1 Chronicleschapter 26
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Summary
Chapter summary
The gatekeepers are assigned by lot, gate by gate (east, north, south, the storehouse, the causeway and the Parbar) with Obed-edom's house named as mighty men of valor, 'for God blessed him.' Shelemiah gets the east; his son Zechariah, 'a discreet counsellor,' gets the north. Then the keepers of the treasuries: the dedicated things won in battle by Samuel the seer, Saul, Abner, and Joab, 'dedicated to repair the house of Jehovah.' Finally the officers set over the outward business of Israel, for judgment and for the king's affairs, west of Jordan and east. Doorkeeping and bookkeeping are treated as ministry, laid out with the same care as sacrifice.
Context
History · Ezra — 1 Chronicles overview
- A. 1–19 Gates east, north, and south, with the storehouse watch
- B. 20–28 Treasuries filled with spoil dedicated from every war
- C. 29–32 Officers and judges for the outward business of Israel
The outline
A.Gates east, north, and south, with the storehouse watchvv. 1 to 19
Read vv. 1 to 19 →B.Treasuries filled with spoil dedicated from every warvv. 20 to 28
Read vv. 20 to 28 →C.Officers and judges for the outward business of Israelvv. 29 to 32
Read vv. 29 to 32 →
The world behind this chapter
1 Chronicles 26The history
The gate assignments were drawn by lot, family by family, and the results are recorded like a duty board: six crews for the east gate, four for the north, four for the south, two by twos at the storehouse, and a detail on the western approach along the upper road. The Shallecheth gate lay on the causeway that climbed to the temple platform, the busiest entrance.
Gatekeeping was security work with real weight. These men controlled who entered, when the doors opened and shut, and what went in and out — including the vessels, which were gold and silver and counted.
Then come the treasuries, and the chapter distinguishes two kinds. One held the ordinary dedicated gifts; the other held the spoil of war set apart by Samuel the seer, by Saul, by Abner, by Joab, and by the commanders — a fund built out of victories and kept for the upkeep of the house.
The last section reaches outside the temple entirely: six thousand officers and judges 'for the outward business over Israel,' seventeen hundred west of the Jordan and twenty-seven hundred over the eastern tribes, responsible in 'every matter pertaining to God and the affairs of the king.' Religious and civil administration were one service, staffed by Levites.
What it meant to them
Under Persian rule the temple was again the center of the province's public life — its court, its treasury, its record office, and its granary. This chapter showed that had always been so.
It also dignified unglamorous work. Guarding a door and counting silver into a chest were assignments made by lot in the presence of the king, recorded by name, and remembered five hundred years later.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Chronicles
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 1 Chronicles 26. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.