49 But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burned offering, and on the altar of perfume, for all the work of the most holy place, and to take away the sin of Israel, doing everything ordered by Moses, the servant of God.
And you are to make an altar for the burning of perfume; of hard wood let it be made. The altar is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high, and its horns are to be made of the same. It is to be plated with the best gold, the top of it and the sides and the horns, with an edging of gold all round it. Under the edge on the two opposite sides, you are to make two gold rings, to take the rods for lifting it. And make these rods of the same wood, plating them with gold. And let it be placed in front of the veil before the ark of the law, before the cover which is over the law, where I will come face to face with you. And on this altar sweet spices are to be burned by Aaron every morning when he sees to the lights.
And make an altar of hard wood, a square altar, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high. Put horns at the four angles of it, made of the same, plating it all with brass. And make all its vessels, the baskets for taking away the dust of the fire, the spades and basins and meat-hooks and fire-trays, of brass. And make a network of brass, with four brass rings at its four angles. And put the network under the shelf round the altar so that the net comes half-way up the altar. And make rods for the altar, of hard wood, plated with brass. And put the rods through the rings at the two opposite sides of the altar, for lifting it. The altar is to be hollow, boarded in with wood; make it from the design which you saw on the mountain.
And once every year Aaron is to make its horns clean: with the blood of the sin-offering he is to make it clean once every year from generation to generation: it is most holy to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, When you are taking the number of the children of Israel, let every man who is numbered give to the Lord a price for his life, so that no disease may come on them when they are numbered. And this is what they are to give; let every man who is numbered give half a shekel, by the scale of the holy place: (the shekel being valued at twenty gerahs:) this money is an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, is to give an offering to the Lord. The man of wealth is to give no more and the poor man no less than the half-shekel of silver, when the offering is made to the Lord as the price for your lives. And you are to take this money from the children of Israel to be used for the work of the Tent of meeting, to keep the memory of the children of Israel before the Lord and to be the price of your lives.
The priests, the Levites, that is, all the tribe of Levi, will have no part or heritage with Israel: their food and their heritage will be the offerings of the Lord made by fire. And they will have no heritage among their countrymen: the Lord is their heritage, as he has said to them. And this is to be the priests' right: those who make an offering of a sheep or an ox are to give to the priest the top part of the leg and the two sides of the head and the stomach. And in addition you are to give him the first of your grain and wine and oil, and the first wool cut from your sheep. For he, and his sons after him for ever, have been marked out by the Lord your God from all your tribes, to do the work of priests in the name of the Lord. And if a Levite, moved by a strong desire, comes from any town in all Israel where he is living to the place marked out by the Lord; Then he will do the work of a priest in the name of the Lord his God, with all his brothers the Levites who are there before the Lord. His food will be the same as theirs, in addition to what has come to him as the price of his property.
Now if it was possible for things to be made complete through the priests of the house of Levi (for the law was given to the people in connection with them), what need was there for another priest who was of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron? Because if the priests are changed, it is necessary to make a change in the law. For he of whom these things are said comes of another tribe, of which no man has ever made offerings at the altar. Because it is clear that our Lord comes out of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe.
And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron, Let no man make himself unclean for the dead among his people; But only for his near relations, for his mother or his father, his son or his daughter, and his brother; And for his sister, a virgin, for she is his near relation and has had no husband, he may make himself unclean. But let him, being a chief among his people, not make himself unclean in such a way as to put shame on himself. They are not to have their hair cut off for the dead, or the hair on their chins cut short, or make cuts in their flesh. Let them be holy to their God and not make the name of their God common; for the fire offerings of the Lord and the bread of their God are offered by them, and they are to be holy. They may not take as wife a loose or common woman, or one who has been put away by her husband: for the priest is holy to his God. And he is to be holy in your eyes, for by him the bread of your God is offered; he is to be holy in your eyes, for I the Lord, who make you holy, am holy. And if the daughter of a priest makes herself common and by her loose behaviour puts shame on her father, let her be burned with fire. And he who is the chief priest among his brothers, on whose head the holy oil has been put, who is marked out to put on the holy robes, may not let his hair go loose or have his clothing out of order as a sign of sorrow. He may not go near any dead body or make himself unclean for his father or his mother; He may not go out of the holy place or make the holy place of his God common; for the crown of the holy oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. And let him take as his wife one who has not had relations with a man. A widow, or one whose husband has put her away, or a common woman of loose behaviour, may not be the wife of a priest; but let him take a virgin from among his people. And he may not make his seed unclean among his people, for I the Lord have made him holy. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, If a man of your family, in any generation, is damaged in body, let him not come near to make the offering of the bread of his God. For any man whose body is damaged may not come near: one who is blind, or has not the use of his legs, or one who has a broken nose or any unnatural growth, Or a man with broken feet or hands, Or one whose back is bent, or one who is unnaturally small, or one who has a damaged eye, or whose skin is diseased, or whose sex parts are damaged; No man of the offspring of Aaron whose body is damaged in any way may come near to give the fire offerings of the Lord: he is damaged, he may not come near to make the offerings. He may take of the bread of God, the holy and the most holy;
And the Lord said to Moses, Take Aaron, and his sons with him, and the robes and the holy oil and the ox of the sin-offering and the two male sheep and the basket of unleavened bread; And let all the people come together at the door of the Tent of meeting. And Moses did as the Lord said, and all the people came together at the door of the Tent of meeting. And Moses said to the people, This is what the Lord has given orders to be done. Then Moses took Aaron and his sons; and after washing them with water, He put the coat on him, making it tight with its band, and then the robe, and over it the ephod, with its band of needlework to keep it in place. And he put the priest's bag on him, and in the bag he put the Urim and Thummim. And on his head he put the head-dress, and in front of the head-dress the plate of gold, the holy crown, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. And Moses took the holy oil and put it on the House and on all the things in it, to make them holy.
And Aaron's sons, the priests, are to put fire on the altar and put the wood in order on the fire: And Aaron's sons, the priests, are to put the parts, the head and the fat, in order on the wood which is on the fire on the altar: But its inside parts and its legs are to be washed with water, and it will all be burned on the altar by the priest for a burned offering, an offering made by fire, for a sweet smell to the Lord.
Every day an ox is to be offered as a sin-offering, to take away sins: and by this offering on it, you will make the altar clean from sin; and you are to put oil on it and make it holy. For seven days you are to make offerings for the altar and make it holy, so that it may become completely holy, and anything touching it will become holy.
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.