22 There were two hundred and twelve whose business it was to keep the doorway. These were listed by families in the country places where they were living, whom David and Samuel the seer put in their responsible positions.
(In the past in Israel, when a man went to get directions from God, he said, Come let us go to the Seer, for he who now is named Prophet was in those days given the name of Seer.)
And Obadiah, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah, the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who were living in the small towns of the Netophathites.
And their brothers, in the country places where they were living, were to come in every seven days to be with them from time to time. For the four chief door-keepers, who were Levites, had a special position, looking after the rooms and the store-houses of the house of God.
And Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the oldest son of Shallum the Korahite, was responsible for cooking the flat cakes.
Now David was old and full of days; and he made his son Solomon king over Israel. And he got together all the chiefs of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. And the Levites, all those of thirty years old and over, were numbered; and the number of them, by heads, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. Of these, twenty-four thousand were to be overseers of the work of the house of the Lord, and six thousand were judges and men of authority; Four thousand were door-keepers; and four thousand gave praise to the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, for giving praise. And David put them into divisions under the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham and Joel, three. The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three; these were the heads of the families of Ladan. And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zizah and Jeush and Beriah; these four were the sons of Shimei. Jahath was the chief and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah had only a small number of sons, so they were grouped together as one family. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was made separate and holy, he and his sons for ever, for the care of the most holy things and the burning of offerings before the Lord, to do his work and give blessings in his name for ever. And the sons of Moses, the man of God, were put into the list of the tribe of Levi. The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the first. And the sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the first; and Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had a great number. The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the first. The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. The sons of Uzziel: Micah the first, and Isshiah the second. The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. And at his death Eleazar had no sons, but only daughters, and their relations, the sons of Kish, took them as wives. The sons of Mushi: Mahli and Eder and Jeremoth, three. These were the sons of Levi, grouped by families, the heads of the families of those who were numbered by name, by heads, all those of twenty years old and over who did the work of the house of the Lord. For David said, The Lord, the God of Israel, has given his people rest, and he has made his resting-place in Jerusalem for ever; And from now, there will be no need for the House of the Lord, and the vessels used in it, to be moved about by the Levites. So among the last acts of David was the numbering of the sons of Levi, from twenty years old and over. Their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron in all the work of the house of the Lord, in the open spaces and in the rooms, in the making clean of all the holy things, in doing all the work of the house of the Lord, The holy bread was in their care, and the crushed grain for the meal offering, of unleavened cakes or meal cooked over the fire or in water; they had control of all sorts of weights and measures; They had to take their places every morning to give praise and make melody to the Lord, and in the same way at evening; At every offering of burned offerings to the Lord, on Sabbaths, and at the new moons, and on the regular feasts, in the number ordered by the law, at all times before the Lord; And they had the care of the Tent of meeting and the holy place, under the direction of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the work of the house of the Lord.
Further, David and the chiefs of the servants of the holy place made selection of certain of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun for the work of prophets, to make melody with corded instruments and brass; and the number of the men for the work they had to do was: Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur and Joseph and Nethaniah and Asharelah, sons of Asaph; under the direction of Asaph, acting as a prophet under the orders of the king; Of Jeduthun: the six sons of Jeduthun, Gedaliah and Zeri and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah and Mattithiah; under the direction of their father Jeduthun who, acting as a prophet, with corded instruments gave praise and glory to the Lord. Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth; All these were sons of Heman, the king's seer in the words of God. And to make great his power God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. All these, under the direction of their father, made music in the house of the Lord, with brass and corded instruments, for the worship of the house of God; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the orders of the king. And the number of them, with their brothers who were trained and expert in making melody to the Lord, was two hundred and eighty-eight. And selection was made of them for their special work, all having equal chances, small as well as great, the teacher as the learner. Now of the group of Asaph, the first name to come out was Joseph; the second Gedaliah; he and his brothers and sons were twelve? The third Zaccur, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The fourth Izri, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The fifth Nethaniah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The sixth Bukkiah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The seventh Jesharelah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The eighth Jeshaiah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The ninth Mattaniah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The tenth Shimei, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The eleventh Azarel, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The twelfth Hashabiah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The thirteenth Shubael, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The fourteenth Mattithiah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The fifteenth Jeremoth, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The sixteenth Hananiah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The seventeenth Joshbekashah, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The eighteenth Hanani, with his sons and his brothers, twelve; The nineteenth Mallothi, with his sons and his brothers, twelve;
For the divisions of the door-keepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah, the son of Kore, of the sons of Ebiasaph. And Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the oldest, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,
And for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work in connection with the worship of the house of the Lord, and all the vessels used in the house of the Lord;
And see, there are the divisions of the priests and Levites for all the work of the house of God; and every trained and expert workman will be ready to do for you whatever is needed; and the captains and the people will be under your orders in everything.
