1 CHRONICLES - CHAPTER 26
The Temple Guards
v1 These are the groups of the temple guards:
From the clan of Korah, there was Meshelemiah son of Kore. He was from Asaph’s family. v2 Meshelemiah had sons. Zechariah was his first son, and Jediael was his second son. Zebadiah was his third son, and Jathniel was his 4th son. v3 Elam was his 5th son and Jehohanan was his 6th son. Eliehoenai was his 7th son. v4 Obed-Edom had sons. Shemaiah was his first son, and Jehozabad was his second son. Joah was his third son, and Sacar was his 4th son. Nethanel was his 5th son. v5 Ammiel was his 6th son and Issachar was his 7th son. Peullethai was his 8th son. God had been kind to Obed-Edom.
v6 Obed-Edom’s son Shemaiah also had sons. They were leaders in their clan because they were capable men. v7 Shemaiah’s sons were Othni, Rephael, Obed, and Elzabad. His relatives, Elihu and Semakiah, were strong men. v8 All these men were Obed-Edom’s descendants. They and their sons and relatives were capable men and strong workers. Obed-Edom had a total of 62 descendants. v9 Meshelemiah had sons and relatives who were skilled workers. In total, there were 18 of them.
v10 From the Merari family, Hosah had sons. Shimri was the chief one of these. He was not the oldest son, but his father chose him to be the leader. v11 Hilkiah was his second son, and Tabaliah was his third son. Zechariah was his 4th son. In total, Hosah had 13 sons and relatives. v12 These were the chief men of the groups of temple guards. The groups had tasks to serve in the LORD’s temple, even as their relatives had. v13 The choice of guards for each gate was by a fair method. They made the decision by means of lots. The large families had no advantage over the small ones.
v14 The choice for the east gate was Shelemiah. Then the choice for the north gate was his son Zechariah. Zechariah was a wise man who gave good advice. v15 The choice for the south gate was Obed-Edom. His sons became guards of the building where they kept the stores. v16 Shuppim and Hosah became the guards for the west gate. Also, they were the guards for the Shalleketh Gate on the upper road. Guards took their tasks in turn with other guards. v17 There were 6 Levites each day on the east. Each day there were 4 of them on the north and 4 of them on the south. Two pairs of guards worked at the stores building. v18 At the Parbar to the west, there were 4 guards on the road and two at the Parbar. v19 These were the groups of the guards from the families of Korah and Merari.
COMMENTARY
VERSES 1-9
The Israelites had not built the temple yet. But the king made these arrangements so that the Levites would be ready. There were 4000 temple guards (23:6). They were all from the clans of Kohath and Merari. (Korah was from the clan of Kohath.)
There were 24 groups of these temple guards. They chose the order of their duties by the same fair method that the priests and Levites had used. The job of the temple guards was to be responsible for the temple's gates and doors. They would open and close them at the proper times, control the entrances to keep out anyone who should not come in, control everyone who went into or out of the temple, and, if necessary, control the crowds.
The work of the temple guards was an important part of the LORD’s work. It was not less important than the work of the other Levites. They were all part of the worship of the temple. They were all doing the work of the LORD. They were all doing what God wanted them to do. So in his opinion, their rank was equal.
Asaph in verse 1 is not the same as the musician. The musician belonged to the clan of Gershon. This Asaph belonged to the clan of Korah. This Asaph is usually called Abiasaph; he was a son of Korah (1 Chronicles 9:19; Exodus 6:24). Kore and Meshelemiah were among his descendants.
Obed-Edom was another descendant of Korah. He kept the LORD’s ark in his home after the death of Uzzah (13:13-14). He was a musician and he played in front of the LORD’s ark in Jerusalem (15:21). Also, he was a guard for the LORD’s ark (15:24). Here he is the head of his family as a temple guard.
The family of Obed-Edom were strong men, as they may need to be as temple guards. They had to guard the temple day and night. And the gates of the temple were large and heavy. It took several strong men to open and to close these gates.
VERSES 10-11
Hosah had been a guard at the LORD’s ark with Obed-Edom (16:38). He had 13 sons among whom Shimri was the chief son. But Shimri was not the oldest son. Perhaps the first son by birth was not a capable person for some reason. However, the father chose Shimri to be the first son.
VERSES 12-19
Each group had its leaders. But a few chief men were over them all. These men made sure that the groups did their tasks well. In each group, they chose the tasks. They did this by the same fair method that they had used for the order of their groups. So, the larger families did not have an advantage over the smaller ones.
