1 Chronicles 24: 1 – 31
The silver spooners
24 Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 2 And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore, Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests. 3 Then David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to the schedule of their service. 4 There were more leaders found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus they were divided. Among the sons of Eleazar were sixteen heads of their fathers’ houses, and eight heads of their fathers’ houses among the sons of Ithamar. 5 Thus they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of the house of God, from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar. 6 And the scribe, Shemaiah the son of Nethanel, one of the Levites, wrote them down before the king, the leaders, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites, one father’s house taken for Eleazar and one for Ithamar. 7 Now the first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, 9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, 10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, 11 the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, 12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, 13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, 14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, 15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, 16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezekel, 17 the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, 18 the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. 19 This was the schedule of their service for coming into the house of the LORD according to their ordinance by the hand of Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him. 20 And the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. 21 Concerning Rehabiah, of the sons of Rehabiah, the first was Isshiah. 22 Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. 23 Of the sons of Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 24 Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah; of the sons of Michah, Shamir. 25 The brother of Michah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. 26 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi; the son of Jaaziah, Beno. 27 The sons of Merari by Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri. 28 Of Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons. 29 Of Kish: the son of Kish, Jerahmeel. 30 Also the sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers’ houses. 31 These also cast lots just as their brothers the sons of Aaron did, in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites. The chief fathers did just as their younger brethren.
Privileged. Self-obsessed. Born with a silver spoon in their mouths. The inner circle of Upper East Side royalty. Some people come into this world with such a head start over others.
So instead of sitting around and moping that others have it better than you in this world I want to give you something to ponder. You are not of this world. All your blessings are stored up for you in heaven. This is a benefit that will last forever not just for a certain amount of years on this earth.
In the book of Exodus chapter 19 God said: “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” However, they couldn’t walk as kings because they erred. You know, man lost his right to the world when Adam committed high treason and gave Satan dominion over it. But then Jesus came to earth and took on flesh and poured out His blood on the cross and died but He arose victorious from the grave and took back the authority from Satan.
Now that He’s risen from the dead, the Bible says He has made us kings and priests like Himself unto God (Revelation 1: 6). Here our Precious Master and King Jesus Christ brought us the right of kingship. We didn’t need to obey any Law like the Israelites to be made kings. Being born again, you’re born a king; you’re born into royalty. You belong in the royal family of the Monarch of the universe. No wonder Peter says “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
You are God’s offspring; therefore, you’re born a king and not a commoner. Be aware of your heritage. Walk in this consciousness. Take full advantage of your kingly ministry as a believer. Kings reign; therefore, reign in life as the king that you are, and the devil, His cohorts, and the forces of nature will respond to your decrees!
“You are royalty” is a phrase of encouragement you will frequently hear around the halls of my church, probably owing to the popularity of one of our church father’s books called Supernatural Ways of Royalty. The image of royalty, taken directly from 1 Peter, is supposed to remind us of our identities as sons and daughters of God; that we are heirs to Jesus’ reward and have been given authority to issue decrees in the Kingdom and to do God’s business on the earth like Jesus did. This is reminder is especially important for those of us who grew up in religious communities where we were trained to think of ourselves more like God’s slaves than God’s sons. For me “You are royalty” has come to mean “You’re powerful because of God in you!” Of course, it’s true, but the past few weeks I’ve been even digging deeper into the implications of what it would look like if we, as the body of Christ, truly saw ourselves as the royal sons or daughters of God.
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. (Romans 8:15-17a)
I didn’t like the metaphor of being royalty. Maybe it’s because of my poor upbringing. Being a street kid at the age of 9 I certainly never thought of myself being some special heir.
By comparison, I associated royalty, heirs and heiress as spoiled, good-for-nothings who never do anything except spend lavishly and laze around their castles wasting all their parents’ (or government’s) money. Some do I’m sure, but I think my stereotype of the fat, lazy king is not actually the norm for someone born into royalty. Especially not if they feel loved and cherished and are taught what their role is to be from a young age.
