Chapter 25

1 The number and offices of the singers. 8 Their division by lot into four and twenty orders.

1. Moreover. Chapter 25 lists the 24 classes of singers. These musicians formed an important group and played a significant part in the Temple services.

Captains of the host. That is, chiefs or leaders of the service—the ones mentioned in ch. 24:6.

Separated to the service. That is, they set apart for the Temple service some of the sons of Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun, three classes of musicians.

Prophesy with harps. Compare 1 Sam. 10:5. The musicians in the performance of their sacred duties in public worship are described as being under the inspiration of the Spirit of God and thus said to “prophesy” (see 1 Chron. 25:3).

2. Under the hands of Asaph. That is, under the directions of Asaph.

Order of the king. David was interested in music and understood the important part that it can and should play in the services of worship. He personally interested himself in the work of the singers and players, directing in the arrangements made for the solemn services of worship (see 2 Chron. 23:18).

3. Six. Only 5 names are here listed. The list in vs. 9–31 suggests that the missing name is Shimei of v. 17 (see on v. 9). The LXX includes the name Shimei, placing it 4th in the list.

Who prophesied. See on v. 1.

5. Heman the king’s seer. Among David’s seers were Gad (1 Chron. 21:9), Jeduthun (2 Chron. 35:15), and Asaph (2 Chron. 29:30).

To lift up the horn. A well-known Hebrew metaphor meaning to exalt a person or to increase his power (see 1 Sam. 2:10; Ps. 89:17; 92:10). Thus the meaning here would seem to be that the Lord had exalted Heman by giving him 14 sons and 3 daughters.

6. To Asaph. The Hebrew has no preposition before “Asaph.” The passage may be rendered, “and under the direction of the king were Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.”

7. Two hundred fourscore and eight. This number is 24 x 12; thus the 24 “sons” of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman listed in vs. 2–4 must have been leading musicians, each of whom had associated with himself 11 other musicians. The 24 leaders may have accompanied the choirs under their direction with instrumental music.

8. They cast lots. The lots were cast to determine the order in which each of the 24 groups of musicians were to take their turn in conducting the musical services.

9. For Asaph. The order in which the names are listed suggests a definite method of distribution. An ingenious hypothesis has been worked out which assumes that there were three urns, one containing the names of the sons of Asaph, a second having the names of the sons of Jeduthun, and a third, the names of the sons of Heman. In addition to these (or instead of them), there could have been an urn with the names of the three main clans, to determine the order in which these would be chosen. The first lot fell to Asaph, and from there on each alternate name was one of the sons of Asaph till these were exhausted. The second lot fell to one of the sons of Jeduthun, and from here on each alternate name, with the exception of the sixth, was a son of Jeduthun until these were exhausted. After all the sons of Asaph had been taken, the names alternated between sons of Jeduthun and sons of Heman until the sons of Jeduthun had all been taken, which was with the 14th course. From the 15th course onward all the names are sons of Heman. Though the hypothesis sets forth a method that might have yielded the given results, there is no evidence that this was the method employed.

17. Shimei. The system explained under v. 9 suggests that this is the name missing in v. 3.