John Gill Commentary 1 Chronicles 6

The sons of Levi
After an account of the chief of the tribes of Judah and Simeon, of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, follows that of Levi, and his posterity; the kingdom being given to Judah, the birthright to Joseph, and the priesthood to Levi: the immediate sons of Levi were

Gershon, Kohath, and Merari ;
as in (Genesis 46:11) (Exodus 6:16) , from these sprung the three families of the Levites.

And the sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel ,
&c.] Given in the same order as in (Exodus 6:18) , (See Gill on Exodus 6:18).

And the children of Amram, Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam
Very memorable persons: Aaron was the high priest, Moses the prophet and lawgiver, and Miriam a prophetess, see (Micah 6:4) ,

the sons also of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar ;
the two first were destroyed by fire from heaven for offering strange fire, (Leviticus 10:1Leviticus 10:2) and the third succeeded his father in the high priesthood; the line of which is drawn from Aaron through him unto the Babylonish captivity, from hence to the end of the fifteenth verse, where it ends: Jehozadak is the same with Josedech, (Haggai 1:1) who went young into Babylon, and whose son Joshua, born in the captivity, came out of it on the proclamation of Cyrus, (Ezra 2:2) (3:2) . According to Josephus ^F5 , and other Jewish writers ^F6 , in the times of Uzzi, (1 Chronicles 6:6) the priesthood was translated into the family of Ithamar, of which Eli was the first high priest; where it continued to the times of Solomon, when it was restored to Zadok, of the line of Eleazar.

It is particularly observed of Azariah, (1 Chronicles 6:10) that he it was that executed the priest's office in the temple built by Solomon; not that he was the first that officiated in it, that was Zadok; but this seems to be Azariah, who was the high priest in the times of Uzziah, who opposed him when he would have offered incense in the temple, (2 Chronicles 26:17 2 Chronicles 26:18) , which may be the reason why he is so particularly taken notice of here; though some think this is to be understood of Johanan, the father of Azariah, supposed to the same with Jehoiada, who, in the times of Athaliah, was the instrument of preserving both church and state, (2 Kings 11:4–12) , the temple in which he ministered is described as built by Solomon, because at the time of the writing of this there was another temple built, or building, by Zerubbabel.

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: Antiqu. l. 5. c. 11. sect. 5.
• F6: Juchasin, fol. 136. 1.

(See Gill on 1 Chronicles 6:3).

(See Gill on 1 Chronicles 6:3).