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1
Chronicles Chapter Twenty-three
1 Chronicles 23
Chapter Contents
David declares Solomon his successor. (1-23) The office
of the Levites. (24-32)
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 23:1-23
(Read 1 Chronicles 23:1-23)
David, having given charge concerning the building of the
temple, settles the method of the temple service, and orders the officers of
it. When those of the same family were employed together, it would engage them
to love and assist one another.
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 23:24-32
(Read 1 Chronicles 23:24-32)
Now the people of Israel were so many, there should be
more employed in the temple service, that every Israelite who brought an
offering might find a Levite ready to help him. When more work is to be done,
it is pity but there should be more workmen. A new heart, a spiritual mind,
which delights greatly in God's commandments, and can find a refreshing feast
in his ordinances, forms the great distinction between the true Christian and
all other men in the world. To the spiritual man every service will yield
satisfaction. He will be ever abounding in the work of the Lord; being never so
happy as when employed for such a good Master, in so pleasant a service. He
will not regard whether he is called to take the lead, or to keep the charge of
others who are placed over him. May we seek and serve the Lord uprightly, and
leave all the rest to his disposal, by faith in his word.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Chronicles》
1 Chronicles 23
Verse 2
[2] And
he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the
Levites.
Gathered, … — To
declare God's mind and his own will, that Solomon should be his successor: and
to acquaint them with those directions which he had received from God by the spirit.
Verse 3
[3] Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and
their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand.
Upwards —
Not only 'till fifty, as it was appointed, Numbers 4:2,3, but even 'till their death: for
that was but a temporary law grounded upon a special reason, because the
Levites were employed in carrying the tabernacle and sacred vessels from place
to place; and therefore God would have them freed from those burdens when they
came to feel the infirmities of age: which reason wholly ceasing upon the
building of the temple, their work being far easier than it had been, and their
service being more a privilege than a burden, their time of service is justly
prolonged.
Verse 4
[4] Of
which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of
the LORD; and six thousand were officers and judges:
Officers — To
take care that all the work of the temple about sacrifices should be punctually
performed, either by themselves or others: which they were not to do all at
once, but by courses, a thousand at a time.
Judges —
Not in the affairs of the temple; there the priests presided; but in several
parts of the kingdom, where they assisted the princes and elders of every
tribe, in the administration of justice.
Verse 13
[13] The
sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should
sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before
the LORD, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever.
Sanctify —
That he might keep them from pollution: for these most holy things were
polluted when they were touched by any other person.
He and his —
Not only his eldest sons the high-priests successively, but all his posterity
or all the priests; for the works here following were not peculiar to the
high-priest, but common to all the priests.
Verse 14
[14] Now concerning Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of
Levi.
Levi —
They were accounted only as common Levites, and were not priests: which is
mentioned for the honour of Moses, and the demonstration of his eminent piety
and self-denial, who willingly left the government to Joshua, and the
priesthood to Aaron, and was content to have his posterity reduced to a private
and mean condition.
Verse 24
[24]
These were the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; even the chief of
the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did
the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years
and upward.
Twenty years — As
the Levites were anciently numbered from two several times, from the twenty
fifth year of their age, and from the thirtieth, Numbers 4:3; 8:24. In like manner they are here numbered both
from their twentieth year, when they were solemnly prepared for, and
instructed, and by degrees exercised in some parts of their work; and from
their thirtieth year, when they were admitted to the full exercise of their
office. And the reason why they were now sooner admitted to service than they
had been formerly, is given in the next verses because now their work was more
easy, being wholly discharged from that burdensome work of carrying the
tabernacle. Besides the people of Israel were multiplied: therefore more hands
were necessary, that every Israelite who brought an offering, might find a
Levite ready to assist him.
Verse 28
[28]
Because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the
house of the LORD, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of
all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God;
Holy things —
Holy places, and garments, and vessels, and sacrifices, which were to be washed
and cleansed from any filthiness that might cleave to them.
Verse 29
[29] Both
for the shewbread, and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the
unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for that which is
fried, and for all manner of measure and size;
All measure —
All measures used either in sacred or civil things, the publick standards
whereof were kept in the temple; and therefore the care of keeping them
inviolable and producing them upon occasion, musts needs belong to the priests,
and under them to the Levites, who were to examine other measures and all
things by them, as occasion required; that so the priests might be at leisure
for their higher and greater employments.
Verse 30
[30] And
to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at even;
Morning and even —
The two solemn times of offering sacrifices: which work was attended with
publick prayer and thanksgiving.
Verse 32
[32] And
that they should keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the
charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren,
in the service of the house of the LORD.
Charge —
What the priests should commit to their charge, or command them to do.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Chronicles》
23 Chapter 23
Verse 1
So when David was old and full of days.
I. An instructive view of life.
II. A touching picture
of old age.
III. A solemn
warning to all. (J. Wolfendale.)
