1 Chronicles 25
Musicians at the worship center
David picks the lead music ministers
1King David and the worship center officials agreed to put three family clans in charge of the music: Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun. They would make music and play instruments such as cymbals, harps, and small harps called lyres. Here are the names of the musicians.2Asaph had four sons: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. They worked under their dad’s leadership. King David gave them orders to use their music to deliver God’s messages.
3Jeduthun had six sons: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, [1] Hashabiah, and Mattithiah. They, too, reported to their dad. They played the lyre to deliver God’s messages and to express their thanks and gratitude to God.
4Heman had a choir full of sons: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. 5That’s 14 sons. He had three daughters, too. It was obvious that God had blessed Heman with all these children. So, King David appointed him as one of his advisors. 6Heman’s sons took directions from him when they performed at the worship center. They played cymbals, harps, and lyres. The three family leaders—Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman—all reported directly to the king.
7These men and their families studied music and practiced performing. All 288 of the musicians in these three extended families grew into accomplished musicians. 8They threw sacred dice [2] to get their assignments by chance, which left the roll of the dice to God. It didn’t matter who they were, whether master musician, music teacher, or student. No one got special treatment.
Lineup of worship musicians
9David divided the musicians into 24 groups, with 12 in each group. Here’s the order in which musicians got their assignments:Joseph, from Asaph’s clan.
Gedaliah.
10Zaccur.
11Zeri.
12Nethaniah.
13Bukkiah.
14Asarelah.
15Jeshaiah.
16Mattaniah.
17Shimei.
18Uzziel.
19Hashabiah.
20Shubael.
21Mattithiah.
22Jerimoth.
23Hananiah.
24Joshbekashah.
25Hanani.
26Mallothi.
27Eliathah.
28Hothir.
29Giddalti.
30Mahazioth.
31Romamti-ezer.
Footnotes
Most ancient Hebrew copies of this list of names does not include Shimei. Also, several names have different spellings in different scrolls. For example in 25:11, some read Zeri and others read Izri.
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.
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