1 Chronicles 24:6

_AND SHEMAIAH THE SON OF NETHANEEL THE SCRIBE, ONE OF THE LEVITES, WROTE THEM BEFORE THE KING, AND THE PRINCES, AND ZADOK THE PRIEST, AND AHIMELECH THE SON OF ABIATHAR, AND BEFORE THE CHIEF OF THE FATHERS OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES: ONE PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD BEING TAKEN FOR ELEAZAR, AND ONE TAKEN FOR ITHAMAR._ One principal household. The marginal readings is preferable, 'one house of the father.' The lot was cast in a deliberate and solemn manner, in presence of the king, the princes, the two high priests, and the chiefs of the priestly and Levitical families; the heads of the families belonging to Eleazar and Ithamar were alternately brought forward to draw, and the name of each individual, as called, registered by an attendant secretary. To accommodate the casting of the lots to the inequality of the numbers-there being 16 fathers' houses of Eleazar and only 8 of Ithamar-it was arrange...

Verse 1 Chronicles 24:6. _AND SHEMAIAH_] "Moses the great scribe, who is called Shemaiah, the son of Nethaneel, of the tribe of Levi, wrote them down." - _T_. _ONE PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD - FOR ELEAZAR_] The family of Eleazar was the most illustrious of the sacerdotal families, because Eleazar was the _first-born_ of Aaron, Ithamar's family was the _second_ in order and dignity; therefore one of the principal families of Eleazar was _first_ taken, and then one of Ithamar's, and thus alternately till the whole was finished....

WROTE THEM BEFORE THE KING - i. e., “wrote down their names as the lots were drawn forth.” AHIMELECH THE SON OF ABIATHAR - A wrong reading. It should be “Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech.” See the 2 Samuel 8:17 note....

EXPOSITION 1 CHRONICLES 24:1 The twenty-four classes of priests. 1 CHRONICLES 24:1 The Hebrew of this verse reads, AND TO THE SONS OF AARON, THEIR DIVISIONS מַחְלְקוֹתָם); THE SONS OF AARON: NADEB AND ABIHU, ELEAZAR AND ITHAMAR. The word "divisions" is the same word that is translated "courses" in 1 Chronicles 24:6, and which verse also would read literally, "And David divided them divisions to the sons of Levi, to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari." Our present verse evidently continues both the subject and construction of that verse. Of the four sons ...

AND SHEMAIAH THE SON OF NETHANEEL THE SCRIBE,.... The Targum is, Moses the chief scribe, so called: one OF THE LEVITES WROTE THEM: the lots, and the names upon them, put into the urn, and as they came out, which was first, second, c. and this was done BEFORE THE KING, AND THE PRINCES, AND ZADOK THE PRIEST, AND AHIMELECH THE SON OF ABIATHAR, AND BEFORE THE CHIEF OF THE FATHERS OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES and in this public manner, before such great personages, and in the presence of those that were interested in the affair, that it might appear plainly no fraudulent methods were taken, and that there might be no suspicion of any: ONE PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD BEING TAKEN FOR ELEAZAR, AND ONE FOR ITHAMAR; the sense of Jarchi as above, and other Jewish writers, is, that one was added to each family of Eleazar, and so made sixteen, and Ithamar's were retained, and left as at first, eight: but th...

3. THE TWENTY-FOUR COURSES OF THE PRIESTS CHAPTER 24 _ 1. The twenty-four courses (1 Chronicles 24:1)_ 2. The organization of other Levites (1 Chronicles 24:20) In the previous chapter we read of 24,000 Levites set apart for the service. In the next chapter we find twenty-four leaders of song and music appointed, and here David instituted twenty-four courses of priests. Each of these ministered a full week, from one sabbath to the next. These courses were not only continued by Solomon, but also by Hezekiah and Josiah. From Luke 1:5, we learn the same order was still followed in the days our Lord was born. Zecharias belonged to the eighth course, that of Abijah. In the bo

The courses of the priests (the sons of Aaron), twenty-four in number, took their turns in the service of the Temple, and each course cast lots for the particular place of service of each priest (_cf._ Luke 1:8 f.). 1 Chronicles 24:20. Another list of Levites; this is probably from a later hand; the names coincide to a large extent with those already given in 1 Chronicles 23:7, though some new ones are added....

THE SCRIBE. the secretary. Compare 1 Chronicles 27:32. See note on 2 Samuel 8:17. AHIMELECH. So that Abiathar had. son named Ahimelech, who assisted him, as Hophni and Phinehas assisted Eli....

_the scribe, one of the Levites_ Particularly described in order to distinguish him from the _king's scribe_(cp. 2 Chronicles 24:11). _one principal household_ R.V. ONE FATHERS" HOUSE. one _taken_ R.V. ONE TAKEN (without italics) by an easy emendation of the Hebrew. The alternate drawing here described could have lasted only for the first sixteen lots; in the last eight drawings the descendants of Eleazar must have drawn against each other only; cp. 1 Chronicles 24:4....

ONE PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD BEING TAKEN FOR ELEAZAR— That is, one of the principal families of Eleazar was first taken, and then one of Ithamar's, and thus alternately till the whole was finished. See Houbigant's note....