1 Chronicleschapter 23
32 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
4,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise the LORD with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 1 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for Levites whose weekly duties in the second temple were still set by the order it records. It opens with David old and Solomon already king, and then turns to administration. A tribe that once carried a tent through the wilderness is given new work for a settled house. The first hearers knew what each of these tasks meant, from the bread on the table to the weights and measures, and the chapter assumes they did. Listen for the reason David gives for changing the age of service. It explains the whole chapter and the three that follow.
Context
- Who
- Levites whose weekly duties were still set by this chapter
- What
- A register of the Levites by family, with their numbers, their new age of service and their duties in the house of the LORD.
- Where
- Jerusalem, at the assembly where Solomon was made king.
- When
- The last year of David's reign, about 970 BC, a date held as approximate.
- Why
- To set the Levites' work for a permanent sanctuary once the ark no longer needed to be carried.
Historical context
The chapter is David's, and it records the last ordinance of a king described in its first verse as old and full of years. He had already installed Solomon, and he now gathers the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites.
Show the rest of the historical context, 5 more paragraphs
The setting is Jerusalem, where the ark had come to rest and where the temple would stand. The tabernacle no longer moved.
The occasion is a change of job description. The Levites had been counted from thirty years old, the age Numbers 4 set for men who carried the tabernacle and its furniture on the march. David lowers the entry age to twenty and gives his reason openly, that the LORD has given rest to His people and the Levites no longer need to carry the tent or its articles.
A first hearer knew what the new assignments meant in practice, and a reader today has to be told. Levites were set over the courts and the side rooms, and over the purification of the holy things. They also kept the rows of showbread, the fine flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baking and the mixing. They also kept all measurements of quantity and size, which means the official weights and measures of the sanctuary were in their hands.
The numbers divide the body into four departments: 24,000 over the work of the house, 6,000 officers and judges, 4,000 gatekeepers and 4,000 musicians on instruments David says he made for giving praise.
The daily rhythm is stated at the end. The Levites were to stand every morning to give thanks and praise, and again every evening. They were to serve at every burnt offering on the Sabbaths, the New Moons and the appointed feasts, in the numbers prescribed for them.
Significance
The men who first heard this served that rota. Their department, their week and their entry age all came from these verses, which is why the chapter is preserved in such administrative detail.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The reason given for the change carried its own lesson. When the ark came to rest, the job was rewritten, so the service asked of them was the service the present moment required.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
1 Chronicles carries no weekly portion and no Haftarah, and no part of it is read in the synagogue service on any Sabbath of the year. In the Hebrew Bible Chronicles stands among the Writings, and the Haftarah is drawn from the Prophets, so the yearly cycle passes this book over entirely. This site's own table of synagogue readings records the same absence. It holds no portion, no Haftarah use and no festival reading for any of the twenty-nine chapters of the book.
The one kept note of any length on this chapter describes a working day in the sanctuary, and it is a description of practice rather than of doctrine. Rashi reads the charge of the thirty-first verse as a standing duty over the storerooms and over the chamber where the sacrificial animals were kept. From there the Levites brought the beasts to the priests every day, in the number the day required. They did so on ordinary days and on Sabbaths, and in the larger number the new moons and the festivals took. He adds that they also helped the priests flay the offerings. He supports that from the later notice about Hezekiah's passover, where the priests were too few to flay the burnt offerings and the Levites strengthened them (Rashi on I Chronicles 23:31:1).
How it is read
The corpus carries three kept notes of Rashi for this chapter in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, under CC-BY, the fewest of any chapter of 16 to 29. This is an administrative list, and the classical commentary on it sits mostly in the commentators whose English Sefaria does not hold.
Rashi's note on the twenty-seventh verse gives the purpose of the whole reorganization in one line. The Levites are numbered from twenty years old and upwards. He reads the new count and the watches David set up as preparation, so that when Solomon came they would be ready for him (Rashi on I Chronicles 23:27:1). The chapter is therefore read as part of the same handover that fills the rest of the book. At the twenty-eighth verse he explains the Levites' position beside the sons of Aaron. It follows the arrangement the Torah made in Numbers, where the tribe is joined to the priests to minister to them (Rashi on I Chronicles 23:28:1).
