1 Chronicles 6:16

The sons of Levi; Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16-19) The three branches of Levi with their main subdivisions. Parallel passages, Exodus 6:16-19; Numbers 3:17-20.

(16) Gershom.—See Note on 1Chronicles 6:1. In the Pentateuch, Gershom is son of Moses; Gershon, son of Levi.

(19) And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers.—The word’families” (Heb., mishpehuth) does not mean single households, but groups of households, or clans. The sentence concludes the short list of the great Levitical houses, just as at Exodus 6:19. (See also Numbers 3:20, where a like formula appears to introduce what follows.)

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 6:16. The sons of Levi, Gershom, &c. — This he repeats as the foundation of the following genealogy of those Levites who were not priests.

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

A general account of the several branches of the tribe of Levi.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16-48. The sons of Levi; Gershom, &c.—This repetition (see 1Ch 6:1) is made, as the historian here begins to trace the genealogy of the Levitical families who were not priests. The list is a long one, comprising the chiefs or heads of their several families until David's reign, who made a new and different classification of them by courses.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This he repeats, as the foundation of the following genealogy of those Levites who were not priests.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Which is repeated from 1 Chronicles 6:1 for the sake of their posterity, whose names are given in the three following verses, in the same manner as in Exodus 6:17.

Geneva Study Bible

The sons of Levi; Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16–30 (= 1 Chronicles 6:1-15 according to the Heb. division). The three clans of the Levites. The Levitic Descent of Samuel the Prophet

16. Gershom] elsewhere Gershon. Gershom was the name of Moses’ son; Exodus 2:22.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16-19. - These verses have a re-enumeration of the three sons of Levi, and differ from the enumeration of ver. 1, in being followed by the sons of each of these three, and afterwards by the line of descendants from each, instead of by the sons of only one, Kohath, and his descendant in only one stem, the high priest stem, and with only one object. All these names agree with Exodus 6:17-19 and Numbers 3:17-20 (comp. also Numbers 3:21-36 with Numbers 26:57-60), with the trifling exceptions already alluded to, in the Hebrew spelling of Gershom and the Authorized Version spelling of Shimei and the Authorized Version Mahali of Exodus 6:19. The latter half of ver. 19, according to the Hebrew, should rather refer to what has preceded, and be a "subscription," though it might best suit the connection to regard it as introducing what was to follow, and as being a "superscription." Bertheau holds with the former of these views, Keil with the latter. 1 Chronicles 6:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Ch. 6). The families and cities of the Levites. - Vv. 1-34. Register of the families of the Levites. - This is introduced by an enumeration of the sons and grandsons of Levi (1 Chronicles 6:16-19), which is followed by lists of families in six lines of descent: (a) the descendants of Gershon (1 Chronicles 6:20-21), of Kohath (1 Chronicles 6:22-28), and of Merari (1 Chronicles 6:29-30); and (b) the genealogies of David's chief musicians (1 Chronicles 6:31, 1 Chronicles 6:32), of Heman the Kohathite (1 Chronicles 6:33-38), of Asaph the Gershonite (1 Chronicles 6:39-43), and of Ethan the Merarite (1 Chronicles 6:44-47); and in 1 Chronicles 6:48, 1 Chronicles 6:49, some notes as to the service performed by the other Levites and the priests are added.

(6:1-4). The sons of Levi are in 1 Chronicles 6:1 again enumerated as in 1 Chronicles 6:1; then in 1 Chronicles 6:16-22 the sons of these three sons, i.e., the grandsons of Levi, are introduced, while in 1 Chronicles 6:1 only the sons of Kohath are mentioned. The only object of this enumeration is to make quite clear the descent of the Levitic families which follow. The name of the first son of Levi is in 1 Chronicles 6:16, 1 Chronicles 6:17, 1 Chronicles 6:20, etc. of this chapter גּרשׁם, which was the name of Moses' son, cf. 1 Chronicles 23:15.; whereas in 1 Chronicles 6:1 and in the Pentateuch we find a different pronunciation, viz., גּרשׁון. The names of Levi's grandsons in 1 Chronicles 6:17-22 coincide with the statements of the Pentateuch, Exodus 6:17-19, and Numbers 3:17-20, cf. Numbers 26:57. Bertheau and other commentators consider the words in 1 Chronicles 6:17, "and these are the families of Levi according to their fathers," to be a "concluding subscription" to the statements of 1 Chronicles 6:15-17, and would remove ו before אלּה, as not compatible with this supposition. But in this he is wrong: for although the similar statement in Exodus 6:20 is a subscription, yet it is in Numbers 3:20 a superscription, and must in our verse also be so understood; for otherwise the enumeration of the descendants of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, which follows, would be brought in very abruptly, without any connecting particle, and the ו before אלּה points to the same conclusion.