seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Chronicles 23:1 When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
2 He also gathered together all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites. 3 The Levites thirty years old or more were counted, and the total number of men was thirty-eight thousand. 4 David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand are to be in charge of the work of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be officials and judges. 5 Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.”
6 David separated the Levites into divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
2 He also gathered together all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites. 3 The Levites thirty years old or more were counted, and the total number of men was thirty-eight thousand. 4 David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand are to be in charge of the work of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be officials and judges. 5 Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.”
6 David separated the Levites into divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
Now this is not just counting the Levites because of a big head. This is more like setting a schedule or listing duties. David was getting the kingdom ready for his demise, not just thinking... "I wonder how many". So the Levites are safe... no deadly plagues are on the way because David got a big head, this time.
This commentary is from the easy English site.
David was about 70 years of age, which in those days was old. This was now near the end of his life. It was probably during the 40th and last year of his rule. He appointed Solomon to be the next king of Israel.
To manage (run) the temple, there would need to be 2000 Levites on duty each month. They would not all work at the same time. Each of them would work for a part of the day or night. There were a total of 38,000 Levite men who were 30 years of age and over. 24 000 of them would do this work. The women would not work in the temple.
6000 Levites would be judges and officials. They would work in every part of the country. They would be experts in the law of the LORD and in the laws of the country.
To manage (run) the temple, there would need to be 2000 Levites on duty each month. They would not all work at the same time. Each of them would work for a part of the day or night. There were a total of 38,000 Levite men who were 30 years of age and over. 24 000 of them would do this work. The women would not work in the temple.
6000 Levites would be judges and officials. They would work in every part of the country. They would be experts in the law of the LORD and in the laws of the country.
Well that's pretty dry and factual.
I found this at Biblehub.com. It stood out because none of the other commentaries mentioned Bathsheba, Solomon's mother.
The original occasion alluded to there more than once, on which David promised, "and sware" to Bathsheba, that her son should be his chief heir and successor to the throne, is not distinctly recorded.
He gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. As on an occasion of supreme importance, David, in view of his own death and of his son's succession at the present time, calls together the full council, and the highest possible representative council of the nation. So 1 Chronicles 22:17; 1 Chronicles 24:6; 1 Chronicles 25:1; in which last passage the word "captains" should have have been rendered "princes" (שׂרִי). The arrangement of the Levites, and the distribution of their functions in the presence of the princes, as here described, and as it is even more strongly put (1 Chronicles 25:1), "by" them, simply points to the fact that the ultimate outer authority, as between Church and state, lay with the state. The Church was made for it, not it for the Church. And it was the duty of the state to defend the Church.
David never put it in writing, that Solomon would be his heir. David had 19 living sons and one deceased. I'm sure David and Bathsheba had a lot of conversations about Solomon taking the throne. I'm glad one of her babies was honored by God. Back then women didn't have a lot of say.... they were for childbearing and housework. David could have just ignored her after Uriah was dead, and the baby passed away. He could have hidden Bathsheba like a dirty little secret... but instead... Solomon took the throne.
I found it interesting that the duty of the state was to defend the Church. Can you imagine what would happen if a true Christian took the Presidency and started working on protecting the Church? I'm not talking about simply prosecuting anyone who damages the physical church. We have that. I'm talking about making laws that allow a person to worship! I'm talking about making life pleasurable for those who worship!
Can you imagine what would happen today if the National Budget included funding for upkeep of the National Cathedral or the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul? Today it's absurd to consider taking care of a church with tax dollars. It was legal in the days of David and Solomon.... because Jerusalem was a Theocracy. Israel was a Theocracy. Judah was a Theocracy. A Theocracy will defend the church. [On top of that... if the church goes bad.... then the state could step in and straighten it out] A Theocracy is God centered...not human centered. In a Theocracy.... it's ok to take down a rogue preacher, priest, pastor, or other church leader.... for the sake of the church. In a Theocracy it's ok to take $153,450,000,000 in gold from the treasury to adorn the Temple.
