And, behold, Amariah the chief priest [is] over you in all matters of the LORD; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, for all the king's matters: also the Levites [shall be] officers before you. Deal courageously, and the LORD shall be with the good.
Ver. 11. In all the matters of the Lord.] In matters ecclesiastical.
For all the king's matters,] i.e., In civil affairs.
And the Levites shall be officers before you.] Apparitores, lectores, praefecti, to see things rightly carried and good laws executed. The Greeks had their νομοφυλακας, officers of the same sort.
Deal courageously.] Heb., Take courage and do, a i.e., do your office, forti et excelso animo. Fear no colours, but act vigorously, and the work is done. Possunt, saith he, quia posse videntur. They are able who seem to be able. Historians ascribe most of Alexander's success to his courage: he never thought anything unfeasible. The ruler's offering must be a male; the people's might be a female, Leviticus 4:22,23 ; Lev 4:27-28 to show that a ruler or judge must be of a masculine spirit.
And the Lord shall be with the good.] To protect and direct them; to assist and accept them; to reward their integrity, what hardship soever here they meet with: as Judge Hales did, being imprisoned in the Marshalsea, Counter, and Fleet, because that in the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, before any new laws were yet made, he did at the Quarter Sessions give charge upon the statutes made in the time of King Henry VIII and Edward VI, for supremacy and religion. b
a Audete et agite., Be prepared and act.
b Act. and Mon., 1282.