were sons. This and the following verse bearers, though the burdens they bore were must be compared particularly with eh. xxiv. of the most sacred character. 26:-29; the Jaaziak of which passage was Ver. 27.-The ... words of David. Al- evidently no son of Mer11ri, on e. par with thou~h there are many instances of the ex- Me.hli and Mushi, but e. later descende.nt. pression, "the words of" David or some His descendants were three-Shoham, Zac- other k_ing, as eqnivalen~ to his "doings" cur, and Ibri (Beno being no proper no.me, ( eh. _xxix. 29; 2 Chron. ix. 29), and not e. but signifying "his son"). few IUBte.,~ces of t~e so.me ~hrase, standing Ver. 22.-Their brethren . , . took them; for the a<Xl?_un t or . " history " of e.n y i.e. their kinsmen, as margin, "took them" one (eh. ~vn. 24; xx1x. 29, three times; to wife (Numb. xxxvi. 5-12). (For the sons 2 Chron. ix. 29), the expression here may of Kish, see eh. xxiv. 29.) rather parallel passages like 2 Sam. xxiii. Ver. 23.-The sons of Mushi (comp. eh. 1 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 30. xxiv. 30). Ver. 28.-Beoan.ae their oflioe; i.e. pro- Ver. 24.-This and the remaining verses bably the office or position of all includin"' of the chapter contain some genere.l pro- the younger Levites. The d;velopmeut visione regarding the offices rmd future work and greater dete.il of their varied duties of the Levites-in po.rt David's le.at eclition e.s the working staff of the " sons of of such provisions. (On the present verse Aaron," CLre alluded to here; CLnd how comp. Numb. i. 1-4; iv. 1-3, 21-23, 29, priests, Levites, and N ethinim ( eh. ix. 2) 30; viii. 23-26.) It ie not easy to reconcile e.11 now formally undertook the whole range thie veree with ver. 3. Keil cuts the knot and scope of their functions is suggested. e.t once by euppoeiug the "thirty" years of The work of these e.ssiste.nts of the ·• sons ver. 3 to be the error of e. copyist, to whoee of Aaron " is detailed in three or fonr items memory the Mosaic censue was present. so far e.e this verse geos. They are first And with Berthee.u, he objecte to the suppo- generally for the sacred service of the hon.ae sition that this verse describee e. supple- of the Lord. That sacred servicR is in the mente.ry census, in conformity with" David's matter of the oonrts (Exocl. xxvii. 9; 1 le.et words" (ver. 27), and e.s contrasted with Kiugs vi. 36 ; Conder's ' Bible Hcmdbook,' his former directions. With the exception pp. 376-378, 2nd edit.); of the chambers of what is conte.ined in vers. 25-27, it is (eh. ix. 26; Ezek, xl. 17; xiii. I; Neh. x. true that these do not offer themselves suffi- 38; Conder'e • Bible Handbook,' pp. 376, cient indications to mo.ke one feel confident 380); of the purifying of all holy thinga ; of this exple.ne.tion. On the other he.ad, to and of the work, i.e. the performing of the set down the number "thirty" in ver. 3 e.t sacred service of the hon.ae of God. once to the miste.ke of e. copyist is too Ver. 29.-Both for the shewbread, and summary e.nd convenient e. way of escaping , . , size. Seven other specifications of ser- an awkward difficulty. It is evident that vice are continued in this verse, with which the following three verses do purport to we may compCLre eh. ix. 26-32. For tlte exple.in why e.t this time the age of allow- skewbread. The first mention of shewbrend able service wae altered to a standard so is found in Exod. xxv. 30. The directions much lower thRn of old, and to assert that for making it a.re found in Lev. xxiv. 5-9. this olteration was recognized by the last The twelve unleCLvened cnkee of which it orders of David. consisted, heaped on the table in two piles, Ver. 25.-For David said. The "for" of represented the twelve tribes, and intimated this cfouso conuot be supposed to account the Divine accepte.nce of the offerings of exclusively for the inclusion in the census eoch faithful tribe (see also 2 Chron. xiii. of Levites beginning from the e.ge of twenty 11); _l'or the fine flour for ~eat offering. years; it oocounts no doubt for the tokole This 1s spoken of m Exod. xx,x. 40; Lev. ii. proceeding. Since there would be no more 1-7; vi. H, 15, 19-27; xxiii. 13; xxiv. journeyings for people, for buildings, or for 5. For the unleavened cakes ... the pan se.ored vessels, it was now fully time to , , , fried. 'fhese ore spoken of in Lev. ii, organize religious duty and "the service of 4-7. l'or all manner of mes.sure and size• the house of God" in e. manner e.daptecl to Hebrew ;,101 ;,i1~0-,::i,,. These two word~ permanent institutions. In order to this, occur also ·i~ Le;, ~ix.' 35, 3G, whoro they nro the first step was to know and to arrange the rendered respectively "in mcnsuro" and" in number of those who were answerable for meteyarcl." Perhaps the exacter rendorin" sacred duties. here would be "for o.11 matt.ors of liquid Ver. 26.-And also unto the Levites. aud solid measure." Emphasis is laid on the thought of the Ver. 30.-To stand every morning to relief that permanent habitation in J cru- thank and praise the Lord (so ver. 13 of Balem conferred on the Levites over and this chapter and eh. xxv. 7). Thou!!h above the whole body of the rest of the DertheCLU sees no special sign in tho c~n- people. They will no more be mero burden- nection for this clescriptiou to be conllnetl to 378 THE FIRST BOOK OF 'l'HE CHRO~lCLES. (cu. xxm. 1-:32.
the four thousand whose special work and (Lev. xxiii. 4, 5); (2) the Pentecost (Lev. prfrilege it was, yet it is in entire analogy xxiii. 15-17); (3) the Feast of Tuhernacles with the whole context so to confine it. (Lev. xxiii. 33-37). Ver. 31.-And to offer; Hebre-«, "and Ver. 82.-Keep the charge of the tabor• for a.II the offering of burnt offerings." naole . . . holy plBce . . . sons of Aaron, For other references to the help which This ~oncluding verse is equivalent to a the Le,ites gave in the matter of the quotation from Numb. xviii. 1-7; in the burnt offerings, and for the number (2 first verse of which po.esage Aaron o.nd the Sam. ii. 15; Numb. :xxviii. 1-31) of them, priests generally are reminded both of their see Numb. x.xix. 2-34; 2 Chron. xxix. 32 representative character and position, o.nd -34 ; xxxv. 2-12. The priests alone per- of the solemn rlll!ponsibility which rested formed the· actual sacrifices. The set feasts. on them. These refer to the three : (1) the Passover