Metzudat David, Radak and Malbim carry the chapter where the kept text stops. Their refs are carried with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand here cited and unquoted. Metzudat David comments at I Chronicles 23:4:1, 23:5:1, 23:6:1, 23:11:1, 23:13:1, 23:17:1, 23:22:1, 23:24:1, 23:25:1, 23:30:1 and 23:32:1. Radak comments at I Chronicles 23:7:1, 23:8:1, 23:9:1, 23:10:1, 23:26:1 and 23:29:1. Malbim comments at I Chronicles 23:1:1, 23:3:1, 23:4:1 and 23:19:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. They gather on the four verses in the middle of the genealogy where Moses and Aaron and their sons are named, rather than on the courses the chapter is organizing.
Ten stand on the thirteenth verse, where Aaron is set apart to sanctify the most holy things and to bless in the name of the LORD for ever. Five of them are Bamidbar Rabbah 4:19, 10:11 and 18:7, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Horayot 3:4 and Gittin 59b:8. The other five are Horayot 13a:18, Midrash Lekach Tov on Deuteronomy 29:20:1 and on Exodus 28:1:4, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 12:20:199, and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Korach 10:2. Nine stand on the fifteenth, the two sons of Moses. Four of them are Bava Batra 109b:8, Berakhot 7a:35, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 8:1, and Jerusalem Talmud Yevamot 6:6:2. The other five are Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 47:30:1, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 47:31:9, Otzar Midrashim, The Ten Exiles 1:10, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 10:1, and Yevamot 61b:18.
Seven stand on the seventeenth, where Rehabiah has many sons though Eliezer had one. They are Bamidbar Rabbah 16:25, Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:48, and Midrash Aggadah on Numbers 14:12:1. The rest are Midrash Lekach Tov on Genesis 2:21:7 and on Numbers 14:12:1, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 11:9:6, and Midrash Tanchuma, Eikev 10:1. Four stand on the fourteenth, where the sons of Moses the man of God are counted among the tribe of Levi. They are Ein Yaakov, Zevakhim 12:4, Midrash Tehillim 138:2, Otzar Midrashim, Aharon, And These are the Generations of Aharon and Moshe 6, and Zevachim 102a:8.
Three more are carried across verses rather than on one. Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Chukat 21:1 stands on the thirteenth and fourteenth together. Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Berakhot 1:36 stands on the fifteenth and sixteenth, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 852:3 on the fifteenth to the seventeenth. Bamidbar Rabbah 6:2 is carried on the third and fourth together, where the Levites are numbered and twenty-four thousand are set over the work of the house.
The last six stand one to a verse. Aggadat Bereshit 35:1 stands on the first, where David is old and full of days and makes Solomon king. Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim 4:1:3 and Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 4:2:3 stand on the fourth, the six thousand officers and judges. Jerusalem Talmud Sukkah 3:12:2 stands on the twenty-fourth. Introductions to Tanaitic Literature, Introductions to Tractates of the Mishnah, Chagigah 19 stands on the twenty-eighth. Aggadat Bereshit 22:2 stands on the thirtieth, where the Levites stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on I Chronicles 23:27:1, 23:28:1 and 23:31:1, three kept notes in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on I Chronicles 23:4:1 to 23:32:1, eleven refs cited because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on I Chronicles 23:7:1, 23:8:1, 23:9:1, 23:10:1, 23:26:1 and 23:29:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on I Chronicles 23:1:1, 23:3:1, 23:4:1 and 23:19:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/1-chronicles/23.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; This site's table of synagogue readings, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, which records no portion, no Haftarah use and no festival reading for 1 Chronicles.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Solomon made king, and the Levites divided into courses
1 Chronicles 23:1-2
he installed his son Solomon as king: David's last recorded act as king is administrative: he crowns Solomon and convenes the princes, priests and Levites before he turns to the temple's structure. Chronicles gives this scene no parallel in Kings; the Chronicler's own material begins here and runs to the book's end.
1 Chronicles 23:1
“So when David was old and full of days,.... Perhaps was now in the last year of his age, about seventy years old, though before he was bedridden; see 1Ch 28:2, he made Solomon his son king over Israel; declared him to be his successor; this was before the affair of Adonijah, for then he ordered him to be anointed king, and placed on the throne; and this aggravated the rebellion of Adonijah, that it was against the declared and known will of his father.”
gathered all the leaders of Israel: David gathers Israel's leaders along with priests and Levites. This assembly frames the count of Levites in verse 3 and the courses of chapter 24. John Wesley, on verse 4, says the Levites served by courses, a thousand at a time.
