1 Chronicles 24: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter records how David organized the priests, the descendants of Aaron, into twenty-four groups for service at the house of the LORD. Because Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu died childless, only the lines of Eleazar and Ithamar remained, and the sixteen family heads from Eleazar and eight from Ithamar were assigned their turns by lot, with a scribe writing down the results before the king and the leaders. The twenty-four names are listed in the order the lots fell. The chapter then lists the remaining Levite families, who also cast lots in the same way, alongside their relatives the descendants of Aaron.

Claim by Claim

1. 24:1
   • These are the divisions of the sons of Aaron.
   • Aaron's sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
2. 24:2
   • Nadab and Abihu died before their father died.
   • Nadab and Abihu had no sons.
   • Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.
3. 24:3
   • David divided the sons of Aaron into their assigned offices for their service.
   • Zadok was of the sons of Eleazar.
   • Ahimelech was of the sons of Ithamar.
4. 24:4
   • More heads of men were found among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar.
   • They divided them accordingly.
   • Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen heads of fathers' houses.
   • Among the sons of Ithamar there were eight heads of fathers' houses.
5. 24:5
   • They divided them by lots, one group alongside the other.
   • There were officials of the sanctuary and officials of God among the sons of Eleazar.
   • There were officials of the sanctuary and officials of God among the sons of Ithamar.
6. 24:6
   • Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a scribe from the Levites, recorded them.
   • He recorded them before the king.
   • He recorded them before the officials.
   • He recorded them before Zadok the priest.
   • He recorded them before Ahimelech son of Abiathar.
   • He recorded them before the heads of the fathers' houses of the priests and the Levites.
   • One father's house was taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar, alternating.
7. 24:7
   • The first lot came out to Jehoiarib.
   • The second lot came out to Jedaiah.
8. 24:8
   • The third lot came out to Harim.
   • The fourth lot came out to Seorim.
9. 24:9
   • The fifth lot came out to Malchijah.
   • The sixth lot came out to Mijamin.
10. 24:10
    • The seventh lot came out to Hakkoz.
    • The eighth lot came out to Abijah.
11. 24:11
    • The ninth lot came out to Jeshua.
    • The tenth lot came out to Shecaniah.
12. 24:12
    • The eleventh lot came out to Eliashib.
    • The twelfth lot came out to Jakim.
13. 24:13
    • The thirteenth lot came out to Huppah.
    • The fourteenth lot came out to Jeshebeab.
14. 24:14
    • The fifteenth lot came out to Bilgah.
    • The sixteenth lot came out to Immer.
15. 24:15
    • The seventeenth lot came out to Hezir.
    • The eighteenth lot came out to Happizzez.
16. 24:16
    • The nineteenth lot came out to Pethahiah.
    • The twentieth lot came out to Jehezkel.
17. 24:17
    • The twenty-first lot came out to Jachin.
    • The twenty-second lot came out to Gamul.
18. 24:18
    • The twenty-third lot came out to Delaiah.
    • The twenty-fourth lot came out to Maaziah.
19. 24:19
    • These were their appointed duties for their service.
    • Their service was to come into the house of the LORD.
    • They came according to the rule set for them.
    • The rule was given through Aaron their father.
    • The LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded Aaron.
    • The rule was as the LORD had commanded him.
20. 24:20
    • These were the rest of the sons of Levi.
    • Of the sons of Amram: Shubael.
    • Of the sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah.
21. 24:21
    • Concerning Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah was the first.
22. 24:22
    • Of the Izharites: Shelomoth.
    • Of the sons of Shelomoth: Jahath.
23. 24:23
    • The sons of Hebron were Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
24. 24:24
    • Of the sons of Uzziel: Micah.
    • Of the sons of Micah: Shamir.
25. 24:25
    • Isshiah was the brother of Micah.
    • Of the sons of Isshiah: Zechariah.
26. 24:26
    • The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.
    • Beno belonged to Jaaziah.
    • It is unclear whether Beno is a personal name or the phrase 'his son'.
27. 24:27
    • The sons of Merari through Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.
28. 24:28
    • Of Mahli came Eleazar.
    • Eleazar had no sons.
29. 24:29
    • Concerning Kish: Jerahmeel was of the sons of Kish.
30. 24:30
    • The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.
    • These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers' houses.
31. 24:31
    • They also cast lots, just as their brothers the sons of Aaron did.
    • They cast them in the presence of King David.
    • They cast them in the presence of Zadok and Ahimelech.
    • They cast them in the presence of the heads of the fathers' houses of the priests and the Levites.
    • The chief fathers cast lots on the same terms as their younger brothers.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

