is understandable.
Dancing has certainly been perverted by many sinful humans from its created purpose of expressing joy in the LORD to instead draw attention to our bodies and to express rebellion against God,
and when you’ve experienced abuse of a good thing, it is understandably difficult to imagine how it could be done righteously or how to prevent it from deteriorating into sinful action.
But, dancing is not an inherently sinful thing to do with your body. God’s word tells us that we can – and should – use body movement to praise God.
Psalm 30:11 “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness” Wait, who turned David’s mourning into dancing? God Himself!
The N.T. doesn’t mention dancing much, but at the end of one of Jesus’ most-famous parables, the family throws a dance to celebrate the return of their prodigal son who had repented and been reconciled to his father. The bad-guy in the story is the other son who, when he hears the sound of the music and dancing doesn’t want to join in! (Luke 15:25)
Psalm 149:3a “Let them praise His name with the dance...”
Psalm 150:1-6 “Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary… [How? V,4] Praise Him with the timbrel and dance... Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” We are commanded to praise God with dancing!
I think this is where those of us with European ancestry can learn from the church traditions of other cultures that are more lively than ours. It is difficult for me to step out of my reserved culture, but I’ll share with you what some African-background believers taught me to help me “get it.” They said you can start to dance a little bit in church during the singing if you just put your weight over one foot and lean a little in that direction, then put your weight on your other foot and lean a little in that direction. Maybe that’s what it looks like for a Reformed person to dance!
The important thing is that your expression of gladness be done “before the LORD/in the presence of God/coram deo.”
This is not to show off how spiritual you are to others,
or to show off what a good dancer you are to others,
or to fit in with what everybody else is doing so you don’t look like the odd-one-out.
Whatever you do, do it with the knowledge of what God’s word says and with a wholehearted focus of worshiping God.
In v.14 we also have a description of what David was wearing. There was costuming involved in this special event.
2 Samuel 6 tells us that David was “wearing a linen ephod,” which is a special cloth draped over the shoulders indicating consecration to God.
The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles adds that David and the priests and the carriers of the ark and the choir and the choir conductor were all wearing tunics of fine linen.
Some portrayals of David’s dancing before the LORD are a bit lewd, showing him as practically naked, but the Bible describes him as wearing the standard uniform of a priest, which was simple but covered the body. It was probably white.
The point I want to make (and the point which David’s wife made later in the story) is that David was not wearing his normal royal robes. He had changed into a special costume for this event.
I have preached sermons in the past from the book of Leviticus on principles of modesty and dress, so you can look them up for a fuller treatment of the subject, but let me review some highlights,
What we wear should adequately cover our bodies, to prevent harmful exposure to sun or cold (1 Tim. 6:8), and also for the sake of propriety (since there are parts of the body which scripture tells us require special modesty3).
What we wear should also be a means of glorifying God rather than glorifying ourselves - or any other false God for that matter.
It is very common nowadays to wear clothing which advertises an organization of some sort – be it commercial or non-profit. We need to be careful that what we advertise on our bodies is glorifying to God and not distracting from His glory.
Similarly, our clothing should not attract so much attention to ourselves by its flashiness or by its immodesty that it takes the eyes of people off of God and draws them to us4.
Finally, and more to the point of this passage in 2 Samuel, we should wear clothing that communicates appropriately what God has called us to do, for instance:
Matthew 11:7-9 “Jesus began to talk to the crowds concerning John: ‘What did y'all go out into the desert to watch? A cat-tail being shaken by a storm-wind? Well then, what did y'all go out to see? A man that's been decked out in soft clothes? You see, the ones sporting the soft things are in the houses of the kings. Well then, what did y'all go out to see? A prophet? Yes!” John the Baptizer was a prophet, so he dressed like a prophet, imitating the prophet Elijah of olden days who wore “a hairy garment and a leather belt” (1 Kings 1:8). If he wanted to look like a nobleman, he would have instead worn soft purple and fine linen (Luke 16:19). Clothes can help people understand your mission.
Conversely, wearing sackcloth was a sign of mourning in Bible times. These days, people wear all-black as a sign of mourning. Clothing can back up our attitude and our message.
Inappropriate clothing can confuse people. A bride doesn’t wear black for her wedding gown, and in the Bible times, guests didn’t go to a wedding without proper wedding clothes (as we read in Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22). What we wear should appropriate for the occasion.
When Jesus took the role of a servant to his disciples, He laid aside his street clothes and wrapped himself with a towel to wash their feet. What Jesus chose to wear communicated what He was doing.
When David worshiped God on this special occasion, he wore the garments of a priest instead of the garments of a king because he wasn’t making laws and judging cases and executing people that day, he was just there to praise God.
Hopefully that’s what you’re here to do too, and the way you dress should reflect that,
although we can’t expect that to look the same across every culture, so don’t uncharitably judge someone who doesn’t dress the same way you do at church.
The book of Revelation tells us that the white tunic David had on symbolized being cleansed from sin: Revelation 3:4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life… 18 I counsel you to buy from Me ... white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed… then 4:4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads…. 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with [you guessed it!] white robes, with palm branches in their hands… 19:14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.”
