preposition as though it were a substantive: cf. similar constructions, 1Ch 29:3; 2Ch 16:9; 2Ch 30:18; Neh 8:10; and Ew. §33, b.
Verse 13
1Ch 15:13 “For because in the beginning (i.e., when the ark was removed from the house of Amminadab, 1Ch 13:1-14) it was not you (sc., who brought it up), did Jahve our God made a breach upon us,” sc. by the slaying of Uzza, 1Ch 13:11. In the first clause the predicate is wanting, but it may easily be supplied from the context. The contracted form למבּרשׁונה, made up of למה and בּראשׁונה, is unique, since מה is so united only with small words, as in מזּה, Exo 4:2, מלּכם, Isa 3:15; but we find מתּלאה for מה־תּלאה, Mal 1:13; cf. Ew. §91, d. למה here signifies: on account of this which = because; cf.'Ew. §222, a, and 353, a. “This was done, because we did not seek Him according to the right,” which required that the ark, upon which Jehovah sits enthroned, should be carried by Levites, and touched by no unholy person, or one who is not a priest (Num 4:15).
Verses 14-15
The Levites consecrated themselves, and bare - as 1Ch 15:15 anticipatively remarks-the ark of God upon their shoulders, according to the prescription in Num 7:9, עליהם בּמּומות, by means of poles upon them (the shoulders). מוטה, the flexible pole used for carrying burdens, Num 13:23. Those used to carry the ark are called בּדּים in the Pentateuch, Exo 25:13.
Verses 16-18
David gave the princes of the Levites a further charge to appoint singers with musical instruments for the solemn procession, which they accordingly did. שׁיר כּלי, instruments to accompany the song. In 1Ch 15:16 three kinds of these are named: נבלים, nablia, ψαλτήρια, which Luther has translated by psalter, corresponds to the Arabic santir, which is an oblong box with a broad bottom and a somewhat convex sounding-board, over which strings of wire are stretched; an instrument something like the cithara. כּנּרות, harps, more properly lutes, as this instrument more resembled our lute than the harp, and corresponded to the Arabic catgut instrument el ‛ûd (العود l - c ûd); cf. Wetzstein in Delitzsch, Isaiah, S. 702, der 2 Aufl., where, however, the statement that the santir is essentially the same as the old German cymbal, vulgo Hackebrett, is incorrect, and calculated to bring confusion into the matter, for the cymbal was an instrument provided with a small bell. מצלתּים, the later word for צלצלים, cymbals, castanets; see on 2Sa 6:5. משׁמיעים does not belong to the three before-mentioned instruments (Berth.), but, as is clear from 1Ch 15:19, 1Ch 15:28, [[Bible_(King_James)/1_Chronicles|1Ch
