(17) In the clay ground.--Heb., in the thickness of the ground--i.e., in the stiff or clayey soil. Vulg., "in argillosa terra." For '?bi, "thickness," see Job 15:26. Kings has ma'?beh, which occurs nowhere else.

Zeredathah.--Kings, Z?r?th?n (Joshua 3:16). Z?r?d?th?h means towards Z?r?th?h (1Kings 11:26). The two names denote the same place.

Verse 17. - In the plain... in the clay; i.e. in the Ciccar (or round, equivalent to the New Testament "region round about ") of Jordan, a distinctive designation of the Jordan valley (Conder's Handbook to the Bible,' p. 213). The region here intended lies east of the river, in what became the division of Gad. Succoth lay a little to the north of the river Jabbok, which flows almost east to west into the Jordan. Zeredathah; i.q. Zarthan of 1 Kings 7:46; and this latter is in the Hebrew also the same in characters and all with the Zaretan of Joshua 3:16. Very possibly the place is the same as Zererath (Judges 7:22). The exact sites of these places are not known, though the range within which they all lay is clear (see Grove's article in Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 3:1817). The clay ground; that is," the clay of the ground "(Hebrew). The radical idea of the word here translated "clay" is "thickness," which should not be rendered, as in margin, "thicknesses." The word (עָב) occurs in all thirty-five times, and is rendered a large proportion of these times "clouds" or "thick clouds" (e.g. Exodus 19:9), clouds being presumably thicknesses in air; but if the subject-matter in question be in wood, or growing timber, or the ground, the word is rendered conformably "thick planks" (1 Kings 7:6; Ezekiel 41:25, 26), or "thickets" (Jeremiah 4:29), or "clay" (as here), to distinguish from other lighter or more friable soil.

4:1-22 The furniture of the temple. - Here is a further account of the furniture of God's house. Both without doors and within, there was that which typified the grace of the gospel, and shadowed out good things to come, of which the substance is Christ. There was the brazen altar. The making of this was not mentioned in the book of Kings. On this all the sacrifices were offered, and it sanctified the gift. The people who worshipped in the courts might see the sacrifices burned. They might thus be led to consider the great Sacrifice, to be offered in the fulness of time, to take away sin, and put an end to death, which the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do. And, with the smoke of the sacrifices, their hearts might ascend to heaven, in holy desires towards God and his favour. In all our devotions we must keep the eye of faith fixed upon Christ. The furniture of the temple, compared with that of the tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged, and his worshippers multiplied. Blessed be God, there is enough in Christ for all.See Introduction to Chapter 4