(o.) The third class also consisted of 4000. They were the gate-keepers (D'^1"1^\ TTvXwpoi, 1 Chron. xxvi, 1- 10), and, as such, bore arms (ix, 19. 2 Chron. xxxi, 2). They had to open and shut the gates, to keep strangers and excommunicated or unclean persons from entering the courts, and to guard the storehouse, the Temple, and its courts at night. They, too, were subdivided into twenty-four courses, and were headed by twenty-four chiefs from the three great families of Levi ; seven were sons of Meshelmiah, a descendant of Kohath ; thirteen were from Obed-edom, a descendant of tJershon ; and four were sons of Hosah, a descendant of Merari. These three families, including the twenty-four chiefs, consist- ed of ninety-three members, who, together with the three heads "of the families, viz. Meshelmiah, Obed-edom, and Hosah, made ninety-six, thus yielding four chiefs for each course. We thus obtain a watch-course every week of 1G2 or 163 persons, under the command of four superior watches, one of whom was the commander- in-chief. As 24 sentinel posts are assigned to these guards, thus making 1G8 a week, it appears that each nerson only served one day in the week (1 Chron. xxvi). (4.) The foiu-th class consisted of 6000, who were ap- pointed for outward affairs (n:"i:jinn (izs'b'in), as scribes and judges (1 Chron. xxvi, 29-32), m contradis- tinction to the work connected with the service of the sanctuary. It appears that this class was subdivided into three branches: Chenaniah and his sons were for the outward business of Israel (1 Chron. xSvi, 29)-, Ilasha- liiah of Hebron and his brethren, numbering 1700, Mere olHcers west of Jordan, " in all the Ijusiness of the Lord and in tl\e service of the king" (ver. 30) ; whilst Jerijah, also of Hebron, and his brethren, numbering 2700 active men, ;vere rulers east of Jordan " for every matter per- taining to (Jod and affairs of the king" (vers. 31, 32). It will thus be seen that this class consisted of Kohathites, being descendants of Izhar and Hebron.
Tlie Levites lived for the greater part of the year in their own cities, and came up at fixed periods to take their turn of work (1 Chron. xxv, xxvi). The predom- inance of the number twelve as the basis of classifica- tion might seem to indicate monthly periods, and the festivals of the new moon would naturally suggest such an arrangement. The analogous order in the civil and nnlitary administration (I Chron. xxvii, 1) would tend to the same conclusion. It api)ears, indeed, that there was a change of some kind every week (1 Chron. ix, 25 ; 2 Chron. xxiii, 4, 8) ; but this is, of course, com- patible with a system of rotation, which would give to each a longer period of residence, or with the jierma- nent residence of the leader of each division within the precincts of the sanctuary. M'hatever may have been tlie system, we must liear in mind that the duties now imposed ujion the Levites were such as to require al- most ciiutinuous practice. They would' need, when their turn came, to be able to bear their ]>arts in the great choral hymns of the Temple, and to take each his appomted share in the complex structure of a sacrificial
liturgy, and for this a special study would be required. The education which the Levites received for their pe- culiar duties, no less than their connection, more or less intimate, with the schools of the prophets (see above), would tend to make them, so far as there was any edu- cation at all, the teachers of the others (there is, how- ever, a curious Jewish tradition that the schoolmasters of Israel were of the tribe of Simeon [Solom. Jarchi on Gen. xlix, 7, in Godwyn's Moses and A a?-(5»]), the tran- scribers and interiireters of the law, the chroniclers of the times in which they lived. We have some striking instances of their appearance in this new character. One of them, Ethan the Ezrahite, takes his place .among the old Hebre\v sages who were worthy to be compared with Solomon, and (Psa. Ixxxix, title) his name ap- pears as the writer of the 39th Psalm (1 Kings iv, 31 ; 1 Chron. XV, 17). One of the first to bear the title of •' scribe" is a Levite (1 Chron. xxiv, G), and this is men- tioned as one of their special offices under Josiah (2 Chron. xxxiv, 13). They are described as " officers and judges" under David (1 Chron. xxvi, 29), and, as such, are employed '-in all the business of Jehovah, and in the service of the king." They are the agents of Je- hoshaphat and Hezekiah in their work of reformation, and are sent iV)rth to jiroclaim and enforce the law (2 Chron. xvii, 8 ; xxx, 22). Under Josiah the function has passed into a title, and they are " the Levites that taught all Israel" (2 Chron. xxxv, 3). The two books of Chronicles bear unmistakable marks of liaving been written by men whose interests were all gathered round the services of the Temple, and who were familiar with its records. The materials from which they compiled their narratives, and to which they refer as the works of seers and prophets, were written by men ^\•ho were probably Levites themselves, or, if not, were associated with them.