mighty for the praise of God, God gave him so many sons and daughters.
Verses 6-7
1Ch 25:6-7 1Ch 25:6 is the subscription to the enumeration, 1Ch 25:2-5. כּל־אלּה are not the fourteen sons of Heman, but all the sons of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman. All these were under the direction of their fathers for song in the house of Jahve, with cymbals ... for the service in the house of God under the direction of the king, etc. אביהם is used distributively of each father of the sons named. Bertheau supplies after אביהם the name Heman, and thereby the first half of the verse contradicts the second, which he correctly understands to refer to the twenty-four persons enumerated. - In 1Ch 25:7 the total number is given. Their number (the number) of the sons of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman (i.e., of the twenty-four 4 + 6 + 14 mentioned by name), with their brethren, was 288 (24 x 12); whence we learn that each of those named had eleven אחים, all of them שׁיר מלמּדי שׁיר, learned, practised in song for Jahve. In כּל־המּבין the sons and the brothers are both included, in order to give the total number. מבין, having understanding, knowledge of a thing, denotes here those who by education and practice were skilled in song - the accomplished musicians. Their number was 288, and these were divided into twenty-four choirs (classes). David had, according to 1Ch 23:5, appointed 4000 Levites for the performance of the music. Of these, 288 were מבינים skilled in song; the others were scholars (תּלמידים), as 1Ch 25:8 shows, where מבין and תּלמיד are the two categories into which the musicians are divided.
Verse 8
They cast lots, משׁמרת גּורלות, κλήρους ἐφημερίων (lxx), by which the משׁמרת, the waiting upon the service, was fixed, that is, the order of their succession in the official service. לעמּת is variously translated. As no name follows, R. Shel. and Kimchi would repeat the preceding משׁמרת: one class as the other; and this is supported by 1Ch 26:16 and Neh 12:24, and by the fact that in 1Ch 17:5, after ממּשׁכּן, the words משׁכּן אל have been dropped out. But according to the accentuation משׁמרת belongs to גּורלות, and so the proposed completion is at once disposed of. Besides this, however, the thought “class like class” does not appear quite suitable, as the classes were only formed by the lots, and so were not in existence so as to be able to cast lots. We therefore, with Ewald, §360, a, and Berth., hold the clause כּגּדול כּקּטן to be the genitive belonging to לעמּת, since עמּת is in Ecc 5:15 also connected with a clause: “in the manner of, as the small, so the great,” i.e., the small and the great, the older as the younger.
