Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Chronicles 9:10
A historical reference excerpt for this verse.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.
The priests. - The three names Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, and Jachin ( Ch1 9:10) denote three classes of priests (cf. Ch1 24:7, Ch1 24:17), who accordingly dwelt in Jerusalem. There also dwelt there ( Ch1 9:11) Azariah the son of Hilkiah, etc., the prince of the house of God; cf. Ch2 31:13. This is the Azariah mentioned in Ch1 6:13, the son of Hilkiah, etc., the grandfather of the Jehozadak who was led captive into Babylon. then in Ch1 9:12 we have two other heads of the priestly fathers'-houses, with an enumeration of their ancestors, through whom they are traced back to the classes of priests to which they belonged respectively, viz., Adaiah to the class Malchijah ( Ch1 24:9), and Maasiai to the class Immer ( Ch1 24:14). According to this, therefore, there dwelt at Jerusalem, of the priesthood, the three classes Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, and Jachin, Azariah the prince of the temple, and of the classes Malchijah and Immer, the fathers'-houses Adaiah and Maasiai. In Ch1 9:13 the whole number is estimated at 1760. A difficulty is raised by the first words of this verse, "And their brethren, heads of their fathers'-houses, 1760," which can hardly be taken in any other sense than as denoting that the number of the heads of the fathers'-houses amounted to 1760. This, however, is not conceivable, as "fathers'-houses" are not single households, but larger groups of related families. Moreover, אחיהם, which is co-ordinate with the heads of the fathers'-houses, can only denote, as in Ch1 9:6, Ch1 9:9, the heads of the families which belonged to or constituted the fathers'-houses. To arrive at this meaning, however, we must transpose the words ואחיהם and לבית־אבותם ראשׁים, connecting לבית־אבותם ר with Ch1 9:12, and אחיהם with the number, thus: heads of fathers'-houses, etc., were those mentioned in Ch1 9:12, and their brethren 1760 (men), valiant heroes in the work of the service of the house of God. Before מלאכת one would expect the word עשׁי, as in Ch1 23:24 and Neh 11:12, but its presence is not so absolutely necessary as to warrant us in supposing that it has been dropped out, and in inserting it. מלאכת may be also taken as an accusative of relation, "valiant heroes in reference to the work;" or at most a ל a tso may be supplied before מלאכת, as it might easily have been omitted by a clerical error after the immediately preceding חיל. On comparing our passage with Neh 11:10-14, we find there, if בּן־יויריב in Ch1 9:10 be altered into יהויריב, the same three classes of priests; but instead of Azariah, Seraiah is prince of the house of God, Ch1 9:11 : thereafter we have 822 brethren, performing the work of the house (of God). Then follows Adaiah of the class Malchijah (as in the Chronicles), but with the addition, "his brethren 242;" and then Amashai of the class Immer, but with other ancestors than those of the Maasiai of the Chronicles, and with the addition, "and their brethren, valiant heroes, 128;" and finally, Zabdiel Ben Hagdolim as overseer (president over them). The sum of the three numbers is 1192, as contrasted with the 1760 of the Chronicle. 1 Chronicles 9:14
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