1 Chronicles 24:1-10

1 The family of Aaron was grouped as follows: Aaron's sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
2 Nadab and Abihu died before their father and left no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar filled the office of priest.
3 David assigned Zadok from the family of Eleazar and Ahimelech from the family of Ithamar and assigned them to separate divisions for carrying out their appointed ministries.
4 It turned out that there were more leaders in Eleazar's family than in Ithamar's and so they divided them proportionately: sixteen clan leaders from Eleazar's family and eight clan leaders from Ithamar's family.
5 They assigned the leaders by lot, treating both families alike, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of God among both the Eleazar and Ithamar families.
6 The secretary Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, wrote down their names in the presence of the king, the officials, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the leaders of the priestly and Levitical families. They took turns: One family was selected from Eleazar and then one from Ithamar.
7 The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,
8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,
9 the fifth to Malkijah, the sixth to Mijamin,
10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,

1 Chronicles 24:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 24

This chapter relates the distribution David made of the priests into twenty four classes or courses, and which were observed by lot, and each course had an head or principal man over it, 1Ch 24:1-19 and of a like distribution of the Levites into the same number of courses, to attend the priests in theirs, 1Ch 24:20-31.

Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.