1 Chronicles 24


1 Chronicles 24 is the twenty-fourth chapter of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE. This chapter records the organization and departments of priests and a list of non-priestly Levites. The whole chapter belongs to the section focusing on the kingship of David, which from chapter 22 to the end does not have any parallel in 2 Samuel.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 31 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
Extant manuscripts of a Koine Greek translation known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE, include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus.

David organizes the priests (24:1–19)

This section details the organization of the priests, the highest branch of the Levites, in a more advanced and systematic manner than anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible and was adhered rigidly until the Roman period. Lists of the priestly families also found partially in 1 Chronicles 9:10–; ; ;.

Verse 1

Among the four sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu died without children ; and the other two had to supply the "chief men of the house", of which Eleazar had sixteen, and Ithamar eight.

Verse 3

Of the two priestly families , Zadok represented the family of Eleazar, and Ahimelech represented the family of Ithamar, to help David organizing the priests. The Chronicler emphasizes the equal treatment of the two groups in the passage using a procedure of drawing lots, also in 1 Chronicles and elsewhere, to indicate God's hand in the distribution of the personnel.

List of the priestly divisions

VerseDivision !English nameHebrew nameGreek nameNote
1stJehoiaribיה֣וֹיָרִ֔יבἸωαρίμ1 Chronicles 9:10. In Talmud Arakhin Rabbi Yosei ben Halafta states that when Solomon's Temple was burnt on the ninth of Ab the 'priestly guard' was of Jehoiarib division, and they were singing Psalm 94, but only to the first half of before 'the enemies came and overwhelmed them'. Mattathias ben Johanan was a descendant of Jehoiarib according to.
2ndJedaiahידַעְיָ֖הἸεδίᾳ1 Chronicles 9:10; one fragment of Dead Sea Scrolls mentions:

Remaining Levite assignments (24:20–31)

This section contains the list of Levites which overlaps with the one in. The Levites had similar rotation schedule as the priests, and used the same system of drawing lots as the priests with almost the same witnesses, indicating that the Levites are considered as important as the priests.

Document witnesses for priestly divisions

  • Josephus wrote that David divided the Levites into twenty-four courses, sixteen of the house of Eleazar and eight of the house of Ithamar and he ordained each course to minister eight days, from Sabbath to Sabbath.
  • Babylonian Talmud has a statement by Rabbi Hama ben Guria that "Moses instituted for Israel eight Mishmaroth —four from Eleazar and four from Ithamar; Samuel increased them to sixteen; David increased them to twenty four".
  • After the Temple destruction in 70 CE, there was a custom of publicly recalling the courses of the priests every Sabbath, a practice that reinforced the prestige of the priests' lineage. A manuscript discovered in the Cairo Geniza, dated 1034 CE, records a customary formula recited weekly in the synagogues, during the Sabbath day:
  • Three stone inscriptions were discovered bearing the names of the priestly wards, their order and the name of the locality to which they had moved after the destruction of the Second Temple:
The 17th course Hezir Ma]mliah
The 18th course Hapizzez Nazareth
The 19th course Pethahia Akhlah Arab
The 20th course Ezekiel Mi]gdal Nunaiya

This is the oldest inscription mentioning Nazareth as a location, outside the Bible and pilgrim notes.
English TranslationOriginal Hebrew
, fourth wardשְׂעוֹרִים עיתהלו משמר הרביעי
Beṯ]-Lehem, the fif ward מַלְכִּיָּה בית לחם משמר החמשי
Miyamin, Yudfaṯ, the sixth ward מִיָמִין יודפת משמר הששי
ṣ, 'Ailebu, the seventh ward הַקּוֹץ עילבו משמר השביעי
Aviah 'Iddo, Kefar 'Uzziel, the ward אֲבִיָּה עדו כפר עוזיאל משמר
the eighth. Yešūa', Nišdaf-arbel השמיני יֵשׁוּעַ נשדפארבל
the ninth ward משמר התשיעי
Šekhaniyahu, 'Avurah Cabūl, the t ward שְׁכַנְיָה עבורה כבול משמר העשירי
Eliašīv, Cohen Qanah, the elev ward אֶלְיָשִׁיב כהן קנה משמר אחד עשר
Yaqīm Pašḥūr, Ṣefaṯ, the ward יָקִים פַּשְׁחוּר צפת משמר שנים עשר
ppah, Beṯ-Ma'on, the ward חוּפָּה בית מעון משמר שלשה
the thirteenth. Yešav'av, Ḥuṣpiṯ Šuḥīn עשר יֶשֶׁבְאָב חוצפית שוחין
the fourteenth wa משמר ארבע עשר

  • A seventh-century poet, Eleazar ben Killir, wrote a liturgical poem detailing the 24-priestly wards and their places of residence. Historian and geographer, Samuel Klein, thinks that Killir's poem proves the prevalence of this custom of commemorating the courses in the synagogues of the Land of Israel.