1 Chronicleschapter 26
32 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Key verse
Eastward were six Levites, northward four a day, southward four a day, and toward Asuppim two and two.
It stands in Gates east, north, and south, with the storehouse watch, verses 1 to 19.
The chapter
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
The world behind this chapter
1 Chronicles 26The history
The chapter is David's, and the families in it are Korahite, Merarite and Gershonite. One of them belonged to Obed-edom, the man who had housed the ark for three months in 2 Samuel 6.
The setting moves outward from the sanctuary gates in Jerusalem to the districts west and east of the Jordan. Verse 31 dates one appointment, saying that in the fortieth year of David's reign the records were searched and capable men were found among the Hebronites at Jazer in Gilead.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The occasion is the assignment of the last three Levitical duties, the gates, the treasuries and the outside offices.
A first hearer knew what gatekeeping meant, and a reader today needs it said. These men controlled who entered, when the doors opened and shut, and what went in and out, including the gold and silver vessels, which were counted. The posts were drawn by lot family by family, and the results are recorded like a duty board. There were six on the east, four on the north, four on the south, two pairs at the storehouse, and a detail on the western approach. The Shallecheth Gate lay on the causeway that climbed to the temple platform, which was the busiest entrance.
Two treasuries are kept apart in the record. 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 kept for the upkeep of the house.
The last section leaves the temple altogether. Officers and judges are appointed for the outward business over Israel, 1,700 west of the Jordan and 2,700 over the eastern tribes. They were responsible in every matter pertaining to God and to 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 centre of the province's public life, its court, its treasury, its record office and its granary. This chapter showed that it had always been so.
It also gave weight to plain 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
- C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Chronicles , 1872
- The Babylonian temple prebend records, the Eanna archive at Uruk and the Ebabbar archive at Sippar, 6th to 5th centuries BC
Where the chapter sits
1 Chronicles 26 falls in David's reign: temple-framed (chapters 10–29). Saul's death framed as judgment; David's consolidation; the ark brought to Jerusalem; the Davidic covenant (ch. 17); the military victories; the census and the threshing-floor site (ch. 21); temple preparation; Solomon's charge; David's doxology.
Before it: Genealogies from Adam to Saul, chapters 1–9.
The whole shape of 1 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
People2
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Gates east, north, and south, with the storehouse watch
1. (vv. 1-3)
1 Chronicles 26:1
“The divisions of the porters - There were four classes of these, each of which belonged to one of the four gates of the temple, which opened to the four cardinal points of heaven. The eastern gate fell to Shelemiah; the northern, to Zechariah, 1Ch 26:14; the southern, to Obed-edom, 1Ch 26:15; the western, to Shuppim and Hosah, 1Ch 26:16. These several persons were captains of these porter-bands or door-keepers at the different gates. There were probably a thousand men under each of these captains; as we find, from 1Ch 23:5, that there were four thousand in all.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 26:2
“And the sons of Meshelemiah were, Zechariah the firstborn,.... And six more, who are mentioned in their order: Jediael, Zebadiah, and Jathniel, Elam, Jehohanan, and Elioenai.”
Of the Korhites was Meshelemiah: The porters open with the Korhites, the family descended from Korah, whose rebellion against Moses in Numbers 16 destroyed the man but not his sons, as Numbers 26:11 states directly, the children of Korah died not. Meshelemiah heads a house of seven named sons, counted the way Chronicles counts gatekeepers, singers and priests alike, as holders of an accountable office rather than an anonymous labor pool. The sons of Korah also lend their name to a cluster of psalms, so this one family serves the sanctuary in more than a single capacity across the Old Testament record.
2. (vv. 4-8)
1 Chronicles 26:4
“Obed-edom and Hosah 1Ch 26:10 had been “porters,” or door - keepers, from the time of the bringing up of the ark into Jerusalem 1Ch 15:24; 1Ch 16:38.”