1 Chronicles 23:2
“And he gathered together all the princes of Israel,.... Ordered them to be assembled, partly to acquaint them with his will and pleasure, that Solomon should succeed him in the kingdom; and partly to settle the order of the work and service of the temple; and therefore these were convened with the priests and Levites; to assign to them their respective places and offices.”
1 Chronicles 23:3-5
thirty years of age or older were counted: The Levites number thirty eight thousand, counted from age thirty, and David sorts them by task. The musicians play “the instruments I have made for giving praise”, and David claims the making as his own. Adam Clarke reads the phrase against Amos 6:5, which faults instruments made for luxury.
1 Chronicles 23:3
“Thirty years and upward - The enumeration of the Levites made in the desert, Num 4:3, was from thirty years upwards to fifty years. In this place, the latter limit is not mentioned, probably because the service was not so laborious now; for the ark being fixed they had no longer any heavy burdens to carry, and therefore even an old man might continue to serve the tabernacle. David made another ordinance afterwards; see on 1Ch 23:24-27 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 23:3
“It was, in all likelihood, this vast increase that suggested and rendered expedient that classification, made in the last year of David's reign, which the present and three subsequent chapters describe. by their polls, man by man--Women and children were not included.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
oversee the work of the house: Of the 38,000 Levites, 24,000 oversee the work of the temple and 6,000 serve as officers and judges. John Wesley says the officers saw that every task about the sacrifices was done on time, by courses of a thousand at a time. The rest are gatekeepers and singers.
1 Chronicles 23:4
“Officers - To take care that all the work of the temple about sacrifices should be punctually performed, either by themselves or others: which they were not to do all at once, but by courses, a thousand at a time.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
the instruments I have made: Four thousand keep the gates, and four thousand praise the LORD. John Gill places the gatekeepers at the east, north and south gates of the house and says David devised the instruments. Adam Clarke held that David acted on his own judgment here and linked the instruments to Amos 6:5.
1 Chronicles 23:5
“Moreover four thousand were porters,.... At the east, north, and south gates of the temple, in their turns: and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments; were singers in the temple, which in all made up 38,000: which I made, said David, to praise therewith; which instruments he devised and ordered to be made to praise the Lord with; see 2Ch 29:26.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 23:5
“Four thousand praised the Lord - David made this distribution according to his own judgment, and from the dictates of his piety; but it does not appear that he had any positive Divine authority for such arrangements. As to the instruments of music which he made they are condemned elsewhere; see Amo 6:5, to which this verse is allowed to be the parallel.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 23:6-11
David divided the Levites into divisions: The thirty eight thousand are sorted into divisions by the three Levitical houses, “Gershom, Kohath, and Merari”. Jeush and Beriah “did not have many sons, so they were counted as one family”. The register fixes every family's place ahead of the working divisions of chapters 24 to 27.
1 Chronicles 23:6
“David divided them into courses among the sons of Levi--These are enumerated according to their fathers' houses, but no more of these are mentioned here than the twenty-four thousand who were engaged in the work connected with the Lord's house.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The houses of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari
Ladan and Shimei: head the Gershonite houses. John Gill takes them as the same pair called Libni and Shimhi in Exodus 6:17, the sons of Gershon. Their sons follow in verses 8 to 11.
1 Chronicles 23:7
“Of the Gershonites were Laadan and Shimei. These two were the immediate posterity of Gershon; are the same with Libni and Shimhi, and heads of families, Exo 6:17.”
Jehiel the first: Ladan's house has three sons, with Jehiel first, then Zetham and Joel. Verse 9 adds three more heads under Ladan's name. John Gill, on verse 9, says the Shimei named there descends from Ladan and differs from Gershon's son Shimei of verse 10.
1 Chronicles 23:8
“The sons of Laadan; the chief was Jehiah, and Zetham, and Joel. Not his immediate sons, but some that descended from him.”
heads of the families of Ladan: Two men named Shimei stand in this list. This Shimei has three sons, Shelomoth, Haziel and Haran, who head families of Ladan's line. John Gill, following Kimchi, takes him for a descendant of Ladan and a different man from Gershon's son Shimei in verse 10.
