I ntroduction: I must admit to putting off exegeting this chapter for some time. I spent over a month exegeting a couple of psalms first. I just kept thinking that this is one long chapter (81 verses!). However, its length might give us an idea as to how God looks at these things. This chapter spent on the tribe of Levi, at 81 verses, compares to that on the family of Judah (I Chron. 2:3–3:24—77 verses) and the tribe of Benjamin (from whence came King Saul; I Chron. 7:6–12 8:1–40—47 verses). And, only the lines of David and Levi are followed out all the way to the dispersion. In the other genealogies, we simply get the most prominent families and clans.

Furthermore, on the face of it, this line of Levi struck me as being the least interesting of the genealogies. I Chron. 6 is long and deals with the tribe of Levi. Unlike the tribe of Judah, from whom came the kings of Judah and our Savior, from Levi, there is promise, but they eventually fall into great degeneracy—however, it is religious degeneracy, which seems to me to be far less interesting than other types of degeneracy. What did surprise me is that many of those mentioned in this genealogy are found in other portions of Scripture. What further surprised me as that several of these were interesting men and that they were mentioned a lot. Being a theocracy, you cannot wholly separate the political from the religious Israel—they are inexorably linked. Therefore, the political intrigue which surrounded the life of David also bleeds into the lives of the priests—those who supported him and those who backed the wrong candidate. Therefore, I personally began to find the lives of these priests much more interesting that I had first anticipated. Furthermore, when I got to the end of this chapter, where a list of the cities transferred over to the Levites is given, I was able to clarify and sometimes even correct information which I had presented back in the second half of the book of Joshua.

Since completing this chapter (and several after it), I returned to exegeting narrative—specifically 1Samuel; and I have found myself going back to this chapter again and again as a reference book. It is this book which is sort of a road map. It is this book which straightens out many fine points and relationships. In fact, I cannot imagine exegeting 1Samuel apart from having already examined this chapter.

Now, early on in the examination of these genealogies, I made a presumption that we would not know the lines of those who were under slavery to Egypt, and I assumed that there would be holes in the lines of those who were deported. This is not necessarily the case with the line of Levi. In fact, the line of Aaron through Eleazar through Zadok appears to be the most complete line of all the genealogies. We should expect that, under slavery, most families would not keep a careful record of their genealogies—however, the operative word here is most. We might expect that a handful of families might have kept a careful genealogy—and they would need to have a reason to. The line of Aaron was, even prior to the establishment of nation Israel, designated as the line of the High Priests. Therefore, under any and all circumstances, that lineage would have been followed. What would be most logical, particularly given the curse that Jacob laid upon the tribe of Levi, is that a careful genealogy during the time of slavery, apart from the general divisions of the family would be lost; however, after the designation of the line of Aaron as the priestly line—at that point, we should expect a very carefully kept genealogical line. This is exactly what we find.

This chapter is more than just a genealogy. It would be helpful if you went back and looked at the Doctrine of the Levites in Deut. 27:14 and the Doctrines of the Priesthood and of the High Priest back in Ex. 30:21. In general, there has always been some sort of a priesthood who function is not quite as well-laid out as we would like to see in the Age of the Gentiles (this would be the epoch of time which preceded the Abraham becoming a Jew). Therefore, when God gave the Law to Israel, there appears to have been the function of a priesthood which was not completely defined to begin with. That is, the priesthood did not appear to be a new thing. Although the High Priest had clearly defined duties (entering into the Holy of Holies and sprinkling the blood upon the altar), the descent of the High Priest appears to be more implied than stated. It is fairly clear in Scripture that the priesthood would come from Aaron’s line. “Then you will bring Aaron, your brother, near to yourself, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, and they will minister as priest to Me—Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.” (Ex. 28:1). “And they [the garments of the priesthood] will be on Aaron and on his descendants when they enter the Tent of Meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur iniquity and die. It will be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.” (Ex. 28:43). “You will appoint Aaron and his descendants that they may keep their priesthood; but the layman who comes near will be executed.” (Num. 3:10). Aaron was the first High Priest and his third son, Eleazar, after the deaths of his first two sons, was the second; his son, Phinehas, was eventually the third High Priest. However, we also find some priests who come from the line of Ithamar, who is the fourth son of Aaron. Therefore, we do not find a hard and fast rule either in Scripture by example or by direct statement as to how the High Priest was chosen. By the time of our Lord, the High Priest was, sadly, one of the most corrupt, if not the most corrupt, of the priests in general. Understanding this will eliminate some of the supposed problems in this chapter. We will, in two places, follow a very specific line of Aaron; many High Priests came from this line. However, it is important to realize that (1) Not necessarily all of those named were High Priests (I put them in as High Priests in one of the charts, as there is no statement of which I am aware where so-and-so is specifically noted as not being a High Priest; and, (2) although all High Priests came from the line of Aaron, they did not all come through the line of Eleazar, which is followed out in this chapter. Several important, well-substantiated High Priests came through the line of Ithamar, the youngest of Aaron’s sons. There are a handful of other priests whose exact line is unknown.