1 Chronicles 26:5
“For God blessed him - “That is, Obed-edom; because of the ark of the Lord which was in his house; and to him was given the honor that he should see his children and grand-children, even fourscore and two, masters of the Levites.” - T. In 1Ch 26:8, we have only sixty-two mentioned.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:5
“The increase and building up of families are owing to the divine blessing; and a great blessing it is to a family to have many children, when like these they are able for, and eminent in, the service of God. His sons were preferred to places of trust in the sanctuary. They had faithfully attended the ark in their own house, and now were called to attend it in God's house.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 26:5
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 26:6
“Also unto Shemaiah his son,.... His firstborn, 1Ch 26:4. were sons born, that ruled throughout the house of their father; were heads of families, eminent and principal men: for they were mighty men of valour; which their office sometimes required them to be, to guard the temple at night as well as day from thieves and robbers, and to hinder resolute men entering in, unfit for it, and seize on rioters, and quell tumults raised.”
1 Chronicles 26:7
“The sons of Shemaiah,.... The same before mentioned, the firstborn of Obededom: Othni, and Rephael, and Obed, and Elzabad, whose brethren were strong men; Elihu and Semachiah; which may rather denote their valour and courage, as before, though strength of body was needful, particularly to open and shut the doors of the temple, which, Josephus (r) says, required the assistance of twenty men. (r) Contr. Apion. l. 2. sect. 9.”
1 Chronicles 26:8
“All these of the sons of Obededom,.... And grandsons: they and their sons and their brethren, able men for strength for the service; men of fortitude of mind and strength of body, as before observed: were sixty two of Obededom: that sprung from him, which the Jews (s) account for in an extravagant manner, as the effect of miraculous births. (s) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 63. 2. & 64. 1.”
Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second: Obed-edom is the man who housed the ark for three months in 2 Samuel 6 while David's first attempt to bring it to Jerusalem lay abandoned nearby, and two generations later his line still stands at the gates. The text states the reason without qualification, for God blessed him, and counts eight sons and their households as the visible shape of that blessing, sixty-two able men in all. A family that took the ark in almost by accident of geography is given a permanent post guarding it, a household reward Matthew Henry and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown both trace back to 2 Samuel 6:11-12.
3. (vv. 9-11)
1 Chronicles 26:9
“And Meshelemiah had sons and brethren, strong men, eighteen,.... He had seven sons, 1Ch 26:1 and therefore must have eleven brethren or kinsmen.”
1 Chronicles 26:10
“Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons,.... Who was a fellow porter of Obededom's at the ark, 1Ch 16:38. Simri the chief (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief); the firstborn being unfit for service, either through want of an intellectual capacity, or of strength of body, or through some defect or another; according to the Syriac version, he was dead; so some understand the words, he, the father, had no firstborn remaining or living.”
1 Chronicles 26:11
“Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth; all the sons and brethren of Hosah were thirteen. Four sons, and nine brethren or kinsmen.”
strong men, eighteen: Meshelemiah's house counts eighteen strong men, a smaller family than Obed-edom's, and each is still named as an office holder rather than a bare number. Hosah of the Merarites is made chief over his own house though he was not the firstborn, his father's own choice standing where the law reserved the double portion for birth order, because the gatekeeper's post asked for fitness, not inheritance. Chronicles marks the exception because it wants qualification, not lineage alone, deciding who stands at the doors.
4. (vv. 12-19)
1 Chronicles 26:12
“This verse is obscure, but its probable meaning is the following: “To these divisions of the porters, principal men, (were assigned) the watches, together with their brethren, for service in the house of the Lord;” i. e., the “chief men” 1Ch 26:1-11, amounting to no more than 93, kept the watch and ward of the house, together with a further number of their brethren (4,000, 1Ch 23:5), who assisted them from time to time.”
1 Chronicles 26:13
“And they cast lots,.... To determine at which gate each should stand, who at this gate, and who at the other, &c. as well the small as the great, according to the house of their fathers, for every gate; meaning, not little ones and grown persons in a family, but the smaller and poorer families, and the larger and richer ones, had their places assigned them at the several gates, as the lot directed; they did not go according to the dignity and precedence of their families, but according to lot.”
