Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Chronicles 6

The genealogy of the high priestly lineage to the captivity.

Ahimaaz was the father of Azariah - It must, apparently, be this Azariah, and not the son of Johanan mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:10, who was high priest at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple. For Zadok, who lived into the reign of Solomon (1 Kings 4:4), cannot have been succeeded by a great-great-grandson. The notice in 1 Chronicles 6:10, which is attached to the second Azariah, must, beyond a doubt, belong properly to the first.

Ahitub - Between Amariah and Hilkiah (1 Chronicles 6:13), this genealogy is certainly defective. It provides only three generations for a period that lasted nearly 200 years, for which the list of the kings of Judah gives nine generations. Furthermore, none of the names in this part of the list appear among the High Priests of that period, several of whom are mentioned in both 2 Chronicles and the books of Kings.

The explanation seems to be that this is not a list of High Priests but the personal genealogy of Jozadak (or Jehozadak), whose line of descent partly coincided with the list of High Priests and partly differed from it. Where the lines coincided, all the names are given; where they differed, some are omitted, probably to make the entire list from Phinehas a multiple of seven. See the note at 1 Chronicles 6:20.

Jehozadak - The meaning of the name is “Jehovah is righteous.” It has been noted as remarkable that the heads of both the priestly and the royal lineages carried to Babylon had names (Zedekiah and Jehozadak) composed of the same elements, affirming the “justice of God,” which their sufferings demonstrated so strikingly.

A general account of the various branches of the tribe of Levi.