¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch, =12.= _on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch_] This refers to the great brasen altar of burnt-offering (iv. 1). In 1 Kings the statement is that _Solomon burnt incense upon the altar that was before the LORD_ (referring to the altar of incense; compare Exodus xxx. 1‒10). Such an act, according to the Chronicler, was of the nature of trespass, being punished in the case of Uzziah with leprosy (xxvi. 16), and was therefore not to be attributed to so great a king as Solomon. ¹³even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, _even_ in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. =13.= _on the sabbaths, and on the new moons_] The writer in Kings confines Solomon’s sacrificial duties to _three times in the year_, i.e. on the three great feasts specified at the end of this verse. The Chronicler adds the weekly and monthly festivals, in conformity with the developed ritual of the Priestly Code. ¹⁴And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the doorkeepers also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded. ¹⁵And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. =14.= _of David_] Compare 1 Chronicles xxiv.‒xxvi. _to praise, and to minister before the priests_] Compare 1 Chronicles xxiii. 28. _David the man of God_] Targum _David the prophet of the Lord_ (a correct paraphrase). Compare Nehemiah xii. 36. ¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. _So_ the house of the LORD was perfected. =16.= _Now all the work of Solomon was prepared_] Render, =So all the work of Solomon was established=. _unto the day ... was perfected_] LXX. offers a much shorter and smoother text, _from the day on which it was founded until Solomon perfected the house of the LORD_. This reading is probably right. =17, 18= (= 1 Kings ix. 26‒28). SOLOMON’S FLEET. ¹⁷Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the sea shore in the land of Edom. =17.= _to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth_] In 1 Kings _Ezion-geber which is beside Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea_. Strictly speaking it was at the head of the Gulf of Akaba, the eastern arm of the Red Sea. Compare xx. 36 and Deuteronomy ii. 8.