The Death of John Lacey Ben Hobson

Visit to download the full and correct content document:

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-death-of-john-lacey-ben-hobson/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

The Death Of The Ethic Of Life John Basl

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-death-of-the-ethic-of-life-
john-basl/

Fitness for Work: The Medical Aspects 6th Edition John

Hobson (Editor)

https://ebookmass.com/product/fitness-for-work-the-medical-
aspects-6th-edition-john-hobson-editor/

John Burnside Ben Davis (Ed.)

https://ebookmass.com/product/john-burnside-ben-davis-ed/

Death in White Pyjamas / Death Knows No Calendar John

Bude

https://ebookmass.com/product/death-in-white-pyjamas-death-knows-
no-calendar-john-bude/
Fitness for Work: The Medical Aspects Hobson

https://ebookmass.com/product/fitness-for-work-the-medical-
aspects-hobson/

Children's Fiction Sourcebook Margaret Hobson

https://ebookmass.com/product/childrens-fiction-sourcebook-
margaret-hobson/

Biography of X Catherine Lacey

https://ebookmass.com/product/biography-of-x-catherine-lacey/

Rome: Strategy of Empire James Lacey

https://ebookmass.com/product/rome-strategy-of-empire-james-
lacey-2/

Rome: Strategy of Empire James Lacey

https://ebookmass.com/product/rome-strategy-of-empire-james-
lacey/
 Praise for The Death of John Lacey
‘A powerful morality tale that evokes the hopes and brutalities of
Australia’s frontier with clarity, depth and empathy. Ben Hobson is a
great writer. This is a great book.’ Chris Hammer, author of The Tilt

‘Where the Ballarat diggings meet Deadwood. Elegantly written and

deeply unsettling, The Death of John Lacey is a gripping, evocative
moral exploration of colonial violence, greed and dispossession on
the Victorian goldfields.’ Paul Daley, author of Jesustown

‘Hobson shows us the frontier as it really was—a place full of human

complexity. A brutal story, lyrically told.’ Rohan Wilson, author of
The Roving Party

‘A gritty and richly evocative tale of loyalty, greed, dislocation and

mercy set against the dark lawlessness and brutality of Australia’s
colonial past. A story about the takers and taken-from, and the deep
gulf of violence and inequality that lies in between.’ Dinuka
McKenzie, author of The Torrent

‘Both spare and tender, The Deathof John Lacey reveals the
bloodied seams that run through Australia’s colonial history. Utterly
heartbreaking.’ Nigel Featherstone, author of My Heart is a Little
Wild Thing

‘A ripping, unflinching reckoning with Australia’s past. Hobson turns

the popular national mythos on its head and, with guns blazing,
creates one of his own.’ Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt

‘Exceptional. I couldn’t put it down.’ Kyle Perry, author of The Deep

Praise for Snake Island

‘Darkly illuminating … Hobson writes as if his life depends on it.
Snake Island is an engrossing literary thriller that engages with
pressing contemporary issues while exploring timeless questions.’
The Weekend Australian

‘Set before the rise of smartphones, the events of Snake Island are
all the more suffocating for their technological isolation. There is
such weight to the narrative, such a sense of impending doom, that
you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.’ Australian Crime
Fiction

‘Snake Island not only contains all the elements [of a Western] but it
fairly revels in them. Hobson pulls no punches, letting us see into the
minds of all his characters until we know them intimately, and
building slowly but inexorably to a climax that is as tragic as it is
inevitable … An engaging, entertaining read.’ Glam Adelaide

‘[Hobson’s] spare, muscular writing is captivating; and in the end, the

scales are evenly weighted: corruption, rage and revenge are
counterbalanced by loyalty, faith and redemption.’ The Saturday
Paper

Praise for To Become a Whale

‘A powerful tale of fathers and sons and all that can’t be spoken
between them. The writing is honest, rich and clean, and it made me
feel so much. Too many writers fuss things up, but Ben tells it simply,
which is so affecting.’ Sofie Laguna, author of Miles Franklin–
winning The Eye of the Sheep

‘Hobson takes us to the depths of cruelty to show us life. A boy tries

to be a man, a man tries to be a father, and both struggle to navigate
what it means to be men. A great study in masculinity.’ Willy
Vlautin, author of Lean on Pete
First published in 2023

Copyright © Ben Hobson 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in
writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a
maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to
be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided
that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a
remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

Allen & Unwin

Cammeraygal Country
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100
Email: info@allenandunwin.com
Web: www.allenandunwin.com

Allen & Unwin acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Country on which we
live and work. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Elders, past and present.

