1 Chronicles 9:32

And other of their brethren, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the shewbread, to prepare it every sabbath.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(32) “Some of the sons of the Kohathites, some of their brethren.” The Korahites, to which house Shallum and Mattithiah belonged, were a subdivision of the great clan of Kohath.

The shewbread.—See Leviticus 24:5-9. Here it is called “Bread of the Pile;” another name was “Bread of the Presence.”

To prepare it every sabbath.—The Levites had to get it ready for the priests to lay it fresh on the golden table, after removing the old bread, every Sabbath.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-44 Genealogies. - This chapter expresses that one end of recording all these genealogies was, to direct the Jews, when they returned out of captivity, with whom to unite, and where to reside. Here is an account of the good state into which the affairs of religion were put, on the return from Babylon. Every one knew his charge. Work is likely to be done well when every one knows the duty of his place, and makes a business of it. God is the God of order. Thus was the temple a figure of the heavenly one, where they rest not day nor night from praising God, Re 4:8. Blessed be His name, believers there shall, not in turn, but all together, without interruption, praise him night and day: may the Lord make each of us fit for the inheritance of the saints in light.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mattithiah ... the first-born of Shallum the Korahite - This Shallum would seem to be the person mentioned in 1 Chronicles 9:19, whose actual first-born was Zechariah 1 Chronicles Zechariah 26:2. Mattithiah may have been his eldest lineal descendant at the time here spoken of.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. the king's gate—The king had a gate from his palace into the temple (2Ki 16:18), which doubtless was kept constantly closed except for the monarch's use; and although there was no king in Israel on the return from the captivity, yet the old ceremonial was kept up, probably in the hope that the scepter would, ere long, be restored to the house of David. It is an honor by which Eastern kings are distinguished, to have a gate exclusively devoted to their own special use, and which is kept constantly closed, except when he goes out or returns (Eze 44:2). There being no king then in Israel, this gate would be always shut.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of which see Exodus 35:13.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And other of their brethren, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the shewbread, to prepare it every sabbath,.... Twelve loaves of which were set every week before the ark upon the shewbread table, and the old ones taken away: now the work of these Levites was to make this shewbread, and get it ready every week to be set upon the table, and which was done not by them, but by priests; under the second temple, the family of Garmu was set over this work (a).

(a) Misn. Shekalim, ut supra. (c. 5. sect. 1.)

Geneva Study Bible

And other of their brethren, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the shewbread, to prepare it every sabbath.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

32. the shewbread] Lit. the bread of the Row (or of the Pile), for it had to be arranged in order before the Lord (Leviticus 24:6).

to prepare it every sabbath] “Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually” (Leviticus 24:8). In 2 Chronicles 2:4 (= 1 Chronicles 2:3, Heb.) it is called the continual shewbread (lit. “the continual Row”).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 32. - The shewbread (מַעֲרֶכֶת); literally, a pile, and hence applied to the cakes, which were piled in two rows (Leviticus 24:5-8) "on the pure table before the Lord." 1 Chronicles 9:32

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Finally, to some of the Kohathites was committed the preparation of the shew-bread, which required to be laid on the table fresh every Sabbath; cf. Leviticus 24:5-8. The suffix אחיהם refers back to the Levites of the father's-house of Korah in 1 Chronicles 9:32.