24:1

A "division" here is a work shift. The priests were too numerous to all serve at once, so they were organized into twenty-four family groups that took turns on duty at the sanctuary, each group serving for a set period before handing over to the next. Aaron was Moses' brother, and by the law of Israel only his male descendants could serve as priests; the rest of the tribe of Levi assisted them but did not hold the priesthood.

24:2

Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's two eldest sons, were killed after making an unauthorised incense offering (Leviticus 10). "Died before their father" means they died while Aaron was still alive, not that they died in his presence. Because they left no sons, the whole priesthood descended from the two younger brothers, Eleazar and Ithamar.

24:3

Zadok and Ahimelech were the two senior priests of David's reign, one from each surviving branch of Aaron's line, so the reorganisation was carried out with a representative of both families present.

24:4

A "family head" (King James "chief man of the house of their fathers") is the recognized senior man of an extended household, the unit by which Israelite clans were counted and duties assigned. Sixteen such households in one branch against eight in the other is why the shifts were split two to one.

24:5

Casting lots meant drawing marked stones or sticks from a container, much like drawing straws. It was the standard Israelite way of settling a decision that had to be seen as impartial and beyond human manipulation. "Treating both lines the same way" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning the two families drew alternately from the same pool, so neither branch could claim the more desirable turns.

24:6

A scribe was a professional writer and record-keeper, the official who drew up and preserved legal and administrative documents, the nearest thing to a civil servant. Ahimelech is called "son of Abiathar" here, though elsewhere (1 Samuel 22) Abiathar is the son of Ahimelech; the names appear reversed in one place or the other, and which way round is disputed.

24:7

The names in this list are not only individuals but the ancestors whose names their whole division carried afterwards. A priest centuries later would be identified as belonging to "the division of Jehoiarib" or "of Abijah" in the way a soldier is identified by his regiment.

24:10

The division of Abijah remained in use for centuries; in Luke's Gospel, Zechariah the father of John the Baptist is a priest of this eighth division.

24:11

"Jeshuah" in the King James is the same name spelled elsewhere as Jeshua, a shortened form of Joshua.

24:15

The King James "Aphses" and the modern "Happizzez" are the same Hebrew name; the difference is whether the initial *ha-* (the Hebrew word "the") is treated as part of the name.

24:19

"House of the LORD" means the temple in Jerusalem. It had not yet been built in David's lifetime, these arrangements were made in advance for it. "According to their manner" in the King James means according to the fixed procedure laid down for them, and "Aaron their father" means Aaron their ancestor, not their immediate parent.

24:20

The chapter now switches from priests to the rest of the tribe of Levi, who were not priests but assisted them: carrying and guarding the sanctuary equipment, providing music, keeping gates and managing stores. Their families descended from Levi's three sons (Gershon, Kohath and Merari) and Amram, Kohath's son, was the father of Moses and Aaron.

24:22

Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel in these verses are men, brothers of Amram, not places. Hebron is also a well-known town, but here it is a personal and family name.

24:23

Hebron here is a man, an ancestor of a Levite clan, not the town of Hebron in southern Judah.

24:26

"Beno" is the Hebrew for "his son", and may not be a name at all but an untranslated fragment of the text; verses 26 and 27 are damaged or confused in the surviving Hebrew, and translators differ on how to read them.

24:28

Noting that a man had no sons is not a stray detail. Because these duties passed from father to son, a line that ended left no group to inherit its place in the rotation, so the record has to say so.

24:29

This Kish is a Levite of Merari's line. He is not Kish the father of King Saul, who belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.

24:31

"Over against their brethren" in the King James means alongside them, on the same footing, the Levites drew lots by exactly the procedure the priests had used. The last clause means that senior and junior branches of a family drew on equal terms; no household got a better turn simply for being the elder line.