Do you have God’s “white robe” of forgiveness of sins on? They aren’t for sale in any store in the world, they only come from God the Father.
How do you “buy” them? You give your life to God as a living sacrifice, trusting Jesus to forgive you for all that is wrong in you on the merits of His death on the cross for you.
When we confess our sins in Jesus’ name, God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, KJV). That is how you get His white robe, and in that white robe, worship God “with all your might” like David did!
In v.15 we see David and the priests making lots of noise as they process. It says they made the noise “with teru’ah and with the sound of shophars.”
The shophar is a ram’s horn: you can hollow it out and blow and buzz your lips on the small end and make a bugle-like sound.
The other Hebrew word teru’ah is used throughout the Old Testament to describe a loud noise made to announce something special,
and it can be done with trumpets (Num. 10:5) or with ram’s-horns (Lev. 25:9), or with the crash of cymbals (Psalm 150:5), or with the human voice (Josh. 6:5).
Most English versions interpret v. 15 to be human voices shouting in addition to the blowing of horns, but I think it could just as well be interpreted to be describing the sound of the horns themselves.
The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles adds that they also had trumpets and ear-splitting cymbals (literally, the kind “that cause themselves to be heard”), as well as harps and guitars in the band.
The point is that there is a place for being loud in praising God! There is a place for playing loud instruments and for loud voices!
We see commands in the Psalms and the prophets:
Ps. 47:1 “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” (ESV)
Isaiah 12:6 “ Shout [צהל] and sing for joy, dweller of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!” (NAW)
Zephaniah 3:14 “Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!”
And later, when the temple was restored after the Babylonian captivity, Ezra wrote, “Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.” (Ezra 3:12, NKJV)
In the Greek New Testament, when Mary came to visit Elizabeth in Luke 1:42, the same word in the Septuagint of 2 Samuel 6 is used to describe Elizabeth’s excited greeting: “...when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary… she spoke out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’”
Later, the lepers in Samaria “lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’” And when Jesus healed them, one of the ten came back and thanked Jesus and glorified God with the same “loud voice.” (Luke 17:13-15, NKJV)
Jesus’ followers also got “loud” in their praises during His triumphal entry to Jerusalem (Luke 19:37).
The book of Revelation is a particularly “loud” book, with more mentions of loud sounds and voices than any other in the Bible, and in it, the angels and elders (and perhaps other saints) around God’s heavenly throne “say with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Rev. 5:11-12, NKJV)
And half of the trumpet blasts in the New Testament are also in the book of Revelation, and most of the other half of the mentions of trumpets in the New Testament are speaking of Jesus’ second coming.
So, yeah, there’s a place for being loud, and if you never get loud, you might want to ask yourself, “What’s the problem?”
But loud isn’t the only volume in the Bible. It’s not even the normative volume.
Shouting and fanfare in the Bible were only used for special occasions,
like telling people to start a holiday,
or sounding the alarm that a war was about to start,
or, in this case, a once-in-a-lifetime move of the place of worship.
God is a God of order. In His instructions to the church in 1 Corinthians 145, we are told to speak one at a time – not everybody yelling at once, and, in some cases, even silence must be kept in church, such as among women, among foreign-language speakers, and among speakers when it’s someone else’s turn. Why? 1 Corinthians 14:33 “For He is not the God of instability but rather of peace… 40 so keep making all things happen according to good form and order.” (NAW) God likes order and peace.
I’ve heard of a group of Christians in China who got fixated on 1 Thessalonians 4:16 “For the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout…” and they taught that you have to shout in order to get Jesus to return, because it will be “with a shout” that He will “descend from heaven,” so their church services (if you could call their shouting matches church services) were just chaos. Actually, that verse indicates that it will be Jesus doing the shouting when He returns. Shouting has its place, but isn’t for all the time.
God spoke to Elijah with a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12), and God also said to be still and “Relax and know that it is I who am God...” (Psalm 46:10, NAW). We need to have enough quiet in our lives that we can know that He is God and hear His still, small voice.
Some of you can work up to what amounts to a shout when you hit the highest note on the hymn: “Glorify the precious name of Jesus, PRAISE His Name.” And that’s glorious, belt it out, but don’t sing the whole song at that level!
Use your wisdom, informed by the Bible and by the Holy-Spirit, to discern when it’s time to get loud and when it’s time to be quiet.
In verse 18, David offers the whole-burnt-offering for forgiveness of sin and then blesses the people in the name of the LORD.
Hebrews 7 uses the same Greek word for “blessed” that the Septuagint uses here in 2 Sam. 6:18, when it mentions that Melchizedek “blessed” Abraham. What did that look like? Genesis 14:18-20 quotes Melchizedek as saying: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High... And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” (NKJV)
Hebrews 11:20-21a says that “With faith about impending things, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. [And] With faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph…” (NAW) What did that look like?
Genesis 27 tells us that the blessing of Jacob was, “May God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you... And let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!" (NKJV)
And the blessing of Esau was basically, “May you live off the fat of the earth… and become independent of your brother.”
