26 Shelomoth and his brothers were responsible for all the store of holy things which David the king and the heads of families, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and the captains of the army, had given to the Lord.
And from the part given to the children of Israel, take one out of every fifty, from the persons, and from the oxen and asses and sheep, and give it to the Levites who have the care of the House of the Lord. So Eleazar and Moses did as the Lord had given orders to Moses. Now the beasts taken, in addition to what the fighting-men took for themselves, were six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, And seventy-two thousand oxen, And sixty-one thousand asses; And thirty-two thousand persons, that is, women who had never had sex relations with a man. And the half given as their part to the men who went to the war, was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, five hundred sheep, Of which the Lord's part was six hundred and seventy-five. The number of oxen was thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord's part was seventy-two; The number of asses was thirty thousand, five hundred, of which the Lord's part was sixty-one. And the number of persons was sixteen thousand, of which the Lord's part was thirty-two persons. And Moses gave the Lord's part, lifted up as an offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had given orders to Moses. And from the half given to the children of Israel, which Moses had kept separate from that given to the fighting-men, (Now the people's half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, five hundred sheep, And thirty-six thousand oxen, And thirty thousand, five hundred asses, And sixteen thousand persons;) Even from the children of Israel's half, Moses took one out of every fifty, men and beasts, and gave them to the Levites who had the care of the House of the Lord; as the Lord gave orders to Moses. Then the men in authority over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came to Moses, And said to him, Your servants have taken note of the number of all the fighting-men under our orders, and every one is present; And we have here an offering for the Lord from what every man took in the war, ornaments of gold, leg-chains and arm-rings, finger-rings, ear-rings, and neck-ornaments, to make our souls free from sin before the Lord. So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, even all the worked ornaments. And the gold which the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds gave, as an offering to be lifted up before the Lord, came to sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty shekels.
Now as far as I am able, I have made ready what is needed for the house of my God; the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the silver things, and the brass for the brass things, iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; beryls and jewels to be framed, and stones of different colours for ornament; all sorts of stones of great price, and polished building-stone, as much as is needed and more. And because this house of God is dear to me, I give my private store of gold and silver to the house of my God, in addition to all I have got ready for the holy house; Even three thousand talents of gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of the best silver, for plating the walls of the house: Gold for the gold things, and silver for the silver things, and for every sort of work to be done by the expert workmen. Who then will come forward, offering himself this day for the Lord's work? Then the heads of families and the chiefs of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the controllers of the king's business, freely gave themselves; And they gave for the use of the house of the Lord, five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, and ten thousand talents of silver, and eighteen thousand talents of brass, and a hundred thousand talents of iron. And those who had stones of great price gave them to the store of the house of the Lord, under the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people were glad because their offerings were freely given, for with a true heart they freely gave what they had to the Lord; and David the king was full of joy.
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Commentary on 1 Chronicles 26 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 26
1Ch 26:1-12. Divisions of the Porters.
1, 2. Concerning the divisions of the porters—There were four thousand (1Ch 23:6), all taken from the families of the Kohathites and Merarites (1Ch 26:14), divided into twenty-four courses—as the priests and musicians.
Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph—Seven sons of Meshelemiah are mentioned (1Ch 26:2), whereas eighteen are given (1Ch 26:9), but in this latter number his relatives are included.
5. God blessed him—that is, Obed-edom. The occasion of the blessing was his faithful custody of the ark (2Sa 6:11, 12). The nature of the blessing (Ps 127:5) consisted in the great increase of progeny by which his house was distinguished; seventy-two descendants are reckoned.
6. mighty men of valour—The circumstance of physical strength is prominently noticed in this chapter, as the office of the porters required them not only to act as sentinels of the sacred edifice and its precious furniture against attacks of plunderers or popular insurrection—to be, in fact, a military guard—but, after the temple was built, to open and shut the gates, which were extraordinarily large and ponderous.
10. Simri the chief … though … not the first-born—probably because the family entitled to the right of primogeniture had died out, or because there were none of the existing families which could claim that right.
12. Among these were the divisions of the porters, even among the chief men—These were charged with the duty of superintending the watches, being heads of the twenty-four courses of porters.
1Ch 26:13-19. The Gates Assigned by Lot.
13. they cast lots—Their departments of duty, such as the gates they should attend to, were allotted in the same manner as those of the other Levitical bodies, and the names of the chiefs or captains are given, with the respective gates assigned them.
15. the house of Asuppim—or, "collections," probably a storehouse, where were kept the grain, wine, and other offerings for the sustenance of the priests.
16. the gate Shallecheth—probably the rubbish gate, through which all the accumulated filth and sweepings of the temple and its courts were poured out.
by the causeway of the going up—probably the ascending road which was cast up or raised from the deep valley between Mount Zion and Moriah, for the royal egress to the place of worship (2Ch 9:4).
ward against ward—Some refer these words to Shuppim and Hosah, whose duty it was to watch both the western gate and the gate Shallecheth, which was opposite, while others take it as a general statement applicable to all the guards, and intended to intimate that they were posted at regular distances from each other, or that they all mounted and relieved guard at the same time in uniform order.
17-19. Eastward were six Levites—because the gate there was the most frequented. There were four at the north gate; four at the south, at the storehouse which was adjoining the south, and which had two entrance gates, one leading in a southwesterly direction to the city, and the other direct west, two porters each. At the Parbar towards the west, there were six men posted—four at the causeway or ascent (1Ch 26:16), and two at Parbar, amounting to twenty-four in all, who were kept daily on guard.
18. Parbar—is, perhaps, the same as Parvar ("suburbs," 2Ki 23:11), and if so, this gate might be so called as leading to the suburbs [Calmet].
1Ch 26:20-28. Levites That Had Charge of the Treasures.
20. of the Levites, Ahijah—The heading of this section is altogether strange as it stands, for it looks as if the sacred historian were going to commence a new subject different from the preceding. Besides, "Ahijah, whose name occurs after" the Levites, is not mentioned in the previous lists. It is totally unknown and is introduced abruptly without further information; and lastly, Ahijah must have united in his own person those very offices of which the occupants are named in the verses that follow. The reading is incorrect. The Septuagint has this very suitable heading, "And their Levitical brethren over the treasures," &c. [Bertheau]. The names of those who had charge of the treasure chambers at their respective wards are given, with a general description of the precious things committed to their trust. Those treasures were immense, consisting of the accumulated spoils of Israelitish victories, as well as of voluntary contributions made by David and the representatives of the people.
1Ch 26:29-32. Officers and Judges.
29. officers and judges—The word rendered "officers" is the term which signifies scribes or secretaries, so that the Levitical class here described were magistrates, who, attended by their clerks, exercised judicial functions; there were six thousand of them (1Ch 23:4), who probably acted like their brethren on the principle of rotation, and these were divided into three classes—one (1Ch 26:29) for the outward business over Israel; one (1Ch 26:30), consisting of seventeen hundred, for the west of Jordan "in all business of the Lord, and in the service of the king"; and the third (1Ch 26:31, 32), consisting of twenty-seven hundred, "rulers for every matter pertaining to God, and affairs of the king."