1 Chronicles 23:9
“The sons of Shimei,.... Not him that was the son of Gershon, but a descendant of Laadan, his son, as Kimchi observes: Shelomith, and Haziel, and Haran, these were the chief of the fathers of Laadan; of the families that sprang from him.”
Shimei's four sons are Jahath, Zina, Jeush and Beriah. John Gill, following Kimchi, takes this Shimei as Gershon's son and Ladan's brother. Gill reads the four as his descendants living in David's time.
1 Chronicles 23:10
“And the sons of Shimei,.... The son of Gershon, and brother of Laadan, according to Kimchi, which seems right: were Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah; these four were the sons of Shimei; descendants of his in the times of David.”
Jahath was the first: Having few sons, Jeush and Beriah counted as one family with a single task. John Gill notes that Zizah here is Zina of verse 10. Adam Clarke says the small family of Shimei was joined to Ladan's so the two could do work too heavy for either alone.
1 Chronicles 23:11
“And Jahath was the chief,.... The prince and head of a family: and Ziza the second; the same with Zina in 1Ch 23:10, and is there read Ziza in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions: but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; so as to constitute distinct families: therefore they were in one reckoning, according to their father's house; made one family with their brethren.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 23:11
“Therefore they were in one reckoning - The family of Shimei, being small, was united with that of Laadan, that the two families might do that work which otherwise belonged to one, but which would have been too much for either of these separately.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 23:12-17
Aaron and his descendants were set apart forever “to consecrate the most holy things”. Moses is named to record that “his sons were named among the tribe of Levi”, so the lawgiver's line is counted with the common Levites. Chronicles states the contrast without comment, the same restraint Numbers keeps.
1 Chronicles 23:12
“The sons of Kohath,.... The second son of Levi: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four; see Exo 6:18.”
Aaron and his descendants were: Amram's sons are Aaron and Moses, with Aaron's line set apart forever. Its work is to consecrate the holy things and burn incense. John Wesley says the charge covers every priest of Aaron's line, beyond the high priests alone.
1 Chronicles 23:13
“Sanctify - That he might keep them from pollution: for these most holy things were polluted when they were touched by any other person. He and his - Not only his eldest sons the high-priests successively, but all his posterity or all the priests; for the works here following were not peculiar to the high-priest, but common to all the priests.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Moses the man of God: has his sons counted among the common tribe of Levi. John Gill says Moses sought no honor for his line: the rule went to Joshua and the priesthood to Aaron. Gill calls them only common Levites.
1 Chronicles 23:14
“Now concerning Moses the man of God,.... Raised up by him as a prophet, admitted to great familiarity with him, a lawgiver from him, and the ruler and guide of Israel under him through the wilderness: his sons were named of the tribe of Levi; were only common Levites; Moses had no ambition to gratify; he sought no honour for his posterity; the civil government was left to Joshua, and the priesthood to Aaron.”
The sons of Moses: Moses had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Their lines follow in verses 16 and 17, counted among the Levites. Matthew Henry, on verse 17, reads this levelling of Moses' family with the rest as evidence of his self-denial.
1 Chronicles 23:15
“The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer. See Exo 18:3.”
Shebuel was the first: Shebuel heads the line of Gershom, son of Moses. John Gill notes that 1 Chronicles 24:20 calls him Shubael and that the Targum makes him the Jonathan of Judges 18:30. Adam Clarke cites a Targum tradition that this Jonathan repented in old age and that David made him chief treasurer.
1 Chronicles 23:16
“Of the sons of Gershom, Shebuel was the chief. Of the posterity of Gershom in the times of David, called Shubael, 1Ch 24:20, the Targum makes him to be the same with Jonathan, Jdg 18:30. (l). (l) So in Hieron. Trad. Heb. in Paralipom. fol. 84. c.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 23:16
To this verse the Targum adds, “The same Jonathan, who became a false prophet, repented in his old age; and David made him his chief treasurer.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Rehabiah was the first: Eliezer had one son, Rehabiah, whose sons became very many. Matthew Henry connects the growth to Exodus 32:10, where Moses refused God's offer to make a great nation of him, and sees the family repaid. John Gill rejects the Targum's figure of over 600,000 for this line.