Before I forget, there are two common and very incorrect notions that most Christians have with respect to the tribe of Levi: (1) that there is such a thing as a Levitical priesthood; i.e., the Levites are equivalent to the priests in Israel; and, (2) the book of Leviticus deals with the Levitical priesthood. Only one branch of the Levites were priests, and, quite obviously, only a small portion of that branch. The priests came from the line of Aaron, principally through his son Eleazar, although several came through his son Ithamar as well. By the time Aaron came along, the Levites were 22,000 in number (Num. 3:43) and their duties are outlined in Num. 4–6, 8, 18 (the word Levite barely occurs in the book of Leviticus).

These 22,000 and their descendants were to assist in the worship of Jesus Christ at the Tent of Worship, but they were not the priests. A linear line which began with Aaron and went through Eleazar was the source of the priests over Israel (as well as some of those in the line of Ithamar, Eleazar’s brother). Now, you, in ignorance, might find these viewpoints quaint; however, the man who compiled 1Chronicles will confirm this in I Chron. 6:48–49: And their relatives the Levites where appointed for all the service of the Tent of the House of God. But Aaron and his sons offered up in smoke upon the altar of burnt offering and upon the altar of incense, for the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded. In other words, all of the Levites had responsibilities with respect to the Tent of God; however, only the sons of Aaron were associated with the actual priesthood, which were those men who offered up the animal sacrifices; and only specific men from Aaron’s line, the High Priests, could go into the Holy of Holies and offer up an atonement for Israel once a year

There is a very specific purpose in this chapter—Levites had a particular place in Jewish society. They were involved with Tent (and Temple) worship. When the Israelites returned from captivity, it was important to distinguish the Levites, as they were supported by the public to participate in certain religious functions; and, for the reasons cited above, it was important to distinguish the priestly line of Eleazar from the Levites in general (compare the following: Ezra 2:40–41 Neh. 7:43–44 10:9–13, 28–29 11:15–19 12:23–47). In fact, even those who worked around the Temple—the Levites—were subject to an examination of their lineage. In this chapter, there are three men who are the heads of the music guild of Israel when the Temple was built, and their pedigrees are preserved in this chapter. This legitimized their function in the Temple.

This chapter can be broken down to two or three basic sections. In the first section (vv. 1–30, 54–60), we have genealogies of the sons of Levi. In section two (vv. 31–48), we have the ancestors of the musicians guild given (some may include this with the first section). Section three (vv. 54–81) tells what cities were given over to the Levites. These various sections can be subdivided, of course. In vv. 2–15, we have the line of Kohath, the line which included Aaron, and we follow out the linear progression of High Priests from Aaron’s son, Eleazar, through to the priest who was taken away in exile. Now, these were not the only High Priests; Aaron’s youngest son, Ithamar, also was the ancestor of several High Priests. Furthermore, it appears as though there was at least one other major line of priests not covered in this chapter, as there are a handful of priests found in Scripture who are not named in this book (we will certainly discuss them). From vv. 16–30, we will follow the three basic lines of Levi—his sons Gershom, Kohath and Merari. In vv. 31–48, we have somewhat of a change of pace, at least in regards for being a genealogy. There are three heads to the musicians guild during the time of David and their lines are traced backwards to show their legitimacy as servants in the House of Jehovah (those who assisted the Aaronic priesthood were supposed to be Levites). At the end of this second, we examine again the descendants of Aaron (I don’t know what that is; my guess is that the author found two lists and copied down both lists).

In the second portion of this chapter, we have an unusual breakdown of topics. First, the cities given to Aaron’s descendants from Judah and Benjamin are named. Then, in vv. 61–65, we have a summary of this distribution (i.e., what tribes gave which cities to which of the three branches of Levi). Then the specifics are given—in vv. 66–70, we have which cities Ephraim and West Manasseh gave over to the line of Kohath. In vv. 71–76, Gershom is given specific cities from East Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Naphtali. Finally, in the final four verses of this chapter, we have the list of the cities which Zebulun and Gad gave over to the descendants of Merari. The reason we do not find the names of Simeon and Dan will be explained when we get to that portion of this chapter.

There is another way to break this chapter down, and that by outline form. I normally do not do that with any given chapter; however, this chapter is 81 verses long, and it would help to have a general idea as to what will transpire. I do this, as it is a good idea to have a picture of the forest before we begin looking at the trees.

This is actually a continuation of I Chron. 5 in the Hebrew; in the English, v. 16 marks the beginning of I Chron. 6:1 in the Hebrew. That ranks with some of the worst chapter and verse divisions in the Bible.

Levi was one of the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel). He was the third son born and the third son born to Leah, after Reuben and Simeon (he was born prior to Judah—Gen. 29:32–35). You may recall that these twelve brothers had a sister, Dinah, who was raped by a Hivite named Shechem. This was not a random act of violence, but he had done so because he was very attracted to her. Her brothers were extremely angered over this, and taken aback when Shechem asked for Dinah’s hand in marriage after the rape. The sons of Jacob hid their anger, but simply told Shechem and his father that they would all have to be circumcised in order to intermarry with the family of Jacob. They went along with this, and every male of that group of Hivites was circumcised. Apparently, Dinah was given over to them to show good faith. On the third day, while these men were still in serious pain, Simeon and Levi went into the city stealthily and killed every male, looted the city, and took Dinah back. Jacob was upset with his boys, as this put his small family at odds with all of the heathen in the land; his boys felt justified, as Shechem had raped their sister. This is all found in Gen. 34.

After this incident, Levi is then found in three lists: a simple list of the sons of Jacob (Gen. 35:23) and in the two lists of those who moved to Egypt with their father Jacob (Gen. 46:11 Ex. 1:2). When Jacob gave his blessings to his sons, he recalled this incident involving Simeon and Reuben and said that they would be scattered among the tribes of Judah and Israel. Jacob’s words were: “Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are implements of violence. Let my soul not enter into their counsel and let not my glory be united with their assembly, because in anger, they executed a man and in their self-will, they hamstrung an ox. Cursed is their anger, for it is fierce; and cursed is their wrath, for it is implacable. I will disperse them in Jacob and I will scatter them in Israel.” (Gen. 49:5–7). What happened was, Simeon never really was given a piece of land of their own, but was, instead, given cities originally designated as Judahite cities. The Levites were scattered throughout northern and southern Israel, which is what the last portion of this particular chapter deals with.

As we examine the sons of Levi, let’s bear in mind the hypothesis that we have formed earlier. It is unlikely that we will have a specific recording of the descendants of Levi who were born while in slavery to Egypt and it is unlikely that we will know exactly who was born in captivity. The line should stop with the last known freeman under the sojourn of the Jews in Egypt; there should be an impenetrable barrier between those who are free and those who exit Egypt (only their parents and grandparents and maybe great grandparents should be known). We will find a similar situation, yet not as pronounced, when the Israelites are removed from the land and taken into slavery.

In v. 16 and following, Gershon is written Gershom. In this verse, in the eastern Massoretic text, it is Gershom as well. In the western Massoretic text, it is Gershon. In any case, this does not appear to be the error of a copyist, as the ending letters, in the Hebrew, are quite different. Because the slightly different names are found throughout Scripture, it appears as though they are variants of the same name. Gershon was one of the three sons born to Levi who moved to Egypt with Levi (Gen. 46:8, 11). We know nothing of Gershon personally from Scripture. There were two families (or clans) which came from Gershom, Libni (or Ladan) (I Chron. 23:7) and Shemei (Num. 3:18, 21). In general, the Gershonites were assigned to the northern territories of Issachar, Asher and Naphtali, as well as to the east in the half tribe of Manasseh that occupied Trans-Jordan area. Therefore, they occupied the northernmost land on both sides of the Jordan

Like Gershon above, we know nothing about Kohath personally, apart from him being born prior to moving to Egypt and living until age 133 (Ex. 6:18). Kohath had four sons—actually, four descendants of note—Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel (Ex. 6:18 Num. 3:19, 27 I Chron. 6:2). Kohath would have been an ancestor to Moses, Aaron and Miriam through Amram (no less than a great grandfather and probably further back than that). Because of this, Kohath is the most famous of the branches of Levi and the most famous of the ancestors. Those who know even the littlest information about the Levites associate Kohath and the name Cohen with the priesthood.

