(1 Chronicles 6:10-15). "And the sons of Elkanah, Amasai and Ahimoth." As it is clear that with אלק וּבני אל a new list begins, and that the preceding enumeration is that of the descendants of Abiasaph, it is at once suggested that this Elkanah was the brother of the Abiasaph mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:15. If, however, we compare the genealogy of Heman, we find there (1 Chronicles 6:36 and 1 Chronicles 6:35) a list of the descendants of Joel in an ascending line, thus, - Elkanah, Amasai, Mahath, Elkanah, Zuph; from which it would seem to follow that our Elkanah is the son of Moel mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:36, for Ahimoth may be without difficulty considered to be another form of the name Mahath. This conclusion would be assured if only the beginning of 1 Chronicles 6:26 were in harmony with it. In this verse, indeed, בּנו אלקנה, as we read in the Kethibh, may be without difficulty taken to mean that Elkanah was the son of Ahimoth, just as in 1 Chronicles 6:20 Elkanah is introduced as son of Mahath. But in this way no meaning can be assigned to the אלקנה which follows בני, and Bertheau accordingly is of opinion that this אלקנה has come into the text by an error. The Masoretes also felt the difficulty, and have substituted for the Kethibh בנו the Keri בּני, but then nothing can be made of the first אלקנה in 1 Chronicles 6:26. Beyond doubt the traditional text is here corrupt, and from a comparison of 1 Chronicles 6:35 and 1 Chronicles 6:34 the only conclusion we can draw with any certainty is that the list from צופי onwards contains the names of descendants of Elkanah the son of Mahath, which is so far favourable to the Keri אלקנה בּני. The name Elkanah, on the contrary, which immediately precedes בנו, seems to point to a hiatus in the text, and gives room for the conjecture that in 1 Chronicles 6:10 the sons of Elkanah, the brother of Abiasaph and Assir, were named, and that there followed thereupon an enumeration of the sons or descendants of the Elkanah whom we meet with in 1 Chronicles 6:36 as son of Joel, after which came the names Elkanah בּנו, Zophai בּנו, etc. נחת and אליאב we consider to be other forms of תּוח and אליאל, 1 Chronicles 6:34, and צופי is only another form of צוּף. The succeeding names, Jeroham and Elkanah (1 Chronicles 6:27), agree with those in 1 Chronicles 6:34; but between the clauses "Elkanah his son" (1 Chronicles 6:27), and "and the sons of Samuel" (1 Chronicles 6:28), the connecting link בּנו שׁמוּאל, cf. 1 Chronicles 6:33, is again wanting, as is also, before or after הבּכר (1 Chronicles 6:28), the name of the first-born, viz., Joel; cf. 1 Chronicles 6:33 with 1 Samuel 8:2. Now, although the two last-mentioned omissions can be supplied, they yet show that the enumeration in 1 Chronicles 6:22 is not a continuous list of one Kohathite family, but contains only fragments of several Kohathite genealogies. - In 1 Chronicles 6:29 and 1 Chronicles 6:30, descendants of Merari follow; sons of Mahli in six generations, who are not mentioned elsewhere. Bertheau compares this list of names, Mahli, Libni, Shimei, Uzza, Shimea, Haggiah, and Asaiah, with the list contained in 1 Chronicles 6:44, Mushi, Mahli, Shamer, Bani, Amzi, Hilkiah, and Amaziah, and attempts to maintain, notwithstanding the great difference in the names, that the two lists were originally identical, in order to find support for the hypothesis "that the three lists in 1 Chronicles 6:20 have not found a place in the Chronicle from their own intrinsic value, or, in other words, have not been introduced there in order to give a register of the ancestors of Jeaterai, the sons of Samuel and Asaiah, but have been received only because they bring us to Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, 1 Chronicles 6:34, 1 Chronicles 6:39, 1 Chronicles 6:44, in another fashion than the lists of names in 1 Chronicles 6:33." But this hypothesis is shown to be false, apart altogether from the other objections which might be raised against it, by the single fact of the total discrepancy between the names of the Merarites in 1 Chronicles 6:29 and 1 Chronicles 6:30 and those found in 1 Chronicles 6:44-47. Of all the six names only Mahli is found in both cases, and he is carefully distinguished in both - in the genealogy of Ethan as the son of Mushi and grandson of Merari; in our list as the son of Merari. When we remember that Merari had two sons, Mahli and Mushi, after whom the father's-houses into which his descendants divided themselves were named (Numbers 3:20; Numbers 26:58), and that the same names very frequently occur in different families, it would never suggest itself to any reader of our register to identify the line of Mushi with the line of Mahli, seeing that, except the name of Mahli the son of Mushi, which is the same as that of his uncle, all the other names are different. 1 Chronicles 6:29 and 1 Chronicles 6:30 contain a register of the family of Mahli, while the ancestors of Ethan, 1 Chronicles 6:44-47, belonged to the family of Mushi. Our list then absolutely cannot be intended to form a transition to Ethan or Ethan's ancestors. The same may be said of the two other lists 1 Chronicles 6:20-22 and 1 Chronicles 6:23-28, and this transition hypothesis is consequently a mere airspun fancy. The three lists are certainly not embodied in the Chronicle on account of the persons with whose names they end-Jeaterai, the sons of Samuel, and Asaiah; but the author of the Chronicle has thought them worthy of being received into his work as registers of ancient families of the three sons of Levi which had been transmitted from ancient times.

1 Chronicles 6:32 Parallel Commentaries

they ministered.

1 Chronicles 16:4-6,37-42 And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to record...

Psalm 68:24,25 They have seen your goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary...

with singing.

Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

until Solomon.

1 Chronicles 6:10 And Johanan begat Azariah, (he it is that executed the priest's office in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem:)

1 Kings 8:6-13 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place...

and then.

1 Chronicles 9:33 And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free...

1 Chronicles 25:8-31 And they cast lots, ward against ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar...

2 Chronicles 29:25-30 And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David...

2 Chronicles 31:2 And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service...

2 Chronicles 35:15 And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman...

Ezra 3:10,11 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets...

Ezra 6:18 And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem...

Nehemiah 11:17-23 And Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, was the principal to begin the thanksgiving in prayer...

Nehemiah 12:27,28,45-47 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem...

Psalm 134:1,2 Behold, bless you the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD...

Psalm 135:1-3 Praise you the LORD. Praise you the name of the LORD; praise him, O you servants of the LORD...

waited Heb. stood.

1 Chronicles 6:33 And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel,

1 Kings 12:6,8 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said...

according to their order. This order is specified below.

1 Corinthians 12:11 But all these works that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.