Genesis 48 records Jacob’s blessings on Joseph’s sons: “God … Bless the lads... And let them grow into a multitude...” (NKJV)
Blessings don’t have to be real fancy. You can just think of something good that is within God’s will and say it like a prayer.
Jesus also modeled speaking blessings:
He laid His hands on children and blessed them (Mark 10:16),
and later, just before He ascended to heaven, Jesus lifted up His hands and blessed His disciples (Luke 24:50).
I’d encourage you to find a time to verbally bless those in your home –
perhaps during special life transitions like infant dedications, baptisms, or coming-of-age ceremonies,
or maybe once-a-year on birthdays,
or even more frequently like every Lord’s Day, formally speaking blessings over the members of your household, like David when he returned to bless his house.
You may have noticed that we end every church service with a benediction that I have custom-chosen for y’all.
And these blessings don’t have to stop at the church. Jesus and the apostles told us we can even bless our enemies! (Matt. 5:44, 1 Peter 3:9)
So we’ve looked at the contribution of Feasting, Dancing, Apparel, Loudness, and Benediction to Biblical celebration in worship.
And there are other exemplary things which David did that day, for instance, the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 16 describes how the priests were organized at the new tabernacle site in Jerusalem to carry out the sacrificial system and to lead music, and we have a dedicatory Psalm from David containing parts of Psalms 72, 96, 105, and 106.
But after everybody goes home, 2 Samuel 6 has a poignant epilogue about one person who refused to participate in the celebration, and that is the contrast with which we must close.
In v.15, we are introduced to Mikal for the first time since David left her by climbing out a window in their apartment that fateful day that Saul tried to kill him. We are reminded right away here that Mikal is not hoi polloi, she is “the daughter of Saul” and therefore at the highest station of nobility as princess.
In contrast to David, Mikal did not join the celebration of the ark. She stayed home. But she watched the procession as it entered Jerusalem, and what she saw was not “David” but “David the king,” and to her great embarrassment, he was not acting very much like a king. From her perspective,
the king had lost his royal robes and was wearing a common priest’s uniform!
Furthermore, the king was acting like a common peasant, dancing in the streets!
This led Mikal to despise her husband-king.
He had lowered himself, but she was too proud to go that low, so she decided to protect her foolish pride by distancing herself from him.
She also couldn’t help but see that what he did make him popular, and that surely made her jealous, wanting love that she could not get due to her stubborn pride. Maybe some of David’s other wives had joined the parade and were having a fun time with him, and, since she wasn’t able to enjoy it, she wanted everyone else to be as miserable as she was.
In v.20, Mikal tries to make David feel ashamed of what he did in worshiping God:
“David, there’s royal servants, and then there are servants of servants. Kings don’t associate with people in the lower social strata like you just have. Don’t you see how you have dishonored yourself?”
Then she compares David to buffoons/vain/foolish/vulgar fellows.” The Hebrew word is רֵקִים which literally means “empty.” In other words, “David, when you associate with nobodys, it makes you a nobody too!” (That was the lie she believed.)
“You shouldn’t have changed out of your kingly clothes and put on clothes that just any Levite might wear. It doesn’t matter what kind of parade you were involved in, you need to keep the masses impressed that you are the KING! I want a husband who is respectable.”
Now, most English translations interpret the double infinitives at the end of v.20 for “reveal/uncover” as a single intensive verb chain meaning that David took off way-too-many clothes and was indecent – “shamelessly uncovered.” And she may have been saying that, but if so, it’s a bit of an overstatement because he wasn’t actually naked.
On the other hand, Hebrew emphatic verbs are usually not both infinitive, like they are here at the end of v.20, so I wonder6 if the two infinitive verbs for “uncover/reveal” are instead in parallel, emphasizing the comparison of David to a vulgar/common/nobody. “When you revealed yourself, you revealed yourself to be one of the nobodys!”
David’s response is instructive.
In effect, he says, “Honey, it’s not human beings who make us important. It’s God who makes us important. My position as king does not depend on what all the people think of me; it depends on what Yahweh wants, and if Yahweh wants me to be king, that’s what will make me preside over the common people – and will even distinguish me above Saul’s nobility. And for that very reason, I must remain oriented around pleasing God and delighting in God!”
Then in v.22, he says, “I will be made light of/more vile/more lightly esteemed/more undignified/contemptible even more than this, and I will be lowly/abased/humiliated/humble in my eyes, but with the maidservants of whom you spoke – with them I will be honored.” (And that word “honored” is the same Hebrew word Mikal mocked David with in v.20.)
Instead of trying to impress everybody and be the greatest, David chose the path of humility. Why?
He explains in Psalm 18:27 “For You [LORD] will cause to save a lowly/humble/abased people, but haughty eyes [like Mikal’s] You will bring low.”
