though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him chief;) 11Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth: all the sons and brethren of Hosah were thirteen. 12Of these were the courses of the doorkeepers, even of the chief men, having [1]charges like as their brethren, to minister in the house of the LORD. 13And they cast lots, as well the small as the great, according to their fathers' houses, for every gate. 14And the lot eastward fell to [2]Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a discreet counsellor, they cast lots; and his lot came out northward. 15To Obed-edom southward; and to his sons the storehouse. 16To Shuppim and Hosah westward, by the gate of [3]Shallecheth, at the causeway that goeth up, ward against ward. 17Eastward were six Levites,
12. Of these . . . even of the chief men] In vv. 8, 9, 11 taken together ninety-three doorkeepers are enumerated, who are presumably the heads of the four thousand mentioned in xxiii. 5. In ix. 22 again the total number (as it seems) of doorkeepers is given as two hundred and twelve. The discrepancy may be due to the Chronicler having used different documents belonging to different dates: for other possibilities see note on ix. 22.
13—19 (cp. ix. 23—26). The Stations of the Doorkeepers.
Remark how naïvely the Chronicler names various parts of the Temple as if it had been already in existence at this time.
14. Shelemiah] i.e. Meshelemiah, vv. 1, 2.
16. To Shuppim and Hosah] Read, To Hosah. The word "Shuppim" should be omitted from the text. It is merely an accidental repetition (in a corrupt form) of the last word in ver. 15, namely "Asuppim," rendered storehouse.
by the gate of Shallecheth] There is no other mention in the Bible of a gate "Shallecheth," but it is perhaps to be identified with "the entering in of the house of the LORD . . . which was in the precincts" "Parvārim" Heb.) mentioned 2 Kin. xxiii. 11; cp. note on ver. 18. Possibly the text should be corrected and we should read, following the LXX., "by the gate of the chamber."
at the causeway that goeth up] "The causeway" led up to the Temple either from Ophel (on the S.) or from the Western City (across the Tyropœon Valley). Traces of two causeways have been discovered by excavation, viz., "Wilson's Arch" (Bädeker, Pal.5, p. 65) and "Robinson's Arch" (ib. p. 66). The second of these arches probably marks the site of a causeway belonging to the period of the Kings.
