Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, 12and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it. 13For because ye bare it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance. 14So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. 15And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD. 16And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy. 17So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; 18and with them their brethren
the priests] Only the two chief priests are mentioned here. Other priests blew with the trumpets in front of the Ark (ver. 24).
12. sanctify yourselves] Cp. 2 Chr. xxix. 5. For the method of sanctifying cp. Ex. xix. 10, 15.
13. made a breach] xiii. 11, xiv. 11 (cp. mg.).
we sought him not] i.e. God; but a better rendering is we sought not unto it. Cp. note on xiii. 3.
according to the ordinance] For its observance, see ver. 15.
15. the children of the Levites bare . . . upon their shoulders] in accordance with the regulation of Num. i. 50, vii. 9, which was not observed in the first attempt when the Ark was placed in a cart, xiii. 7.
the staves] Ex. xxv. 13, 14.
16. psalteries] See note on xiii. 8.
17. Heman the son of Joel] a descendant of Samuel the prophet; vi. 33 (vi. 18, Heb.). Cp. Ps. lxxxviii. (title). As Heman was descended from Kohath, Asaph from Gershom, and Ethan from Merari, each division of the Levites was represented by a chief musician. Heman was king's seer (xxv. 5).
Asaph the son of Berechiah] a descendant of Gershom; vi. 39—43 (24—28, Heb.). Asaph was the chief of the musicians; xvi. 5, 7. One of the small collections of Psalms from which our Psalter was compiled was named after him; cp. the titles of Pss. l., lxxiii.—lxxxiii.
Ethan the son of Kushaiah] a descendant of Merari; vi. 44—47.
