Bible Commentaries
1 Chronicles 6

Verses 1-81

Chapter 6

Now in chapter six, we now get to the tribe of Levi from which was the priestly tribe.

[And the three sons which made the major families within the tribe of] Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And of Kohath was born Amram. And from Amram was born Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam, [their sister] ( 1 Chronicles 6:1-3 ).

And so Moses and Aaron both came from the family of Kohath in the tribe of Levi. And then you follow the high priest line from Aaron, his son Eleazar and so forth. You follow that line on down to the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar when he took them away. Babylon from verse four to fifteen. You have a direct line, a bunch of unpronounceable names. And then he brings up Gershom in verse seventeen and tells you some of his sons. And then again Kohath and some of his sons. And then Merari and some of his sons. Your basic families.

Now as we get down into verse thirty-one, it is interesting in verse twenty-eight, Samuel the prophet is listed in his line, the son of Elkanah. In verse thirty-one.

And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after the ark had rest. And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order. And these are they that waited with the children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: and Heman the singer ( 1 Chronicles 6:31-33 ).

And so forth. Now David actually appointed these men, and their job was just to stay in the tabernacle and just sing unto the Lord.

You know, sometimes we have some of the ladies that come and practice the organ here in the church. And I love for there to be music here in the church. In fact, one time we sought to set up a tape that we could just play music in the church all the. I like it. I like it whenever you come in to just have music of praise unto God. I think that's great. I just, I think it's great when God gives people the talent to sing. And if you want to rehearse or anything, come on down to the church and do your singing here. It's great. I love it. And you're welcome. Anytime you want to just worship the Lord or sing unto Him, just come on down. You're free at any time to just come on in and just to worship the Lord with singing.

They had hired musicians. David appointed certain ones, and they were just to be there singing all the time. It would be great. Now I'm not much of one for choirs on Sunday morning to sing their little ditty and then that's it, you know. But I would be all for a choir that would, you know, be here all day long or evening just singing praises and worshipping God. I think that would be outstanding. And so David had appointed from the tribe those that were to just spend their time worshipping the Lord in music.

Now another portion of the tribe, the descendants of Merari, their brothers were appointed to all of the manner of the service of the tabernacle of the house of God. So they were the janitors and those that kept the physical aspects of the thing in repair.

But Aaron and his sons [they were the ones that made the offerings unto the Lord there at the altar, the burnt offerings, and offered the incense, and made the atonements and they were the ones that did that portion of the service unto God] ( 1 Chronicles 6:49 ).

And of course, during the time of Moses problems arose, because they said, "Hey, Moses, you take too much on yourself. You've appointed your brother, the other priest, the other descendants of Levi." They said you've appointed your brother, you know, to the task of going in before the Lord and we have as much right. Korah and his little crew. "We have as much right as Aaron." And so that's when Moses said, "Well, let's see if this thing be of God. You guys bring in your walking canes and Aaron will bring his rod, we'll set it before the Lord tonight and see what happens." So they set them in the tabernacle before the Lord, and in the morning, Aaron's rod had budded and blossomed. It had ripe almonds on it. And so he says, "Well, looks like God's trying to tell us something. But let's make sure. Korah, you and your buddies stand out there in the field. Now this thing be of God, then let God do a new thing. Let the earth open up and swallow you guys alive." And the earth opened up and Korah and his whole rebellious crew went down into the pit and the earth closed behind them. And they said, "Well, I guess it was of God." No, it said, "And a great fear came on all Israel." I'll bet it did.

Now it goes on now and tells the cities that were given to the priest. The cities that were given to them in Judah and the cities that were given to them in the tribe of Manasseh and in the tribe of Issachar and Reuben and Gad and Zebulun and Ephraim and all. And it names the cities that were given to the priest. "