1 Chronicles 16

The text doesn’t say “priest,” but only priests were allowed inside the tent, sometimes called the Tabernacle or the Tent of Meeting (2 Chronicles 23:6). It later became the Jerusalem Temple, which David’s son, King Solomon, built.

Burnt offerings involved sacrifices to atone for sinful behavior. The entire animal was burned on an altar. See Leviticus 1. A peace offering, described in Leviticus 3, is one of several prescribed offerings in Jewish tradition. When Jewish people wanted to give thanks to God for something, such as good health or safety, they would sacrifice a sheep, goat, cow, or bull. They would burn part of the animal, including the kidneys and fat covering the intestines. They would eat the rest in celebration, often with family and friends. It takes a fair number of hungry people to eat a cow. But people were eager to eat meat because it was rare in Bible times for common folks to eat meat, many Bible scholars say.

The writer doesn’t say here if the music was limited to the celebration. But later he makes it clear that it’s a permanent job (16:37).

Literally for “his holy name.” The holiness of God is as unique and distinct as his name, which he revealed to Moses: I Am (Exodus 3:14). The holiness refers to his pure goodness and to his “otherness,” which describes his uniqueness among all life. He is unique and supreme, the only I Am. He’s at the tiptop top of the ladder, as Goodness on guard and Goodness at the end of our climb.

This seems to point to miracles God performed to free the Hebrew ancestors of the Jewish nation from slavery in Egypt. “I’m going to step in and get my people out of there. I’m going to do this by bringing justice to Egypt” (Exodus 7:4).

The “agreement” is a contract between God and the Jewish nation. It’s often called a “covenant.” When Jewish people talk about their covenant with God, they are often talking about laws preserved in the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The covenant, or contract, between God and the Jewish people was a two-way street. The Jews obey God’s rules, and God gives them land to live on, and he protects them and blesses their families and their work with prosperity. Benefits for obedience and the consequences for breaking the contract were detailed by Moses in a speech shortly before he died (Deuteronomy 27—28).

Jacob. God renamed him: “From now on you won’t be called Jacob. You’ll be called Israel because you’re a fighter. You have fought with God and with people. And you’ve lived to talk about it” (Genesis 32:28). The Jewish nation adopted his name.

More literally, “in holiness,” “dressed in holiness,” or “in the splendor of holiness.” In Jewish law, objects used in worship at the Jerusalem Temple were ritually washed and considered holy because they were devoted to worship use alone. They could not be used for anything else. People were considered holy not because they were perfectly behaved. They were holy because they belonged to God and were devoted to him. New Testament writers pointed to Jesus as the source of holiness: “With just one sacrifice, Christ made God’s people holy. Those people devoted to God are now perfectly free of sin and guilt, forever” (Hebrews 10:14).

The Hebrew word also used in English is Amen. It means: yes, so be it, and that’s the truth.

A worship center at Gibeon? Says who, many scholars wonder. Only the writer of Chronicles says the ancient tent worship center from the time of Moses was kept at Gibeon, hometown of Israel’s first king, Saul. So, some scholars wonder out loud if the writer got that wrong. Many presume the Philistines destroyed the ancient Tabernacle, the original Hebrew tent worship center, after they killed King Saul in the battle of Mount Gilboa. Psalms 78:60 and Jeremiah 7:12-14 both suggest that’s what happened. After the lost battle, many Israelites left the region. They ran for their lives east, across the Jordan River Valley. They left towns empty, perhaps Shiloh as well. That’s where Israel had kept the Tabernacle and the chest that held the Ten Commandments, a box known as the Ark of the Covenant.

Numbers 28:1-8.