2 Chronicles 30:27

Then the priests the Levites arose,.... The priests who were of the tribe of Levi; for there were some in Israel that were not, but were made of any of the people, as in the times of Jeroboam; though some supply the copulative "and"; so the Targum: "and blessed the people"; which was the proper work and business of the priests to do; though, while they were blessing, the Levites might be singing: and their voice was heard; meaning not by the people, though undoubtedly it was, but by the Lord; the Targum is,"their prayer was heard or received;''for the blessing was delivered in a petitionary way, Numbers 6:24, and was no other than a request that God would bless them, which he did: and their prayer came up to his holy dwellingplace, even unto heaven; see Psalm 3:4 by what means it was known their prayer was heard and accepted cannot be said; there might be some visible token of it, as the people were dismissed, and departed.

30:21-27 Many prayers were put up to God with the peace-offerings. In these Israel looked to God as the God of their fathers, a God in covenant with them. There was also abundance of good preaching. The Levites read and explained the Scriptures. Faith cometh by hearing, and true religion preaching has abounded. They sang psalms every day: praising God should be much of our work in religious assemblies. Having kept the seven days of the feast in this religious manner, they had so much comfort in it, that they kept other seven days also. This they did with gladness. Holy duties should be done with holy gladness. And when sinners humble themselves before the Lord, they may expect gladness in his ordinances. Those who taste this happiness will not soon grow weary of it, but will be glad to prolong their enjoyment.

2 Chronicles 30:27 . Then the priests the Levites arose, and blessed the people — That is, those of the Levites who were priests also, for to them only this work belonged, 1 Chronicles 23:13 . In performing this office, they were both the people’s mouth to God, by way of prayer, and God’s mouth to the people, by way of promise; for the blessing included both. And in it they testified both their desire of the people’s welfare, and their dependance upon God and the word of his grace, to which they commended them. And their prayer came up to his holy dwelling-place — The voice of the priests, when they thus blessed the people, as God had commanded, was heard in heaven. God said amen to their prayer, and perhaps gave some sensible token of the ratification of the blessing which they had pronounced. The prayer that comes up to heaven in a cloud of incense, will come down again to this earth in showers of blessings.

27 . the priests the Levites ] So in 2 Chronicles 23:18 , but only in these two places in Chron. The phrase is Deuteronomic, and has been taken to imply that all Levites were potentially priests. Such was not in any case the view of the Chronicler, and perhaps we ought to read “the priests and the Levites” both here and in 2 Chronicles 23:18 . his holy dwelling place ] R.V. his holy habitation ; so Deuteronomy 26:15 .

The priests the Levites; those of the Levites who were priests also; for to them only this work belonged, 1 Chronicles 23:13 . Or, the priests and the Levites ; for as the Levites did some other part of the priests’ work at this time, it is not strange if they did this also. Or the priests might bless by solemn pronunciation of the blessing, and the Levites by their acclamations, or with their musical instruments. Blessed the people; either commended them for their great zeal and diligence in God’s service; or rather, solemnly prayed to God to bless them; and their prayer was not in vain, as the following words show.

Verse 27. - The priests the Levites; i.e. the priest-Levites, and not other Levites ( Deuteronomy 17:18 ; Joshua 3:3 ). The Septuagint, therefore, is wrong in inserting "and." A parallel expression in the New Testament is "Men brethren" ( Acts 1:16 ; Acts 2:29 , etc.). The priests were those authorized to bless ( Numbers 6:23-26 ; 1 Chronicles 23:13 ). 2 Chronicles 30:27

(27) Then the priests the Levites. — And the Levitical priests; not any irregular ministrants. Some Hebrew MSS., the LXX., Syriac, and the Vulg. read, “And the priests and the Levites”: but comp. 2Chronicles 23:18 . And their voice was heard.—The priestly blessing was a prayer that Jehovah would bless. (See Numbers 6:22-27.) That the prayer was heard on the present occasion, the writer infers from the progress of reform among the people, and the wonderful deliverance from Assyria, as related in the ensuing chapters. Their prayer came up.—Entered into His holy dwelling (comp. Isaiah 18:6) into the heavens. Notice the characteristic omission of the sacred Name.

At the end of the Levitic priests dismissed the people with the blessing (the ו before הלויּם in some MSS, and which the lxx, Vulg., and Syr. also have, is a copyist's gloss brought from 2 Chronicles 30:25 ; cf. against it, 2 Chronicles 23:18 ), and the historian adds, "Their voice was heard, and their prayer came to His holy dwelling-place, to heaven." This conclusion he draws from the divine blessing having been upon the festival; traceable partly in the zeal which the people afterwards showed for the public worship in the temple ( 2 Chronicles 31 ), partly in the deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem from the attack of the Assyrian Sennacherib ( 2 Chronicles 32 ).

Verse 27. - The... words of David . Although there are many instances of the expression, "the words of" David or some other king, as equivalent to his "doings" ( 1 Chronicles 29:29 ; 2 Chronicles 9:29 ), and not a few instances of the same phrase, standing for the "account" or "history' of any one ( 1 Chronicles 27:24 ; 1 Chronicles 29:29 , three times; 2 Chronicles 9:29 ), the expression here may rather parallel passages like 2 Samuel 23:1 ; 2 Chronicles 29:30 . 1 Chronicles 23:27