1 Chronicles 6:19

6:1-81 Genealogies. - We have an account of Levi in this chapter. The priests and Levites were more concerned than any other Israelites, to preserve their descent clear, and to be able to prove it; because all the honours and privileges of their office depended upon their descent. Now, the Spirit of God calls ministers to their work, without any limit as to the families they came from; and then, as now, though believers and ministers may be very useful to the church, none but our great High Priest can make atonement for sin, nor can any be accepted but through his atonement.

1 Chronicles 6:19-20 . The families of the Levites according to their fathers — That is, these were the heads of the families which sprang from them. And it is thought the following catalogue contains the successive heads or chiefs of their several families until the times of David, by whom they were distributed into several courses. Zimmah his son — His grandson by his son Shimei, as appears from 1 Chronicles 6:42-43 ; the names of father and Song of Solomon being often used in Scripture of more remote progenitors or successors.

16-48. The sons of Levi; Gershom, &c.—This repetition (see 1Ch 6:1) is made, as the historian here begins to trace the genealogy of the Levitical families who were not priests. The list is a long one, comprising the chiefs or heads of their several families until David's reign, who made a new and different classification of them by courses.

(Ch. 6). The families and cities of the Levites. - Vv. 1-34. Register of the families of the Levites. - This is introduced by an enumeration of the sons and grandsons of Levi ( 1 Chronicles 6:16-19 ), which is followed by lists of families in six lines of descent: (a) the descendants of Gershon ( 1 Chronicles 6:20-21 ), of Kohath ( 1 Chronicles 6:22-28 ), and of Merari ( 1 Chronicles 6:29-30 ); and (b) the genealogies of David's chief musicians ( 1 Chronicles 6:31 , 1 Chronicles 6:32 ), of Heman the Kohathite ( 1 Chronicles 6:33-38 ), of Asaph the Gershonite ( 1 Chronicles 6:39-43 ), and of Ethan the Merarite ( 1 Chronicles 6:44-47 ); and in 1 Chronicles 6:48 , 1 Chronicles 6:49 , some notes as to the service performed by the other Levites and the priests are added. (6:1-4). The sons of Levi are in 1 Chronicles 6:1 again enumerated as in 1 Chronicles 6:1; then in 1 Chronicles 6:16-22 the sons of these three sons, i.e., the grandsons of Levi, are introduced, while in 1 Chronicles 6:1 only the sons of Kohath are mentioned. The only object of this enumeration is to make quite clear the descent of the Levitic families which follow. The name of the first son of Levi is in 1 Chronicles 6:16, 1 Chronicles 6:17, 1 Chronicles 6:20, etc. of this chapter גּרשׁם, which was the name of Moses' son, cf. 1 Chronicles 23:15.; whereas in 1 Chronicles 6:1 and in the Pentateuch we find a different pronunciation, viz., גּרשׁון.

The names of Levi's grandsons in 1 Chronicles 6:17-22 coincide with the statements of the Pentateuch, Exodus 6:17-19, and Numbers 3:17-20, cf. Numbers 26:57. Bertheau and other commentators consider the words in 1 Chronicles 6:17, "and these are the families of Levi according to their fathers," to be a "concluding subscription" to the statements of 1 Chronicles 6:15-17, and would remove ו before אלּה, as not compatible with this supposition. But in this he is wrong: for although the similar statement in Exodus 6:20 is a subscription, yet it is in Numbers 3:20 a superscription, and must in our verse also be so understood; for otherwise the enumeration of the descendants of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, which follows, would be brought in very abruptly, without any connecting particle, and the ו before אלּה points to the same conclusion.