1 Chronicles 25:9

Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph: the second to Gedaliah, who with his brethren and sons were twelve:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph.—See 1Chronicles 25:2, according to which Joseph was the second “son” of Asaph. Although not stated in the text, it must have been true of Joseph as of all the following heads, that “he, and his sons and his brethren were twelve.” The specified total of 288 (1Chronicles 25:7) requires it.

The second to Gedaliah, who with his brethren and sons were twelve.—Rather, Gedaliah was the second, he and his brethren and his sons—twelve. The “brethren” and “sons” of the chiefs, in this and the following verses, are the eleven masters, or proficients, in each class.

Brethren.—Fellow-clansmen, or associates.

Sons.—Disciples, or subordinates.

Perhaps, however, we should think of elder and younger families, grouped together in one class.

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 25:9. To Joseph — For the family of Asaph, of which Joseph was. Here that clause, he, his sons, and his brethren were twelve, is to be understood as it is expressed in all the following verses, otherwise they do not make up that number of two hundred and eighty-eight, mentioned 1 Chronicles 25:7.

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

As well the small as the great - Compare 1 Chronicles 24:31. The lot was not applied indiscriminately to all the 24 courses, but was only used to settle which course of Asaph, which of Jeduthun, and which of Heman, should on each occasion be taken. Asaph was given the precedence over his brethren, and his four courses were assigned the first, and then each alternate place. Jeduthun took rank next, and received alternate places, first with Asaph, and then with Heman, until his courses were exhausted. After this, all the later places fell necessarily to Heman, whose courses continue without interruption from the 15th.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ch 25:8-31. Their Division by Lot into Four and Twenty Orders.

8. they cast lots, ward against ward—"Ward" is an old English word for "division" or "company." The lot was cast to determine the precedence of the classes or divisions over which the musical leaders presided; and, in order to secure an impartial arrangement of their order, the master and his assistants, the teacher and his scholars, in each class or company took part in this solemn casting of lots. In the first catalogue given in this chapter the courses are classed according to their employment as musicians. In the second, they are arranged in the order of their service.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For Asaph to Joseph, i.e. for the family of Asaph, of which Joseph was. Here that clause, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve, is to be understood, as it is expressed in all the following verses, otherwise they do not make up that number of two hundred and eighty-eight mentioned 1 Chronicles 25:7.

To Gedaliah, who, Heb. he; which word being here expressed, is rightly understood and supplied in the rest.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph,.... His second son to the preference of the firstborn, 1 Chronicles 25:2,

the second to Gedaliah, who with his brethren and sons were twelve: and which must also be understood of Joseph, and supplied to him; for those being both in one verse, as Jarchi observes, it is but once mentioned, but must be supplied, or otherwise the number of two hundred and eighty eight could not be made up; the same is observed of all the other lots and courses to the end of the chapter as here, and therefore need no more remarks.

Geneva Study Bible

Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to {f} Joseph: the second to Gedaliah, who with his brethren and sons were twelve:

(f) So that he served in the first turn and the rest every one as his turn followed in order.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. for Asaph] A comparison of 1 Chronicles 25:9-31 with 1 Chronicles 25:2-4 shews that the first, third, fifth and seventh lots fell to Asaph, the second, fourth, eighth, tenth, twelfth and fourteenth to Jeduthun, and the rest (fourteen in number) to Heman.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 9-31. - List of the choirs in the order in which their lots came. The formula, his sons, and his brethren, which follows twenty-two out of the twenty-four leaders' names which now come before us, is absent from ver. 9, where we should have looked for it, viz. after the name Joseph. It has been supposed that this is a mere omission of carelessness. But this can scarcely be asserted conclusively. It is observable, for instance, that the order of the formula in the same verse, on occasion of its very first occurrence, is not identical with the other twenty-two instances of it, the word "brethren" preceding "sons," and the pronoun "he" being expressed. The preposition (ל) is sometimes expressed and sometimes not expressed before both the proper names and the ordinal numerals of the list. Examination of the contents of these verses shows, either that it was due to the Divine direction of the lot (Proverbs 16:33) that an issue resulted which looks so unlike mere chance, and the system of which is so methodical and traceable; or that the lot-taking was not one of families and sons, all thrown together from the first. This supposition would, of course, leave room for some such ingenious hypothesis as that of Berthean, too artificial by far to be defensible except as a theory that would indeed work out the result. He suggests that the modus operandi was by two urns, one for the first seven odd numbers, into which were put the names of Asaph's four sons and of the second, third, and fourth of Heman; the other for the first seven even numbers, into which were put the six sons of Jeduthun and the first of Heman. Turning from such a concocted theory to these verses, we find that the first cast brings to the surface the second son of Asaph, and the second cast brings up the eldest son of Jeduthun. At the end of the seventh all of Asaph's sons are exhausted, and what would have been his next place (the ninth) is occupied by the second son of Heman, whose eldest had just taken the sixth place so thrown out by the lot. At the end of the fourteenth throw Jeduthun's six sons are all used up, and all the remaining places belong to Heman's sons, but still in the order in which they are thrown out by the lot. 1 Chronicles 25:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The order of succession was so determined by lot, that the four sons of Asaph (1 Chronicles 25:3) received the first, third, fifth, and seventh places; the six sons of Jeduthun, the second, fourth, eighth, twelfth, and fourteenth; and finally, the four sons of Heman (first mentioned in 1 Chronicles 25:4), the sixth, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth places; while the remaining places, 1 Chronicles 25:15-24, fell to the other sons of Heman. From this we learn that the lots of the sons of the three chief musicians were not placed in separate urns, and one lot drawn from each alternately; but that, on the contrary, all the lots were placed in one urn, and in drawing the lots of Asaph and Jeduthun came out so, that after the fourteenth drawing only sons of Heman remained.

