Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Chronicles 24:6
And Shemaiah the son of Nethaneel the scribe, [one] of the Levites, wrote them before the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and [before] the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites: one principal household being taken for Eleazar, and [one] taken for Ithamar.
6. the scribe, one of the Levites ] Particularly described in order to distinguish him from the king’s scribe (cp. 2Ch 24:11).
one principal household ] R.V. one fathers’ house.
one taken ] R.V. one taken (without italics) by an easy emendation of the Hebrew. The alternate drawing here described could have lasted only for the first sixteen lots; in the last eight drawings the descendants of Eleazar must have drawn against each other only; cp. 1Ch 24:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wrote them before the king – i. e., wrote down their names as the lots were drawn forth.
Ahimelech the son of Abiathar – A wrong reading. It should be Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech. See the 2Sa 8:17 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. And Shemaiah] “Moses the great scribe, who is called Shemaiah, the son of Nethaneel, of the tribe of Levi, wrote them down.” – T.
One principal household – for Eleazar] The family of Eleazar was the most illustrious of the sacerdotal families, because Eleazar was the first-born of Aaron, Ithamar’s family was the second in order and dignity; therefore one of the principal families of Eleazar was first taken, and then one of Ithamar’s, and thus alternately till the whole was finished.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or, the chief (which word is easily supplied out of the context) of one house of the fathers was taken (to wit, by lot)
for Eleazar, ( i.e. out of his family,) and that which was taken after it was
taken for Ithamar, i.e. out of his family. The meaning is, that the first lot fell to Eleazar, and the second to Ithamar, and the third to Eleazar, and the fourth to Ithamar; and so successively, until all the families of Ithamar had received their lots; and afterwards all the lots came forth to the rest of Eleazars families, which were double in number to those of Ithamar, as was said, 1Ch 24:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. one principal householdThemarginal reading is preferable, “one house of the father.”The lot was cast in a deliberate and solemn manner in presence of theking, the princes, the two high priests, and the chiefs of thepriestly and Levitical families. The heads of families belonging toEleazar and Ithamar were alternately brought forward to draw, and thename of each individual, as called, registered by an attendantsecretary. To accommodate the casting of the lots to the inequalityof the number, there being sixteen fathers’ houses of Eleazar, andonly eight of Ithamar, it was arranged that every house of Ithamarshould be followed by two of Eleazar, or, what is the same thing,that every two houses of Eleazar should be followed by one ofIthamar. If, then, we suppose a commencement to have been made byEleazar, the order would be as follows: one and two, Eleazar; three,Ithamar; four and five, Eleazar; six, Ithamar; seven and eight,Eleazar; nine, Ithamar; and so forth [BERTHEAU].The lot determined also the order of the priests’ service. That ofthe Levites was afterwards distributed by the same arrangement (1Ch24:31).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Shemaiah the son of Nethaneel the scribe,…. The Targum is, Moses the chief scribe, so called: one
of the Levites wrote them: the lots, and the names upon them, put into the urn, and as they came out, which was first, second, c. and this was done
before the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and before the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites and in this public manner, before such great personages, and in the presence of those that were interested in the affair, that it might appear plainly no fraudulent methods were taken, and that there might be no suspicion of any:
one principal household being taken for Eleazar, and one for Ithamar; the sense of Jarchi as above, and other Jewish writers, is, that one was added to each family of Eleazar, and so made sixteen, and Ithamar’s were retained, and left as at first, eight: but the sense is, that first one family of Eleazar was taken, and then one of Ithamar’s family, and then one of Eleazar’s again, and so on until sixteen were gone through; and then the other eight were divided under so many heads of the family of Eleazar.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“He set them down,” viz., the classes, as the lot had determined them. , of the tribe of Levi. belongs to , heads of the fathers’-houses of the priests and of the Levites. The second hemistich of 1Ch 24:6 gives a more detailed account of the drawing of the lots: “One father’s-house was drawn for Eleazar, and drawn for Ithamar.” The last words are obscure. , to lay hold of, to draw forth (Num 31:30, Num 31:47), here used of drawing lots, signifies plucked forth or drawn from the urn. The father’s-house was plucked forth from the urn, the lot bearing its name being drawn. , which is the only well-attested reading, only some few MSS containing the reading , is very difficult. Although this various reading is a mere conjecture, yet Gesen. ( Thes. p. 68), with Cappell and Grotius, prefers it. The repetition of the same word expresses sometimes totality, multitude, sometimes a distributive division; and here can only be taken in this last