1 Chronicles 23:3

Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Now . . . and—i.e., after the council had agreed upon it.

The Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward.—A census like that which Moses instituted (Numbers 4:3; Numbers 4:23; Numbers 4:30, &c.), of all Levites “from thirty years old and upward unto fifty years,” for the work of the Tabernacle.

By their polls, man by man.—Lit., As to their skulls, as to men. The second phrase defines the first, and excludes women and children.

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 23:3. From the age of thirty years and upward — Not only till fifty, as it was appointed Numbers 4:2-3, but even till their death: for that was but a temporary law grounded upon a special reason, because the Levites were employed in carrying the tabernacle and sacred vessels from place to place; and therefore God would have them freed from those burdens when they came to feel the infirmities of age: which reason wholly ceasing upon the building of the temple, their work being far easier than it had been, and their service being more a privilege than a burden, their time of service is justly prolonged.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:1-23 David, having given charge concerning the building of the temple, settles the method of the temple service, and orders the officers of it. When those of the same family were employed together, it would engage them to love and assist one another.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the marginal references and notes. 1 Chronicles 23:28-32 give the most complete account in Scripture of the nature of the Levitical office.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. the Levites were numbered … thirty and eight thousand—Four times their number at the early census taken by Moses (see on [397]Nu 4:1-49; [398]26:1-51). It was, in all likelihood, this vast increase that suggested and rendered expedient that classification, made in the last year of David's reign, which the present and three subsequent chapters describe.

by their polls, man by man—Women and children were not included.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

From the age of thirty years and upward; not only till fifty, as it was appointed, Numbers 4:2,3, but even till their death; for that was but a temporary law grounded upon a special reason, because the Levites were employed in carrying the tabernacle and sacred vessels from place to place; and therefore God would have them freed from those burdens when they came to feel the infirmities of age; which reason wholly ceasing upon the building of the temple, and their work being far easier than it had been, and their service being more a privilege than a burden, their time of service is justly and fitly prolonged.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years, and upward,.... So they were numbered in the days of Moses, and by his order, and so they were now at first; though afterwards there was a new reckoning of them, 1 Chronicles 23:24.

and their number by their posts; or, according to their heads:

man by man, was thirty and eight thousand; which vastly exceeds the number in the times of Moses; see Numbers 4:47, but then those above fifty years of age were not numbered, as they now might; since their work in the temple would be much more easy, no burdens to carry, as the ark, the vessels, &c.

Geneva Study Bible

Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. by their polls] Lit. by their skulls. “Poll” is an almost obsolete word for “head,” retained in the compound word, “poll-tax.”

thirty and eight thousand] A great increase since the time of Moses; the males from a month old and upwards are reckoned at 22,000 in Numbers 3:39 and at 23,000 in Numbers 26:62.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward. The thing which Joab had rightly resisted (1 Chronicles 21:3-6) and shrunk from doing was now rightly done. There was now a practical and a legitimate object for doing it. This consideration helps to determine what it was that "displeased the Lord" in the former general census of David. In connection with this clause, 1 Chronicles 27:23 should be noted, where we read, "But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the Lord had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens." The period from the age of thirty years up to fifty (Numbers 4:3, 23, 35, 39) was fixed under Moses, for those "that came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation" (Numbers 4:47). It is not certain, however, that this census did not inquire, in point of fact, respecting some below this limit of age. For we may note ver. 24 in the first place, and this is partly explained by Numbers 8:23-25. The number "thirty and eight thousand" of our present verse may be compared with the "eight thousand and five hundred and four score" of Numbers 4:47, 48. It is to be observed how promptly the national council did on this occasion commence with the arrangement of the ministers of religion, "the Levites." As we read (Numbers 4:3) of "thirty years" of age as the appointed age for the commencement of their ministry, and (Numbers 7:3) of the present or "offering" of "six covered waggons and twelve oxen," which the twelve "princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, princes of the tribes," offered "before the Lord," which greatly lessened the laborious work of the Levites; so we find the commencing age reduced from time to time, to "twenty-five" years (Numbers 8:24), and to "twenty years" of age, as in our present chapter (vers. 24-28). 1 Chronicles 23:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upwards. This statement agrees with that in Numbers 4:3, Numbers 4:23, Numbers 4:30, Numbers 4:39., where Moses caused those from thirty to fifty years of age to be numbered, and appointed them for service about the tabernacle during the journey through the wilderness. But Moses himself, at a later time, determined that their period of service should be from twenty-five to fifty; Numbers 8:23-26. It is consequently not probable that David confined the numbering to those of thirty and upwards. But besides that, we have a distinct statement in 1 Chronicles 23:24 that they were numbered from twenty years of age, the change being grounded by David upon the nature of their service; and that this was the proper age is confirmed by 2 Chronicles 31:17 and Ezra 3:8, according to which the Levites under Hezekiah, and afterwards, had to take part in the service from their twentieth year. We must therefore regard שׁלשׂים in Ezra 3:3 as having crept into the text through the error of copyists, who were thinking of the Mosaic census in Numbers 4, and must read עשׂרים instead of it. The various attempts of commentators to get rid of the discrepancy between 1 Chronicles 23:3 and 1 Chronicles 23:24 are mere makeshifts; and the hypothesis that David took two censuses is as little supported by the text, as that other, that our chapter contains divergent accounts drawn from two different sources; see on 1 Chronicles 23:24. The number amounted to 38,000, according to their heads in men. לגברים serves for a nearer definition of לגלגּלתם, and explains that only men were numbered, women not being included.