ISBN 978 1 76106 589 7

eISBN 978 1 76118 601 1

Set by Midland Typesetters

Cover design: Christabella Designs

Cover photograph: © Magdalena Russocka / Trevillion Images
 AUTHOR’S NOTE

In the writing of this novel I have endeavoured to represent the

attitudes of the early colonialists as accurately as possible, including
their use of derogatory terminology and the expression of, and belief
in, harmful ideas. However, it is important to acknowledge that these
attitudes and beliefs are in no way acceptable by contemporary
standards.
I wish to acknowledge the use of the Wadawurrung language, and
extend my respect and gratitude towards the Wadawurrung people.
For my wife, Lena, who reads every dark and gritty story I write.
 CONTENTS

I: 1870 THE DEATH OF JOHN LACEY

1
II: 1847 ERNST JAMES MONTAGUE AND JOE MONTAGUE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
III: 1853 THE CONQUEST OF JOHN LACEY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
IV: 1870 ERNST JAMES MONTAGUE ABANDONS JOE
MONTAGUE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
V: 1870 THE WIDE DESTRUCTIVE PATH OF GILBERT DELANEY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
VI: 1870 THE LEGACY OF ERNST JAMES MONTAGUE
1
2
VII: 1870 THE NARROW GATE OF GILBERT DELANEY
1
2
3
Acknowledgements
About the Author
 I

1870
THE DEATH OF JOHN LACEY
 1

In the end he was alone. It was musty and dark in the earth. The
taste of iron, dirt in the mouth. A struggle to breathe, his bad leg
groaning like he was decades younger and the injury was fresh
again. His chest throbbing gunshot blood, the backs of his legs
leaking.
He had always known it would be this way. Deep in the bloodied
ground he’d made his name on. The boy he’d murdered reborn, he
knew that now. Mongrel little shit. Conspiring with the spirits, all of
them bent against him. The boy manifest in every circumstance. All
people. His rotten luck not born of chance but born of the decision
he’d made all those years ago.
He did not regret he had killed the boy. He regretted only he had
not killed him so hard he had stayed proper dead.
 II

1847
ERNST JAMES MONTAGUE
AND JOE MONTAGUE
EDWIN MONTAGUE was indicted for stealing, on the 4th of August,
1835, at St Leonard, Shoreditch, 6 sovereigns; 9 half-crowns; 1
shilling; and 1 box, value 1 penny; the goods and monies of William
Bennet, in his dwelling-house.

JANE BENNET. I am the wife of William Bennet, and live in the

parish of St Leonard, Shoreditch—we let lodgings—the prisoner
came to me on Thursday, the 30th of July, from the fever hospital,
and asked me to accommodate him for a week, till he could write
home to his mother for money to take him home—I consented, and
on the 4th of August, at half past nine o’clock in the morning, I put
the money, named in the indictment, into a box, in a handkerchief—
the prisoner was not there then—he had been ill all night, and I had
been up with him—I went out of his room, and received the
remainder of my money to make up my rent from the other lodgers—
I was not more than five minutes out of his room—when I returned, I
missed him—I opened my drawers to take the money out, and
missed it—it was in the second-floor room—I ran down stairs and
made inquiry of him; he was not there—I afterwards saw part of the
box in which the money was deposited—nobody but him could have
taken it, they had no time—I lost 6 sovereigns; 9 half-crowns; 1
shilling.

WILLIAM STOTTER. I am a policeman. I received information of

this, and went in search of the prisoner—on Monday, the 4th of
August, about half-past seven o’clock in the evening, I found him in
the Red Rover, Manchester coach, at the Angel, where he had
booked his place for Birmingham—I took him out of the coach, and
told him it was a bad job—he said it was, if they could prove it
against him—at the watch-house I found 4 sovereigns; 5 half-crowns
and 4 pennies, and part of the box on him—I found a purse with the
silver and halfpence on him—the four sovereigns were in the box.

EDWIN MONTAGUE. The sovereigns were in the purse when the

officer found it—he put the sovereigns into the box and the silver in
the purse.

GUILTY. Aged 18.—Transported for Life.

 1

In all his young life Ernst had only known their farm. His mother
would often tell him stories about the life she had led back in
Scotland but all Ernst could do was nod, hoping his mother wouldn’t
notice he didn’t share her longing. They had come so far inland
when they’d first settled on their land that Ernst had never even seen
the ocean; he had been just a babe when they’d made the journey.
His mother promised him they’d go and see it as she swept her hand
in front of her, bidding his eyes follow her gaze to her imagined
waves, the sloshing blue she painted for him with her words.
We’ll travel back that way some day, and you’ll see it, she’d say.
We’ll travel over it, back home.
He’d nod and smile.
It’s so dark, the blue.
He’d nestle into her and try to tell her with his body they were
home already; there wasn’t any need for them to leave. But she was
a hungry bird, never satisfied with the feed right in front of her. He
knew it had been something for his father to earn his ticket and travel
over from Van Diemen’s Land with his young family, find the small
township of Bannockburn, and build this new house for them all. His
mother, though, would quietly grumble when she thought he couldn’t
hear, about the small size of the home, the large distance from the
town, or the poor quality of the build, running her hands over the
rough wood, latching the door closed with rope and nails, whispering
about the need for a handle. But Ernst admired that his father had
made anything at all. She was a slight woman, blond hair clutched
tight to her skull with a comb. She would look out the window as she
spoke of the ocean or she would look at the painting of the hills of
Scotland his father had hung above the fireplace and her eyes would
go distant like she had drowned in her memory. For the remainder of
the day she would not be wrenched out until his father returned.
His father worked their fields late into the evening and would arrive
home after they’d already eaten, smelling of sweat and dirt. He was
a large man with furry arms and a heavy red beard. His words
sounded like music when he spoke, like in him was some permanent
song. He had a deep voice. He was stout, his stomach built of brick.
Before entering the house he would wash up in the trough outside
and then sit at the table and ask them both about their days as he
ate, his hair still dripping with water.
Nothing much for us to do around here, Ed, Ernst’s mother said
one night. She had her arms folded and was seated at the opposite
end of the table to his father.
I know, his father said. He spooned in some thick mutton stew and
it clung to his moustache. You should take Ernst up to see that other
boy. You get on and see the woman. What’s her name?
You know we can’t. It’s too far.
His father licked his lips and spooned in another mouthful. I’ll take
you, then.
We’ll all ride the horse together? All three of us?
You could sit in the back of the cart.
I’m not sitting in the back of the cart.
Isabelle.
She had this way about her that suggested her anger without her
putting word to it. The hurried way she’d stride from a room or sit
down and sigh. Or the way her fingers would clutch the fabric of her
dress at her knees, scrunching it up tight, digging her nails in.
Later, in bed, he could hear them both still talking. Their small
home only had one room, and at night his father draped a quilt,
made up of sewn-together old burlap sacks that had originally held
potatoes, over a rope he’d strung up after Ernst’s mother had been
at him about the lack of privacy. Then Ernst could no longer see
them—just their shadows silhouetted behind the cloth. His mother
would snuff the lantern before she undressed and it would not be
lighted again until the following evening.
They talked a long time but he could not hear exactly what was
said, since neither raised their voice for fear of waking him. Still, he
could tell that in their whispers was all the disappointment they
always strived to keep from him.
 2

He woke in the early light of dawn to shouting from outside. He

wiped the sleep from his eyes and sat up. From behind the hanging
quilt he saw his mother yelling from the doorway. She was clutching
the frame with one hand. He looked for his father but couldn’t see
him.
He went to the door. In the yard was a group of black men and
women, at least ten of them; the women had possum skins draped
over their shoulders and the men wore nothing at all. Ernst tried not
to look at their bodies. Behind them, children were staring with wide
eyes, probably at him, and around their feet four dogs circled.
Though their shapes were hard to make out in the early light, they
appeared mangy and scary.
Ma? he said.
Go find your da.
Where is he?
A shout from the crowd. Their throats caught on their words in
ways Ernst didn’t understand.
What’s bacca, Ma?
It’s tobacco, she said. Addressing the Aboriginals, she said, I told
you we don’t have none. Then she shouted, Ed! Ed!
The men and women in the yard seemed unmoved by this. They
just kept watching Ernst and his mother, laughing with each other.
He had heard the stories his mother and father told while they
thought he was out of earshot. They spoke of people being speared,
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 ⁵And the greater house he cieled with fir ¹ tree,
which he overlaid with fine gold, and wrought
thereon palm trees and chains.
¹ Or, cypress.

5. the greater house] i.e. the holy place. It was forty cubits long (1
Kings vi. 17), whereas the shrine was twenty (1 Kings vi. 16, 20).

he cieled] i.e. lined or boarded. The same Hebrew word is

translated overlaid in this same verse.

wrought thereon] perhaps in the form of reliefs.

palm trees and chains] The “chains” perhaps connected one

palm tree with another. In 1 Kings vi. 29, “cherubim and palm trees
and open flowers.”

⁶And he garnished the house with precious

stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of
Parvaim.
6. precious stones] Not mentioned in the parallel account, but
according to 1 Kings v. 17 costly stones (the same expression in
Hebrew) were used for the foundations of the house, their costliness
being due presumably to their immense size. Here, however, the
phrase “for beauty” suggests that the Chronicler is thinking of rare
and precious stones to be set in the walls—an exaggeration not out
of keeping with the references to “pure gold” in verses 4, 7, etc.

Parvaim] Apparently the name of a place, but nothing certain is

known about it.

⁷He overlaid also the house, the beams, the

thresholds, and the walls thereof, and the
 doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubim
on the walls.
7. cherubim] The cherubim (plural of cherub) were the Hebrew
adaptation of the winged bulls which are so striking a figure in
Babylonian and Assyrian art. Nothing, however, can be ascertained
as to the exact form in which they were depicted in the Temple. In
the Old Testament they appear as guardians of sacred things
(Genesis iii. 24; Ezekiel xxviii.) and as sustainers of the Deity (e.g.
Psalms lxxx. 1 “Thou that sittest upon the cherubim”; compare
Psalms xviii. 10). The figures were therefore emblematic of the
presence of Jehovah.

The graving of the cherubim was not felt to be a breach of the

Second Commandment, for they were not put up to “bow down to” or
to “serve.”

8, 9 (compare 1 Kings vi. 16‒20).

The Holy of Holies.

⁸And he made the most holy house; the length

thereof, according to the breadth of the house,
was twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof
twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold,
amounting to six hundred talents. ⁹And the
weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold.
And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
8. the most holy house] Called the oracle in 1 Kings vi. 16, 19,
etc., Hebrew dĕbīr, which means rather the hinder part. The Lord
“dwells” in the inmost recess of the house.

amounting to six hundred talents] This detail is not found

elsewhere. The weight of gold would be over 64,000 lbs., or, on a
less probable reckoning, 27,000 lbs.; incredible quantities in either
case, but in keeping with the vast amounts stated in 1 Chronicles
xxix. 4.

10‒13 (compare 1 Kings vi. 23‒28).

The Cherubim.

¹⁰And in the most holy house he made two

cherubim of image work; and they overlaid
them with gold. ¹¹And the wings of the
cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of
the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the
wall of the house; and the other wing was
likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the
other cherub. ¹²And the wing of the other
cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of
the house: and the other wing was five cubits
also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.
10. of image work; and they overlaid] The phrase “of image work”
is meaningless. Following the LXX. ἔρηον ἐκ ξύλων καὶ ἐχρύσωσεν,
render woodwork, and he overlaid.

¹³The wings of these cherubim spread

themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood
on their feet, and their faces were toward the
house ¹.
¹ Or, inward.

13. twenty cubits] Extending across the width of the whole house.
 on their feet] Not “couchant” nor “rampant” but standing, as the
winged bulls of Assyria stand.

toward the house] as though to protect the Holiest Place from

violation by anyone advancing through the house.

14 (compare Exodus xxvi. 31, 32).

The Veil.

¹⁴And he made the veil of blue, and purple,

and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought
cherubim thereon.
No veil for Solomon’s Temple is mentioned in 1 Kings, but (1
Kings vi. 31, 32) doors of olive wood with cherubim carved upon
them stood at the entrance of the Holy of Holies. The description of
the veil seems to have been borrowed by the Chronicler from the
account of the tabernacle given in Exodus.

15‒17 (compare 1 Kings vii. 15‒22).

The Pillars Jachin and Boaz.

¹⁵Also he made before the house two pillars of

thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter
that was on the top of each of them was five
cubits.
15. before the house two pillars] Compare 1 Kings vii. 21, he set
up the pillars at the porch of the temple, and Jeremiah lii. 17
(translate, the pillars ... that belonged to the house). These pillars
were immediately in front of the porch, but (it seems) detached from
it. They were cast in brass (iv. 11‒17), were hollow (Jeremiah lii. 21),
and were crowned with “chapiters” (capitals) in shape like bowls (1
Kings vii. 41). A pair of lofty frontal pillars, detached from the main
building, was a not uncommon feature of temples in Western Asia
and Egypt—e.g. at the Temple of Hercules (Melkart) at Tyre
(Herodotus II. 44), the Temple of Paphos in Cyprus (see W. R.
Smith, Religion of the Semites², p. 488), at Karnak in Egypt
(compare Perrot and Chipiez, Egyptian Art, II. 170). In Solomon’s
Temple these twin columns may have been conventional imitations
of the prevailing type of temple building, but it is rather to be
supposed that there also they were considered to be symbolic of the
presence of God, and were developments of the ancient stone pillars
(maṣṣeboth) which were a constant feature at Semitic shrines and
had originally been regarded as the abode of the Deity.

thirty and five cubits high] 35 is also given in the LXX. of

Jeremiah lii. 21; but is almost certainly an error. Read eighteen, as in
1 Kings vii. 15; Jeremiah lii. 21 (Hebrew).