Here we have some of those chief men. These men were responsible for the main gates and the store building. Shelemiah is the same as Meshelemiah (verse 1). He controlled the east gate, his son Zechariah controlled the north gate, Obed-Edom controlled the south gate, and Shuppim and Hosah controlled the west gate.
Also, Shuppim and Hosah controlled the Shalleketh Gate, another gate to the west. This was probably the gate through which they took the rubbish from the temple. The east gate was the main gate. So, there were 6 guards at this gate but only 4 at the other gates. There were 2 guards at the store building.
We are not sure what Parbar means. There are two possible meanings. The first is suburb. So, Parbar would be a gate to the west that leads to the suburbs of Jerusalem. There would be two guards at the gate and 4 guards on the road. The other meaning is that it is the name of a place outside the temple building. There would be two guards at that place and 4 guards on the road to that place.
Other Temple Officials
v20 And from the Levites, Ahijah was the guard for the valuable things that belonged to God’s temple. Also, he took care of the valuable things that people gave to God. v21 Ladan was Gershon’s descendant and he was the ancestor of several clans. Jehieli was a leader of one of the clans. v22 These clans were the sons of Jehieli, Zetham and Joel his brother. They were responsible for the valuable things that belonged to the LORD’s temple.
v23 Other leaders came from the clans of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. v24 Shubael was a descendant of Gershom, who was Moses’ son. He was the chief officer who controlled the store of valuable things. v25 He had relatives from the family of Eliezer. Eliezer’s son was Rehabiah.
Rehabiah’s son was Jeshaiah. Jeshaiah’s son was Joram. Joram’s son was Zicri, and Zicri’s son was Shelomith. v26 Shelomith and his relatives had control of all the holy gifts. These gifts came from King David, and the leaders of the families. Also, the army officers gave gifts. Some of these men were over groups of 1,000 soldiers. Some of them were over groups of 100 soldiers. And other officers gave gifts too. v27 They took many valuable things when they won battles. They gave some of these things in order to pay for repairs to the LORD’s temple. v28 Samuel the prophet had given some valuable things to the LORD. So had Saul son of Kish, Abner son of Ner, and Joab son of Zeruiah. Shelomith and his relatives took care of all the holy gifts.
v29 Kenaniah was from the Izhar clan. He and his sons worked away from the temple. They were officials and judges in Israel. v30 Hashabiah was from the Hebron clan. He and 1700 skilled relatives worked for Israel on the west side of the Jordan river. They were responsible for all the LORD’s work there, and for the service of the king. v31 Jeriah was the leader of the descendants of Hebron. In the 40th year of David’s rule, they searched the records of Hebron’s descendants. They found that there were capable men from the Hebron clans at Jazer in Gilead. v32 Jeriah had 2700 relatives who were skilled men and leaders of families. King David chose them to direct God’s work and the king’s affairs on the east side of the river Jordan. They had to direct the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh in these matters.
COMMENTARY
VERSES 20-28
Some of the temple guards took care of the gifts, money and valuable things that belonged to the temple (verses 20-22). Other temple guards took care of the stores of wealth that belonged to the temple (verses 23-28). Ahijah was the official who was over all of these guards.
The sons of Jehieli, Zetham and Joel had control of the gifts and valuable things. These things were the gifts to the LORD; and the precious objects that the priests used. These stores were for use in the daily service of the temple.
Shubael was over the team who took care of all the wealth in the temple stores. His team included Shelomith. Shelomith was responsible for all the gifts from David and the army officers. Many of these gifts were objects that the king and family leaders had given. Some of this wealth came from the goods that the army had taken from their enemies. Samuel, King Saul and former army officers had given wealth that was now in these stores. This wealth was for major repairs and for future use.
VERSES 29-32
There were 6,000 Levites who worked as officials and judges (23:4). They did not work in the temple. They went out to all parts of the nation called Israel. Their job was to teach God’s law to the people. And they would be the judges in the law courts. Also, they would collect the taxes and other money due to the king and the temple.
Most of these Levites came from the clans of Kohath and Hebron. Kenaniah and his sons came from the Izhar clan, one of the clans from Kohath. Hashabiah and the men at Jazer were from the Hebron clan.
Hashabiah and his relatives worked to the west of the river Jordan. At Jazer in Gilead, there were men from Hebron’s clan. Gilead was to the east of the river Jordan. So, Jeriah and his men worked to the east of the river Jordan. That was where the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh lived.
Hashabiah had 1,700 men and Jeriah had 2,700 men. Therefore, as there were 6,000 men, 1,600 men worked with Kenaniah. David organized all of this during the 40th year of his rule. That was his last year before he died.
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