we should probably supply from 1Ch 28:11 : “he gave him the pattern of the forks...ולכפורי, and for the golden tankards, according to the weight of each tankard.” For מזלנות and מזרקות, see on 2Ch 4:22. קשׂוה, σπονδεῖα, cups for the libations, occur only in Exo 25:29; Exo 37:16, and Num 4:7. טהור זהב, in free subordination: of pure gold. כּפורים from כּפר, to cover, are vessels provided with covers, tankards; only mentioned here and in Ezr 1:10; Ezr 8:27.
Verse 18
And (the pattern) for the altar of incense of pure gold by weight. In the second member of the verse, at the close of the enumeration, תּבנית, from 1Ch 28:11, 1Ch 28:12, is again taken up, but with ל, which Berth. rightly takes to be nota accus.: and (gave him) “the model of the chariot of the cherubim of gold, as spreading out (wings), and sheltering over the ark of the covenant of Jahve.” הכּרוּבים is not subordinated in the genitive to המּרכּבה, but is in explanatory apposition to it. The cherubim, not the ark, are the chariot upon which God enters or is throned; cf. Psa 18:11; Psa 99:1; Exo 25:22. The conception of the cherubim set upon the golden cover of the ark as מרכּבה is derived from the idea על־כּרוּב ירכּב, Psa 18:11. Ezekiel, it is true, saw wheels on the throne of God under the cherubim (Eze 1:15., 26), and in accordance with this the lxx and Vulg. have made a cherubim-chariot out of the words (ἅρμα τῶν Χερουβίμ, quadriga cherubim); but as against this Berth. rightly remarks, that the idea of a chariot of the cherubim does not at all appear in the two sculptured cherubim upon the ark, nor yet in our passage. לפרשׂים (without the article, and with ל) Berth. thinks quite unintelligible, and would alter the text, reading והסּככים הפּרשׂים, because the two participles should be in apposition to הכּרוּבים. But this is an error; for neither by the meaning of the words, nor by the passages, 2Ch 5:8; Exo 25:20; 1Ki 8:7, are we compelled to make this alteration. The two first-mentioned passages prove the opposite, viz., that these participles state for what purpose the cherubim are to serve. וסככים לפרשׂים have the signification of כּנפים פּרשׂי הכּרוּבים והיוּ, “that the cherubim might be spreading wings and protecting” (Exo 25:20), as J. H. Mich. has rightly seen. This use of ל, where in ל even without a verb the idea of “becoming something” lies, but which Berth. does not understand, has been already discussed, Ew. §217, d, and illustrated by passages, among which 1Ch 28:18 is one. The reference to Exo 25:20 explains also the use of פּרשׂ without כּנפים, the author of the
