1 Chronicles 23:3

_NOW THE LEVITES WERE NUMBERED FROM THE AGE OF THIRTY YEARS AND UPWARD: AND THEIR NUMBER BY THEIR POLLS, MAN BY MAN, WAS THIRTY AND EIGHT THOUSAND._ The Levites were numbered ... thirty and eight thousand - four times their number at the early census taken by Moses, (see the notes at Numbers 4:1; Numbers 26:1.) It was in all likelihood this vast increase that suggested and rendered expedient that classification, made in the lest 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....

1-23 David, having given charge concerning the building of the temple, settles the method of the temple service, and orders the officers of it. When those of the same family were employed together, it would engage them to love and assist one another....

Verse 1 Chronicles 23:3. _THIRTY YEARS AND UPWARD_] The enumeration of the Levites made in the desert, Numbers 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 1 Chronicles 23:24; 1 Chronicles 23:27....

EXPOSITION This chapter is the first of four employed on the subject of the Levites and the services distributed among them. The twenty-four orders of priests, sons of Aaron, occupy 1 Chronicles 24:1. The twenty-four orders of the singers and musicians occupy the contents of 1 Chronicles 25:1. And the divisions of the porters, with their gates; and of those Levites who had the keeping of the treasures of the house of God; and the officers and judges, fill up 1 Chronicles 26:1. After which the compiler is again awhile clear of the Levitical tribe. Returning to our present chapter, it gives an account of the numbers of the Levites, of their classification, of David's

NOW THE LEVITES WERE NUMBERED FROM THE AGE OF THIRTY YEARS, AND UPWARD,.... So they were numbered in the days of Moses, and by his order, and so they were now at first; though afterwards there was a new reckoning of them, 1 Chronicles 23:24 AND THEIR NUMBER BY THEIR POSTS; or, according to their heads: MAN BY MAN, WAS THIRTY AND EIGHT THOUSAND; which vastly exceeds the number in the times of Moses; see Numbers 4:47, but then those above fifty years of age were not numbered, as they now might; since their work in the temple would be much more easy, no burdens to carry, as the ark, the vessels, c....

2. THE NUMBERING AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE LEVITES CHAPTER 23 _ 1. Solomon made king (1 Chronicles 23:1)_ 2. The number of the Levites (1 Chronicles 23:2) 3. The Gershonites (1 Chronicles 23:7) 4. The sons of Kohath (1 Chronicles 23:12) 5. The sons of Merari (1 Chronicles 23:21) 6. The service of the Levites (1 Chronicles 23:24) David, in h

1 Chronicles 23:1 to 1 Chronicles 24:31. THE LEVITES AND THE PRIESTS. The Chronicler implies that the organisation of the Levites and priests and the settling of their duties as existing in his day was all the work of David. 1 Chronicles 23:5. princes of the sanctuary: a title corresponding to an official in Babylonian sanctuaries of earlier days, and probably borrowed and adapted by the returned exiles; it is not identical with the princes of God. 1 Chronicles 23:6. An enumeration of the sons of Levi, and the sacred duties of the various Levitical families....

THIRTY YEARS. According to Numbers 4:3; Numbers 4:23; Numbers 4:35; Numbers 4:47, Changed to twenty-five years by Jehovah (Numbers 8:24); and, by David's "last words", to twenty years (1 Chronicles 23:27). Compare Ezra 3:8. MAN. strong man. Hebrew. _geber._ App-14....

Organisation of the Levites (first account) Two accounts are given of David's organisation of the Levites. According to the first the Levites were admitted to service at thirty years of age; 1 Chronicles 23:3; cp. Numbers 4:3; Numbers 4:23; Numbers 4:30, where the period from thirty to fifty is fixed as the period for service. According to the second account (Numbers 4:24; Numbers 4:47) the Levites were taken from twenty years old and upwards; this was apparently the later

LESSON ELEVEN 23-24 THE LEVITES AND THEIR DUTIES 15. THE LEVITES AND THEIR WORK (Chapter 23) INTRODUCTION The successful functioning of the Temple required a careful organization of the priesthood. All of the Levites were appointed special assignments with regard to the Temple. TEXT 1 Chronicles 23:1. Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel. 2. And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. 3. And the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand. 4, Of these, twenty and four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of Jehovah; and six thousand were officers and Judges 5. and four thousand were do