Глава 24

1–19. Division into orders of priests, descendants of Aaron. 20–31. Their closest assistants are Levites. 1 Chronicles 24:1. And these are the distributions of the sons of Aaron: the sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 1 Chronicles 24:2. Nadab and Abihu died before their father, but they had no sons, and therefore Eleazar and Ithamar were priests. 1 Chronicles 24:3. And David distributed them - Zadok from the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech from the sons of Ithamar, in turn to serve them. 1 Chronicles 24:4. And it was found that among the sons of Eleazar there were more heads of generations than among the children of Ithamar. And he distributed them like this: from the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen heads of families, and from the sons of Ithamar there were eight. By the time of David, two priestly lines had been preserved, originating from the two youngest sons of Aaron - Eleazar and Ithamar, since his two eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, died childless (Lev. 10:1). The representative of the first line was Zadok, the second was Ahimelech. And since in the generation of Eleazar there were sixteen clans, and in the generation of Ithamar - 8, then accordingly, all the priestly classes turned out to be 24 (cf. Neh. 12: 1-7, 12-21). 1 Chronicles 24:5. He distributed them by lot, because the chief ones in the sanctuary and the chief ones before God were the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar, 1 Chronicles 24:6. and Shemaiah the son of Nathanael, a scribe of the Levites, wrote them down before the king and the princes and before the priest Zadok and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and before the heads of the priestly and Levitical families: when they cast lots, they took one family from the family of Eleazar, then they took from the family of Ithamar. Service at the church was distributed among 24 priestly classes or groups for the whole year, and the turn of one or another line was determined by lot, drawn alternately by representatives of each line. Such an order was the best way to eliminate various kinds of misunderstandings that were inevitable if the terms of service were appointed at the discretion of David and the high priests. By the way, they would arise due to the fact that some weeks (holidays) were more profitable, others less. Priests forced by the authorities to serve in times of low income would be dissatisfied; conversely, discontent could not take place during the drawing of lots. The equation of priests he achieved was further strengthened by alternate removal. If the 16 eldest clans of Eleazar had been admitted to the lot first, it is very possible that they would have received most of the best weeks, which, of course, would have offended the clans of Ithamar. By drawing lots alternately, both could receive bad and good terms. The order of service of the priestly groups, determined by lot, was recorded by the scribe Shemaiah, apparently in order to perpetuate it and thereby eliminate the possibility of various misunderstandings arising in the future. 1 Chronicles 24:7. And the first lot came out to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 1 Chronicles 24:8. third Harimu, fourth Seorimu, 1 Chronicles 24:9. the fifth Malchi, the sixth Miyamin, 1 Chronicles 24:10. seventh Gakkotsu, eighth Avia, 1 Chronicles 24:11. the ninth Yeshua, the tenth Shechaniah, 1 Chronicles 24:12. the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, 1 Chronicles 24:13. the thirteenth to Hushai, the fourteenth to Ishebab, 1 Chronicles 24:14. fifteenth Vilge, sixteenth Imer, 1 Chronicles 24:15. seventeenth Heziru, eighteenth Gapitsetsu, 1 Chronicles 24:16. the nineteenth to Petahiah, the twentieth to Ezekiel, 1 Chronicles 24:17. twenty-first to Jachin, twenty-second to Hamul, 1 Chronicles 24:18. the twenty-third of Delai, the twenty-fourth of Maazi. The names of the persons listed in these verses, the heads of priestly families, gave the name to the priestly orders. This is the order of Jehoiarib (verse 7), to which the priest Mattathias belonged with his sons, the famous brothers Maccabees (1 Mac. 2:1); Abib (verse 10), from which Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, came (Luke 1:5); Imerova (verse 14), among whose members the priest Pashor, a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah, is known (Jer. 20:1). 1 Chronicles 24:20. The other sons of Levi have the following distribution: from the sons of Amram: Shubael; of the sons of Shubael: Jediah; 1 Chronicles 24:21. from Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah Ishshiah was the first; 1 Chronicles 24:22. from Izhar: Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth: Jahab; 1 Chronicles 24:23. of the sons of Hebron: the first Jeriah, the second Amariah, the third Jahaziel, the fourth Jekamam. 1 Chronicles 24:24. Of the sons of Uzziel: Micah; of the sons of Micah: Shamir. 1 Chronicles 24:25. Brother of Micha Ishshiya; of the sons of Ishishia: Zechariah. 1 Chronicles 24:26. Sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; of the sons of Jaaziah: Beno. 1 Chronicles 24:27. Of the sons of Merari of Jaaziah: Beno and Shogam, and Zakkur and Ivri. 1 Chronicles 24:28. Mahlius has Eleazar; he had no sons. 1 Chronicles 24:29. From Kish: of the sons of Kish: Jerahmiel; 1 Chronicles 24:30. sons of Mushiya: Mahli, Eder and Jerimoth. These are the sons of the Levites according to their generations. 1 Chronicles 24:31. They also cast lots, along with their brothers, the sons of Aaron, in the presence of King David and Zadok and Ahimelech, and the heads of the priestly and Levitical families: the head of the family is on a par with his younger brother. The list of Levitical clans given in these verses does not include the names of representatives of the Gershonites, which is why it cannot be considered, as some believe, a list of all Levitical clans. The names of the Levites listed here are the same as the names of the heads of the Levites appointed to “the work of the house of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 23:6–23). And since these latter took part in the divine service (1 Chronicles 23:28-32), one can think that in the present case the Levites, the closest assistants to the priests in this regard, were counted. The validity of this assumption is evidenced, by the way, by the fact that they drew lots after the sons of Aaron (verse 31). 1 Chronicles 24:20. The other sons of Levi have the following distribution: from the sons of Amram: Shubael; of the sons of Shubael: Jediah; Shubael is the grandson of Moses, the son of his son Gershon, called Shebuel in (1 Chronicles 23:16). During the time of David, the representative of the family descended from him was a certain Jediah, a completely unknown person. 1 Chronicles 24:23. of the sons of Hebron: first Jeriah, second Amariah, third Jahaziel, fourth Jekamam. The name “Beno” (“his son”) cannot in any case be recognized as one’s own. The mention of someone’s son implies the disappearance of the name of his father. Another sign of corruption in the text is the repetition of the phrase verse 26: “the sons of Merari” at the beginning of verse 27: a count that has no parallel in the previous verses. You might be interested in: