1 Chronicles 25:8

8 Whether great or small, teacher or talmid, they cast lots for their term of duty.

1 Chronicles 25:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Chronicles 25:8

And they cast lots, ward against ward
That is, which ward or course of the singers should answer to and attend on the first ward or course of the priests in their weekly service, and which the second, and so on: as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar;
no regard was had to the age of a person, his being the firstborn or a younger brother, or to his office and station, whether as a teacher or a learner in the science of singing; he was made the head of a course, as the lot came up; and it may easily be observed, by comparing the lots in the following verses with the sons of the chief singers, according to the order of them in ( 1 Chronicles 25:2-4 ) that the younger are often preferred in the courses by lot to the elder, of which even the first lot is an instance.

1 Chronicles 25:8 In-Context

6 They were all with their fathers Asaf, Y'dutun and Heman to sing with cymbals, lutes and lyres in the house of ADONAI, serving in the house of God under the direction of the king.

7 Their number, together with their kinsmen who had been instructed in singing to ADONAI, was 288, all well trained.

8 Whether great or small, teacher or talmid, they cast lots for their term of duty.

9 The first lot for Asaf fell to Yosef, the second to G'dalyah; he, his brothers and his sons numbered twelve;

10 the third to Zakur, his sons and brothers, twelve;