Charles Ellicott Commentary


Charles Ellicott Commentary
"And he caused all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand [to it]. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers." — 2 Chronicles 34:32 (ASV)
And he caused ... stand to it. — Kings states, “and all the people stood into (that is, came into) the covenant.” The Syriac version reads: “And everyone that was found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin rose, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem entered into the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers.” (The Chronicler’s reading may be explained by the fact that the verbs “he stood” and “he caused to stand” differ only in the vowels, which in ancient times were not written at all. The phrase “All that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin” is unusual, and it is likely that “and Benjamin” is actually a corruption of “into the covenant,” which is required by the context here as much as in Kings.)
And the inhabitants ... fathers — that is, after they had thus solemnly taken it upon themselves to do so. This statement is not found in Kings.