1 David had become very old. So he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
2 He gathered together all the leaders of Israel. He also gathered the priests and the Levites together.
3 The Levites who were 30 years old or more were counted. The total number of men was 38,000.
4 David said, “From them, 24,000 will be in charge of the work of the Lord’s temple. And 6,000 will be officials and judges.
5 Another 4,000 will guard the gates. And 4,000 will praise the Lord with the instruments of music I’ve provided for that purpose.”
6 David separated the Levites into groups. He did it according to the sons of Levi. The sons were Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
The Family of Gershon
7 Ladan and Shimei belonged to the family of Gershon.
8 The sons of Ladan were Jehiel, Zetham and Joel. Jehiel was the oldest son. The total number of sons was three.
9 The sons of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel and Haran. The total number of sons was three. They were the leaders of the families of Ladan.
10 The sons of Shimei were Jahath, Ziza, Jeush and Beriah. The total number of the sons of Shimei was four.
11 Jahath was the first son. Ziza was the second son. But Jeush and Beriah didn’t have many sons. So they were counted as one family. They had only one task.
The Family of Kohath
12 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. The total number of sons was four.
13 The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his family line were set apart forever as the Lord’s priests. They had the duty of setting the most holy things apart to the Lord. They offered sacrifices to the Lord. They served him. They gave blessings in his name forever.
14 The sons of Moses, the man of God, were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.
19 Jeriah was the first son of Hebron. Amariah was his second son. Jahaziel was the third. Jekameam was the fourth.
20 Micah was the first son of Uzziel. Ishiah was his second son.
The Family of Merari
21 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.
22 Eleazar died without having any sons. All he had was daughters. They married their cousins. The cousins were the sons of Kish.
23 The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder and Jerimoth. The total number of sons was three.
24 Those were the family lines of Levi. They were recorded under the names of the family leaders. Each worker who was 20 years old or more was counted. They served in the Lord’s temple.
25 David had said, “The Lord is the God of Israel. He has given peace and rest to his people. He has come to Jerusalem to live there forever.
26 So the Levites don’t need to carry the holy tent anymore. They don’t need to carry any of its objects anymore. Those were the things that were used to serve there.”
27 The Levites who were 20 years old or more were counted. That was in keeping with David’s final directions.
28 The Levites had the duty of helping the members of Aaron’s family line. They helped them serve in the Lord’s temple. They were in charge of the courtyards and the side rooms. They made all the sacred things pure and “clean.” They also had other duties at the house of God.
29 They were in charge of setting the holy bread out on the table. They prepared the special flour for the grain offerings. They made the thin loaves without using any yeast. They did the baking and the mixing. They measured the amount and size of everything.
30 They stood every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They did the same thing every evening.
31 They also did it every time burnt offerings were brought to the Lord. Those offerings were brought every Sabbath day. They were also brought at every New Moon feast and during the appointed yearly feasts. The Levites served in front of the Lord at regular times. The proper number of Levites was always used when they served. They served in the way the law required.
32 So the Levites carried out their duties for the tent of meeting and for the Holy Room. They worked under their relatives who were in the family line of Aaron. They helped them serve at the Lord’s temple.
So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel. 1 Chronicles 23:1. He made Solomon king over Israel — Not that he resigned the kingdom to him, but only declared his mind concerning Solomon’s succeeding him in the throne after his death. Thus David himself is called king, 1 Samuel 16:1, because he was appointed and anointed to be king after Saul’s death, though till then he was only a subject.
And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. 1 Chronicles 23:2. He gathered together all the princes, &c. — Partly to declare God’s will, and his own desire, that Solomon should be his successor; and so to cut off the claims and pretences which others of his sons might have made to the crown; and partly to acquaint them with those directions which he had received from God, by the Spirit, as appears from 1 Chronicles 28:11, &c., concerning the establishment of a new order and method in the ministration of the priests and Levites in the temple.
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. 1 Chronicles 23:3. From the age of thirty years and upward — Not only till fifty, as it was appointed Numbers 4:2-3, but even till their death: for that was but a temporary law grounded upon a special reason, because the Levites were employed in carrying the tabernacle and sacred vessels from place to place; and therefore God would have them freed from those burdens when they came to feel the infirmities of age: which reason wholly ceasing upon the building of the temple, their work being far easier than it had been, and their service being more a privilege than a burden, their time of service is justly prolonged.
Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the LORD; and six thousand were officers and judges: 1 Chronicles 23:4. To set forward the work of the house of the Lord — To take care that all the work of the temple, about sacrifices, should be punctually performed, either by themselves or others; which they were not to do all at once, but by courses, a thousand at a time. Six thousand were officers and judges — Not in the affairs of the temple, there the priests presided, but in several parts of the kingdom, where they assisted the princes and elders of every tribe, in the administration of justice.
Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the LORD with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith. 1 Chronicles 23:5. Four thousand were porters — Whose office it was to take the charge of all the gates of the temple, and its courts, that no forbidden or unclean person might enter there, and of the courts themselves, and of the several chambers and buildings belonging to the temple and the service thereof. These also were to do their work by turns. Praised the Lord with instruments — Whereof two hundred and eighty-eight persons were of greater skill than their brethren, and instructed them, and had some authority over them.
And David divided them into courses among the sons of Levi, namely, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 1 Chronicles 23:6. David divided them into courses — Which he did not by his own invention, but, as a man of God, by his command, and with the advice and concurrence of Gad and Nathan the prophets, as is manifest from 2 Chronicles 8:14; 2 Chronicles 29:25.
And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; therefore they were in one reckoning, according to their father's house.
The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever. 1 Chronicles 23:13. That he should sanctify the most holy things — That he might keep them from pollution: for these most holy things were polluted when they were touched by any other person. He and his sons for ever — Not only his eldest sons the high-priests successively, but all his posterity, or all the priests: for the works here following were not peculiar to the high- priest, but common to all the priests.
Now concerning Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi. 1 Chronicles 23:14. His sons were named of the tribe of Levi — They were accounted only as common Levites, and were not priests: which is mentioned for the honour of Moses, and the demonstration of his eminent piety and self-denial, who willingly left the government to Joshua, and the priesthood to Aaron, and was content to have his posterity reduced to a private and mean condition.
These were the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years and upward. 1 Chronicles 23:24. From the age of twenty years and upward — As the Levites were anciently numbered from two several times, from the twenty-fifth year of their age, and from the thirtieth, (Numbers 4:3; Numbers 8:24,) in like manner they are here numbered, both from their twentieth year, when they were solemnly prepared for, and instructed, and by degrees exercised, in some parts of their work; and from their thirtieth year, when they were admitted to the full exercise of their office. And the reason why they were now sooner admitted to service than they had been formerly, is given in the next verses, because now their work was more easy, being wholly discharged from that burdensome work of carrying the tabernacle. Besides, the people of Israel were multiplied, therefore more hands were necessary; that every Israelite who brought an offering, might find a Levite ready to assist him.
For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above: 1 Chronicles 23:27. By the last words of David — By his last order and constitution, made by God’s direction, and by the Holy Spirit. This is here added to signify, that this great affair was thus settled by David, not in his younger years, when it might have been thought to have been the effect of youthful heat, presumption, and rashness, but when he was come to the greatest maturity, when he was old and near his death, and going to give up his account to his Lord and Maker of all his actions, and particularly of the alterations which he made in the service of God, which he declared was done by the Spirit of God. These were, in a manner, his dying words, which usually make the deepest impression.
Because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the LORD, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God; 1 Chronicles 23:28. In the purifying of holy things — Holy places, and garments, and vessels, and sacrifices, which were to be washed and cleansed from any filthiness that might cleave to them.
Both for the shewbread, and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for that which is fried, and for all manner of measure and size; 1 Chronicles 23:29. For all manner of measure — All measures used either in sacred or civil things, the public standards whereof were kept in the temple; and therefore the care of keeping them inviolable, and producing them upon occasion, must needs belong to the priests, and under them to the Levites, who were to examine other measures, and all things by them, as occasion required, that so the priests might be at leisure for their higher and greater employments.
And to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at even; 1 Chronicles 23:30-32. To stand every morning, &c., and at evening — The two solemn times of offering sacrifices: which work was attended with public prayer and thanksgiving. According to the order commanded unto them continually — That is, unto those persons, the Levites, of whom he speaks. The charge of the sons of Aaron — That is, what the priests should commit to their charge, or command them to do.
And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the LORD in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the LORD:
And that they should keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, in the service of the house of the LORD.
