1 Chronicles 25:8

8 And they cast lots with one another over the charges, the small as well as the great, the teacher with the scholar.

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 All these were under the direction of their fathers Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman, for song in the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, lutes and harps, for the service of the house of God, under the direction of the king.
7 And the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of Jehovah, all of them skilful, was two hundred and eighty-eight.
8 And they cast lots with one another over the charges, the small as well as the great, the teacher with the scholar.
9 And the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph; to Gedaliah the second: he and his brethren and his sons were twelve.
10 The third to Zaccur; his sons and his brethren, twelve.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or 'expert' ('skilful:' ver. 7)
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.