seven hundred and threescore; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God. 14And of the Levites; Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari; 15and Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal, and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of [1]Zichri, the son of Asaph; 16and [2]Obadiah the son of [3]Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, that dwelt in the
very able men] The Heb. is the same as in Neh. xi. 14 and is usually rendered mighty men of valour. The sense, however, is no doubt correctly given by R.V. very able, or efficient. Cp. 2 Chr. xxvi. 17.
14—16 (cp. Neh. xi. 15—18). The Levites.
14. of the sons of Merari] In Neh. the sons of Bunni, which is probably a corruption of the reading of Chron. Otherwise of the three great Levitical families, Merari, Asaph, and Jeduthun, mentioned here, only the last two appear in Neh.
15. Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal] The reading appears to be corrupt, for the analogy of the latter half of the verse as well as of vv. 14, 16 leads us to expect something more than bare names. Neither the LXX. nor the Vulg. gives any real help for emending the clause. The corresponding words in Neh. (xi. 17) are Bakbukiah the second among his brethren.
16. Obadiah the son of Shemaiah] In Neh. Abda the son of Shammua. Which was the reading of the original document cannot be determined.
Jeduthun] See note on xvi. 41.
Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah] Not mentioned in Neh. He probably represented the Kohathite division of the singers; cp. vi. 33—38 (18—23 Heb.), where the name Elkanah occurs several times in the genealogy of the Kohathites.
the villages of the Netophathites] Cp. Neh. xii. 28, 29 (R. V.), whence it appears that these villages were close to Jerusalem. The exact site is uncertain.
17—27 (cp. Neh. xi. 19; 1 Chr. xxvi. 1—19). Organisation and
Duties of the Porters (Doorkeepers).
17—27. The same subject is treated in xxvi. 1—19, and this fact has been urged as an argument for the view that ch. ix. is an addition to the Chronicler's work (see Introd. p. xxiii). But it is also reasonable
