1 Chronicles 25:6

All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king's order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) All these were under the hands of their father . . . and harps.—Rather, All these were under the direction of their conductor in the music in the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, harps, and lutes, (See Notes on 1Chronicles 25:2-3.)

According to the king’s order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.—Rather, under the directions of the king (and), Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun. The meaning is that the arrangement of the duties of the minstrels was accomplished by David with the assistance of the three chief musicians, just as, in the classification of the priests, the king had been helped by the chief priests Zadok and Ahimelech (1Chronicles 24:3).

All these.—That is, the twenty-four leading minstrels, enumerated in 1Chronicles 25:2-4. Each performed under the supervision of his own “father,” i.e., director.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:1-31 The singers and musicians. - David put those in order who were appointed to be singers and musicians in the temple. To prophesy, in this place, means praising God with great earnestness and devout affections, under the influences of the Holy Spirit. In raising these affections, poetry and music were employed. If the Spirit of God do not put life and fervour into our devotions, they will, however ordered, be a lifeless, worthless form.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

To lift up the horn - Some take this literally, and consider that Heman and his sons played on the born in the musical services; but there is no other evidence that the horn was so employed. Perhaps the most probable explanation is that it has been transferred from the next clause, where (as here) it followed the word "God," with the sense that "God, to exalt Heman's horn (or, increase his dignity), gave him fourteen sons and three daughters."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6, 7. All these were under the hands of their father—Asaph had four sons, Jeduthun six, and Heman fourteen, equal to twenty-four; making the musicians with their brethren the singers, an amount of two hundred eighty-eight. For, like the priests and Levites, they were divided into twenty-four courses of twelve men each, equal to two hundred eighty-eight, who served a week in rotation; and these, half of whom officiated every week with a proportionate number of assistants, were skilful and experienced musicians, capable of leading and instructing the general musical corps, which comprised no less than four thousand (1Ch 23:5).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Under the hands. i.e. under his direction, as 1 Chronicles 25:2.

According to the king’s order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman, Heb. by the hands of the king, and of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman, i.e. according to the king’s appointment, and under the conduct of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

All these were under the hands of their father, for song in the house of the Lord,.... Instructed and directed by him in the performance of the service in the temple:

with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God; which were the three principal instruments of music used in the temple service:

according to the king's order, to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman; who ordered and directed them what to sing, what tunes to make use of, and what instruments to play upon to those tunes.

Geneva Study Bible

All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king's order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. according to … Heman] R.V. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - This verse needs nothing except exact translation to make its meaning clear and consistent, All these (i.e. the names of vers. 2-4) were under the directions of their father, in the song of the house of the Lord, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, under the directions of the king, Asaph, and Jeduthun and Heman. 1 Chronicles 25:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

1 Chronicles 25:6 is the subscription to the enumeration, 1 Chronicles 25:2-5. כּל־אלּה are not the fourteen sons of Heman, but all the sons of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman. All these were under the direction of their fathers for song in the house of Jahve, with cymbals ... for the service in the house of God under the direction of the king, etc. אביהם is used distributively of each father of the sons named. Bertheau supplies after אביהם the name Heman, and thereby the first half of the verse contradicts the second, which he correctly understands to refer to the twenty-four persons enumerated. - In 1 Chronicles 25:7 the total number is given. Their number (the number) of the sons of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman (i.e., of the twenty-four 4 + 6 + 14 mentioned by name), with their brethren, was 288 (24 x 12); whence we learn that each of those named had eleven אחים, all of them שׁיר מלמּדי שׁיר, learned, practised in song for Jahve. In כּל־המּבין the sons and the brothers are both included, in order to give the total number. מבין, having understanding, knowledge of a thing, denotes here those who by education and practice were skilled in song - the accomplished musicians. Their number was 288, and these were divided into twenty-four choirs (classes). David had, according to 1 Chronicles 23:5, appointed 4000 Levites for the performance of the music. Of these, 288 were מבינים skilled in song; the others were scholars (תּלמידים), as 1 Chronicles 25:8 shows, where מבין and תּלמיד are the two categories into which the musicians are divided.