1 Chronicles 6:33

And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) And these are they that waited (stood) with their children.—The main sentence which began at 1Chronicles 6:31, and was suspended by the parenthetic 1Chronicles 6:32, is now resumed. The persons meant are the three chiefs of the Levitical guilds of musicians, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan; their “children” are the members of those guilds. (Comp. the phrase, “sons of the prophets,” i.e., members of prophetic guilds, 2Kings 9:1; Amos 7:14.) 1Chronicles 25:1-7 supplies the names of the principal “sons” of the three masters. Their Levitical descent is shown in the genealogies here traced up from themselves to Levi. First we have the pedigree of Heman (1Chronicles 6:33-38) the Kohathite.

Heman a singer.—Rather, the singer or minstrel. Heman, as representing the chief branch of the Levites, is primus inter pares as regards the other master singers. His choir occupied the centre, having on its right that of the Gershonite Asaph, on its left that of the Merarite Ethan (1Chronicles 6:39; 1Chronicles 6:44), so that Heman would conduct the whole body of musicians, when the three choirs chanted in concert. The word “minstrel” is more appropriate than “singer” because the original term (ham’shôrēr) implies singing which the singer himself accompanies with an instrument of music. (See 1Chronicles 25:6; LXX., ὁ ψαλτῳδὸς.)

Son of Joel, the son of Shemuel.—It is interesting to learn that Heman, the great minstrel, was a grandson of Samuel the great prophet. (For the connection between music and prophecy, see 2Kings 3:15; 1Samuel 10:5-6; and below, 1Chronicles 25:1, Note.) Considering that some have denied that Samuel was a Levite, the point of contact here noted looks like an undesigned coincidence.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:1-81 Genealogies. - We have an account of Levi in this chapter. The priests and Levites were more concerned than any other Israelites, to preserve their descent clear, and to be able to prove it; because all the honours and privileges of their office depended upon their descent. Now, the Spirit of God calls ministers to their work, without any limit as to the families they came from; and then, as now, though believers and ministers may be very useful to the church, none but our great High Priest can make atonement for sin, nor can any be accepted but through his atonement.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Heman - In general Asaph takes precedence of Heman and Jeduthun, but here Heman is placed first, because his family, that of the Kohathites, had the highest priestly rank, being the family which furnished the high priests (see 1 Chronicles 6:2-15).

Shemuel - i. e. "Samuel." Our translators have here given the Hebrew, while elsewhere they give uniformlv the Greek, form of the name. We learn by this genealogy that Heman was Samuel's grandson.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

33. Shemuel—that is, Samuel. This is the exact representation of the Hebrew name.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

These, to wit,

Heman here mentioned; and Asaph, 1 Chronicles 6:39; and Ethan, 1 Chronicles 6:44.

Shemuel, or, Samuel the prophet.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And these are they that waited with their children,.... They and their posterity, who officiated in the service of singing psalms in the sanctuary: the three heads of them were of the three families of the Levites, as follow:

of the sons of the Kohathites, Heman a singer; the chief of the singers, and who composed psalms and hymns, which are in the book of Psalms:

the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel; or Samuel. This Heman was grandson of Samuel the prophet; for whose sake his genealogy is traced up to Jacob or Israel in the following verses, and stands thus; after Samuel, Elkanah, Jeroham, Eliel, Toah, Zuph, Elkanah, Mahath, Amasai, Elkanah, Joel, Azariah, Zephaniah, Tahath, Assir, Ebiasaph, Korah, Izhar, Kohath, Levi, Israel.

Geneva Study Bible

And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33–38 (= 18–23 according to the Heb. division). The descent of Heman, David’s singer, through Kohath from Levi

33. a singer] R.V. the singer.

Shemuel] R.V. Samuel, the well-known prophet being the person meant. Samuel is a form derived from the LXX. through the Latin Vulgate; but Shemuel is a more correct transliteration of the Hebrew name. Cp. 1 Chronicles 6:26-28, notes.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 33. - We have now the name and pedigree of each of the three chief singers or musicians (their duty was both vocal and instrumental) of David's appointment, beginning, according to the analogy of ver. 2, supra, with Heman, the descendant of Kohath, instead of Asaph from Gershom. So the place of Heman was still the place of honor, in the centre, with Asaph on the right and Ethan on the left (vers. 39, 44). Heman is the twenty-first according to this list (vers. 33-38) after Levi, but the genealogy is indistinct (see above, vers. 22-28) between Shemuel and Assir, and according to Hervey ('Genealogies of our Lord,' p. 214), Heman comes fourteenth after Levi. This Heman is to be distinguished from Heman the "son of Zerah" (1 Chronicles 2:6), and with but little doubt, therefore, from Heman the Ezrahite (Zerahite) of Psalm 88. On the other hand, a theory has been suggested by Lord Arthur C. Hervey which might reconcile the two. He supposes that if Heman the Kohathite (or his father) had married an heiress of the house of Zerah, he might have become reckoned in the line of Zerah as well as in that of Kohath. 1 Chronicles 6:33

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(1 Chronicles 6:18-23). "These (following three men, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan) are they who stood (in service) with their sons." The three were the heads of the three Levitic families, to whom the execution of the liturgic singing was entrusted. The names of their sons, vide 1 Chronicles 25:1-6. The object of the following genealogies is to show their descent from Levi. "Of the sons of the Kohathite family (is) Heman the singer." המשׁורר, ὁ ψαλτῳδός lxx. Heman is named first as being the head of the choir of singers who stood in the centre, while Asaph and his choir stood on his right hand, and on the left Ethan and his choir, so that when they sang in concert the conducting of the whole fell to Heman. His family is traced back in 1 Chronicles 6:33-38 through twenty members to "Kohath the son of Levi, then son of Israel" (Jacob).