Jesus said in Matthew 23:12 “...whoever will exalt himself will be humbled, yet whoever will humble himself will be exalted.” (NAW)
This path of humility was the same one Jesus chose, as described in Philippians 2: “...Christ Jesus who, while existing in God's form, did not consider being equal to God a prize to be clutched, but rather, emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And while He was found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death – even death by crucifixion. Therefore God super-exalted and gifted to Him the name above every name…” (Phil. 2:5-9, NAW)
You see, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6, ESV)
Mikal chose the path of being high and mighty, exalting herself in her window above the street, and the chapter ends with the statement that, for the rest of her life, she couldn’t have a child.
Whether this was due to a divine curse of barrenness
or the natural result of older age
or the result of David just not wanting to be around her, we are not told,
but in the Bible, not having children was considered a curse, and the statement seems to indicate some kind of judgment against Mikal for her pride.
So let us with self-abandon, humble ourselves and celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in glad7 worship, using holy feasting, appropriate movement, appropriate clothing, appropriate volume, and blessings from our lips, following the example of David and of Christ Himself.
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT 2Sa |
MT 1ChB |
NAW |
11 καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἡ κιβωτὸς τοῦ κυρίου εἰς οἶκον Αβεδδαρα τοῦ Γεθθαίου μῆνας τρεῖς· καὶ εὐλόγησεν κύριος ὅλον τὸν οἶκον Αβεδδαρα καὶ [πάντα τὰ αὐτοῦ]. |
11 And the ark of the Lord lodged in the house of Abeddara the Gethite three months, and the Lord blessed all the house of Abeddara, and [all his possessions]. |
11 And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gethite three months: and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all his household. |
11
And the ark of the LORD |
11 and the ark of Yahweh sat at the house of Obed Edom the Gittite for three months. And Yahweh blessed Obed Edom and all his household. |
11
וַיֵּשֶׁב
אֲרוֹן יְהוָה |
13:14 וַיֵּשֶׁב אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים עִם־בֵּית עֹבֵד אֱדֹם בְּבֵיתוֹ שְׁלֹשָׁה חֳדָשִׁים וַיְבָרֶךְ יְהוָה אֶת־בֵּית עֹבֵד־ אֱדֹם וְאֶת־כָּל־ אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ׃ פ |
14 and the ark of God sat with the household of Obed Edom – inside his house – for three months. And Yahweh blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all who belonged to him. |
12
Καὶ ἀπηγγέλη
τῷ βασιλεῖ
Δαυιδ λέγοντες
Ηὐλόγησεν κύριος
τὸν οἶκον Αβεδ |
12
And it was reported to king David, saying, The Lord has blessed
the house of Abed |
12 And it was told king David, that the Lord had blessed Obededom, and all that he had, because of the ark of God. So David went, and brought away the ark of God out of the house of Obededom into the city of David with joy. [And there were with David seven choirs, and calves for victims.] |
12 And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness. |
12 Presently, it was communicated to King David, saying, “Yahweh has blessed the household of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God.” Then David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the City of David with happiness. |
12 וַיֻּגַּד לַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד לֵאמֹר בֵּרַךְ יְהוָה אֶת- בֵּית עֹבֵד אֱדֹם וְאֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר- לוֹ בַּעֲבוּר אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִיםE וַיֵּלֶךְ דָּוִד וַיַּעַל אֶת-אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים מִבֵּית עֹבֵד אֱדֹם עִיר דָּוִד בְּשִׂמְחָה: |
15:25 וַיְהִי דָוִיד וְזִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְשָׂרֵי הָאֲלָפִים הַהֹלְכִים לְהַעֲלוֹת אֶת-אֲרוֹן בְּרִית-יְהוָה מִן-בֵּית עֹבֵד-אֱדֹם X X בְּשִׂמְחָה: ס |
25 So it was that David and the elders of Israel and the officers of the thousands were going to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the house of Obed-Edom with happiness. |
13
καὶ ἦσαν |
13
And there were |
13
And when they that carried the ark of the Lord had gone
six paces,
he sacrificed and ox and a |
13
And it was so,
that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone
six paces,
he sacrificed ox |
13 And when it came to pass that the carriers of the ark of Yahweh had stepped six steps, he sacrificed {bulls} and {fatted-lambs}. |
13 וַיְהִי כִּי צָעֲדוּ נֹשְׂאֵי אֲרוֹן-יְהוָה שִׁשָּׁה צְעָדִים וַיִּזְבַּח שׁוֹר וּמְרִיאG: |
15:26 וַיְהִי בֶּעְזֹר הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת- הַלְוִיִּם נֹשְׂאֵי אֲרוֹן בְּרִית- יְהוָה וַיִּזְבְּחוּ שִׁבְעָה-פָרִים וְשִׁבְעָה אֵילִים: |
26 And when it came to pass that God helped the Levites carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. |