signification: one father’s-house drawn for Eleazar, and then always drawn (or always one drawn) for Ithamar. So much at least is clear, that the lots of the two priestly families were not placed in one urn, but were kept apart in different urns, so that the lots might be drawn alternately for Eleazar and Ithamar. Had the lot for Eleazar been first drawn, and thereafter that for Ithamar, since Eleazar’s family was the more numerous, they would have had an advantage over the Ithamarites. But it was not to be allowed that one family should have an advantage over the other, and the lots were consequently drawn alternately, one for the one, and another for the other. But as the Eleazarites were divided into sixteen fathers’-houses, and the Ithamarites into eight, Bertheau thinks that it was settled, in order to bring about an equality in the numbers sixteen and eight, in so far as the drawing of the lots was concerned, that each house of Ithamar should represent two lots, or, which is the same thing, that after every two houses of Eleazarites one house of Ithamarites should follow, and that the order of succession of the single houses was fixed according to this arrangement. To this or some similar conception of the manner of settling the order of succession we are brought, he says, by the relation of the number eight to sixteen, and by the words and . But even though this conception be readily suggested by the relation of the number sixteen to eight, yet we cannot see how the words and indicate it. These words would much rather suggest that a lot for Eleazar alternated with the drawing of one for Ithamar, until the eight heads of Ithamar’s family had been drawn, when, of course, the remaining eight lots of Eleazar must be drawn one after the other. We cannot, however, come to any certain judgment on the matter, for the words are so obscure as to be unintelligible even to the old translators. In 1Ch 24:7-18 we have the names of the fathers’-houses in the order of succession which had been determined by the lot. , of the lot coming forth from the urn, as in Jos 16:1; Jos 19:1. The names Jehoiarib and Jedaiah occur together also in 1Ch 9:10; and Jedaiah is met with, besides, in Ezr 2:36 and Neh 7:39. The priest Mattathias, 1 Macc. 2:1, came of the class of Jehoiarib. Of the succeeding names, (1Ch 24:8), (1Ch 24:13), and (1Ch 24:15) do not elsewhere occur; others, such as (1Ch 24:13), (1Ch 24:17), do not recur among the names of priests. The sixteenth class, Immer, on the contrary, and the twenty-first, Jachin, are often mentioned; cf. 1Ch 9:10, 1Ch 9:12. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, belonged to the eighth, Abiah (Luk 1:5).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(6) And Shemaiah . . . wrote them.Made a list of the names in the order determined by lot, as given below (1Ch. 24:7-18).
The chief of the fathers.Better, the heads of the houses or clans.
One principal household being taken . . .The Hebrew text is corrupt, but we may with great probability restore the original reading by the change of a single letter, and translate, one clan was drawn for Eleazar, and one drawn for Ithamar: i.e., alternately. So one Hebrew MS. The LXX. has, one by one for Eleazar, and one by one for Ithamar. (So some Hebrew MSS. The Syriac and Vulg. read, one house for Eleazar, and another house for Ithamar.) The chances would be that the Ithamarites would all be drawn before the Eleazarites. (Comp. 1Ch. 25:22-31, where ten sons of the Hemanite are left over, and drawn last.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Ch 24:6. One principal household being taken for Eleazar That is, one of the principal families of Eleazar was first taken, and then one of Ithamar’s, and thus alternately till the whole was finished. See Houbigant’s note.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Ch 24:6 And Shemaiah the son of Nethaneel the scribe, [one] of the Levites, wrote them before the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and [before] the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites: one principal household being taken for Eleazar, and [one] taken for Ithamar.
Ver. 6. The scribe, one of the Levites, wrote them. ] This was the public notary, of great note amongst them; and highly honoured in such witnesses of that which he now recorded.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the scribe = the secretary. Compare 1Ch 27:32. See note on 2Sa 8:17.
Ahimelech. So that Abiathar had a son named Ahimelech, who assisted him, as Hophni and Phinehas assisted Eli.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the scribe: 1Ki 4:3, 2Ch 34:13, Ezr 7:6, Neh 8:1, Mat 8:19, Mat 13:52, Mat 23:1, Mat 23:2
principal household: Heb. house of the father, 1Ch 23:24
Reciprocal: 1Ch 24:3 – Zadok 1Ch 24:31 – lots 1Ch 25:1 – the captains 2Ch 5:2 – the chief 2Ch 23:2 – the chief of Neh 12:12 – the chief
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ch 24:6. Shemaiah, the scribe, wrote them before the king Their names were written and put into an urn, out of which the lots were to be drawn: which, that there might be no suspicion of fraud, were drawn before the king, the princes, the high-priest and his assistant, and before the several families of priests and Levites. One principal household being taken for Eleazar, &c. That is, one of the principal families of Eleazar was first taken, and then one of Ithamars, and thus alternately, till all the families of Ithamar had received their lot. And afterward all the lots came forth to the rest of Eleazars families, which were double in number to those of Ithamar.