¹⁶And he made chains in the oracle, and put

them on the tops of the pillars; and he made
an hundred pomegranates, and put them on
the chains.
16. he made chains in the oracle] The words, in the oracle,
though found in LXX., are a gloss introduced from 1 Kings vi. 21
(chains ... before the oracle), or, more probably, a corruption of a
word meaning “like a necklace.” The Chronicler is here speaking of
the outside of the Temple, having already described the “oracle,” i.e.
the Holy of Holies, in verses 8‒14. The Hebrew word dĕbīr was
translated “oracle” because it was supposed to be derived from a
word meaning “to speak.” It means, however, simply “the hindermost
part” of the house (compare iv. 20, v. 7, 9).

¹⁷And he set up the pillars before the temple,

one on the right hand, and the other on the
left; and called the name of that on the right
hand Jachin ¹, and the name of that on the left
Boaz ².
 ¹ That is, He shall establish.

² That is, perhaps, In it is strength.

17. Jachin ... Boaz] Margin translates the two words; Jachin “He
shall establish,” Boaz perhaps “In it is strength.” LXX. gives
Κατόρθωσις “setting up”) and Ἰσχύς (“strength”). The meaning of Boaz
is uncertain. It may be only a pious correction of an original Baal.
(For the avoidance of the word Baal, see the notes on xvii. 3, 1
Chronicles viii. 33; and for further comments on “Jachin” and “Boaz”
see Encyclopedia Biblia II. 2. 304, and Barnes in Journal of
Theological Studies, v. 447 ff.)
 Chapter IV.
1.
The Altar of Brass.

¹Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty

cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the
breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height
thereof.
1. an altar of brass, twenty cubits] The brasen altar is referred to
in 1 Kings viii. 64; 2 Kings xvi. 14 ff., but it is (strangely) not
mentioned among the furnishings of the Temple described in the
present text of 1 Kings vii. It is impossible therefore to say whether
the Chronicler derives the measurements he here gives from a text
of Kings which did contain a description of the brasen altar, or from
the altar of the Temple of his own period. The latter is more probable.
Some scholars consider it possible that at first Solomon’s Temple
contained no artificial altar, the sacrifices being offered on the great
natural rock which is now covered by the famous building popularly
known as the Mosque of Omar (properly “The Dome of the Rock”).

The great altar was probably a flat oblong expanse, the highest of
a series of terraces, of which the base measurement is given by the
Chronicler—compare the description of Ezekiel’s altar (Ezekiel xliii.
13 ff.).

2‒5 (= 1 Kings vii. 23‒26).

The Molten Sea.
 ²Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits
from brim to brim, round in compass, and the
height thereof was five cubits; and a line of
thirty cubits compassed it round about.
2. he made the molten sea] Render, he made the sea of molten
metal. The “sea” or great laver was a well-known feature in temples
(compare Revelation iv. 6), and, originally at least, is likely to have
had religious significance, as a symbol of Jehovah’s power over the
seas and the rain, or over the primeval Deep upon which His might
was exercised in the creation of the world (Genesis i.; Psalms xxiv.
2). For the Chronicler’s view of its purpose, see verse 6.

ten cubits from brim to brim ... and a line of thirty cubits
compassed it] The mathematical inaccuracy in the measurements
here given—10 in diameter, 30 in circumference—has often been
pointed out. But the literal Hebrew is “ten with the cubit ... and thirty
with the cubit,” and F. C. Burkitt in a communication to the
Cambridge Review for May 13, 1914 offers an interesting vindication
of the phrase. He writes “... What the verse says about the
circumference of the ‘sea’ is that they stretched a string round it, and
when they laid the string out flat they had to go thirty times with the
cubit, i.e. a man had to put his elbow down thirty times before he got
to the end.” [The distance from the point of the elbow to the tip of the
longest finger is 1 cubit.] “No doubt the last time he put his elbow
down the string came short: in other words, the ‘sea’ was nine-and-
a-bittock across and twenty-nine-and-a-bittock round. As a matter of
fact, if a circle be 9 ft. 6 in. across, it is just over 29 ft. 10 in. round.
Such a circle I think would be described in Hebrew as ‘ten with the
foot-rule’ across and ‘thirty with the foot-rule’ in circumference.”

a line of thirty cubits compassed it] i.e. it was thirty cubits in

circumference.

³And under it was the similitude of oxen ¹,

which did compass it round about, for ten
 cubits ², compassing the sea round about. The
oxen ¹ were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
¹ In 1 Kings vii. 24, knops. ² Or, ten in a cubit.

