2. the courses] Compare 1 Chronicles xxiv. 1 ff.
to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates] Better, as LXX., altering the order, to give thanks and to praise and to minister in the gates. “To minister in the gates,” i.e. to be doorkeepers, compare 1 Chronicles xxvi. 1.
the camp of the Lord] i.e. (in the language of Deuteronomy) “the place which the Lord chose,” Jerusalem or, more exactly, the Temple area. Compare 1 Chronicles ix. 18, note.
³He appointed also the king’s portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the Lord. ⁴Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves[¹] to the law of the Lord.
[¹] Hebrew be strong in.
3. the burnt offerings] Compare viii. 12, 13.
⁵And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.
5. and honey] Honey (Hebrew dĕbhash) is not elsewhere mentioned as subject to tithe; perhaps grape syrup (modern Arabic dibs) is meant here, as in Genesis xliii. 11 and Ezekiel xxvii. 17 (according to some commentators). Honey (like leaven) was forbidden for sacrificial use (Leviticus ii. 11).
⁶And the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps.
6. And the children of Israel] Compare xi. 16.