1 Chronicles 6:22

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.

The sons of Kohath, Amminadab,.... The same with Izhar, 1 Chronicles 6:2 the posterity of his brethren, Amram, Hebron, and Uzziel, are omitted; and his genealogy is carried to a considerable length, for the sake of Samuel the prophet, who sprang from him: it stands thus, Korah, Assir, Elkanah, Ebiasaph, Assir, Tahath, Uriel, called Zephaniah, 1 Chronicles 6:36 Uzziah, the same with Azariah, 1 Chronicles 6:36 . Shaul, whose name is Joel, 1 Chronicles 6:36 then through the sons of Elkanah, before mentioned, Amasai, Ahimoth, called Mahath, 1 Chronicles 6:35 another Elkanah, Zophai, or Zuph, 1 Chronicles 6:35 . Nahath, the same with Toah, 1 Chronicles 6:34 and Tohu, 1 Samuel 1:1 , Eliab, called Eliel, 1 Chronicles 6:34 , and Elihu, 1 Samuel 1:1 , Jeroham, another Elkanah, the father of Samuel the prophet, whose firstborn was Vashni, and whose name also was Joel, 1 Chronicles 6:33 and so here it is read in the Syriac and Arabic versions: and his second son Abiah.

Verses 22-28. - (B) These verses give descendants, probably twenty-one in number, from Levi, through his second son, Kohath, to Joel, eldest son of Samuel and (ver. 33) father of Heman. The descendants of Kohath through his eldest son, Amram, have been given from vers. 3-15. But the descendants now to he spoken of are through another son, here called Am-minadab, a name not appearing among the four of ver. 2, but apparently standing for the Izhar of that verse. For he is said to have a son Korah, by whom, indeed, the genealogy moves on, while in vers. 37, 38. and Numbers 16:1 , Korah is said to be the son of Izhar. Without the occurrence of this clue, we should have been at a loss to tell who Amminadab was, as we are now at a loss to explain the unexplained substitution of this new name. The Vatican Septuagint has Amminadab, while the Alexandrine has altered to Izhar, probably deeming the other name a mere error. Verses 22, 23. - Korah (comp. Numbers 16:27, 32, 33 , with Numbers 26:9-11). From Exodus 6:24 we also learn that the throe next in lineal succession to Korah, were Assir, Elkanah, and Ebiasaph, or Abiasaph; though Elkanah and Assir are omitted from ver. 37, in the ascending line. 1 Chronicles 6:22

(22–23) The sons of Kohath. As the text stands we have here a threefold list, each portion of which is isolated from the rest, and begins afresh with the word onê (the sons of). (22) Amminadab his son.—Amminadab is not mentioned as a son of Kohath in the Pentateuch or elsewhere. Korah, here called son of Amminadab, is called son of Izhar, son of Kohath, Exodus 6:21. (See 1Chronicles 6:18, supra, and 1Chronicles 6:38, infra.) Some assume that Amminadab is a “by-name” of Izhar (so Margin). It is more likely that the name Izhar has dropped out of the text of 1Chronicles 6:22. (22, 23) Assir his son, Elkanah his son, and Ebiasaph his son.—Comp. Exodus 6:24 : “And the sons of Korah, Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph, these are the sons of Korah.” The connection, then, is as follows:— The conjunction and, in 1Chronicles 6:23, seems to hint that the connection is no longer one of direct descent, but that the three, Assir, Elkanah, and Ebiasaph, are to be regarded as brothers. (23) And Assir his son.—Comp. 1Chronicles 6:37 below, in the line of Heman, which in great part coincides with the present series. There we read, “Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah.” The present Assir is therefore son of Ebiasaph, and nephew of the former Assir (1Chronicles 6:22). The form of a direct descent is now resumed and continued with Tahath, son of Assir (1Chronicles 6:24).

Of Gershom - The names in this list are curiously different from those in 1 Chronicles 6:41-43 , which yet appear to represent the same line reversed. Probably both lists are more or less corrupted, and, as in many genealogies, omission is made, to reduce the number of the names to seven. Compare e. g. 1 Chronicles 6:22-28 with 1 Chronicles 6:33-38 . Compare the other genealogy ties of this chapter; and see also Matthew 1:1-17 .

( 1 Chronicles 6:7-13 ). The genealogy of the descendants of Kohath consists of three lists of names, each of which commences afresh with בּני, 1 Chronicles 6:22 , 1 Chronicles 6:35 , and 1 Chronicles 6:38 ; yet we learn nothing from it as to the genealogical connection of these three lines. The very beginning, "The sons of Kohath, Amminidab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son," is somewhat strange. For, according to Exodus 6:18 , Exodus 6:21 , and Exodus 6:24 , Kohath's second son is called Izhar, whose son was Korah, whose sons were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Amminidab is nowhere met with as a son of Kohath; but among the descendants of Uzziel, a prince of a father's-house is met with in the time of David who bore this name. The name Amminidab occurs also in the time of Moses, in the genealogies of the tribe of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:10 ; Numbers 1:7 ; Ruth 1:19 , as that of the father of the prince Nahshon, and of Elisheba, whom Aaron took to wife, Exodus 6:23 . But since the names Korah and Assir point to the family of Izhar, the older commentators supposed the Amminidab of our verse to be only another name for Izhar; while Bertheau, on the contrary, conjectures "that as an Amminidab occurs in the lists of the descendants of Kohath as father-in-law of Aaron, Amminidab has been substituted for Izhar by an ancient error, which might very easily slip into an abridgment of more detailed lists." But we have here no trace of an abridgment of more detailed lists.

According to Exodus 6:21 and Exodus 6:24 , Korah was a son of Izhar, and Assir a son of Korah; and consequently in our genealogies only the name Izhar is wanting between Korah and Kohath, while instead of him we have Amminidab. An exchange or confusion of the names of Izhar and Amminidab the father-in-law of Aaron, is as improbable as the supposition that Amminidab is another name for Izhar, since the genealogies of the Pentateuch give only the name Izhar. Yet no third course is open, and we must decide to accept either one or the other of these suppositions. For that our verses contain a genealogy, or fragments of genealogies, of the Kohathite line of Izhar there can be no doubt, when we compare them with the genealogy ( 1 Chronicles 6:33 ) of the musician Heman, a descendant of Kohath, which also gives us the means of explaining the other obscurities in our register. In 1 Chronicles 6:22 and 1 Chronicles 6:23 the names of Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph, and again Assir, follow that of Korah, with בּנו after each. This בּנו cannot be taken otherwise than as denoting that the names designate so many consecutive generations; and the only peculiarity in the list is, that the conjunction w is found before Abiasaph and the second Assir, while the other names do not have it.