1 Chronicles 24:2

2 And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and {they had no sons}, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

1 Chronicles 24:2 Meaning and Commentary

1 Chronicles 24:2

But Nadab and Abihu died before their father
While he was living, see ( Leviticus 10:1 Leviticus 10:2 )

and had no children, therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the
priests' office:
otherwise, as Jarchi observes, had their brethren left children, they would have come into the office before them.

1 Chronicles 24:2 In-Context

1 And as for the sons of Aaron, [these were] their divisions. The sons of Aaron [were] Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

2 And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and {they had no sons}, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

3 And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their appointments for their service.

4 And more sons of Eleazar were found as heads of the men than the sons of Ithamar, so they divided them to the sons of Eleazar [to be] sixteen heads over the house of the fathers, and to the sons of Ithamar over the house of the fathers [were] eight [heads].

5 They divided them by lot {all alike}, for they were commanders of the sanctuary and commanders of God from among the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "sons were not to them"