I have to be careful to not see all the world through those “American dream glasses” because God’s kingdom is not a meritocracy. None of us get to heaven by our merit. Neither do we receive victory, blessings, love or sonship by merit. We would all fall short of deserving anything. Instead, we are invited to freely receive the fruit of Christ’s merit. Because Christ is our brother, Romans 8 tells us we get to receive everything He has, like heirs and heiresses; like royalty. How is that fair? It’s not fair, it’s grace! God’s definition of fair sometimes differs from ours.
So receiving freely and not “pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps” is God’s desire for us in the Kingdom and part of how we walk out our royalty. Knowing we can ask our Loving Father God in heaven for everything and then letting Him bring what you’ve asked for, rather than trying to push down doors or “make it on our own.” Living out royalty in this way can translate to our careers, our finances and even with our ministry or personal development. I’m not saying we don’t play a part in those things, but our main role is to make good choices as choices are presented to us, and to follow the path laid before us with peace and not anxiety. Are you asking and receiving things like a royal heir, or are you pushing like a pauper trying to make it to the top?
Today we are going to review a family that had the silver spoon. These were the descendants of Aaron the brother of Moses who our Holy Ruler chose to be the High Priest.
24 Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Aaron had four sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
2 And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore, Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests.
However, Nadab and Abihu had no children because they were struck down for their sin of attempting to serve our Holy God irreverently(Leviticus 10.1-2; Numbers 3.4). This left Eleazar and Ithamar to exercise the priests’ office. It is the descendants of Eleazar and Ithamar who will now be described.
3 Then David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to the schedule of their service.
David assigned the priestly houses with the assistance of the two High Priests, Zadok, the son of Ahitub, who was a descendant of Eleazar, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, who was a descendant of Ithamar nor Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, nor Abiathar the son of Ahimelech. They were divided up by their families into twenty-four courses, during which they would perform the service of YHWH.
4 There were more leaders found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus they were divided. Among the sons of Eleazar were sixteen heads of their fathers’ houses, and eight heads of their fathers’ houses among the sons of Ithamar.
It would appear that the selection of the number twenty-four was because there were twenty four sub-clans of the house of Aaron, with a chief over each of them. Sixteen of these sub-clans were descended from Eleazar, and eight from Ithamar.
5 Thus they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of the house of God, from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar.
These priests were divided up by lot under God’s guidance. This was something that could not be left to man, even David. that Their chiefs are here described as princes of the Sanctuary, and princes of God, and come from both sub-tribes. It seems probable that ‘prince of the sanctuary’ equates to ‘prince of God’, the two being the same. It was because they were princes of the Sanctuary that they were princes of God.
6 And the scribe, Shemaiah the son of Nethanel, one of the Levites, wrote them down before the king, the leaders, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites, one father’s house taken for Eleazar and one for Ithamar.
The names of the descendants of Eleazar were probably put in one vessel and the names of the descendants of Ithamar in another. They would then have been drawn out in some agreed order. The details of how the lots came out were recorded by Semaiah the son of Nethanel in the presence of the king. Also present on this solemn occasion were the princes; Zadok and Ahimelech; the priestly chiefs, and the Levite chiefs.
The reason why Ahimelech was High Priest while Abiathar was still alive may have been because Abiathar at some stage had become seriously ill, which would be explain why Ahimelech, having been appointed as High Priest to serve on the Day of Atonement in his father’s place, could be the High Priest.
The dividing up of the courses of the priests was as follows. No indication is given, probably deliberately, of which came from the house of Eleazar and which from the house of Ithamar. All were to be of equal value. Many of the names appear repeatedly throughout Israel’s history (Jedaiah, Jeshua, Immer and Harim are mentioned in Ezra 2.36-39 in connection with the returnees from Exile).
7 Now the first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, 9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, 10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, 11 the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, 12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, 13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, 14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, 15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, 16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezekel, 17 the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, 18 the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. 19 This was the schedule of their service for coming into the house of the LORD according to their ordinance by the hand of Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.
Each of the courses would enter the house of YHWH when their turn came and would act in accordance with the ordinance given by Aaron which in its turn was commanded by YHWH the God of Israel.
They were descended from Amram, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and from the other grandsons of Levi. The importance of those named comes out in that as chieftains of family clans they were called on to cast lots before David in the selection of the priestly courses (verse 31).
The sons of Kohath are divided up in terms of Kohath’s sons, Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel (23.12).