1 Chronicles 23:17
“And the sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah the chief,.... The first and only begotten, as it follows: and Eliezer had none other sons; before nor after him: but the sons of Rehabiah were very many; or greatly multiplied; not, as the Targum says, above 600,000; the number of Israel, as the Jewish writers (m) fancy; which they gather from Exo 1:7, and that though Moses deprecated the multiplication of his seed, God fulfilled it. (m) T. Bab Beracot, fol. 7. 1, 2, Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 16. fol. 220. 4.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 23:17
“When God proposed to him that, if he would let fall his intercession for Israel, he would make of him a great nation, he generously refused it, in recompence for which his family is here greatly increased, and makes up in number what it wants in figure, in the tribe of Levi. The levelling of Moses' family with the rest is an evidence of his self-denial.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 23:18-23
The sons of Izhar: One line breaks the pattern: “Eleazar died without having any sons”, and “Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them”. The law in Numbers 27 and 36 makes the same provision for Zelophehad's daughters, so a family's inheritance stays inside its tribe. The detail keeps a line in the record.
1 Chronicles 23:18
“Of the sons of Izhar,.... Another son of Kohath, the son of Levi, 1Ch 23:12. Shelomith the chief; the principal descendant of Izhar at this time.”
Jeriah was the first: Hebron's house has four heads: Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel and Jekameam. The same four names return in 1 Chronicles 24:23. Albert Barnes, on that verse, takes the four as heads of the Hebronite houses in David's time.
1 Chronicles 23:19
“Of the sons of Hebron,.... A third son of Kohath, 1Ch 23:12, Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth: of the sons of Uzziel; another son of Kohath, 1Ch 23:12, Micah the first, Jesiah the second: the sons of Merari, Mahli and Mushi, Exo 6:19, the sons of Mahli, Eleazar and Kish: of whom see 1Ch 24:28.”
The sons of Uzziel: Uzziel's house has two heads, Micah and Isshiah. Both names return in 1 Chronicles 24:24 and 24:25, where Micah's son Shamir and Isshiah's son Zechariah are added. Matthew Henry, on that later list, says Ezra's publishing of it guided worship after the return from captivity.
The sons of Merari: Merari's house, the third branch of Levi, has two sons, Mahli and Mushi. Their lines follow in verses 22 and 23. Albert Barnes, on 1 Chronicles 24:26, names a third branch of Merari through Jaaziah beside the houses of Mahli and Mushi.
Eleazar died without having any sons: Mahli's son Eleazar leaves only daughters, and their cousins marry them. Adam Clarke ties the marriage of Kish's sons to these heiresses to the law for Zelophehad's daughters in Numbers 27 and 36. Heiresses married within their father's tribe so the estate stayed in the family.
1 Chronicles 23:22
“Their brethren the sons of Kish took them - This was according to the law made Num 27:1, etc., and Num 36:5-9, in favor of the daughters of Zelophehad, that women who were heiresses should marry in the family of the tribe of their father, and that their estates should not be alienated from them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The sons of Mushi: Mushi's three sons are Mahli, Eder and Jeremoth. John Gill notes that this Mahli bears the name of his uncle, Mushi's brother Mahli of verse 21. Gill also points to 1 Chronicles 24:30, where the three names appear again.
1 Chronicles 23:23
“And the sons of Mushi,.... The other son of Merari: Mahli; so called from his uncle, his father's brother: and Eder and Jerimoth, three; mentioned again 1Ch 24:30.”
New work for Levites now the tent no longer moves
1 Chronicles 23:24-27
David lowers the service age from thirty to twenty because “The LORD, the God of Israel, has given rest to His people”. The Levites “no longer need to carry the tabernacle”. Carrying gear on the march required a man's full strength, so Numbers 4 began the count at thirty.
1 Chronicles 23:24
“Twenty years and upward - It appears that this was a different ordinance from that mentioned 1Ch 23:3. At first he appointed the Levites to serve from thirty years and upward; now from twenty years. These were David’s last orders; see 1Ch 23:27. They should begin at an earlier age, and continue later. This was not a very painful task; the ark being now fixed, and the Levites very numerous, there could be no drudgery.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
has given rest to His people: David grounds the new order on the rest the LORD has given His people. God now dwells in Jerusalem forever. John Gill, on verse 26, says the Levites would no longer carry the tabernacle on their shoulders from place to place.
no longer need to carry: With the tabernacle settled, the Levites stop carrying it and its articles. John Gill says the carrying called for men at full strength, while the new work could be done by men of twenty. This ties to the age of twenty in verse 24.
