Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Chronicles 6:31-48
Albert Barnes Commentary
1 Chronicles 6:31-48
Albert Barnes Commentary
1 Chronicles 6:31-48
SCRIPTURE
"And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of Jehovah, after that the ark had rest. And they ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem: and they waited on their office according to their order. And these are they that waited, and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah, the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea, the son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, the son of Malchijah, the son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei, the son of Jahath, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi. And on the left hand their brethren the sons of Merari: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer, the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi. And their brethren the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God." — 1 Chronicles 6:31-48 (ASV)
The genealogies of David’s three chief singers: Heman, Asaph, and Ethan (or Jeduthun).
They ministered in their office — For more on the establishment and continuation of the choral service in the temple, see 2 Chronicles 5:12, 2 Chronicles 29:27–30, and 2 Chronicles 35:15.
Heman — Generally, Asaph takes precedence over Heman and Jeduthun. However, Heman is placed first here because his family, the Kohathites, had the highest priestly rank, being the family from which the high priests came (see 1 Chronicles 6:2–15).
Shemuel — That is, “Samuel.” The translators here have used the Hebrew form of the name, while elsewhere they uniformly use the Greek form. From this genealogy, we learn that Heman was Samuel’s grandson.
His brother Asaph — This does not mean “brother” in the ordinary sense of the term, since Asaph was the son of Berachiah and a Gershonite, not a Kohathite. Here, “brother” likely means “colleague” or “fellow musician” (compare 1 Chronicles 25:7).
Ethan — This is another name for Jeduthun (see the margin note). A scribal error is unlikely to account for the two forms of the name, since “Ethan” is used consistently up to a certain point (1 Chronicles 15:19), after which the name is uniformly “Jeduthun.” It seems more likely that this is a case where a new name was taken at some point, which from then on replaced the old one. Compare, for example, the name changes of Abraham, Sarah, Joshua, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah.