4 is the Mosaic tabernacle which was removed from Gibeon into
Solomon's temple, and in that case the allegation has no
connection with its context, and does not hang together with the
premisses which that furnishes; in other words, it is the
interpolation of a later hand. The former alternative, though
possible, is improbable, for the name Ohel Moed occurs absolutely
nowhere in the Books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings (apart from the
interpolation in 1Samuel ii.22b), and particularly it is not used
to denote David's tent upon Mount Zion; and, moreover, that tent
had received too little of the consecration of antiquity, and
according to 2Samuel vii. was too insignificant and provisional to
be thought worthy of preservation in the temple. But if the Ohel
Moed is here (what it everywhere else is) the tabernacle, as is
indicated also by the sacred vessels, then the verse is, as has
been said, an interpolation. The motive for such a thing is easily
understood; the same difficulty as that with which we set out
must have made it natural for any Jew who started from the ideas
of the Pentateuch to look for the tabernacle here, and, if he did
not find it, to introduce it.
Pages:
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120