1 Chronicles 23:26
“And also unto the Levites,.... Or with respect to them: they shall no more carry the tabernacle: on their shoulders, from place to place, as they had done: nor any vessels of it for the service thereof; and so the service of it did not require men at their full strength, but such as were but twenty years of age might be employed in it.”
the final instructions of David: By David's final instructions the Levites are counted from age twenty. Albert Barnes reports two readings of this phrase. Some take them as a history of his late reign by Gad or Nathan, and others as his written directions for the sanctuary.
1 Chronicles 23:27
“By the “last words of David” some understand an historical work on the latter part of his reign, drawn up probably by Gad or Nathan (compare 1Ch 27:24; 1Ch 29:29). Others suppose that he left behind him a work containing directions for the service of the sanctuary.”
1 Chronicles 23:28-32
to assist the descendants of Aaron: Now that they carry nothing, the Levites assist the priests in “the courts and chambers”, purify the holy things and prepare the showbread. They “stand every morning to give thanks and praise to the LORD”. This daily praise carries forward the thanksgiving of 1 Chronicles 16:34.
1 Chronicles 23:28
“Holy things - Holy places, and garments, and vessels, and sacrifices, which were to be washed and cleansed from any filthiness that might cleave to them.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
the rows of the showbread: The Levites prepare the showbread, the flour and the wafers. Adam Clarke says the priests set the bread before the LORD and ate the old loaves when fresh ones came. He calls the rabbis' claim that priests grew and baked the grain a mere conceit.
1 Chronicles 23:29
“Both for the shew-bread - It was the priests’ office to place this bread before the Lord, and it was their privilege to feed on the old loaves when they were replaced by the new. Some of the rabbins think that the priests sowed, reaped, ground, kneaded, and baked the grain of which the shew-bread was made. This appears to be a conceit.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
stand every morning to give thanks: Levites stand each morning and evening to give thanks. John Gill ties the two times to the morning and evening sacrifices, with praise sung by voice and on instruments. Gill reads it as thanks for the mercies of the night and of the day.
1 Chronicles 23:30
“And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord,.... The office of others of them was to sing the praises of God, both vocally and with instruments of music, at the time of the morning sacrifice: and likewise at even; at the time of the evening sacrifice, by way of thankfulness for the mercies of the night and of the day.”
Whenever burnt offerings were presented: Levites serve at the Sabbath, New Moon and feast offerings. Albert Barnes names the feasts as Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, and notes that Levites helped the priests at sacrifice, as in 2 Chronicles 29:34. Matthew Henry contrasts the trumpets Moses appointed in Numbers 10 with the psalms David added.
1 Chronicles 23:31
“Moses appointed that they should blow with trumpets over their burnt offerings and other sacrifices, and on their solemn days, Num. x. The sound of the trumpet was awful, and might be affecting to the worshippers, but was not articulate, nor such a reasonable service as this which David appointed, of singing psalms on those occasions.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 23:31
“Though the Levites were not allowed by themselves to offer sacrifice, yet there were many respects in which they assisted the priests when sacrifice was offered. See 2Ch 29:34; 2Ch 35:11-12. The set feasts - The Passover, Feast of Pentecost, and Feast of Tabernacles (marginal reference).”
responsibilities for the Tent of Meeting: The Levites tend the Tent of Meeting and its Holy Place, serving under the priests. Matthew Henry notes that the priests are still called their brothers, a reminder that priests must never lord it over Levites. Adam Clarke says the few priests had Levites flay victims.