3. under it was the similitude of oxen] This reading has the

support of the LXX., but can hardly be correct. Read (compare 1
Kings vii. 24), under it there were knops, “knops” being embossed
ornaments, imitating probably the fruit or the flowers of the gourd.

for ten cubits] Obviously an error, for the “knops” encircle the sea,
and its circumference was thirty not ten cubits. The rendering of the
margin “ten in a cubit” gives good sense, but is not a fair translation.
Whatever the mistake in the Hebrew may be, it appears in 1 Kings
vii. 24 also.

The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast] Correct the
reading as before and render, The knops were in two rows, cast
when it was cast. It is mentioned as a triumph of the founder’s art
that the laver was cast complete, with its ornaments, from the first.

⁴It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking

toward the north, and three looking toward the
west, and three looking toward the south, and
three looking toward the east: and the sea
was set upon them above, and all their hinder
parts were inward.
4. three ... and three ... and three ... and three] Thus the base
stood “foursquare,” satisfying the Hebrew idea of completeness;
compare Revelation xxi. 12‒16.

⁵And it was an handbreadth thick; and the

brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a
 cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and
held three thousand baths.
5. three thousand baths] In 1 Kings vii. 26, two thousand baths.
Whether the textual corruption is to be attributed to 1 Kings or to
Chronicles cannot be determined, and further even two thousand
baths is an amount exceeding the capacity of a vessel with the
measurements given for the sea above. The bath was a measure for
liquids equal to about 8¼ gallons.

6 (compare verse 14 and 1 Kings vii. 38, 39).

The Lavers.

⁶He made also ten lavers, and put five on the

right hand, and five on the left, to wash in
them; such things as belonged to the burnt
offering they washed in them: but the sea was
for the priests to wash in.
6. the sea was for the priests to wash in] See, however, the note
on verse 2 above regarding its probable significance in early times.
For this, the Chronicler’s view of its purpose (as also that of the
lavers), compare Exodus xxx. 18‒21. The sea in particular would be
singularly awkward as a vessel for cleansing purposes, unless all
that is meant is that it was used as the receptacle from which water
for purification was drawn.

7 (= 1 Kings vii. 49).

The Golden Candlesticks.

⁷And he made the ten candlesticks of gold

according to the ordinance concerning them;
and he set them in the temple, five on the right
hand, and five on the left.
 7. ten candlesticks] Rather, the ten lamp-stands. Allusion to ten
lamp-stands or candlesticks is found elsewhere only in 1 Kings vii.
49, a late passage. In view of the frequent references to one
candlestick with seven lamps (compare Zechariah iv.; Exodus xxv.
31 ff.), the question arises whether the ten ever had historical reality,
or were simply a fiction of tradition. The reference to candlesticks of
gold and of silver in 1 Chronicles xxviii. 15 does not help us, for it
depends on the same evidence, sound or unsound, which the
Chronicler had for the present passage. Some scholars feel that
there must be some ground for the statement; but no positive
conclusion is yet possible.

according to the ordinance] Compare Exodus xxv. 31‒37, xl. 4.

in the temple] In 1 Kings vii. 49 more precisely, before the oracle,

i.e. before the Holy of Holies.

8.
The Tables and Basons.

⁸He made also ten tables, and placed them in

the temple, five on the right side, and five on
the left. And he made an hundred basons of
gold.
8. ten tables] In verse 19 “the tables (plural) whereon was the
shewbread” are mentioned (compare 1 Chronicles xxviii. 16), but the
parallel passage (1 Kings vii. 48) has “the table” (singular), and
elsewhere both in Chronicles and in the rest of the Old Testament
one table only is assigned to the shewbread (2 Chronicles xiii. 11,
xxix. 18). Probably therefore the ten tables here mentioned were not
for the shewbread, although the Chronicler may have thought so.
The same uncertainty attaches to this tradition of ten tables as to
that of the ten candlesticks (see previous note); and it is held by
some that these tables were for the support of the candlesticks.
 basons] These were used for dashing the blood of the sacrifices
against the altar.

9, 10.
The Two Courts.

⁹Furthermore he made the court of the priests,

and the great court, and doors for the court,
and overlaid the doors of them with brass.
9. the court of the priests, and the great court] The phrases
reflect the conditions of the second Temple with which the Chronicler
was familiar, when the inner court was confined to the use of the
priests, the outer one being for the people. Solomon’s Temple,
strictly speaking, had only one court, for in “the other court” stood
Solomon’s house (1 Kings vii. 8). This “other court” seems to be
called the “middle court” (2 Kings xx. 4, margin), and the “upper
court” (Jeremiah xxxvi. 10). The “great court” (1 Kings vii. 12) was
perhaps a third court containing not only the king’s house, but all the
royal buildings as well. The Hebrew word for “court” in all the above
passages is ḥāṣēr, but here the “court (ḥāṣēr) of the priests” is
distinguished from a court called the “great court” (Hebrew “great
‘azārāh”). Perhaps the Chronicler wishes to make the same
distinction when he says that Solomon’s great prayer was offered (vi.
13) in “the court” (Hebrew ’azārāh). Compare xx. 5 (note).

