1 Chronicles 25:8

8 Everyone threw lots to choose the time his family was to serve at the Temple. The young and the old, the teacher and the student, had to throw lots.

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 Heman directed all his sons in making music for the Temple of the Lord with cymbals, lyres, and harps; that was their way of serving in the Temple of God. King David was in charge of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.

7 These men and their relatives were trained and skilled in making music for the Lord. There were two hundred eighty-eight of them.

8 Everyone threw lots to choose the time his family was to serve at the Temple. The young and the old, the teacher and the student, had to throw lots.

9 First, the lot fell to Joseph, from the family of Asaph. Second, twelve men were chosen from Gedaliah, his sons and relatives.

10 Third, twelve men were chosen from Zaccur, his sons and relatives.