1 Chronicles 23:32
“They were likewise to keep the charge of the sons of Aaron, to be at their beck and go on their errands, who are yet called their brethren, to be a memorandum to the priests that, though they were advanced to a high station, yet they were hewn out of the same rock with common Levites, and therefore must not lord it over them, but in all instances treat them as brethren.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 23:32
“The charge of the sons of Aaron - It was the priests’ business to kill, flay, and dress, as well as to offer, the victims, but being few, they were obliged to employ the Levites to flay those animals. The Levites were, properly speaking, servants to the priests, and were employed about the more servile part of Divine worship.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Administrative list, the Levites counted, sorted into three houses and given a standing charge, as Gill classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Counted at thirty, then counted again at twenty | Verse 3 counts the Levites from thirty years old and gives 38,000. Verses 24 and 27 count the same body from twenty years old and call it David's final instruction. The register of families stands between the two counts, so the chapter opens and closes on the same question of who may serve and answers it twice with two different ages.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 1 Chronicles 23:24. | 1 Chronicles 23:3, 1 Chronicles 23:24, 1 Chronicles 23:27 |
| The three houses of Levi, taken in order | Verse 6 divides the Levites by Gershom, Kohath and Merari, and verses 7 to 23 walk the three houses in that order with their heads and sons. The order is the one Exodus 6:16 and Numbers 3 already use for Levi's sons, so the register follows a list a reader of the Law would recognise.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Chronicles 23:6. | 1 Chronicles 23:6, 1 Chronicles 23:7, 1 Chronicles 23:12, 1 Chronicles 23:21 |
| Three in all, four in all | The register closes a family with a total rather than with a comment. The phrase three in all stands three times and four in all stands twice, counted in the Berean text in the store at verses 8, 9, 10, 12 and 23. Verse 11 breaks the pattern to explain a total, when two brothers with few sons are reckoned as one family.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Chronicles 23:11. | 1 Chronicles 23:8, 1 Chronicles 23:9, 1 Chronicles 23:10, 1 Chronicles 23:12, 1 Chronicles 23:23 |
| The king speaks twice inside the list | Verses 4 and 5 quote David sorting the 38,000 into four bodies by number. Verses 25 and 26 quote him again, giving the reason the carrying service ends. The two speeches carry the whole argument of the chapter, and the names between them are the working out of it.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 1 Chronicles 23:25. | 1 Chronicles 23:4, 1 Chronicles 23:5, 1 Chronicles 23:25, 1 Chronicles 23:26 |
The historical value
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
The organisation of a large sanctuary by family into rotating shares was ordinary practice in the ancient Near East. The dossier on this book sets the courses of 1 Chronicles 23 to 26 against the Babylonian temple prebend records of the sixth to fifth centuries BC. Those are the Eanna archive at Uruk and the Ebabbar archive at Sippar, where sanctuary staffs were organised by family into rotating shares, with rosters kept and shares inherited. Its verdict is that the courses here look like what a working temple actually required, and that the parallel supports reading these chapters as administrative material. The same verdict states that it settles nothing about when the chapters were written down.
The age change is itself a historical datum. Numbers 4:3 sets the Levites' service at thirty years old, and the work described there is carrying the tabernacle and its furniture on the march. Verse 26 gives the reason the threshold could move, that the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles for its service.
The debated concept
The figure of 38,000 belongs to a wider question the dossier carries, whether the numbers in Chronicles are too large. Three positions stand there with their holders. C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch read the divergences as copying damage in the Hebrew numeral notation, in Biblical Commentary on the Books of Chronicles, 1872. They note that numbers were the most fragile element in ancient copying, and the conservative tradition has followed them. John Wenham, in Large Numbers in the Old Testament, Tyndale Bulletin 18, 1967, and evangelical scholars following him, read the Hebrew eleph as a unit or a clan rather than always a literal thousand. A third reading takes the totals as deliberate scale in the ancient historian's ordinary way of stating magnitude. The page states the three and gives no verdict.
The divine connection
The ground David gives at verse 25 is that the LORD has given rest to His people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever. Rest is the word Deuteronomy 12:10 attaches to the place the LORD would choose. The same promise of rest is what 2 Samuel 7:1 and 1 Chronicles 17:1 record David enjoying before he proposes a house. The chapter therefore treats a change in working practice as the direct consequence of a covenant fact.
The morning and evening praise ordered at verse 30 is the point where the standing music of the house begins. The refrain David set at 16:34 when the ark came home is now a daily office rather than a single day's song.
The New Testament and the later church
This chapter is not cited in the New Testament. What it establishes is cited by implication: the priestly courses of chapter 24 stand on the register given here, and Luke 1:5 places Zacharias in the eighth of those courses. Hebrews 7 argues the priesthood of Aaron through its limits, and verse 13 of this chapter is the fullest statement in Chronicles of what that priesthood was set apart to do.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Chronicles 23:6; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 1 Chronicles 23:1; Sara Japhet, I and II Chronicles: A Commentary, Old Testament Library, 1993 and The dossier's ancient Near Eastern section on this book, src/components/book/dossier-content/1-chronicles.ts, the Eanna and Ebabbar entry.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.