1 Chronicles 6:52

. See Gill on "1 Chronicles 6:49". 1 Chronicles 6:51 Ver. 51. See Gill on "1 Chronicles 6:49". 1 Chronicles 6:52 Ver. 52. See Gill on "1 Chronicles 6:49". 1 Chronicles 6:53 Ver. 53. See Gill on "1 Chronicles 6:49". 1 Chronicles 6:54 Ver. 54-81. Now these are their dwelling places,.... The dwelling places of the priests and Levites, assigned and given to them in the several tribes of Israel; and the account of them agrees with that in Joshua 21:1 with some few variations of names of places, which have been there observed: see the notes there; only in 1 Chronicles 6:57 two cities are omitted, Juttah and Gibeon, through want of care in transcribing, since they are said to be "thirteen", as they should be, whereas eleven only are mentioned. The Jews say {h}, the cities of the suburbs (those here mentioned) ceased from the time the first temple was destroyed; and yet Ezra, who lived after the captivity, and the building the second temple, here gives a very particular account of them; the suburbs belonging to every city, which he particularly mentions, were 2000 cubits, both to the cities of refuge, and the rest, Numbers 35:5 Hebron, the first city mentioned in the next verse, was a city of refuge, and had suburbs of such a space; and it is remarkable, that some of the temples with the Heathens, which were asylums, or places of refuge, had the space of 2000 paces assigned them for the same sanctity and privilege {i}. {h} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 48. 2. {i} Tacit.

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.

But Aaron and his sons,.... Those that descended from him, though of the same tribe of Levi were all priests: and they offered upon the altar of burnt offerings; the daily sacrifice, and all the offerings of the people brought to them: and on the altar of incense; they burnt incense night and morning: and were appointed for all the work of the place most holy; such as were high priests of the line of Eleazar, whose work it was to go into the most holy place once a year: to make atonement for all Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God commanded; in Leviticus 16:1 which see; and on mention of this, a list of the high priests from Aaron, in the line of Eleazar, is given, to the times of Solomon, in the four following verses, just in the same order as in 1 Chronicles 6:4.

The sons of Aaron - This list, a mere repetition of that in 1 Chronicles 6:3-8 , came, probably, from a different source - a source belonging to the time of David, with whom Ahimaaz (the last name on the list) was contemporary. The other list 1 Chronicles 6:4-15 came, no doubt, from a document belonging to the time of the captivity (see 1 Chronicles 6:15 ).

( 1 Chronicles 6:35-38 ). The remarks as to the service of the priests are followed by a catalogue of the high priests, which runs from Eleazar to Ahimaaz the son of Zadok (cf. 2 Samuel 15:27 ), who probably succeeded his father in the high-priesthood even in the time of Solomon. This genealogy is similar in form to the genealogies given in 1 Chronicles 6:20-30 , and has therefore most probably been derived from the same source as this, and has been drawn in here to form a transition to the enumeration of the cities of the Levites; for it begins in 1 Chronicles 6:44 with the dwelling-places of the sons of Aaron, and the אהרן לבני...מושׁבותם ואלּה of 1 Chronicles 6:44 corresponds to the אהרן בּני ואלּה of 1 Chronicles 6:49 . The order of the names coincides exactly with that of the longer register in 1 Chronicles 5:30-34 .

( 1 Chronicles 6:51-55 ). The cities of the remaining Kohathites; cf. Joshua 21:20-26 . For וּממּשׁפּחות we must read וּלמשׁפּחות, for the preposition מן gives no suitable sense: it is never used to introduce a subject. The sense is, "as regards the families of the sons of Kohath, the cities of their dominion in the tribe of Ephraim were (the following). They gave them." The plur. המּקלט ערי instead of the sing., as in 1 Chronicles 6:57 . As to the four cities of the tribe of Ephraim, 1 Chronicles 6:52 , 1 Chronicles 6:53 , see on Joshua 21:21-22 , where instead of יקמעם we find the name קבצים. Before 1 Chronicles 6:54 a whole verse has been lost, which was as follows: "And of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and her pastures, Gibbethon and her pastures;" cf. Joshua 21:23 . Then follows 1 Chronicles 6:69 , which contains the names of the two other cities of the tribe of Dan. In 1 Chronicles 6:70 we have the names of the cities of half Manasseh, Aner and Bileam, i.e., Ibleam ( Joshua 17:11 ), correctly given; but the names Taanach and Gath-rimmon in Joshua 21:25 are incorrect, and have been inserted through a transcriber's error, arising from the copyist's eye having wandered to the preceding verse. The singular למשׁפּחת, 1 Chronicles 6:70 , is incorrect; and the plural למשׁפּחות is to be substituted (as in 1 Chronicles 6:66 ). The words וגו לבני למשׁפּחות are a subscription, which corresponds to להם ויּתּנוּ in 1 Chronicles 6:67 .