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1 Chronicles 24:3 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

3 And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, made distribution of them into their positions for their work.

Cross Reference

2 Samuel 8:17 BBE

And Zadok and Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, were priests; and Seraiah was the scribe;

1 Chronicles 24:31 BBE

Selection was made of these in the same way as of their brothers the sons of Aaron, David the king being present, with Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the heads of families of the priests and of the Levites; the families of the chief in the same way as those of his younger brother.

1 Samuel 21:1 BBE

Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was full of fear at meeting David, and said to him, Why are you by yourself, having no man with you?

1 Samuel 22:9-23 BBE

Then Doeg, the Edomite, who was by the side of the servants of Saul, in answer said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub. And he got directions from the Lord for him, and gave him food, and put in his hand the sword of Goliath the Philistine. Then the king sent for Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and for all the men of his father's family who were priests in Nob: and they all came to the king. And Saul said, Give ear now, O son of Ahitub. And answering he said, Here I am, my lord. And Saul said to him, Why have you made designs against me with the son of Jesse, giving him food and a sword and getting directions from the Lord for him, and helping him to take up arms against me, and to be on the watch to make a secret attack on me as he is doing now? Then Ahimelech answering said to the king, Who among all your servants is so true to you as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is a captain of your armed men, and has a place of honour in your house? Is this the first time I have got directions from God for him? Far be the thought! let the king make no such statement against his servant or my father's family, for your servant has no knowledge, great or small, of this thing. And the king said, You will certainly be put to death, Ahimelech, you and all your father's family. Then the king said to the runners who were waiting near him, Put the priests of the Lord to death; because they are on David's side, and having knowledge of his flight, did not give me word of it. But the king's servants would not put out their hands to make an attack on the Lord's priests. Then the king said to Doeg, You are to put the priests to death. And Doeg the Edomite, turning on the priests and attacking them, put to death that day eighty-five men who took up the ephod. And Nob, the town of the priests, he put to the sword, all the men and women, children and babies at the breast, and oxen and asses and sheep. And Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, got away and went in flight after David; And gave him the news of how Saul had put to death the Lord's priests. And David said to Abiathar, I was certain that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would take the news to Saul: I am responsible for the lives of all your father's family. Keep here with me and have no fear; for he who has designs on my life has designs on yours: but with me you will be safe.

2 Samuel 20:25 BBE

And Sheva was the scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

1 Kings 2:35 BBE

And the king put Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, in his place over the army; and Zadok the priest he put in the place of Abiathar.

1 Chronicles 6:4-8 BBE

Eleazar was the father of Phinehas; Phinehas was the father of Abishua; And Abishua was the father of Bukki, and Bukki was the father of Uzzi, And Uzzi was the father of Zerahiah, and Zerahiah was the father of Meraioth; Meraioth was the father of Amariah, and Amariah was the father of Ahitub, And Ahitub was the father of Zadok, and Zadok was the father of Ahimaaz,

1 Chronicles 6:50-53 BBE

And these are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.

1 Chronicles 12:27-28 BBE

And Jehoiada, chief of the family of Aaron, and with him three thousand, seven hundred men; And Zadok, a young man, great and strong in war, with twenty-two captains from his father's people.

1 Chronicles 15:11 BBE

And David sent for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, Uriel, Asaiah and Joel, Shemaiah and Eliel and Amminadab,

1 Chronicles 16:39 BBE

And Zadok the priest, with his brothers the priests, before the House of the Lord in the high place at Gibeon;

1 Chronicles 24:6 BBE

And Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was a Levite, put down their names in writing, the king being present with the rulers, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, and the heads of families of the priests and the Levites; one family being taken for Eleazar and then one for Ithamar, and so on.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 24

Commentary on 1 Chronicles 24 Matthew Henry Commentary


Chapter 24

This chapter gives us a more particular account of the distribution of the priests and Levites into their respective classes, for the more regular discharge of the duties of their offices, according to their families.

