Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 6:33

"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," — 1 Chronicles 6:33 (ASV)

And these are they that waited (stood) with their children. —The main sentence that began at 1 Chronicles 6:31, and was suspended by the parenthetic 1 Chronicles 6:32, is now resumed. The persons meant are the three chiefs of the Levitical guilds of musicians, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan; their “children” are the members of those guilds. (Compare the phrase, “sons of the prophets,” i.e., members of prophetic guilds, 2 Kings 9:1; Amos 7:14.) 1 Chronicles 25:1–7 supplies the names of the principal “sons” of the three masters. Their Levitical descent is shown in the genealogies here traced up from themselves to Levi. First we have the pedigree of Heman (1 Chronicles 6:33–38) the Kohathite.

Heman a singer. —Rather, the singer or minstrel. Heman, as representing the chief branch of the Levites, is primus inter pares as regards the other master singers. His choir occupied the centre, having on its right that of the Gershonite Asaph, on its left that of the Merarite Ethan (1 Chronicles 6:39; 1 Chronicles 6:44), so that Heman would conduct the whole body of musicians, when the three choirs chanted in concert. The word “minstrel” is more appropriate than “singer” because the original term (ham’shôrçr) implies singing that the singer himself accompanies with an instrument of music. (See 1 Chronicles 25:6; Septuagint, ὁ ψαλτῳδὸς.)

Son of Joel, the son of Shemuel. —It is interesting to learn that Heman, the great minstrel, was a grandson of Samuel the great prophet. (For the connection between music and prophecy, see 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Samuel 10:5–6; and below, 1 Chronicles 25:1, Note.) Considering that some have denied that Samuel was a Levite, the point of contact here noted looks like an undesigned coincidence.