Chapter Twenty-Three

1–32. Census of the Levites and their division by kinds of service.

1 Chronicles 23:1. And David, having grown old and being satisfied with life, made his son Solomon king over Israel. Freed from part of his ruling duties because of Solomon’s coronation, which had not yet taken on a public character (1 Chr 29:22), and undisturbed by enemies (1 Chr 22:18), David devotes the last days of his life to the internal ordering of the state. His first task in this regard is the organization of worship by dividing the priests and Levites into shifts, with instructions for their corresponding duties.

1 Chronicles 23:3. And the Levites were numbered, from thirty years old and upward, and their number, counting individually, was thirty-eight thousand men. The numbering of Levites preceded their division into the so-called shifts; those who were thirty years old, the age limit for entering service according to Mosaic law, were counted (Num 4:3). But since those of twenty-five years old were also engaged in fulfilling the duties (Num 8:23-26), David later took this provision into account as well (1 Chr 23:24 and following).

1 Chronicles 23:4. Of these, twenty-four thousand were appointed for work in the house of the Lord, and six thousand were scribes and judges, The circle of “work in the house of the Lord” did not include work that was specifically priestly (1 Chr 24:1-19), judicial (1 Chr 26:29-32), the duties of gatekeepers (verse 5; 1 Chr 26:1-19), and singers and musicians (1 Chr 25:5).

1 Chronicles 23:6. And David divided them into shifts according to the sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Judging by the fact that the names listed below do not appear among the names of the 24 classes of singers (1 Chr 25:1), gatekeepers (1 Chr 26:1-19), and judges (1 Chr 26:29-32), one may suppose that in the present and following verses the text speaks of the division into shifts only of the 24,000 Levites designated for “the work of the house of the Lord.” The division of the tribe of Levi into three main lines—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari—was placed at the basis of their division (cf. 1 Chr 6:16).

1 Chronicles 23:7. From the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. 1 Chronicles 23:8. The sons of Ladan: the first Jehiel, Zepham and Joel, three. 1 Chronicles 23:9. The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel and Haran, three. They were the heads of the houses of Ladan. 1 Chronicles 23:10. Other sons of Shimei: Jahath, Ziza, Jeush and Beriah. These were the sons of Shimei, four. 1 Chronicles 23:11. Jahath was the chief, Ziza the second; Jeush and Beriah did not have many children, so they were counted as one house in the father’s family. The heads of the Gershonites. The family of Gershon in the time of David divided into two main branches: Ladan, a descendant of Libni, son of Gershon (1 Chr 6:17; Exod 6:17; Num 3:18) and Shimei. The first numbered six representatives: three sons of Ladan (verse 8) and three of Shimei, a descendant of Libni (verse 9); the second (the branch of Shimei, brother of Ladan) had only three, since two sons of Shimei—Jeush and Beriah, because of the smallness of their descendants, formed one family (verse 11). Thus, from the Gershonites of the time of David, nine families were chosen for the work of the “house of the Lord.”

1 Chronicles 23:12. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel, four. 1 Chronicles 23:13. The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to sanctify the most holy things—he and his sons, forever—to burn incense before the Lord, to serve him and to bless in his name forever. 1 Chronicles 23:14. But Moses, the man of God, and his sons were counted among the tribe of Levi. 1 Chronicles 23:15. The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 1 Chronicles 23:16. The sons of Gershom: the first was Shebuel. 1 Chronicles 23:17. The sons of Eliezer were: the first Rehabiah. And Eliezer had no other sons; but Rehabiah had very many sons. 1 Chronicles 23:18. The sons of Izhar: the first Shelomoth. 1 Chronicles 23:19. The sons of Hebron: the first Jeriah, the second Amariah, the third Jahaziel and the fourth Jekameam. 1 Chronicles 23:20. The sons of Uzziel: the first Micah and the second Isshiah. The heads of the Kohathites. The family of Kohath belonged to the family of Amram, represented by his sons Aaron and Moses. But the family of Aaron, to whom belonged the rights of priesthood, is not taken into account in the division of Levites appointed to the work of the “house of the Lord” (verse 13), and conversely, such an exception is not made for the family of Moses, counted among the ordinary Levites (verse 14). In accordance with this, in the line of Kohath are counted the Levitical families of Moses, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel—the three sons of Kohath (1 Chr 6:18; Exod 6:18; Num 3:19). The first gave two representatives (verses 15–17), the second—one (verse 18), the third—four (verse 19) and the fourth—two (verse 20), consequently the whole family of Kohath—nine.

1 Chronicles 23:21. The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. 1 Chronicles 23:22. And Eleazar died, and had no sons, only daughters; and the sons of Kish, their brothers, took them. 1 Chronicles 23:23. The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder and Jeremoth—three. The heads of the family of Merari from his sons Mahli and Mushi (1 Chr 6:19; Exod 6:19; Num 3:33). The line of Mahli from his son Eleazar, in view of the latter’s childlessness (absence of sons) in David’s time, did not exist; the representatives of the family of Kish, another son of Mahli, are not named (verse 22). For the work of the “house of the Lord” three Levitical families of Merari are appointed from his son Mushi (verse 23). Together with the nine families of Gershon and nine families of Kohath, they will make twenty-one families. But according to the testimony of Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 7:4, 7), the Levites appointed to the “work of the house of the Lord” were divided into 24 classes or shifts, in accordance with the 24 classes of priests and singers, so to reach this number, to the 21 families of Gershon, Kohath and Merari, three more families, arising from the one named in (1 Chr 24:26) and supposedly omitted in the chapter (Exod 23), a third son of Merari—Jaaziah, namely the families of Shogam, Zakur and Ivri (1 Chr 24:27), are added. But the translations of the LXX, Peshitta and Vulgate count only two sons of Merari here as well. The Pentateuch and the whole Old Testament know nothing of a third son of his and the descendants of the latter, and finally, the text (1 Chr 24:26-27) bears the mark of undoubted corruption (see below). All this together does not permit insisting on the omission of Jaaziah in (1 Chr 23:21 and following). Moreover, with the addition of three of his descendants to the families of Kohath, Gershon and Merari, we will receive not 24 classes of Levites, but 25, since there is no ground to exclude the family of Kish (1 Chr 23:22), although its representatives are not named by the author of Chronicles. In view of this, one must recognize that from the family of Merari, four families were appointed to the “work of the house of the Lord”; consequently, all Levitical classes, shifts were established as 22.

1 Chronicles 23:24. These are the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses, the heads of the families, by their number, by enrollment, who did the work of the service in the house of the Lord, from twenty years old and upward. 1 Chronicles 23:25. For David said: The Lord, God of Israel, has given rest to his people and has settled them in Jerusalem forever, 1 Chronicles 23:26. and the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all the vessels used in its service. Besides the Levites of thirty years old, the age limit for entering service, David appointed also Levites of twenty years old, on the ground that service at the Jerusalem Temple, being easier than in the wilderness, could be performed even by those not yet fully mature physically. And since the Levites of thirty years old in David’s time numbered 33,000, it is evident that the Levites of twenty years old were not included in this number. The reason for this was supposedly that they were appointed to lower positions and were assistants to their older brothers.

1 Chronicles 23:28. that they might be with the sons of Aaron, for the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers, for the cleansing of all the holy things and for the work of the service in the house of God, 1 Chronicles 23:29. for the care of the showbread and the fine flour for the grain offering and the unleavened cakes, the baked offering and the fried offering and every measure and weight, 1 Chronicles 23:30. and to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise in the evening, 1 Chronicles 23:31. and at all the burnt offerings offered to the Lord on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed feasts, by number, as is ordered concerning them, continuously before the Lord, 1 Chronicles 23:32. and that they should keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary and the sons of Aaron, their brothers, for the service of the house of the Lord. The enumeration of the duties of the Levites appointed for the “work of the house of the Lord.” The duties of the above-enumerated Levitical classes included care of the temple court and its structures, their cleanliness; the preparation of showbread (1 Chr 9:32), but not the placing of it, the latter belonging to the priests (Lev 24:8 and following), oversight of the preparation of grain offerings, the quantity of honey, oil and wine, added to the offerings (Exod 29:40; Lev 19:35-36), oversight of the number of sacrificial animals, their age, quality and the like (verse 31).