1 Chronicles 23:31

hem their work, 1Chr 23:2-5. The sons of Levi, Gershom, Kohath, Merari, and their descendants, 1Chr 23:6-12. The sons of Amram, and their descendants, 1Chr 23:13. The sons of Moses, and their descendants, 1Chr 23:14-24. David appoints the Levites to wait on the priests for the service of the sanctuary, 1Chr 23:25-32. Verse 1 David was old and full of days - On the phrase full of days, see the note on Gen 25:8. Verse 3 Thirty years and upward - The enumeration of the Levites made in the desert, Num 4:3, was from thirty years upwards to fifty years. In this place, the latter limit is not mentioned, probably because the service was not so laborious now; for the ark being fixed they had no longer any heavy burdens to carry, and therefore even an old man might continue to serve the tabernacle. David made another ordinance afterwards; see on 1Chr 23:24-27 (note). Verse 5 Four thousand praised the Lord - David made this distribution according to his own judgment, and from the dictates of his piety; but it does not appear that he had any positive Divine authority for such arrangements. As to the instruments of music which he made they are condemned elsewhere; see Amo 6:5, to which this verse is allowed to be the parallel. Verse 11 Therefore they were in one reckoning - The family of Shimei, being small, was united with that of Laadan, that the two families might do that work which otherwise belonged to one, but which would have been too much for either of these separately. Verse 13 To bless in his name - To bless the people by invoking the name of the Lord. Verse 14 Moses the man of God - "Moses the prophet of God," - T. Verse 16 To this verse the Targum adds, "The same Jonathan, who became a false prophet, repented in his old age; and David made him his chief treasurer." Verse 17 But the sons of Rehabiah were very many - The Targum says, "On account of the merits of Moses, the posterity of Rehabiah were multiplied to more than sixty myriads." Verse 22 Their brethren the sons of Kish took them - This was according to the law made Num 27:1, etc., and Num 36:5-9, in favor of the daughters of Zelophehad, that women who were heiresses should marry in the family of the tribe of their father, and that their estates should not be alienated from them. Verse 24 Twenty years and upward - It appears that this was a different ordinance from that mentioned 1Chr 23:3. At first he appointed the Levites to serve from thirty years and upward; now from twenty years. These were David's last orders; see 1Chr 23:27. They should begin at an earlier age, and continue later. This was not a very painful task; the ark being now fixed, and the Levites very numerous, there could be no drudgery. Verse 28 Purifying of all holy things - Keeping all the vessels and utensils belonging to the sacred service clean and neat. Verse 29 Both for the shew-bread - It was the priests' office to place this bread before the Lord, and it was their privilege to feed on the old loaves when they were replaced by the new. Some of the rabbins think that the priests sowed, reaped, ground, kneaded, and baked the grain of which the shew-bread was made. This appears to be a conceit. Jerome, in his comment on Mal 1:6, mentions it in these words: "Panes propositionis quos, juxta traditiones Hebraicas, ipsi serere, ipsi demetere, ipsi molere, ipsi coquere debebatis." For all manner of measure and size - The standards of all weights and measures were kept at the sanctuary, and by those there deposited all the weights and measures of the land were to be tried. See the note on Exo 30:13. Verse 30 To stand every morning - At the offering of the morning and evening sacrifice, they sounded their musical instruments, and sang praises to God. Verse 32 The charge of the sons of Aaron - It was the priests' business to kill, flay, and dress, as well as to offer, the victims, but being few, they were obliged to employ the Levites to flay those animals. The Levites were, properly speaking, servants to the priests, and were employed about the more servile part of Divine worship. Introduction David divides the families of Ele