1 Chronicles 26:14
“And the lot eastward fell to Shelemiah,....”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:14
“The sons of Obed-edom were employed in this office, sixty-two of that family. This was he that entertained the ark with reverence and cheerfulness; and see how he was rewarded for it.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 26:15
“The house of Asuppim - literally, “the house of collections” (see the margin and compare Neh 12:25 margin). A treasure-house of some kind or other is probably intended.”
1 Chronicles 26:16
“The gate Shallecheth - The gate of the projections: probably that through which all the offal of the temple was carried out.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 26:17
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:17
“Toward Asuppim two and two - It is conjectured that the “store-house” in question (1Ch 26:15 note) had two doors, to each of which two porters were appointed.”
1 Chronicles 26:18
“Parbar” must designate here the space between the western wall of the temple building and the wall of the court, which would be a sort of “precinct” or “purlieu” of the temple (2Ki 23:11 note). Here were two gates, at one of which two guards were stationed; while at the Shallecheth, which gave upon the causeway, there were four. In this whole account, the temple is spoken of as if it were existing, when it was not as yet built.
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:18
“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]. LEVITES THAT HAD CHARGE OF THE TREASURES.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 26:19
“These are the divisions of the porters among the sons of Kore, and among the sons of Merari. For among those Levites which descended from Kore, a grandson of Kohath, and which sprung from Merar, a brother of Kohath, the porters only wore; see 1Ch 26:1.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:19
“The divisions of the porters - The account of the porters here given makes them only twenty-four in number at any one time; 1Ch 23:5 states that the duty was discharged by 4,000 persons. Perhaps of the 93 chief porters here spoken of 1Ch 26:8-9, 1Ch 26:11, 1Ch 26:24 were always on guard as officers, while of the remaining 3,907, a certain proportion were each day on duty as their subordinates.”
having wards one against another: The chief gatekeepers cast lots for their posts the same way the singers of chapter 25 were assigned by lot rather than preference, small families and great families bound by the same draw. The four gates take the compass points, east to Shelemiah, north to Zechariah, south to Obed-edom, west to Shuppim and Hosah, and two further posts, the house of Asuppim and the gate Shallecheth, are recorded though the temple that will stand around them is not yet built. Twenty-four men on watch at any hour serve a house that still exists only as an assignment on paper.
B. Treasuries filled with spoil dedicated from every war
1. (vv. 20-26)
1 Chronicles 26:20
“The treasures of the house of God - Where the money was kept, which was to be expended in oblations for the temple. - Jarchi.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:20
“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].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 26:21
“As concerning the sons of Laadan,.... The same with Libni, see 1Ch 23:7. the sons of the Gershonite Laadan; so called, to distinguish him from another Laadan, as Kimchi thinks: chief fathers, even of Laadan the Gershonite; that sprung from him: were Jehieli; and his sons next mentioned.”
1 Chronicles 26:22
“The sons of Jehieli: Zetham, and Joel his brother,.... Both sons of Jehieli: which were over the treasures of the house of the Lord; that part of the trust which before was committed to Ahijah, which concerned provisions for sacred uses, before observed.”
1 Chronicles 26:23
“Of the Amramites and the Izharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites. Who sprang from the four sons of Kohath, Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, Exo 6:18 with respect to the concerns they severally had in the trust of the treasures, the account follows, all but the Uzzielites, who are not after mentioned.”
1 Chronicles 26:24
“And Shebuel the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was ruler of the treasures. This is the first time that any of the posterity of Moses are taken notice of, as being in any office of honour, authority, and trust; by the Targum he is said to be Jonathan, spoken of in Jdg 18:30 but very wrongly; this man, according to Jarchi and Kimchi, had all the treasures and treasurers under him.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:24
“Shebuel the son of Gershom - “Shebuel, that is, Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, who returned to God [שבואל shebuel]. And David, seeing him expert in money matters, constituted him chief treasurer.” - T.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 26:25
“And his brethren by Eliezer,.... His kinsmen that descended from Eliezer, the brother of Gershom, the ancestor of Shebuel, whose descent from him in succession were Rehabiah, Jeshaiah, Joram, Zichri, and Shelomith.”
