Of the Gershonites, Laadan and Shimei,” i.e., these were heads of groups of related families, since, according to 1Ch 23:9, their sons and descendants formed six fathers'-houses. The sons of Gershon, from whom all branches of the family of Gershon come, are called in 1Ch 6:2, as in Exo 6:17 and Num 13:18, Libni and Shimei; while in our verse, on the contrary, we find only the second name Shimei, whose sons are enumerated in 1Ch 23:10, 1Ch 23:11; and instead of Libni we have the name Laadan, which recurs in 1Ch 26:21. Laadan seemingly cannot be regarded as a surname of Libni; for not only are the sons of Shimei named along with the sons of Laadan in 1Ch 23:8 and 1Ch 23:9 as heads of the fathers'-houses of Laadan, without any hint being given of the genealogical connection of this Shimei with Laadan, but mainly because of לגּרשׁנּי in 1Ch 23:7. In the case of Kohath and Merari, the enumeration of the fathers'-houses descended from them is introduced by the mention of their sons, קהת בני and מררי בני (1Ch 23:12, 1Ch 23:21), while in the case of Gershon it is not so; - in his case, instead of גרשׁון בני, we find the Gentilic designation גּרשׁנּי, to point out that Laadan and Shimei are not named as being sons of Gershon, but as founders of the two chief lines of Gershonites, of which only the second was named after Gershon's son Shimei, while the second derived their name from Laadan, whose family was divided in David's time into two branches, the sons of Laadan and the sons of Shimei, the latter a descendant of Libni, not elsewhere mentioned. That the Shimei of 1Ch 23:9 is not the same person as Shimei the son of Gershon mentioned in 1Ch 23:7, is manifest from the fact that the sons of the latter are enumerated only in 1Ch 23:10. Each of these two lines numbered at that time three fathers'-houses, the heads of which are named in 1Ch 23:8 and 1Ch 23:9. הראשׁ in 1Ch 23:8 belongs to יחיאל: “the sons of Laadan were: the head (also the first; cf. 1Ch 23:11, 1Ch 23:16) Jehiel, Zetham, and Joel, three.”
Verses 9-11
The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth or Shelomith (both forms are found in 26:35 of another Shelomith), Haziel, and Haran, three. These (three and three) are the heads of the fathers'-houses of Laadan. - In 1Ch 23:10 and 1Ch 23:11 there follow the fathers'-houses of the Shimei mentioned in 1Ch 23:7 along with Laadan: they are likewise three, derived from the four sons of Shimei, Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah; for the last two, as they had not many sons, were included in one father's-house, one פּקדּה, i.e., one official class (1Ch 24:3; 2Ch 17:14). The Gershonites at that time,