20 And the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah.
Here we are to be given information with respect to all the Levite families other than the descendants of Aaron. The aim is to demonstrate who it is who has the credentials to be a ‘chief Levite’ and thus qualify to draw lots before YHWH in determining the priestly courses. It was being treated as a very serious matter. This time there must be no doubt.
Amram was a son of Kohath, and as well as begetting Aaron he ‘begat’ Shubael (Shebuel), through Moses. Shubael was a grandson of Moses through Gershom and descended from Amram son of Kohath (23.16). He had a descendant named Jehdeiah. It was probably Jehdeiah who qualified to draw the lot in the time of David.
21 Concerning Rehabiah, of the sons of Rehabiah, the first was Isshiah.
Rehebiah was a grandson of Moses through Eliezer and descended from Amram son of Kohath (23.17). He had a descendant named Isshiah who became a chief. It was probably Isshiah who qualified to draw the lot.
Izhar was the brother of Amram, and father of the ‘Izharites’,
22 Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath.
For Shelomoth (Shelomith) see chapter 23.18. It was seemingly his descendant Johath who qualified to draw the lot.
Hebron was another son of Kohath, and brother of Amram. He was father of the Hebronites.
23 Of the sons of Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
We should probably translate ‘descendants of Hebron’. It was seemingly Jeriah who qualified to draw the lot, or it might have been all four as heads of fathers’ houses.
Uzziel also was a son of Kohath and brother of Amram. The descendants of Uzziel were named Micah and Isshiah (23.20).
24 Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah; of the sons of Michah, Shamir.
Micah, the direct descendant of Uzziel, ‘begat’ a descendant called Shamir. He seemingly qualified to draw the lot in the time of David.
25 The brother of Michah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah.
Isshiah, Micah’s brother ‘begat’ a descendant named Zechariah. He seemingly qualified to draw the lot in the time of David.
Merari was a direct son of Levi.
26 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi; the son of Jaaziah, Beno.
The sons of Merari (son of Levi) were Mahli and Mushi (23.21).
Once again, we have a descendant suddenly introduced. Jaaziah was clearly a descendant of Merari, and probably of Mahli. He had a descendant named Beno.
27 The sons of Merari by Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.
Jaazieh appears to have had a number of descendants, including, as well as Beno, Shoham, Zaccur and Ibri. Here Jaaziah is clearly stated to be a ‘descendant of Merari’.
28 Of Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons.
Eleazar was a son of Mahli (23.21), but sadly had no sons. His daughters married the sons of Kish (23.22).
29 Of Kish: the son of Kish, Jerahmeel.
Kish was another son of Mahli (23.21), and he ‘begat’ a descendant named Jerahmeel who presumably qualified to draw the lot in the time of David.
30 Also the sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers’ houses.
Mushi had three prominent descendants, Mahli, named after Mushi’s brother, Eder and Jerimoth (see 23.23). Possibly all three qualified to draw the lot in the time of David.
So, in summary we are informed that all these were descendants of the Levites in terms of their fathers’ houses, thus qualifying their descendant to ‘draw the lot’.
31 These also cast lots just as their brothers the sons of Aaron did, in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites. The chief fathers did just as their younger brethren.
All those finally named cast lots to determine the priestly courses, along with their brothers, the descendants of Aaron. They did it solemnly in the presence of the king, and of Zadok and Ahimelech the High Priests, and of the heads of priestly houses, and of each other, with their younger brothers acting as witnesses. Only the princes, mentioned in verse 6, are not mentioned here. The determination of priestly courses had to be solemnly made and verified by all priestly houses and Levite houses.
Now you might stop and be thinking ‘why is all this information about which priest has the right to oversee the ‘lot’ important to me?’
The answer is that our Great and Wonderful God has a reason not only for this but for other points in the bible that we think are a waste of time. Turn with me to the Gospel of Luke chapter 1.
“There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. 8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you [d]these glad tidings. 20 But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” 21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. 22 But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. 23 So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. 24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
Do you now see the significance? Our Great Master placed this policy into existence way before it was greatly utilized. For our Holy God arranged for Zacharias to be selected by the established selection by lot and thus we understand His awesome plan.