There has been a lot of confusion about the priesthood and it is often called the Levitical priesthood. Ask any Christian and they will incorrectly tell you that the book of Leviticus is about the Levitical priesthood. The priesthood actually began with Aaron, who was a descendant of Levi through Kohath and Amram and those who were descendants of Aaron were properly the priests to Israel. They should have been called the Aaronic priesthood, although I am hard-pressed to find anyone else who so properly refers to them. God gave the other sons of Levi to Aaron and to Aaron’s descendants to help out with the priestly duties. The Kohathites were to camp on the south side of the Tent of Worship while it was in transit to the Land of Promise (Num. 3:29), and they were responsible for the care and transport of the ark, table, lampstand, altars and vessels of the sanctuary (Num. 3:31). Before any of these things could actually be handled, Aaron and his sons were to place a goatskin over them (Num. 4:5–15). They were placed in the southern and south-central portion of Israel in the lands of Judah, Simeon, Ephraim, Benjamin, Dan and half the tribe of Manasseh.

Merari, like his brothers, was born outside of Egypt and moved to Egypt with the family of Jacob. We know nothing of him personally. They were in charge of carrying the frames, bars, pillars, bases and accessories of the tabernacle (Num. 3:36–37 4:31–33 7:8 10:17 Joshua 21:7, 34, 40). From Merari came two families, Mahli and Mushi (Ex. 6:20).

In the chart below, it is important to realize that when two or more men are listed as sons of Barney, that does not mean that they are all sons of Barney—they are simply descendants of Barney and one may be the son of another or the grandson of a person not listed).

The Tribe of Levi

His sons were Gershom, Kohath and Merari (Ex. 6:16 Num. 3:17 I Chron. 6:1, 16)

The Sons of Gershon (or, Gershom)

I. Libni (or, Ladan) (Ex. 6:17 Num. 3:18 I Chron. 6:17, 20)

A. Jahath (I Chron. 6:20, 43)

1. Zimmah ➔ Joah ➔ Iddo ➔ Zerah ➔ Jeatherai (I Chron. 6:20–21) (This line may overlap the line which is listed directly below)

2. Shimei ➔ Zimmah ➔ Ethan ➔ Adaiah ➔ Zerah ➔ Ethni ➔ Malchijah ➔ Baaseiah ➔ Michael ➔ Shimea ➔ Berechiah ➔ Asaph (I Chron. 6:39–42)

II. Shimei (Ex. 6:17 Num. 3:18 I Chron. 6:17) (he could be the same Shimei mentioned in the line above)

III. Lael ➔ Eliasaph (Num. 3:24)

The Sons of KohathI.Amram (Ex. 6:18 Num. 3:19 I Chron. 6:2, 18 23:12); his wife was Jochebed, his father’s sister (which probably means relative—Ex. 6:20)

A. Miriam (I Chron. 6:3a 23:13). Miriam is the oldest, as she is old enough to watch Moses and what happens to him as a baby (Ex. 2:2–4). Since Aaron is three years older than Moses (Ex. 7:7), Miriam cannot be a two-year-old spying on her little brother and his fate.

B. Aaron (Ex. 6:20 I Chron. 6:3a 23:13); his wife was Elisheba (who was the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon—Ex. 6:23).