1Ch 24:1-19

The particular account of these establishments is of little use to us now; but, when Ezra published it, it was of great use to direct their church affairs after their return from captivity into the old channel again. The title of this record we have v. 1-These are the divisions of the sons of Aaron, not by which they divided one from another, or were at variance one with another (it is a pity there should ever be any such divisions among the sons of Israel, but especially among the sons of Aaron), but the distribution of them in order to the dividing of their work among themselves; it was a division which God made, and was made for him.

  • 1. This distribution was made for the more regular discharge of the duties of their office. God was, and still is, the God of order, and not of confusion, particularly in the things of his worship. Number without order is but a clog and an occasion of tumult; but when every one has, and knows, and keeps, his place and work, the more the better. In the mystical body, every member has its use, for the good of the whole, Rom. 12:4, 5; 1 Co. 12:12.
  • 2. It was made by lot, that the disposal thereof might be of the Lord, and so all quarrels and contentions might be prevented, and no man could be charged with partiality, nor could any say that they had wrong done them. As God is the God or order, so he is the God of peace. Solomon says of the lot that it causeth contention to cease.
  • 3. The lot was cast publicly, and with great solemnity, in the presence of the king, princes, and priests, that there might be no room for any fraudulent practices or the suspicion of them. The lot is an appeal to God, and ought to be managed with corresponding reverence and sincerity. Matthias was chosen to the apostleship by lot, with prayer (Acts 1:24, 26), and I know not but it might be still used in faith in parallel cases, as an instituted ordinance. We have here the name of the public notary that was employed in writing the names, and drawing the lots, (v. 6): Shemaiah, one of the Levites.
  • 4. What those priests were chosen to was to preside in the affairs of the sanctuary (v. 5), in their several courses and turns. That which was to be determined by the lot was only the precedency, not who should serve (for they chose all the chief men), but who should serve first, and who next, that every one might know his course, and attend in it. Of the twenty-four chief men of the priests sixteen were of the house of Eleazar and eight of Ithamar; for the house of Ithamar may well be supposed to have dwindled since the sentence passed on the family of Eli, who was of that house. The method of drawing the lots is intimated (v. 6), one chief household being taken for Eleazar, and one for Ithamar. The sixteen chief names of Eleazar were put in one urn, the eight for Ithamar in another, and they drew out of them alternately, as long as those for Ithamar lasted, and then out of those only for Eleazar, or two for Eleazar, and then one for Ithamar, throughout.
  • 5. Among these twenty-four courses the eighth is that of Abijah or Abia (v. 10), which is mentioned (Lu. 1:5) as the course which Zechariah was of, the father of John the Baptist, by which it appears that these courses which David now settled, though interrupted perhaps in the bad reigns and long broken off by the captivity, yet continued in succession till the destruction of the second temple by the Romans. And each course was called by the name of him in whom it was first founded, as the high priest is here called Aaron (v. 19), because succeeding in his dignity and power, though we read not of any of them that bore that name. Whoever was high priest must be reverenced and observed by the inferior priests as their father, as Aaron their father. Christ is high priest over the house of God, to whom all believers, being made priests, are to be in subjection.

1Ch 24:20-31

Most of the Levites here named were mentioned before, ch. 23:16, etc. They were of those who were to attend the priests in the service of the house of God. But they are here mentioned again as heads of the twenty-four courses of Levites (and about so many are here named), who were to attend the twenty-four courses of the priests: they are therefore said to cast lots over against their brethren (so they are called, not their lords), the sons of Aaron, who were not to lord it over God's clergy, as the original word is, 1 Pt. 5:3. And, that the whole disposal of the affair might be of the Lord, the principal fathers cast lots over against their younger brethren; that is, those that were of the elder house came upon the level with those of the younger families, and took their place, not by seniority, but as God by the lot directed. Note, In Christ no difference is made between bond and free, elder and younger. The younger brethren, if they be faithful and sincere, shall be no less acceptable to Christ than the principal fathers.