14
καὶ Δαυιδ
|
14
And David |
14 And David danced with all his might before the Lord: and David was girded with a linen ephod. |
14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. |
14 Then David twirled around with all his might before Yahweh (and David was clad in a linen ephod). |
14 וְדָוִד מְכַרְכֵּרH בְּכָל-עֹז לִפְנֵי יְהוָה וְדָוִד חָגוּר אֵפוֹד בָּד: |
15:27 וְדָוִיד מְכֻרְבָּל בִּמְעִיל בּוּץ וְכָל-הַלְוִיִּם הַנֹּשְׂאִים אֶת- הָאָרוֹן וְהַמְשֹׁרְרִים וּכְנַנְיָה הַשַּׂר הַמַּשָּׂא הַמְשֹׁרְרִים וְעַל-דָּוִיד אֵפוֹד בָּד: |
27 Now, David had a fine linen tunic tied-on, along with all the Levites carrying the ark and singing with Kenaniah the officer conducting the singing. Also there was a linen ephod on David. |
15 καὶ Δαυιδ καὶ πᾶς ὁ οἶκος Ισραηλ ἀνήγαγον τὴν κιβωτὸν κυρίου μετὰ κραυγῆς καὶ μετὰ φωνῆς σάλπιγγος. |
15 And David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of a trumpet. |
15 And David and all the louse of Israel brought the ark of [the covenant of] the Lord with joyful shouting, and with sound of trumpet. |
15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. |
15 So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of Yahweh with fanfare and with the sound of the shophar-horn. |
15 וְדָוִד וְכָל-בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל מַעֲלִים אֶת-אֲרוֹן יְהוָה בִּתְרוּעָהI וּבְקוֹל שׁוֹפָר: |
15:28 X וְכָל-X יִשְׂרָאֵל מַעֲלִים אֶת-אֲרוֹן בְּרִית- יְהוָה בִּתְרוּעָה וּבְקוֹל שׁוֹפָר וּבַחֲצֹצְרוֹת וּבִמְצִלְתָּיִם מַשְׁמִעִים בִּנְבָלִים וְכִנֹּרוֹת: |
28 So all Israel was bringing up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with fanfare and with the sound of the shophar-horn and with the trumpets and with ear-splitting cymbals, with harps and guitars. |
16 καὶ ἐγένετο τῆς κιβωτοῦ X παραγινομένης [ἕως] πόλεως Δαυιδ καὶ Μελχολ ἡ θυγάτηρ Σαουλ διέκυπτεν διὰ τῆς θυρίδος καὶ εἶδεν τὸν βασιλέα Δαυιδ ὀρχούμενον καὶ ἀνακρουόμενον ἐνώπιον κυρίου καὶ ἐξουδένωσεν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς. |
16 And it came to pass as the ark X arrived [atJ] the city of David, that Melchol the daughter of Saul looked through the window, and saw king David dancing and playing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. |
16 And when the ark of the Lord was come into the city of David, Michol the daughter of Saul, looking out through a window, saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord: and she despised him in her heart. |
16 And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. |
16 Now, while the ark of Yahweh was entering the City of David, Mikal, daughter of Saul looked down through her window and saw David the king leaping and twirling around before the presence of Yahweh, and she despised him in her heart. |
16 וְהָיָהK אֲרוֹן יְהוָה בָּא עִיר דָּוִד וּמִיכַל בַּת- שָׁאוּל נִשְׁקְפָה בְּעַד הַחַלּוֹן וַתֵּרֶא אֶת- הַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד מְפַזֵּזL וּמְכַרְכֵּר לִפְנֵי יְהוָה וַתִּבֶז לוֹ בְּלִבָּהּ: |
15:29 וַיְהִי אֲרוֹן בְּרִית יְהוָה בָּא עַד- עִיר דָּוִיד וּמִיכַל בַּת- שָׁאוּל נִשְׁקְפָה בְּעַד הַחַלּוֹן וַתֵּרֶא אֶת- הַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִיד מְרַקֵּד וּמְשַׂחֵק וַתִּבֶז לוֹ בְּלִבָּהּ: פ |
29 Now, while the ark of the covenant of Yahweh was entering into the City of David, Mikal, daughter of Saul looked down through her window and saw David the king skipping about and laughing, and she despised him in her heart. |
17 καὶ φέρουσιν τὴν κιβωτὸν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἀνέθηκαν αὐτὴν εἰς τὸν τόπον αὐτῆς εἰς μέσον τῆς σκηνῆς, ἧς ἔπηξεν αὐτῇ Δαυιδ· καὶ ἀνήνεγκεν Δαυιδ ὁλοκαυτώματα ἐνώπιον κυρίου καὶ εἰρηνικάς. |
17 And they bring the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle which David pitched for it: and David offered whole-burnt-offerings before the Lord, and peace-offerings. |
17 And they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle, which David had pitched for it: and David offered holocausts, and peace offerings before the Lord. |
17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. |
17 Anyway, they brought in the ark of Yahweh, and they displayed it in its place – in the middle of the tent which David had pitched for it, and David offered up whole-burnt offerings before the presence of Yahweh – as well as peace-offerings. |
17 וַיָּבִאוּ אֶת-אֲרוֹן יְהוָה וַיַּצִּגוּM אֹתוֹ בִּמְקוֹמוֹ בְּתוֹךְ הָאֹהֶל אֲשֶׁר נָטָה-לוֹ דָּוִד וַיַּעַל דָּוִד עֹלוֹת לִפְנֵי יְהוָה וּשְׁלָמִים: |
16:1 וַיָּבִיאוּ אֶת-אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים וַיַּצִּיגוּ אֹתוֹ X בְּתוֹךְ הָאֹהֶל אֲשֶׁר נָטָה-לוֹ דָּוִיד וַיַּקְרִיבוּ עֹלוֹת וּשְׁלָמִים לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים: |
16:1 Anyway, they brought in the ark of God, and they displayed it in the middle of the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered whole-burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the presence of God. |
18
καὶ συνετέλεσεν