How to employ old age
The pathos of David’s action will be more clearly recognised if we remember that the
literal translation is, “Now David had become satisfied with days.” Satisfied
with days, but not satisfied with labour. David had seen all the contents of
time, in poverty, persecution, honour, end majesty, and yet he was anxious for
the consolidation of his empire and the construction of the temple. When the
heathen poet described the death of a philosopher it was under the image of a
guest who had to the full enjoyed the feast. David as a guest of the Lord had
himself sat long enough at the table of time, and now he was desirous that his son should take up the
service and enjoyment of the empire, whilst he himself went forth to the
mysteries of another state. Old age can do for the future what mere youth is
not permitted to attempt. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 5
And four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I
made.
Music and religion
I. The object of
music. “To praise therewith” well expresses the attitude of the Bible towards
music. Plutarch says: “The chiefest and sublimest end of music is the graceful
return of our thanks to the gods.” In these words the wisdom of the Bible
representation is vindicated. A worthy conception of God is the only thing
which can give the true inspiration of music, and keep it pure and noble
through all its strains. Thus music and religion ought never to be divorced.
II. Some of the
features of the revelation of God which the Bible gives, and see how they agree
with the best features of musical life and growth.
1. The Bible reveals God to man, and man to himself; it opens up
depths of meaning which ordinary life cannot sound; it calls man the son of
God; it bases itself upon the love of God, which passeth knowledge; it speaks
of things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the
heart of man to conceive. If we allow music any rights of its own, they must be
based upon its claim to give expression which is beyond the power of words, and
to utter conceptions which thought cannot formulate. It has the power to take
them out of the surroundings even of the deepest thoughts, to lift their
aspirations where nothing else can go, to carry them into the presence of a
power of harmony and order more fundamental than the skill of the hand or the
logic of the mind can represent.
2. Then there is the universality of religion. It is meant for all
men: there are all grades and kinds of reception of it. The gospel of Christ is
for all men; it has truths for the simple, and doctrines for the wise; it meets
all nations of men, each according to its nature and its needs. So music in one
way or another affects the simplest and the most cultured, appeals to the
joyful and to the sorrowing, defies lines of nationality and of language, and
is appropriated by all according to the needs of each.
3. The object of religion is harmony--harmony between heaven and
earth, between man and man, harmony in the life of the individual, with its
varying experiences. The power of man to appreciate harmony finds a response in
the growing resources of the musical art; and the yearnings of man for a better
existence, where life shall not clash with death, joy with sorrow, and love
with hate, finds an answer in a revelation which destroys death, comforts
sorrow, and makes love seen everywhere. There could be no better expression for
heaven, aa the place where such a revelation finds its completion, than as the
place of music. (Arthur Brooks, D. D.)
Verse 14
Moses the man of God.
The man of God
1. A beautiful
description of any
man.
2. A possible description of every man.
3. A needful description of each man if he is to abide in his
Father’s house for ever.
Some men have attained eminence in godliness. No renown is to be
compared with this, no influence is ,equal to that which arises from such
recognition. (J. Parker, D. D.)
When is man a “man of God”?
1. When he believes in God’s existence.
2. When he is assured of God’s providence.
3. When he has sunk his will in the Divine purpose.
4. When he lives and moves and has his being in God. (J. Parker,
D. D.)
Verse 25
For David said, The Lord God of Israel hath given rest unto His
people.
The rest of the people of God
I. In the
mysterious polity of the people of Israel spiritual and temporal blessings were
so closely allied that the same language might naturally be employed to signify
either.
II. It is not
unwarrantable for us to conjecture that in the joyous utterance contained in
the text David insinuated profounder truths than lie on the surface of his
words.
III. If “there
remaineth a rest to the people of God,” it becomes us to secure this great
blessing as the sole or chief object of existence.
IV. Rest and peace
must fall upon a Christian spirit.
1. From its devotion to Christ Himself, and its devoted imitation of
His pure and perfect example.
2. By the elevating tendency of the singleness of the object of his
hope. Those who have many debts often feel it a relief to exchange them all for
a single creditor; he whose whole heart is bent on reaching a single point
leaves all around him on his way in equal and complete indifference. God is
one; let our affections but partake of the unity of that object, and we shall
have reached the pathway of real and imperishable rest.
3. From the very nature of the Christian affections.
4. From its hope being anchored in a future world. To support, still
more to exalt us, heaven must mingle with earth. To direct a vessel upon the
ocean there must be two elements at work, the air must modify the agency of the
water; to set a vessel at rest there must be more elements than one employed,
and the earth must afford the means of resisting the breezes and the sea. Such
is the position in the voyage of this life. The earthly and the heavenly
elements must combine, or we are powerless. Confined to the single element of
our corrupted nature, we are the sport of every accident, we have no rules for
our navigation. But they who join to the human nature the higher element, they
have a power that guides them to the everlasting haven. To have the great
object of our thoughts placed beyond the chances of human life is to place
ourselves beyond them. (W. A. Butler.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》