(Note: Bertheau, S. 218, draws quite another conclusion from the above-mentioned order in which the lots were drawn. He supposes "that two series, each of seven, were first included in the lot: to the one series belonged the four sons of Asaph and the three sons of Heman, Mattaniah, Uzziel or Azarel, and Shebuel or Shubael; to the other, the six sons of Jeduthun and Bukkiah the son of Heman. A lot was drawn from each series alternately, commencing with the first, so that the four sons of Asaph and the three sons of Heman obtained the places 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13; while to the six sons of Jeduthun, and the son of Heman added to them, fell the places 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14. The still remaining ten sons of Heman were then finally drawn for, and received the placed from the 15th to the 24th." This very artificial hypothesis explains, indeed, the order of the lots, but we cannot think it probable, because (1) for the supposed dividing of the lots to be drawn into divisions of 10 and 14 no reason can be assigned; (2) by any such division the sons of Heman would have been placed at a disadvantage from the beginning as compared with the sons of Asaph and Jeduthun, since not only Asaph's four sons, but also all Jeduthun's six sons, would have been placed in the first rank, while only four sons of Heman accompany them, Heman's ten remaining sons having had the last place assigned them.)

As to the details in 1 Chronicles 25:9, after Joseph we miss the statement, "he and his sons and his brothers, twelve;" which, with the exception of the הוּא, used only of the second lot, and omitted for the sake of brevity in all the other cases, is repeated with all the 23 numbers, and so can have been dropped here only by an error. The words ליוסף לאסף are to be understood thus: The first lot drawn was for Asaph, viz., for his son Joseph. In the succeeding verses the names are enumerated, sometimes with and sometimes without ל. Some of the names diverge somewhat in form. Izri, 1 Chronicles 25:11, stands for Zeri, 1 Chronicles 25:3; Jesharelah, 1 Chronicles 25:14, for Asarelah, 1 Chronicles 25:2; Azarel, 1 Chronicles 25:18, for Uzziel, 1 Chronicles 25:4 (like the king's names Uzziah and Azariah, 1 Chronicles 3:12, and 2 Chronicles 26:1); Shubael, 1 Chronicles 25:20, for Shebuel, 1 Chronicles 25:4 (cf. 1 Chronicles 23:16 with 1 Chronicles 24:20); Jeremoth, 1 Chronicles 25:22, for Jerimoth, 1 Chronicles 25:4; Eliyathah, 1 Chronicles 25:27, for Eliathah, 1 Chronicles 25:4. Besides these, the fuller forms Nethanyahu (1 Chronicles 25:12), Hashabyahu (1 Chronicles 25:3), Hananyahu (1 Chronicles 25:23), are used instead of the shorter Nethaniah, etc. (1 Chronicles 25:2, 1 Chronicles 25:19, 1 Chronicles 25:4). Of the 24 names which are here enumerated, besides those of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman, only Mattithiah recurs (1 Chronicles 15:18, 1 Chronicles 15:21) in the description of the solemnities connected with the bringing in of the ark; "but we are not justified in seeking there the names of our twenty-four classes" (Berth.).