1 Chronicles 9

1 kings of Israel and Judah. The verse may best be divided thus . . . “the kings of Israel: and Judah was carried away,” etc.; see R.V. This statement ends the enumeration in ch. viii. With verse 2 a new section begins, relating to the post-exilian times.

2 the first inhabitants. This corresponds in the main with the enumeration in Neh. xi. 3; only in the latter is added, “the children of Solomon’s servants”; and some of the names differ, either because they are variously written, or because the two writers, in condensing the registers, select different persons from the list of ancestors: ep. ver. 12 with Neh. xi. 12. By “first inhabitants” are evidently meant those who first returned from Babylon, and took up their abode in the cities of Judæa, especially in Jerusalem.

13 very able men. The same Hebrew words are translated in Neh. xi. 14, “mighty men of valour”; but the rendering here is no doubt the correct one, as the phrase is intended to express their capability for the Temple-service, and not for warlike enterprises.

16. Motopathites. Ep. Neh. xii. 28, 29, where it is said, “the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem.”

19 keepers of the entry. As their fathers had been in the wilderness, at the tabernacle, under the government of Phinehas.

22. Samuel. It seems that Samuel had made some new regulations respecting the attendance of the Levites, before David established that systematic arrangement which was maintained for many ages.

33 the singers. The singers were free from the laborious work of the sanctuary, having to maintain constantly the service of praise. This verse and the next seem a recapitulation of the preceding account. The persons mentioned (vers. 14-16) were “singers.” Ver. 34, according to R.V., reads, “These were heads of fathers’-houses of the Levites,” etc.