[240] Nothing is known of סוּר, Sur, or יְסוֹד y'sôd, the Foundation (2 Chron. xxiii. 5). They are not mentioned elsewhere. LXX., εν τῇ πύλῃ τῶν ὁδῶν, and (in Chronicles) ἐν τῇ πύλῃ τῇ μέσῃ.
[241] Not as in A.V., "that it be not broken down."
[242] In reading side by side the narratives in the Books of Kings and Chronicles (2 Chron. xxiii.), it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the main anxiety of the Chronicler is to leave the impression that the work in the Temple was chiefly done by the Levites, and that the sacred precincts were not polluted by the presence of alien troops. He evidently stumbled at the notion, conveyed by the older narrative, that Carians and suchlike semi-heathen mercenaries should have stood by the altar at a high priest's command; so he substitutes Levites for guardsmen, and the profane laymen are relegated outside. In details the two accounts are only reconcilable by a special pleading which would reconcile any discrepancy.
[243] 1 Kings vii. 21. Comp., however, 2 Kings xxiii. 3.
[244] See Exod. xxv. 16, 21, xvi. 34. הָצֵדוּת (see 2 Chron. xxiii. 11). Kimchi takes it to mean "a royal robe," and other Rabbis a phylactery on the coronet (Deut. vi. 8). In the Targum to Chronicles it is explained to mean the costly jewel (2 Sam. xii. 30), of which none but a descendant of David could bear the weight. For ha'edôth Klostermann therefore suggests hats'adôth, "the royal bracelets."
[245] So says Josephus (μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας στρατίας), and it is certain that she would hardly go unattended.
[246] Jos., Antt., IX. vii. 3: Τὸυς δὲ ἑπομένους ὁπλίτας εἶρξαν εἰσελθεῖν.
[247] The meaning of al-ha'amôd is uncertain (A.V., "by a pillar"; Vulg., "on the tribunal"). Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 3; 2 Chron. xxiii. 13; 1 Kings viii. 22; 2 Chron. vi. 13.
[248] 2 Kings xi. 15. Not as in A.V., "without the ranges." Heb., lash'dêrôth; LXX., ἔσωθεν τῶν σαδηρώθ.
[249] A.V., "And they laid hands on her"; LXX., ἐπέβαλον αὐτῃ χεῖρας; Vulg., imposuerunt ci manus. But R.V. as in the text, following the Targum, and the Jewish commentators, "They made for her two sides."