Division

DIVISION

di-vizh'-un:

Used in English Versions of the Bible in the following senses:

(1) A separate body of people

(a) of the tribal divisions of Israel (Joshua 11:23; 12:7; 18:10);

(b) of sections of a tribe, "the divisions of Reuben" (Judges 5:15,16 the King James Version; but the Revised Version (British and American) rightly substitutes "the watercourses of Reuben"; in Job 20:17 the same word is rendered "rivers");

(c) of the (late) organization of priests and Levites into classes or families who ministered in the temple in rotation; translated "courses" generally in the King James Version, and always in the Revised Version (British and American) (1 Chronicles 24:1; 26:1,12,19; Nehemiah 11:36; compare 2 Chronicles 35:5). Much prominence is given by the Chronicler to the 24 classes of priests, singers, and doorkeepers, who served in turns in the temple (compare Luke 1:5,8).

(3) In the New Testament, dissension, disunion, schism (Luke 12:51; Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 3:3 the King James Version, omitted the Revised Version (British and American); 1 Corinthians 1:10; 11:18; Galatians 5:20).

D. Miall Edwards