1 Chronicles 24
David puts priests to work
David divides priests into family work groups
1David divided priests into family groups, for work at the worship center. Aaron, Israel’s first priest, had four sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 2But the two oldest died in a fire: [1] Nadab and Abihu. Aaron was still alive at the time. So, the youngest two brothers became the only other priests at the time: Eleazar and Ithamar.3So David, centuries later, divided priests into family work groups based on Aaron’s two sons. Eleazar’s descendant in David’s day was a priest named Zadok. Ithamar’s descendant was Ahimelech. 4Eleazar’s family was the bigger of the two. So David divided them into 16 work groups. Ithamar’s descendant’s formed into 8 work groups.
5They rolled sacred dice [2] to get their assignments by chance, putting the matter in God’s hands. David tried to evenly distribute the offices of priest and of worship center officials.
Priests on the record
6A Levite scribe named Shemaiah, son of Nethanel, wrote it all down. King David was there to watch him do it. So were his officials, the two priests Zadok and Ahimelech, and family leaders of the priests and their Levite associates. 7This is the order in which the 24 family work groups got their assignments:Jehoiarib,
Jedaiah,
8Harim,
Seorim,
9Malchijah,
Mijamin,
10Hakkoz,
Abijah,
11Jeshua,
Shecaniah,
12Eliashib,
Jakim,
13Huppah,
Jeshebeab,
14Bilgah,
Immer,
15Hezir,
Happizzez,
16Pethahiah,
Jehezkel,
17Jachin,
Gamul,
18Delaiah,
Maaziah.
19These are the men honored with the duty of serving inside the Lord’s house, the worship center. And they would do this by following the procedures [3] God gave their ancestor, Aaron, father of Israel’s priests.
More Levites, more work
20On the record, these are the rest of the family leaders in Levi’s tribe:Shubael and Jehdeiah, descended from Amram.
21Isshiah, family leader descended from Rehabiah.
22Shelomoth and son Jahath, descended from Izhar.
23Jeriah the family leader, and brothers Amariah, Jahaziel, Jekameam, all descended from Hebron.
24Micah and Shamir, descended from Uzziel.
25Zechariah, descended from Isshiah, Micah’s brother.
26Mahli and Mushi, descended from Merari.
Beno the family leader, descended from Jaaziah.
27Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri, also descended from Jaaziah and Merari.
28Eleazar, family leader though he had no sons, descended from Mahli.
29Jerahmeel, descended from Kish.
31Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth, descended from Mushi.
There you have it, Levites listed by their current and ancient family groups. 31They all took their assignments based on the roll of the dice, like the priests had done. King David watched them do it. So did the priests Zadok and Ahimelech, along with other leaders of priestly families and Levite families—from clan chiefs to their little brothers.
Footnotes
The two older brothers died in a fire when they tried to burn nonkosher incense in the worship center (Leviticus 10:1).
This isn’t the “Baby needs a new pair of shoes” kind of dice. The Hebrew term more literally says the people threw or drew “lots.” The “lots” may have been stones or animal bones marked in a way that produced random outcomes for “yes” or “no” answers, or for determining who goes first in a group. The idea is like throwing dice, with the high number going first. It’s also a little like “heads” or “tails” from a coin toss. Many people at the time taught that God controlled the outcome. So, the dice spoke for God. In that sense, to those folks, the outcome wasn’t random. God controlled the dice and everything else in his world.
See Exodus 29—30.
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