1 Chronicles 27:17

Of the Levites, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel: of the Aaronites, Zadok:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) Of the Levites, Hashabiah.—Levi has two princes, one for the tribe and one for the great Aaronite branch. The literal rendering would be: To Levi, Hashabiah . . . to Aaron, Zadok. Zadok was the high priest (1Chronicles 24:3).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:16-34 The officers of the court, or the rulers of the king's substance, had the oversight and charge of the king's tillage, his vineyards, his herds, his flocks, which formed the wealth of eastern kings. Much of the wisdom of princes is seen in the choice of their ministry, and common persons show it in the choice of their advisers. David, though he had all these about him, preferred the word of God before them all. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Gad and Asher are omitted from this list of the tribes. Similarly, Dan and Zebulon are omitted from the genealogical survey of the tribes 1 Chronicles 4-8. We can only suppose that the lists, as they came down to the writer of Chronicles, were incomplete. The "rulers" or "princes" of the tribes appear to have been the oldest lineal descendants of the patriarchs according to the law of primogeniture.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ch 27:16-24. Princes of the Twelve Tribes.

16. over the tribes of Israel: the ruler—This is a list of the hereditary chiefs or rulers of tribes at the time of David's numbering the people. Gad and Asher are not included; for what reason is unknown. The tribe of Levi had a prince (1Ch 27:17), as well as the other tribes; and although it was ecclesiastically subject to the high priest, yet in all civil matters it had a chief or head, possessed of the same authority and power as in the other tribes, only his jurisdiction did not extend to the priests.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Furthermore, over the cities of Israel,.... Were the following rulers or princes; the captains over the militia before named were of David's appointment; but these ruled over their respective tribes in their own right, or by the choice of their tribes: the ruler of the tribe of Reuben was Eliezer, the son of Zichri: of the tribe of Simeon, Shephatiah the son of Maachah; whether this was his father's or mother's name is not certain, it being the name both of a man and woman: of the tribe of Levi, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel: of the Aaronites, who were of the same tribe, but, being priests, are thus distinguished from the Levites, Zadok, who was made high priest in the times of Solomon: of the tribe of Judah, Elihu, a brother of David's, the same with Eliab, 1 Samuel 16:6, of the tribe of Issachar, Omri the son of Michael: of the tribe of Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah: of the tribe of Naphtali, Jerimoth the son of Azriel: of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Azaziah: of the half tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan westward, Joel the son of Pedaiah: of the half tribe of Manasseh, in Gilead, on the other side Jordan eastward, Iddo the son of Zechariah: of the tribe of Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner, the famous general on the side of Ishbosheth; of the tribe of Dan, Azareel the son of Jeroham:

these were the princes of the tribes of Israel; of all excepting Gad and Asher, who are omitted; perhaps he that was prince of the tribe of Reuben, or else of the half tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan, was ruler of Gad and Asher; these lying between Zebulun and Naphtali, might be under the prince of one of them.

Geneva Study Bible

Of the Levites, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel: of the Aaronites, Zadok:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - It is, perhaps, remarkable that Hashabiah - presumably a Gershonite - is not distinguished from the Hebronite (i.e. Kohathite) of the same name (1 Chronicles 26:30); some, however, think that our Hasha-biah is the Kohathite (see Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 1:759 b). For Zadok, see ch. 6:4, 12. He was of the line of Eleazar. 1 Chronicles 27:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The princes of the twelve tribes. - The enumeration of the tribal princes, commencing with the words, "and over the tribes of Israel," immediately follows the catalogue of the divisions of the army with their commanders, because the subjects are in so far connected as the chief management of the internal business of the people, divided as they were into tribes, was deposited in their hands. In the catalogue the tribes Gad and Asher are omitted for reasons unknown to us, just as in 1 Chronicles 4-7, in the genealogies of the tribes, Dan and Zebulun are. In reference to Levi, on the contrary, the Nagid of Aaron, i.e., the head of the priesthood, is named, viz., Zadok, the high priest of the family of Eleazar.