The Office of the Levites. ( b. c. 1015.) 24 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. 25 For David said, The Lord God of Israel hath given rest unto his people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever: 26 And also unto the Levites; they shall no more carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for the service thereof. 27 For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above: 28 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; 29 Both for the showbread, 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; 30 And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord , and likewise at even; 31 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 : 32 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 . Here is, I. An alteration made in the computation of the effective men of the Levites—that whereas, in Moses's time, they were not enlisted, or taken into service, till they were thirty-years old, nor admitted as probationers till twenty-five ( Num. viii. 24 ), David ordered, by direction from God, that they should be numbered for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of twenty years and upwards, v. 24 . This order he confirmed by his last words, v. 27 . When he put his last hand to the draught of this establishment he expressly appointed this to be done for ever after; yet not he; but the Lord. 1. Perhaps the young Levites, having no work appointed them till twenty-five years old, had many of them got a habit of idleness, or grew addicted to their pleasures, which proved both a blemish to their reputation and a hindrance to their usefulness afterwards, to prevent which inconvenience they are set to work, and brought under discipline, at twenty-years old. Those that will be eminent must learn to take care and take care betimes. 2. When the work of the Levites was to carry burdens, heavy burdens, the tabernacle and the furniture of it, God would not call any to it till they had come to their full strength; for he considers our frame, and, in service as well as sufferings, will lay no more upon us than we are able to bear. But now God had given rest to his people, and made Jerusalem his dwelling-place for ever, so that there was no more occasion to carry the tabernacle and the vessels thereof, the service was much easier, and what would not over-work them nor over-load them if they entered upon it at twenty-years old. 3. Now the people of Israel were multiplied, and there was a more general resort to Jerusalem, and would be when the temple was built, than had ever been at Shiloh, or Nob, or Gibeon; it was therefore requisite there should be more hands employed in the temple-service, that every Israelite who brought an offering might find a Levite ready to assist him. When more work is to be done it is a pity but there should be more workmen fetched in for the doing of it. When the harvest is plenteous why should the labourers be few? II. A further account of the Levites' work. What the work of the priests was we are told ( v. 13 ): To sanctify the most holy things, to burn incense before the Lord, and to bless in his name; that work the Levites were not to meddle with, and yet they had work enough, and good work, according to that to which they were appointed, v. 4, 5 . 1. Those of them that were to set forward the work of the house of God ( v. 4 ) were therein to wait on the sons of Aaron ( v. 28 ), were to do the drudgery-work (if any work for God is to be called drudgery ) of the house of God, to keep the courts and chambers clean, set things in their places, and have them ready when there was occasion to use them. They were to prepare the show-bread which the priests were to set on the table, to provide the flour and cakes for the meat-offerings, that the priests might have every thing ready to their hands. 2. Those of them that were judges and officers had an eye particularly upon all measure and size, v. 29 . The standards of all weights and measures were kept in the sanctuary; and the Levites had the care of them, to see that they were exact, and to try other weights and measures by them when they were appealed to. 3. The work of the singers was to thank and praise the Lord ( v. 30 ), at the offering of the morning and evening sacrifices, and other oblations on the sabbaths, new moons, &c., v. 31 . Moses appointed that they should blow with trumpets over their burnt offerings and other sacrifices, and on their solemn days, Num. x. 10 . The sound of the trumpet was awful, and might be affecting to the worshippers, but was not articulate, nor such a reasonable service as this which David appointed, of singing psalms on those occasions. As the Jewish church grew up from its infancy, it grew more and more intelligent in its devotions, till it came at length, in the gospel, to put away childish things, 1 Cor. xiii. 11 ; Gal. iv. 3, 9 . 4. The work of the porters ( v. 5 ) was to keep the charge of the tabernacle and of the holy place, that none might come nigh but such as were allowed, and those no nearer than was allowed them, v. 32 . They were likewise to keep the charge of the sons of Aaron, to be at their beck and go on their errands, who are yet called their brethren, to be a memorandum to the priests that, though they were advanced to a high station, yet they were hewn out of the same rock with common Levites, and therefore must not lord it over them, but in all instances treat them as brethren.