2 Chronicles 1:3

So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon,.... They agreed to his motion, and went with him thither, see 1 Kings 3:4 . for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness: by the Lord's direction; where was also the altar of the Lord, and so most proper to offer sacrifice on, which was what Solomon went thither to do; see 1 Chronicles 21:29.

1:1-17 Solomon's choice of wisdom, His strength and wealth. - SOLOMON began his reign with a pious, public visit to God's altar. Those that pursue present things most eagerly, are likely to be disappointed; while those that refer themselves to the providence of God, if they have not the most, have the most comfort. Those that make this world their end, come short of the other, and are disappointed in this also; but those that make the other world their end, shall not only obtain that, and full satisfaction in it, but shall have as much of this world as is good for them, in their way. Let us then be contented, without those great things which men generally covet, but which commonly prove fatal snares to the soul.

2 Chronicles 1:3-4 . Solomon, &c., went to the high place at Gibeon — Upon which the tabernacle was placed; whence it is called the great high place, 1 Kings 3:4 . But the ark, &c. — David had separated the ark from the tabernacle, and brought it to Jerusalem, because there he intended to build a far more noble and lasting habitation for it.

3 . and all the congregation ] The attendance of the chief representatives of the people at the great sacrifice with which Solomon seems to have inaugurated his reign is probable in itself, but it is passed over in the brief notice in 1 Kings 3:4 . at Gibeon ] Cp. 1 Chronicles 16:39 ; 1 Chronicles 21:29 ; 1 Kings 3:4 . It was a city of Benjamin. The Chronicler defends this instance of high-place worship by his explanation that the Tabernacle was on the high place. the tabernacle of the congregation ] R.V. the tent of meeting (cp. R.V. Preface, p. vi.). So 2 Chronicles 1:5 . in the wilderness ] See Exodus 25:1 ff; Exodus 35:4 ff.

The narrative here corresponds with 1 Kings 3:4 ; but is very much fuller. We learn from the present passage: (1) that Solomon's sacrifice at Gibeon was a great public festivity, to which he collected vast numbers of the people; (2) that it was made upon the brass altar of Bezaleel, which (3) stood before the tabernacle; and (4) that Solomon's vision was on the night of his sacrifice. Consult the marginal references

So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at {b} Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle {c} of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. (b) Read 1Ki 3:4. (c) So called, because by it God showed signs of his presence to the congregation.

Verse 3. - All the congregation; i.e. in the persons of their captains, judges, princes, and family representatives. The high place... at Gibeon . It may readily be allowed that even nature and instinct would suggest a certain fitness in selecting high places, and the impressive grandeur of groves, for the worship of the High and Lofty One and for the offerings of sacrifice to him. It was not otherwise historically ( Genesis 12:7, 8 ; Genesis 22:3, 4 ; Genesis 31:54 ). However , first , it was part of the education of a nation (situated in the heart of the young world) in the unity of the one God, that its worship should be offered in one place, and the smoke of its sacrifices ascend from one altar; and secondly , it was not difficult to foresee that the very force that lay in the associations, which dictated the choice of some places (not least, certainly, "the grove"), would constitute their weakness and snare. The prohibitions, therefore, of the Mosaic Law ( Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 14, 19, 21, 26 ), witnessed to by such corroborations as are found in commands to obliterate certain Canaanitish traces, that looked long time a different way ( Leviticus 17:8 ; Leviticus 26:30 ; Numbers 33:52 ; Deuteronomy 33:29 ; Joshua 22:29 ; 1 Kings 20:23 ), approve themselves as in thorough harmony with what all would feel to be the genius of the religious education of Israel, and, through Israel, of the nations of the world.

The wonder that impresses us is rather that means were not found to abide by the "letter" of the Law to a far greater degree during all the generations that elapsed before the people were settled in their land, and were gathered in their temple so typical. Is it not possible to regard this as an impressive instance of how, even in a system that sought to be of the closest and most exclusive, the " spirit ," by force of circumstances, resented the tyrannous bondage of the "letter"? Anyway, for ages from the time of that prohibition, the nation had the moral principle as their guide rather than any possibility of keeping safe within a commandment's "letter" (so see Judges 6:25, 26 ; Judges 13:17-24 ; 1 Samuel 7:10 ; 1 Samuel 13:9 ; 1 Samuel 16:5 ; 1 Samuel 10:5 ; 1 Chronicles 21:26 ; 1 Kings 18:30 ). Even now, accordingly, the prohibited is still the observed, and by Solomon, too, in the steps of David, even if it be necessary to describe it as the "winked at." And to the "high place" at Gibeon Solomon and all the representatives, the congregation of Israel, have to repair in order to do sacrifice. The tabernacle was now at Gibeon, whither it had come from Nob ( 1 Chronicles 16:39, 40 ; 1 Samuel 21:1, 6 ; from which latter reference, speaking of the "shew-bread," it comes that we know the tabernacle to have resided at Nob awhile; for the circumstance is not positively narrated in any passage of the history (but see also 1 Samuel 22:9, 11 ).

(3) The tabernacle of the congregation of God. —Rather, God’s tent of meeting; viz., with man ( Exodus 25:22 ; Exodus 27:21 ; Numbers 17:4 ). Solomon repaired to Gibeon because “that was the great high place” ( 1Kings 3:4 ). We learn from our text why Gibeon stood pre-eminent above the other high places. (Comp. 1Chronicles 6:31 sqq.; 1Chronicles 16:39 sqq. )