I Chronicles 23, 24, and 25

We’re nearly at the end of the book of I Chronicles; only 5 more after today. Hard to believe, isn’t it?

Chapter 23 begins with the appointment of Solomon as king of Israel by his father, David. David does this in front of all the leaders of Israel, including the priests and Levites. It seems that the building of the temple was heavy on David’s mind. If you recall, when David brought up the idea of a temple previously, God told him that instead of David building a house for God, God would build a house for David – a dynasty of kings.

David assigns work to the Levites who were thirty years old or older:

• 24,000 Levites would supervise the work at the Temple
• 6000 Levites would serve as officials and judges
• 4000 Levites would work at gatekeepers
• 4000 would praise the Lord with musical instruments

After this, just as Moses had, David divides the Levites into divisions named after the clans of the three sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Each Levite had to be twenty years old or older to qualify for service in the house of the Lord. Twenty years old or thirty years old? Interesting.

I Chronicles 24 continues with the duties of the priests, descendants of Aaron. Sacred lots were drawn to determine assigned tasks so no preference would be shown.

In I Chronicles 25, we see the record of the men appointed “to proclaim God’s messages to the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. Isn’t it wonderful that David felt it was just as important to have people to praise God and proclaim his message as it was to handle the other duties related to the Temple that would be built?

Tomorrow, it’s Psalm 131, 138, 139, 143, and 145.

Until next time…