1 Chronicles 23:30

_AND TO STAND EVERY MORNING TO THANK AND PRAISE THE LORD, AND LIKEWISE AT EVEN;_ And to stand every morning ... to perform all the requisite functions of sacred officials. The number of 38,000 Levites, exclusive of priests, was doubtless more than sufficient for the ordinary service of the tabernacle. But this pious king thought that it would contribute to the glory of the Lord to employ as many officers in His divine service as possible. These first rules, however, which David instituted, were temporary, as very different arrangements were made after the ark had been deposited in the tabernacle of Zion....

24-32 Now the people of Israel were so many, there should be more employed in the temple service, that every Israelite who brought an offering might find a Levite ready to help him. When more work is to be done, it is pity but there should be more workmen. A new heart, a spiritual mind, which delights greatly in God's commandments, and can find a refreshing feast in his ordinances, forms the great distinction between the true Christian and all other men in the world. To the spiritual man every service will yield satisfaction. He will be ever abounding in the work of the Lord; being never so happy as when employed for such a good Master, in so pleasant a service. He will not regard whether he is called to take the lead, or to keep the charge of others who are placed over him. May we seek and serve the Lord uprightly, and leave all the rest to his disposal, by faith in his word....

Verse 30. _TO STAND EVERY MORNING_] At the offering of the morning and evening sacrifice, they sounded their musical instruments, and sang praises to God....

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

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....

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....

Duties of the Levites 28. _their office_was _to wait on_ Literally, _their station was at the hand of_. For the phrase _at the hand of_cp. Psalms 123:2, _as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master_. _the chambers_ Cp. 1 Chronicles 9:26, note....

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

DAVID MAKES SOLOMON KING. PARTICULARS RELATING TO THE LEVITES This and the following three Chapter s (supplementing the earlier history) describe the arrangements made by David for the organisation of the Temple service after Solomon had been appointed his successor. The incidents relating to this last event, which are recorded in 1 Kings 1, are omitted by the writer, who passes over all David's domestic troubles....