Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Chronicles 6:31
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
(6:16-34). The genealogies of the Levite musicians - Heman, Asaph, and Ethan. - These registers are introduced by an account of the service of the Levites about the sanctuary ( Ch1 6:31, Ch1 6:32), and conclude with remarks on the service of the remaining Levites ( Ch1 6:48, Ch1 6:49). Ch1 6:31-32 (6:16-17). "These are they whom David set for the leading of the song in the house of Jahve, after the resting of the ark," cf. Ch1 6:20, Ch1 6:22. ידי על "upon the hands," "to the hands;" that is, both for leading, and, according to arrangement. To the hands of the song, i.e., to manage the singing, to carry it on, to conduct it. הערון ממּנוח, "from the resting of the ark," i.e., from the time that the ark of the covenant, which in the prae-Davidic time had been carried about from one place to another, had received a permanent resting-place on Zion, and had become the centre of the worship instituted by David, Sa2 6:17. "And they served before the dwelling of the tabernacle with song." משׁכּן לפני, "before the dwelling," for the sacrificial worship, with which the singing of psalms was connected, was performed in the court before the dwelling. The genitive מועד אהל is to be taken as explanatory: "The dwelling (of Jahve), which was the tent of the meeting (of God with His people)." מועד אהל was the usual designation of the tabernacle built by Moses, which was at first set up in Shiloh, then in the time of Saul at Nob, and after the destruction of that city by Saul (1 Sam 22) in Gibeon ( Ch1 21:29). It denotes here the tent which David had erected upon Mount Zion for the ark of the covenant, because from its containing the ark, and by the institution of a settled worship in it (cf. Ch1 16:1-4.), it thenceforth took the place of the Mosaic tabernacle, although the Mosaic sanctuary at Gibeon continued to be a place of worship till the completion of the temple ( Kg1 3:4; Ch2 1:3), \- "till Solomon built the house of Jahve in Jerusalem," into which the ark was removed, and to which the whole of the religious services were transferred. In their services they stood כּמשׁפּטם, according to their right, i.e., according to the order prescribed for them by David; cf. 1 Chron 16:52ff. Ch1 6:33-38 (6:18-23). "These (following three men, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan) are they who stood (in service) with their sons." The three were the heads of the three Levitic families, to whom the execution of the liturgic singing was entrusted. The names of their sons, vide Ch1 25:1-6. The object of the following genealogies is to show their descent from Levi. "Of the sons of the Kohathite family (is) Heman the singer." המשׁורר, ὁ ψαλτῳδός lxx. Heman is named first as being the head of the choir of singers who stood in the centre, while Asaph and his choir stood on his right hand, and on the left Ethan and his choir, so that when they sang in concert the conducting of the whole fell to Heman. His family is traced back in Ch1 6:33-38 through twenty members to "Kohath the son of Levi, then son of Israel" (Jacob). Ch1 6:39-43 (6:24-28). "His brother Asaph," who is Heman's brother only in the more general sense of being closely connected with him, partly by their common descent from Levi, partly by their common calling, was a descendant of Gershon from his younger son Shimei. His genealogy contains only fifteen names to Gershon, five less than that of his contemporary Heman, probably because here and there intermediate names are omitted. Ch1 6:44-47 (6:29-32). "And the sons…
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