1. Nadab (Ex. 6:23 I Chron. 6:3b)

2. Abihu (Ex. 6:23 I Chron. 6:3b)

3. Eleazar, who married a daughter of Putiel (Ex. 6:23, 25 I Chron. 6:3b)

a. Phinehas (Ex. 6:25 I Chron. 6:4, 5, 50 Ezra 7:5) ➔ Abishua ➔ Bukki ➔ Uzzi ➔ Zerahiah ➔ Meraioth ➔ Amariah 1 ➔ Ahitub 1 ➔ Zadok 1 ➔ Ahimaaz (I Chron. 6:50–53) ➔ Azariah 1 ➔ Johanan (I Chron. 6:5–9) ➔ Azariah 2 (who was the first priest in Solomon’s Temple—I Chron. 6:10) ➔ Amariah 2 ➔ Ahitub 2 ➔ Zadok 2 ➔ Shallum ➔ Hilkiah ➔ Azariah 3 ➔ Seraiah (I Chron. 6:11–14)

(1) Jehozadak (who was taken away captive by Nebuchadnezzar—I Chron. 6:15) ➔ Jeshua (Joshua) (clearly descended from Jehozadak and he returned to the Land of Promise with the exiles to build the temple—Ezra 3:2, 9 5:2; his exact relationship to Ezra below is not explained; Jeshua had several sons and nephews: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah—Ezra 10:18) ➔ Joiakim (Neh. 12:26) ➔ Eliashib ➔ Joiada ➔ Jonathan ➔ Jaddua (Neh. 12:10–11)

(2) Ezra (by Ezra 7:1, Ezra is clearly descended from Seraiah; given that he returns with the exiles to rebuild the temple would indicate that he is probably one generation removed from Seraiah; it is not clear whether this is through Jehozadak or through another, if any, son of Seraiah’s; my first guess would be that he and Jehozadak are brothers)

b. Jehoiada ➔ Zechariah ➔ Azariah 2.5 ➔ Urijah ➔ Azariah 2.5 (we do not know that we have this sort of progression, whether these men are definitely in the line of Eleazar, or who their ancestors were—they are mentioned in 2Kings 11–12 16:10–18 2Chron. 23–24 26:16–21 31:8–10).

4. Ithamar (Ex. 6:23 I Chron. 6:3b) ➔ Eli ➔ Phinehas 2 ➔ Ichabod and Ahitub (brother, half-brother or relative of Ichabod—compare 1Sam. 4:17, 19–21 14:3) ➔ Ahijah (➔ or =’s) Ahimelech 1 (it is possible that Ahijah = Ahimelech 1, as the line from Ahijah to Ahimelech 1 is not confirmed in Scripture); see discussion under I Chron. 6:3b) ➔ Abiathar (1Sam. 22:20 1Kings 2:27) ➔ Ahimelech 2 (1Sam. 1:3, 19–22 14:3 22:20 2Sam. 8:17);

C. Moses (Ex. 6:20 I Chron. 6:3a 23:13)

1. Gershom (I Chron. 23:15)

a. Shebuel (I Chron. 23:16)

2. Eliezer (I Chron. 23:15)

a. Rehabiah (who was Eliezer’s only son; Rehabiah, however, had many sons) (I Chron. 23:17)

(1) Isshiah

II. Izhar (Ex. 6:18 Num. 3:19 16:1 I Chron. 6:2, 18, 38 23:12)

A. Amminadab (I Chron. 6:22) ➔ Korah (Ex. 6:24 Num. 16:1 I Chron. 6:22, 37; also, see the Lines of Korah Chart to view, side-by-side, the lines of Korah which are recorded in Scripture)

1. Assir ➔ Elkanah 1 ➔ Ebiasaph (probably equivalent to Abiasaph in Ex. 6:24) (I Chron. 6:22–24, 37) ➔ Assir ➔ Tahath (I Chron. 6:23b–24a, 37)

a. Uriel ➔ Uzziah (he could be Azariah from below) ➔ Shaul (he could be Joel from below—I Chron. 6:24)

b. Zephaniah ➔ Azariah ➔ Joel (I Chron. 6:36b–37a) ➔ Elkanah 2 (I Chron. 6:25, 36)

(1) Amasai (I Chron. 6:25, 35) ➔ Mahath (I Chron. 6:35) ➔ Elkanah 3 (I Chron. 6:26, 35) ➔ Zophai (I Chron. 6:26) (who is possibly equivalent to Zuph in I Chron. 6:35) ➔ Nahath (I Chron. 6:26) ➔ Toah (I Chron. 6:34) ➔ Eliab (I Chron. 6:27; who is possibly equivalent to Eliel from I Chron. 6:34) ➔ Jeroham ➔ Elkanah 4 ➔ Samuel (I Chron. 6:27–28a, 33b–34a)

(a) Joel (I Chron. 6:28, 33) ➔ Heman (I Chron. 6:33</