Δαυιδ συναναφέρων
τὰς ὁλοκαυτώσ |
18 And David made an end of offering the whole-burnt-offering[s] and X peace-offerings, and blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts. |
18 And when he had made an end of offering X holocaust[s] and X peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. |
18 And as soon as David had made an end of offering X burnt offering[s] and X peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. |
18 Then, when David had finished offering up the whole-burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of Army-hosts. |
18 וַיְכַל דָּוִד מֵהַעֲלוֹת הָעוֹלָה וְהַשְּׁלָמִים וַיְבָרֶךְ אֶת- הָעָם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת: |
16:2 וַיְכַל דָּוִיד מֵהַעֲלוֹת הָעֹלָה וְהַשְּׁלָמִים וַיְבָרֶךְ אֶת- הָעָם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה X: |
16:2 Then, when David had finished offering up the whole-burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh. |
19
καὶ διεμέρισεν
παντὶ τῷ λαῷ
εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν
δύναμιν
τοῦ Ισραηλ [ἀπὸ
Δαν ἕως Βηρσαβεε]
ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἕως
γυναικὸς ἑκάστῳ
κολλυρίδα
ἄρτου X
καὶ
ἐσχαρίτην
X
καὶ
|
19
And he distributed to all the people, even to all the host
of Israel [from
Dan to Bersabee],
both men and women, to every one a cake of bread, and a joint
[of
meat],
and a |
19
And he distributed to all the X
X X
multitude
of Israel, both men and women,
to every one, a cake of bread, and a piece
of [roasted
beef],
and |
19 And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house. |
19 He also shared out to all the people – to the whole crowd of Israel, to both man and woman, to each one – one loaf of bread and one clump of dates and one clump of raisins. Then all the people went, each to his home. |
19 וַיְחַלֵּק לְכָל-הָעָם לְכָל-הֲמוֹן יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמֵאִישׁ וְעַד-אִשָּׁה לְאִישׁ חַלַּת לֶחֶם אַחַת וְאֶשְׁפָּר אֶחָד וַאֲשִׁישָׁהN אֶחָת וַיֵּלֶךְ כָּל-הָעָם אִישׁ לְבֵיתוֹ: |
16:3 וַיְחַלֵּק X X לְכָל-אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל xמֵאִישׁ וְעַד- אִשָּׁה לְאִישׁ כִּכַּר-לֶחֶם X וְאֶשְׁפָּר X וַאֲשִׁישָׁה X: |
16:3 He also shared out to each and every one of Israel – from man to woman, to each – a round-loaf of bread and a clump of dates and a clump of raisins… |
16:43 וַיֵּלְכוּ כָל-הָעָם אִישׁ לְבֵיתוֹ |
16:43 Then all the people went, each to his home, |
||||||
20 καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν Δαυιδ εὐλογῆσαι τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν Μελχολ ἡ θυγάτηρ Σαουλ εἰς ἀπάντησιν Δαυιδ [καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτὸν] καὶ εἶπεν
Τί
δεδόξασται
σήμερον ὁ βασιλεὺς
Ισραηλ, ὃς ἀπεκαλύφθη
σήμερον |
20 And David returned to bless his house. And Melchol the daughter of Saul came out to meet David [and saluted him], and said,
How
was
the king of Israel glorified
to-day, who was to-day uncovered
|
20 And David returned to bless his own house: and Michol the daughter of Saul coming out to meet David, X said:
How
glorious
was the king of Israel to day, X
uncover |
20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said,
How
glorious
was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered
himself
to day |
20 And when David returned to bless his home, Mikal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “My, how he honored himself today, the king of Israel who revealed himself today before the eyes of maidservants of his man-servants! When he revealed himself, he revealed himself to be one of the nobodys!” |
20 וַיָּשָׁב דָּוִד לְבָרֵךְ אֶת- בֵּיתוֹ וַתֵּצֵא מִיכַל בַּת- שָׁאוּל לִקְרַאת דָּוִד וַתֹּאמֶר מַה-נִּכְבַּד הַיּוֹם מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר נִגְלָה הַיּוֹם לְעֵינֵי אַמְהוֹת עֲבָדָיו כְּהִגָּלוֹת נִגְלוֹת אַחַד הָרֵקִים: |
וַיִּסֹּב דָּוִיד לְבָרֵךְ אֶת- בֵּיתוֹ: פ |
and David turned away to bless his home. |
21
καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ
πρὸς Μελχολ
Ἐνώπιον κυρίου
[ὀρχήσομαι·
εὐλογητὸς
κύριος],
ὃς ἐξελέξατό
με ὑπὲρ τὸν πατέρα
σου καὶ ὑπὲρ
πάντα τὸν οἶκον
αὐτοῦ τοῦ
καταστῆσαί
με [εἰς]
ἡγούμενον
ἐπὶ τὸν λαὸν
|
21
And David said to Melchol, [I
will dance]
before the Lord. [Blessed
be the Lord]
who chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to
make
me []
head
over |
21
And David said to Michol: Before the Lord, who chose me rather
than thy father, and than all his house, and
commanded
me [to
be]
ruler
over the people of the Lord |
21 And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. |
21 Then David said to Mikal, “It was before the presence of Yahweh, who distinguished me from your father and from all his household to command that I {become} the one who presides over the people of Yahweh – over Israel, therefore I will play before the presence of Yahweh. |
