1st Chronicles Chapter 24 verse 26 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 26-29. We now pass from the Kohath family to that of Merari. For the oft-repeated Mahli and Mushi, they belonged to the time of Moses (Exodus 6:19; Numbers 3:33). The elder of these, Mahli, as already seen in 1 Chronicles 23:21, 22, had two sons, Eleazar and Kish, the sons of the latter of whom took the daughters of Eleazar, who had no sons, and thus kept only one house surviving, the head of which was (ver. 29) Jerahmeel. This would seem to complete all that needs to be said of the Mahli line. Meantime, however, we are confronted by the contents of the latter half of our ver. 26 and ver. 27. These purport to give, amid some confusion of expression, sons of Merari by Jaaziah his son (Beno). No anterior authority, however, can be found for this Jaaziah. Neither of him nor of any of the three names (omitting Beno, which is evidently to be translated "his son") here linked on to his, is anything known. While we accept the text as it at present is, we have an additional branch with three families to add to the account of Merari - the branch of Jaaziah, the three families of Shoham, Zaeeur, Ibri. Even so we have in ver. 27 to obliterate arbitrarily the conjunction van, prefixed to the name Shoham. Under these circumstances, Keil impatiently rejects these clauses altogether, as an interpolation, though one of which he can give no account, and adds up, in consequence, the families of Levi (exclusive of the priests) to twenty-two instead of the unexplained twenty-five of the present text. On the other hand, Bertheau retains the present reading, and accepts Jaaziah as a third branch of the family of Merari. If this were so, it is surprising that nowhere else is room found for the slightest mention of Jaaziah, nor any other mention of these supposed descendants.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(26) The sons of Merari.--1Chronicles 24:26-30 : the Merarite heads. (Comp. 1Chronicles 23:21-23.)The sons of Jaaziah; Beno.--Beno is the Hebrew for "his son," and can hardly be a proper name. The clause should be connected immediately with what follows in 1Chronicles 24:27, and the whole translated thus: "The sons of Jaaziah his son--that is, sons of Merari belonging to Jaaziah his son--were Shoham, and Zaccur, and Ibri."Jaaziah appears as a third son of Merari, not mentioned elsewhere. (See Note on 1Chronicles 23:23.) If the Hebrew text is substantially sound, it is implied that there existed in the days of David a group of Merarite houses calling themselves "sons of Jaaziah."The construction here suggested involves the rejection of the conjunction before "Shoham" in 1Chronicles 24:27, and the removal of the paragraphic sign at the beginning of the verse. . . .