37 The son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah,
And the sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri. And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri. And Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon; and she gave birth to Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And the sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korahites.
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Pallu, the son of Reuben, made themselves ready, And came before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty chiefs of the people, men of good name who had a place in the meeting of the people. They came together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You take overmuch on yourselves, seeing that all the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; why then have you put yourselves in authority over the people of the Lord? And Moses, hearing this, went down on his face; And he said to Korah and his band, In the morning the Lord will make clear who are his, and who is holy, and who may come near him: the man of his selection will be caused to come near him. So do this: let Korah and all his band take vessels for burning perfumes; And put spices on the fire in them before the Lord tomorrow; then the man marked out by the Lord will be holy: you take overmuch on yourselves, you sons of Levi. And Moses said to Korah, Give ear now, you sons of Levi: Does it seem only a small thing to you that the God of Israel has made you separate from the rest of Israel, letting you come near himself to do the work of the House of the Lord, and to take your place before the people to do what has to be done for them; Letting you, and all your brothers the sons of Levi, come near to him? and would you now be priests? So you and all your band have come together against the Lord; and Aaron, who is he, that you are crying out against him? Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: and they said, We will not come up: Is it not enough that you have taken us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in the waste land, but now you are desiring to make yourself a chief over us? And more than this, you have not taken us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us a heritage of fields and vine-gardens: will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, Give no attention to their offering: not one of their asses have I taken, or done wrong to any of them. And Moses said to Korah, You and all your band are to come before the Lord tomorrow, you and they and Aaron: And let every man take a vessel for burning perfumes, and put sweet spices in them; let every man take his vessel before the Lord, two hundred and fifty vessels; you and Aaron and everyone with his vessel. So every man took his vessel and they put fire in them, with spices, and came to the door of the Tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. And Korah made all the people come together against them to the door of the Tent of meeting: and the glory of the Lord was seen by all the people. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them. Then falling down on their faces they said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, because of one man's sin will your wrath be moved against all the people? And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the people, Come away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram. So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the responsible men of Israel went with him. And he said to the people, Come away now from the tents of these evil men, without touching anything of theirs, or you may be taken in the punishment of their sins. So on every side they went away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram: and Dathan and Abiram came out to the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones. And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself. If these men have the common death of men, or if the natural fate of all men overtakes them, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men. And while these words were on his lips, the earth under them was parted in two; And the earth, opening her mouth, took them in, with their families, and all the men who were joined to Korah, and their goods. So they and all theirs went down living into the underworld, and the earth was shut over them, and they were cut off from among the meeting of the people. And all Israel round about them went in flight at their cry, For fear, said they, that we go down into the heart of the earth. Then fire came out from the Lord, burning up the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the perfume.
And they went down into the open mouth of the earth, together with Korah, when death overtook him and all his band; at the time when two hundred and fifty men were burned in the fire, and they became a sign. But death did not overtake the sons of Korah.
<To the chief music-maker. Maschil. Of the sons of Korah.> Like the desire of the roe for the water-streams, so is my soul's desire for you, O God.
<To the chief music-maker. Of the sons of Korah Maschil.> It has come to our ears, O God, our fathers have given us the story, of the works which you did in their days, in the old times,
<Alamoth. To the chief music-maker. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.> Give attention to this, all you peoples; let your ears be open, all you who are living in the world.
<To the chief music-maker; put to the Gittith A Psalm. Of the sons of Korah.> How dear are your tents, O Lord of armies!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 6
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 6 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 6
1Ch 6:1-48. Line of the Priests.
5. Uzzi—It is supposed that, in his days, the high priesthood was, for unrecorded reasons, transferred from Eleazar's family to Ithamar's, in which it continued for several generations.
10. he it is that executed the priest's office in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem—It is doubtful whether the person in favor of whom this testimony is borne be Johanan or Azariah. If the former, he is the same as Jehoiada, who rendered important public services (2Ki 11:1-20); if the latter, it refers to the worthy and independent part he acted in resisting the unwarrantable encroachments of Uzziah (2Ch 26:17).
in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem—described in this particular manner to distinguish it from the second temple, which was in existence at the time when this history was written.
14. Azariah begat Seraiah—He filled the supreme pontifical office at the destruction of Jerusalem, and, along with his deputy and others, he was executed by Nebuchadnezzar's orders at Riblah (2Ki 25:18, 21). The line of high priests, under the first temple, which from Zadok amounted to twelve, terminated with him.
16-48. The sons of Levi; Gershom, &c.—This repetition (see 1Ch 6:1) is made, as the historian here begins to trace the genealogy of the Levitical families who were not priests. The list is a long one, comprising the chiefs or heads of their several families until David's reign, who made a new and different classification of them by courses.
20. Zimmah his son—his grandson (1Ch 6:42).
24. Uriel—or Zephaniah (1Ch 6:36).
27. Elkanah—the father of the prophet Samuel (1Sa 1:1).
28. the sons of Samuel—The sons of Samuel are here named Vashni and Abiah. The first-born is called Joel (1Sa 8:2); and this name is given to him in 1Ch 6:33. It is now generally thought by the best critics that, through an error of the copyists, an omission has been made of the oldest son's name, and that Vashni, which is not the name of a person, merely signifies "and the second." This critical emendation of the text makes all clear, as well as consistent with other passages relating to the family of Samuel.
32. before the dwelling-place, &c.—that is, in the tent which David had erected for receiving the ark after it was removed from the house of Obed-edom [2Sa 6:17]. This was a considerable time before the temple was built.
they waited on their office according to their order—which David, doubtless by the direction of the Holy Spirit, had instituted for the better regulation of divine worship.
33. Shemuel—that is, Samuel. This is the exact representation of the Hebrew name.
39. his brother Asaph—They were brothers naturally, both being descended from Levi, as well as officially, both being of the Levitical order.
42. Ethan—or Jeduthun (1Ch 9:16; 2Ch 35:15).
48. Their brethren also the Levites were appointed unto all manner of service—Those of them who were endowed with musical tastes and talents were employed in various other departments of the temple service.
1Ch 6:49-81. Office of Aaron and His Sons.
49. But Aaron and his sons offered, &c.—The office and duties of the high priests having been already described, the names of those who successively filled that important office are recorded.
60. thirteen cities—No more than eleven are named here; but two additional ones are mentioned (Jos 21:16, 17), which makes up the thirteen.
61. unto the sons of Kohath, which were left—that is, in addition to the priests belonging to the same family and tribe of Levi.
by lot, ten cities—(Jos 21:26). The sacred historian gives an explanation (1Ch 6:66). Eight of these are mentioned, but only two of them are taken out of the half tribe of Manasseh (1Ch 6:70). The names of the other two are given (Jos 21:21), where full and detailed notices of these arrangements may be found.
62. to the sons of Gershom—Supply "the children of Israel gave."
67-81. they gave unto them of the cities of refuge—The names of the cities given here are considerably different from those applied to them (Jos 21:13-19). In the lapse of centuries, and from the revolutions of society, changes might have been expected to take place in the form or dialectic pronunciation of the names of those cities; and this will sufficiently account for the variations that are found in the lists as enumerated here and in an earlier book. As to these cities themselves that were assigned to the Levites, they were widely remote and separated—partly in fulfilment of Jacob's prophecy (Ge 49:7), and partly that the various districts of the country might obtain a competent supply of teachers who might instruct the people in the knowledge, and animate them to the observance, of a law which had so important a bearing on the promotion both of their private happiness and their national prosperity.