21 וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל-מִיכַל לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר-בִּי מֵאָבִיךְ וּמִכָּל- בֵּיתוֹ לְצַוֹּת אֹתִי Pנָגִיד עַל-עַם יְהוָה עַל-יִשְׂרָאֵל וְשִׂחַקְתִּיQ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה: |
|
|
22
καὶ |
22
And I will again |
and
make
myself meaner
X
than |
22 And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour. |
22 I will be made light of even more than this, and I will be lowly in my eyes, but with the maidservants of whom you spoke – with them I will be honored.” |
22 וּנְקַלֹּתִי עוֹד מִזֹּאת וְהָיִיתִי שָׁפָל בְּעֵינָיT וְעִם-הָאֲמָהוֹת אֲשֶׁר אָמַרְתְּ עִמָּם אִכָּבֵדָה: |
|
|
23 καὶ τῇ Μελχολ θυγατρὶ Σαουλ οὐκ ἐγένετο παιδίον ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν αὐτήν. |
23 And Melchol the daughter of Saul had no child till the day of her death. |
23 Therefore Michol the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death. |
23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death. |
23 So as for Mikal daughter of Saul, until the day of her death, a birth never happened for her. |
23 וּלְמִיכַל בַּת-שָׁאוּל לֹא-הָיָה לָהּ יָלֶד עַד יוֹם מוֹתָהּ: פ |
|
|
1Supported by the reading of the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls of 2 Sam. 6:13, which seem to follow 1 Chron. 15:26
2Keil & Delitzsch comment on the Hebrew word esper, “Most of the Rabbins understand it as signifying a piece of flesh or roast meat, deriving the word from אֵשׁ and פָּר; but this is certainly false. There is more to be said in favour of the derivation proposed by L. de Dieu, viz., from the Ethiopic שׁפר, netiri, from which Gesenius and Roediger (Ges. Thes. p. 1470) have drawn their explanation of the word as signifying a measure of wine or other beverage.” More recent scholarship has associated it with dried dates (Tsumura, NASB, NIV, NET).
31 Cor. 12:23 “And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty…” (NKJV)
41 Tim. 2:9 “...let the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing” Matt. 23:5 “But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.” (NKJV)
51 Cor 14:28 Now, if there does not happen to be an interpreter, he must remain silent in church, yet he should keep making utterance to himself and to God. 29 And two prophets – or three – should make utterances, and the others should make assessments. 30 But if it is revealed to another who is still sitting down, the first should be silent. 31 For you are all able to prophesy one by one, in order that all might learn and all might be exhorted. 32 And prophet's spirits are put under submission to prophets. 33 For He is not the God of instability but rather of peace; so it should be in all the churches of the saints. 34 The women should remain silent in the churches, for it is not being turned over to them to make utterances, but rather they should be kept under submission, just as the Law also says. 35 But if they are wanting to learn about something, they should be asking their own husbands at home, for it is dishonorable for a woman to make utterance in church… 40 and keep making all things happen according to good form and order.” (NAW)
6Even the normally-cocksure Keil & Delitzsch expressed puzzlement over this “unusual combination.”
7Acts 2:46-47 “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (NKJV)
AMy
original chart includes the NASB, ESV, and NIV, but their copyright
restrictions have forced me to remove them from the
publicly-available edition of this chart. (NAW is my translation.)
When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text),
I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses
a wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in
my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the
Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original
text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a
word which is in the original text, I insert an X. (I also place an
X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the
English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help
the reader see correlations between the various editions and
versions when there are more than two different translations of a
given word. The only known Dead Sea Scroll containing 2 Samuel 6 is
4Q51Samuela, which contains fragments of vs. 2-18, and
which has been dated between 50-25 B.C. Where the DSS is legible and
in agreement with the MT, the MT is colored purple.
Where the DSS supports the LXX (or Vulgate) with omissions or text
not in the MT, I have highlighted
with yellow the LXX
and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that
into my NAW translation, I have marked it with {pointed brackets}.
BI have marked up the parallel passage in the MT of 1 Chronicles by placing a capital X where a whole word found in the 2Sam text is not found in the 1Chr text, a lower case “x” when a letter of a word is in 2Sam but not 1Chr, grey text to indicate words in the 1Chr text not found in 2Sam, and orange text to indicate words where a synonym was substituted.
