1. David consulted with the captains, etc.] The Chronicler is fond of associating the people with the king in religious measures so as to minimise the appearance of arbitrary power which is suggested by the language of the books of Samuel and of Kings; compare verse 4 (the assembly said that they would do so), also 2 Chronicles xxx. 2, 4. Similarly in xxviii. 2 the king addresses the elders as My brethren. Doubtless the Chronicler had in mind Deuteronomy xvii. 20.
²And David said unto all the assembly of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and if it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad every where unto our brethren that are left in all the land[¹] of Israel, with[²] whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs[³], that they may gather themselves unto us: and let us bring again the ark of our God to us:
[¹] Hebrew lands.
[²] Or, and with them to the priests and Levites which are &c.
[³] Or, pasture lands.
2. let us send abroad every where] The Hebrew phrase is peculiar; let us spread, let us send, i.e. let the invitation be sent far and wide throughout the land and not limited to the southern tribes.
the priests and Levites] In Samuel no mention of the Levites is made in the account of the removal of the Ark. The Chronicler retells the story in accordance with the conviction that the complete Levitical ceremonial with which he was familiar was actually in operation in the days of David.
in their cities that have suburbs] or, as margin, ... that have pasture lands; i.e. following the provision that cities are to be assigned to the Levites with “suburbs for their cattle and for their substance, and for all their beasts” (Numbers xxxv. 2–7; compare Joshua xiv. 4, xxi. 2).
³for we sought not unto it in the days of Saul. ⁴And all the assembly said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
3. we sought not unto it] The meaning is to seek with care, to care for. Compare xv. 13.