¹⁰And he set the sea on the right side of the

house eastward, toward the south.
10. the sea] See verses 2‒5. Its position is stated in accordance
with 1 Kings vii. 39.

11‒18 (= 1 Kings vii. 40‒47).

The Works of Huram.
 This section is taken from the parallel passage of 1 Kings. The
variations are few.

¹¹And Huram made the pots, and the shovels,

and the basons. So Huram made an end of
doing the work that he wrought for king
Solomon in the house of God:
11. Huram] For the form of the name see note on ii. 3.

¹²the two pillars, and the bowls, and the two

chapiters which were on the top of the pillars;
and the two networks to cover the two bowls
of the chapiters that were on the top of the
pillars; ¹³and the four hundred pomegranates
for the two networks; two rows of
pomegranates for each network, to cover the
two bowls of the chapiters that were upon ¹ the
pillars.
¹ Hebrew upon the face of the pillars.

12. two pillars] See iii. 15‒17.

the bowls] i.e. the bowl-shaped part of the capital of a pillar.

the chapiters] In modern English “capitals.”

¹⁴He made also the bases, and the lavers

made he upon the bases; ¹⁵one sea, and the
twelve oxen under it.
 14. He made also the bases, and the lavers made he upon the
bases] A simple correction of the Hebrew text gives, And the ten
bases and the ten lavers on the bases, as in 1 Kings vii. 43.

¹⁶The pots also, and the shovels, and the

fleshhooks, and all the vessels thereof, did
Huram his father make for king Solomon for
the house of the Lord of bright brass.
16. the fleshhooks] Hebrew mizlāgōth. In verse 11 and 1 Kings
vii. 45 (the parallel passages) the basons (Hebrew mizrāḳōth).

Huram his father] See note on ii. 13.

¹⁷In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them,

in the clay ground between Succoth and
Zeredah.
17. in the clay ground] G. A. Smith (Historical Geography, p. 488)
speaks of traces of old brick-fields found by Sir C. Warren in the
Jordan valley. It is possible, however, that the Hebrew is defective
and that the true reading is at the ford of Adamah, but on the whole
it is best to keep the reading in the text (see Barnes on 1 Kings vii.
46).

Succoth] Succoth is probably Tell Deir ‘Alla, east of Jordan, about

one mile north of the Jabbok.

Zeredah] (1 Kings xi. 26); but in 1 Kings vii. 46 (Revised Version)

Zarethan (compare Joshua iii. 6, Revised Version). Its site is not
known, beyond the obvious inference that it was near the Jordan and
not very far from Succoth. Joshua iii. 16 states that it was near Adam
(the modern el Damieh).
 ¹⁸Thus Solomon made all these vessels in
great abundance: for the weight of the brass
could not be found out ¹.
¹ Or, was not searched out.

18. Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance] In

1 Kings vii. 47, And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because
they were exceeding many.

19‒V. 1 (= 1 Kings vii. 48‒51).

The Vessels of Gold.

The Completion of the Work.

¹⁹And Solomon made all the vessels that were

in the house of God, the golden altar also, and
the tables whereon was the shewbread;
19. the golden altar] This was the altar of incense (compare 1
Maccabees i. 21 ff.), which according to Exodus xxx. 1 ff. stood
within the tabernacle and was made of acacia wood (compare
however, Exodus xxxix. 38). Both passages in Exodus are of late,
post-exilic, date, and as no mention of this altar is made by Ezekiel,
it was probably a feature not of the first but of the second Temple.

the tables whereon was the shewbread] In 1 Kings vii. 48

(parallel passage), the table (singular); a reading probably to be
accepted here also; compare note on verse 8.

²⁰and the candlesticks with their lamps, that

they should burn according to the ordinance
before the oracle, of pure gold;
 20. the oracle] See note on iii. 16.

²¹and the flowers, and the lamps, and the

tongs, of gold, and that perfect gold;
21. the flowers] These were ornaments on the golden
candlesticks; compare Exodus xxxvii. 19.

²²and the snuffers, and the basons, and the

spoons, and the firepans, of pure gold: and as
for the entry of the house, the inner doors
thereof for the most holy place, and the doors
of the house, to wit, of the temple, were of
gold.
22. the firepans] in which fire was carried to and from the altar.

the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple] The “[greater]

house” or “temple” is here distinguished from the “most holy place”
or “shrine.” Compare iii. 5, 8.

were of gold] According to the more probable reading of 1 Kings

vii. 50 the hinges were of gold; the doors themselves were of olive
wood overlaid with gold (1 Kings vi. 31, 32).