CThe word in all the Greek manuscripts is θεου; it appears that Brenton slipped and copied the “lord” from the previous or subsequent part of the verse instead of translating “God” here.
DMT & Latin read “God,” but Targums and parallel account in 1 Chron 15 read “YHWH,” but it is the same person.
EIt appears there could be an extra line of text in the DSS, but there is no indication in the other manuscripts at this point, and this is an obliterated section, so perhaps not.
FLXX is plural “with them” but Vaticanus is singular as here “with him;” this is different from both the MT of this verse and of the parallel passage in 1 Chron, describing “ark-carriers” “with [David]” or “with [the celebrants].” This does not add new information, but changes the six steps to seven bands. No reason for seven bands of ark-carriers comes to mind except perhaps to rotate fresh bodies onto the carrying force, but the distance does not seem great enough to warrant so many substitutes for carrying.
GDSS is obliterated through most of the beginning of this verse, but the end clearly reads ...hub?w <yrp hub?... “seven bulls and seven,” and the spacing of the rest of the verse supports it being a copy of 1 Chron. 15 rather than of 2 Sam 6. (Is the claim really true that there is no DSS of 1 Chronicles? Could it be that some of the DSS fragments attributed to 2 Samuel are actually from 1 Chronicles?) At any rate, the shur/ox/bull/steer was characteristic of a peace offering in Leviticus, so only its inedible parts were burned on the altar; the meat was cooked for a celebratory meal. This is the first mention in the Bible, however, of mri/feed-lot/fattened cattle. They are mentioned subsequently in 1 Ki. 1:9, 19, 25; Isa. 1:11; 11:6; Ezek. 39:18; Amos 5:22 as good for eating too.
HThis verb root occurs only here (and in v.16) in the Hebrew O.T. (The standard Hebrew word for “dance” is חול/חיל) The Targums and Syriac emend to משׁבח (“praise”). The parallel passage in 1 Chron. uses a different verb (מְכֻרְבָּל), also a hapex legomenon, but based on כבל (“twine, tie”) and referring to his clothes.
Icf.
other uses of this word (out of 33 total instances in the
O.T.)
Leviticus 25:9 “Then you must cause a
shophar-horn fanfare to sound abroad in the seventh month during the
tenth of the month on the Day of Atonements. Y'all must cause the
shophar-horn to sound abroad through all your land.”
(NAW)
Numbers 10:5 Speaking of the silver trumpets:
"When you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east
side shall then begin their journey.” (NKJV)
Numbers
29:1 “And
in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have
a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a
day of blowing the trumpets.” (NKJV)
2 Chronicles
13:12 "Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and
His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O
children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your
fathers, for you shall not prosper!"
Psalm 47:5
“God has gone up with fanfare, Yahweh with the sound of a
shophar-horn.” (NAW)
Psalm 150:5 “Praise Him
with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals!”
(NKJV)
Jeremiah 4:19b “...you have heard, O my
soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war.”
(NKJV)
Joshua 6:5 "It shall come to pass, when they
make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound
of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout;
then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall
go up every man straight before him." (NKJV, cf. Ezra
3:12-13)
JThis corresponds to the עד inserted at this point in the parallel account in 1 Chron. The DSS is obliterated at this point and the spacing between legible sections could hold the extra letters but doesn’t necessitate the extra letters.
KDSS yhyw which is the normal way of saying “and it came to pass” and is the way it’s spelled in the parallel passage in 1 Chron. Tsumura commented, however, that it the MT spelling is not impossible and that it could be a way of providing emphasis. Except for the emphatic nature (which is probably to little of a nuance to even bring into English), the meaning is the same.
LThis Hebrew verb only occurs two other places, in reference to a limber bow-arm (Gen. 49:24) and in reference to pure gold (1 Ki. 10:18). It’s hard to see the correlations.
MComparing the other 13 instances of this verb in the hiphil stem indicates that it is more than simply “setting/putting” but rather is doing so for an effect on a third party, such as display or putting its use at their disposal. (Gen. 30:38; 33:15; 43:9; 47:2; Deut. 28:56; Jdg. 6:37; 7:5; 8:27; 1 Sam. 5:2; Job 17:6; Jer. 51:34; Hos. 2:5; Amos 5:15)
NOnly in two other passages besides this and its 1 Chron. 16:3 parallel: Cant. 2:5; Hos. 3:1.
Ocurris, cf. old Latin saltatoribus
PSeveral Hebrew manuscripts add a lamed prefix here (“to be” or “into”), which LXX, Targums, and Vulgate support.
QCf. v.5
RVaticanus inserts the negative “μη” which is not in the LXX, Vulgate, or MT.
SOld Latin manuscripts read “your” with LXX instead of “my” with the MT. No DSS of this verse is known.
TSyriac, Vulgate, and Targums support MT with “my,” but Kittel cites some Hebrew manuscripts reading “his,” and LXX and old Latin read “your” (singular).