the Levites were [1]appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.
49But Aaron and his sons [2]offered upon the altar of burnt offering, and upon the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. 50And these are the sons of Aaron; Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son; 51Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son; 52Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son; 53Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.
48, 49 (= 33, 34 according to the Heb. division). The distinction
between Levites and Aaronites.
48. their brethren the Levites] i.e. other Levites, who were neither singers nor priests.
appointed] Heb., as marg., given, in allusion to Num. iii. 9, xviii. 6.
49. Aaron and his sons] i.e. the priests as opposed to the Levites, in accordance with the distinction characteristic of the later legislation. See the Additional Note, pp. 51, 52.
the altar of burnt offering] Ex. xxvii. 1—8.
the altar of incense] Ex. xxx. 1—10.
to make atonement] cp. Lev. iv. 31, xvi.; 2 Chr. xxix. 24.
50—53 (= 35—38 according to the Heb. division). The Line of
Aaron to Ahimaaz.
This is a fragment, slightly changed in wording, of the genealogy given in vv. 4—14. It goes as far as the reign of David. Some writers maintain that vv. 4—14 are an interpolation in the text of Chronicles, and that the present passage is the primary list of high-priests. But the arguments in favour of that view seem to the present writer outweighed by the two considerations adduced by Curtis, Chronicles, p. 127: (1) "that a list of high-priests thus inserted between ver. 49 (the duties of all the sons of Aaron) and vv. 54 ff. (the cities of all the Aaronidae), seems out of place," as it breaks the thread of the Chronicler's arrangement of the material; and (2) that its insertion might well be due to a scribe who "expected a list of the sons of Aaron after the verse describing their duties—just as the list of Levites precedes the verse detailing their duties."