over the treasures of the house of God: Ahijah is named first over the treasuries, then the text moves into the Gershonite and Kohathite branches that actually held the trust, Levites tracking money and dedicated gifts with the same by-family precision used for gates and courses. Shebuel, son of Gershom, son of Moses, is named ruler of the treasures, which John Gill reads as the first time in Chronicles that a descendant of Moses holds a post of honor and trust, an office reached through service rather than through his grandfather's name. Two treasuries are kept apart, the ordinary house treasury and the treasury of the dedicated things, because gifts set apart by vow needed an accounting distinct from what ran the building day to day.
2. (vv. 27-28)
1 Chronicles 26:27
“The spoils won in battles did they dedicate - It seems these were intended for its repairs. This custom prevailed amongst almost all the people of the earth. All who acknowledged any supreme Being, believed that victory could only come through him; and therefore thought it quite rational to give him a share of the spoils. Proofs of this exist in all ancient histories: thus Virgil: - Irruimus ferro, et divos, ipsumque vocamus In partem praedamque Jovem.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 26:28
“Note, The more God bestows upon us the more he expects from us in works of piety and charity. Great successes call for proportionable returns. When we look over our estates we should consider, "Here are convenient things, rich things, it may be, and fine things; but where are the dedicated things?" Men of war must honour God with their spoils.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:28
“The foundations of a sacred treasury had therefore been laid as far back as the time of Samuel, when the Israelites began to recover from their last servitude. Such a treasury had been once before established, namely, under Joshua Jos 6:24; but it appears to have been soon exhausted, and we hear nothing of it under any of the later judges until Samuel.”
spoils won in battles: The dedicated treasury is filled from war spoil, and verse 28 names the men behind specific gifts across the whole span of Israel's story: Samuel the seer, Saul, Abner and Joab, four names covering the last judge, the first king, his general and David's own commander. Matthew Henry reads the list as proof that victory itself was owed back to God in gifts, not kept as private plunder. One treasury under Shelomith's hand gathers what four separate generations set apart, holding the house together across a history the Chronicler elsewhere tells as broken and discontinuous.
C. Officers and judges for the outward business of Israelvv. 29-32
for the outward business over Israel: Chenaniah's Izharites and Hashabiah's Hebronites move outside the sanctuary altogether into civil office as judges and officers, one command on the west side of Jordan and another, under Jerijah, ranging east into Gilead where fighting men are found and enrolled in David's fortieth year. Chronicles sets these appointments beside the gatekeepers and treasurers because it does not separate sacred service from civil administration; both run through the same Levitical households under the same king. Nearly four thousand four hundred men across these two commands alone show how far David's ordering of the kingdom reached beyond the temple courts.
1 Chronicles 26:29
“Outward business - Work done without the city; cutting of timber, hewing stones, ploughing the fields belonging to the sanctuary. - Jarchi.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 26:30
“In all the business of the Lord - Every thing that concerned ecclesiastical matters. In the service of the king - Every thing that concerned civil affairs: see also 1Ch 26:32. Thus courts of ecclesiastical and civil judicature were established in the land; and due care taken to preserve and insure the peace of the Church, and the safety of the state; without which the public welfare could neither be secured nor promoted. Whatever affects religion in any country, must affect the state or government of that country: true religion alone can dispose men to civil obedience.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 26:31
“Among the Hebronites was Jerijah the chief, even among the Hebronites,....”
1 Chronicles 26:32
“Rulers - This term is somewhat too strong. The same kind of office was assigned to Jerijah and his brethren in the trans-Jordanic region as to Hashabiah and his brethren in western Palestine 1Ch 26:30, namely, a superintendence over religious matters and over the interests of the king.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 26:32
“Of the Lord - In all things which concerned the house or worship of God; to take care that such monies as were given towards building the temple, or towards the sacrifices and other holy ministrations should be gathered and received, and faithfully sent up to Jerusalem; and to see to the execution of all the laws of God among the people.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
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 →
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 exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.