28And the sons of Samuel; the firstborn [1]Joel, and the second Abijah. 29The sons of Merari; Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son; 30Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son.
28. the firstborn Joel, and the second Abijah] See the marginal note above. In the Heb. text the name Joel has been accidentally omitted, and Vashni is merely a corruption of the Heb. for and the second: an interesting example of error in textual transmission.
29, 30. Sons of Merari.
29, 30. See notes on vv. 44—47.
29. Libni and Shimei are given above (ver. 17) as sons of Gershom.
31—47 (= 16—32 in the Heb. division).
The Singers appointed by David, and their ancestry.
31—47. The three singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan (= Jeduthun elsewhere except xv. 17 ff.) were the reputed founders of the three choral guilds of the post-exilic period. That these guilds were very gradually formed and in the form known to the Chronicler were a late post-exilic development is certain, but the precise stages of their growth are obscure, see Hastings' D. B. iv. 36 end—37. Possibly the singers for a considerable time were not necessarily Levites, but eventually they all claimed Levitical origin, and the pedigrees here given are the supposed justification of the claim. As the elaborated system of the Temple service (xxiii. ff.) was thought to have been instituted by David, the genealogies of the three singers are so arranged as to make them contemporaries of David. Comparing these verses with vv. 4—15, it is evident that the genealogy from Korah has been used for constructing the pedigree of Heman (33—38), that of Gershom (20—22) for Asaph (39—43), and to a less extent that of Merari (29, 30) for Ethan (44—47). But in the line of Gershom and in that of Merari further names were required, five in the former and eight in the latter case, in order to make the genealogies sufficiently long to reach down to the time of David and thus make Asaph and Ethan his contemporaries. When these further names are examined they are found to be of a definitely post-exilic character; and it is evident that the Chronicler or whoever constructed the pedigrees utilised recent genealogies of the singers, which for some reason seemed to him suitable. The identity of a single name in the two lists was apparently deemed sufficient cause for making the connection (see note on vv. 44—47).
- ↑ So the Syriac. See ver. 33, and 1 Sam. viii. 2. The Hebrew text has, Vashni, and Abiah.