And under him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah and Amariah and Shecaniah, in the towns of the priests, who were made responsible for giving it to all their brothers, by divisions, to small and great:
And in the lists were all their little ones and their wives and their sons and daughters, through all the people: they made themselves holy in the positions which they were given.
And for the daughter-towns with their fields, some of the men of Judah were living in Kiriath-arba and its daughter-towns, and in Dibon and its daughter-towns, and in Jekabzeel and its daughter-towns, And in Jeshua, and in Moladah, and Beth-pelet, And in Hazar-shual, and in Beer-sheba and its daughter-towns, And in Ziklag, and in Meconah and its daughter-towns, And in En-rimmon, and in Zorah, and in Jarmuth, Zanoah, Adullam and their daughter-towns, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its daughter-towns. So they were living from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom.
And of the Levites, certain divisions in Judah were joined to Benjamin.
And the sons of the music-makers came together from the lowland round about Jerusalem and from the daughter-towns of the Netophathites, And from Beth-gilgal and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the music-makers had made daughter-towns for themselves round about Jerusalem.
And on that day certain men were put over the rooms where the things which had been given were stored, for the lifted offerings and the first-fruits and the tenths, and to take into them the amounts, from the fields of every town, fixed by the law for the priests and the Levites: for Judah was glad on account of the priests and the Levites who were in their places.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 9
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 9 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 9
This chapter intimates to us that one end of recording all these genealogies was to direct the Jews, now that they had returned out of captivity, with whom to incorporate and where to reside; for here we have an account of those who first took possession of Jerusalem after their return from Babylon, and began the rebuilding of it upon the old foundation.
1Ch 9:1-13
The first verse looks back upon the foregoing genealogies, and tells us they were gathered out of the books of the kings of Israel and Judah, not that which we have in the canon of scripture, but another civil record, which was authentic, as the king's books with us. Mentioning Israel and Judah, the historian takes notice of their being carried away to Babylon for their transgression. Let that judgment never be forgotten, but ever be remembered, for warning to posterity to take heed of those sins that brought it upon them. Whenever we speak of any calamity that has befallen us, it is good to add this, "it was for my transgression,' that God may be justified and clear when he judges. Then follows an account of the first inhabitants, after their return from captivity, that dwelt in their cities, especially in Jerusalem.
1Ch 9:14-34
We have here a further account of the good posture which the affairs of religion were put into immediately upon the return of the people out of Babylon. They had smarted for their former neglect of ordinances and under the late want of ordinances. Both these considerations made them very zealous and forward in setting up the worship of God among them; so they began their worship of God at the right end. Instances hereof we have here.
1Ch 9:35-44
These verses are the very same with ch. 8:29-38, giving an account of the ancestors of Saul and the posterity of Jonathan. There it is the conclusion of the genealogy of Benjamin; here it is an introduction to the story of Saul. We take the repetition as we find it; but if we admit that there are in the originals, especially in these books, some errors of the transcribers, I should be tempted to think this repetition arose from a blunder. Some one, in copying out these genealogies, having written those words, v. 34 (These dwelt in Jerusalem), cast his eye on the same words, ch. 8:28 (These dwelt in Jerusalem), and so went on with what followed there, instead of going on with what followed here; and, when he perceived his mistake, was loth to make a blot in his book, and so let it stand. We have a rule in our law, Redundans non nocet-Redundancies do no harm.