1 Chronicles 23:2-23

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 custom; cp. 2 Chronicles 31:17; Ezra 3:8. The discrepancy probably arises from an actual variation in practice. The original age of admission for Levites was probably thirty, but owing to the scarcity of their numbers it seems to have been necessary to reduce the limit of age to twenty. On the Levitessee Ryle (Ezra and Nehemiahp. liii. ff.). See also on 1 Chronicles 23:27.