¹Thus all the work that Solomon wrought for

the house of the Lord was finished. And
Solomon brought in the things that David his
father had dedicated; even the silver, and the
gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the
treasuries of the house of God.
 Chapter V. 1. all the vessels] the word may be taken to include
weapons, spoils of war, compare 2 Samuel viii. 7 ff.; 1 Chronicles
xviii. 11.

V. 2‒VIII. 10.
The Dedication of the Temple.

Chapter V.
2‒10 (= 1 Kings viii. 1‒9).
The Ark brought into the Sanctuary.

This section is taken almost verbatim from 1 Kings.

²Then Solomon assembled the elders of

Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the
princes of the fathers’ houses of the children
of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark
of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of
David, which is Zion.
2. Then Solomon assembled] The same verb in the Hebrew as in
1 Chronicles xv. 3 (see note there) and in 1 Chronicles xxviii. 1.

the city of David] See 1 Chronicles xi. 5, note on the strong hold
of Zion.
 ³And all the men of Israel assembled
themselves unto the king at the feast, which
was in the seventh month.
3. the feast] i.e. the Feast of Tabernacles, i.e. after the fruit
harvest.

in the seventh month] In 1 Kings the name of the month is given

as Ethanim, but this word was perhaps obsolete when the Chronicler
wrote; at any rate we know that in post-biblical times the seventh
month was regularly called Tisri.

⁴And all the elders of Israel came, and the

Levites took up the ark.
4. the Levites took up the ark] According to 1 Kings the priests
performed this duty. In the days of David and Solomon all Levites
were possible priests, Levi being the name of the priestly clan and
not of a lower order of priests. At a later period the Levites were
regarded as a class subordinate to the priests, having duties distinct
from those of the priests—e.g. the task of bearing the tabernacle and
all its furniture (see Numbers i. 50, etc.). The Chronicler believing
that this distinction had been in force from the time of Moses
onwards “corrects” the text of Kings by changing “priests” into
“Levites”: compare 1 Chronicles xv. 2, 12, 13. See the special note
on 1 Chronicles vi., pp. 51 f.

⁵And they brought up the ark, and the tent of

meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in
the Tent; these did the priests the Levites
bring up. ⁶And king Solomon and all the
congregation of Israel, that were assembled
unto him, were before the ark, sacrificing
 sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor
numbered for multitude.
5. the tent of meeting] i.e. the Mosaic tabernacle, which the
Chronicler believed to have been in existence in the time of David
and Solomon, and to have been at Gibeon (i. 3 f.). The parallel
statement in Kings comes not from the early sources but from the
hand of a late reviser.

the priests the Levites] here the older phrase, which does not
indicate a distinction between Priests and Levites, has been allowed
to stand, perhaps “because certain utensils might well have been
borne by the priests” (so Curtis), or possibly through slight
carelessness on the Chronicler’s part. The parallel in Kings has “the
priests and the Levites.”

⁷And the priests brought in the ark of the

covenant of the Lord unto its place, into the
oracle of the house, to the most holy place,
even under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸For
the cherubim spread forth their wings over the
place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the
ark and the staves thereof above.
7. the priests brought in the ark] Only the priests might lawfully
place the Ark within the Holy of Holies (compare Numbers iv. 5 ff.).
The Chronicler therefore had no cause for changing priests into
Levites here.

into the oracle] See iii. 16, note.

⁹And the staves ¹ were so long that the ends of

the staves were seen from the ark before the
 oracle; but they were not seen without: and
there it is, unto this day.
¹ Or, they drew out the staves, so that &c.

9. from the ark] Read (with LXX. and 1 Kings viii. 8) from the
holy place. One standing in the Holy Place and looking towards the
Holy of Holies could see the heads of the staves.

and there it is, unto this day] These words are taken over with the
loss of one letter (which here makes the difference between singular
and plural) from 1 Kings viii. 8, but they are out of place in
Chronicles, for when the Chronicler wrote the Ark had long ago
disappeared. The vessels which were brought back from the
Babylonian captivity are specified in Ezra i. 9, 10, but the Ark of the
covenant is not reckoned among them.

¹⁰There was nothing in the ark save the two

tables which Moses put there at Horeb, when ¹
the Lord made a covenant with the children
of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
¹ Or, where.

10. which Moses put there] Exodus xl. 20.

at Horeb] Deuteronomy v. 2.

11‒14 (= 1 Kings viii. 10, 11).

The Descent of the Glory of the Lord.

¹¹And it came to pass, when the priests were

come out of the holy place, (for all the priests