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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Chronicles 6:54 - 6:54
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(6:39-66). Register of the cities of the Levites, which agrees on the whole with the register in Josh 21, if we except different forms of some names of cities, and many corruptions of the text, but differing in many ways from it in form; whence we gather that it is not derived from the book of Joshua, but from some other ancient authority.
1Ch 6:54
(6:39). 1Ch 6:54 contains the superscription, “These are their dwelling-places according to their districts, in their boundaries.” So far the superscription belongs to the whole catalogue of cities. The suffixes point back to the לֵוִי בְּנֵי, 1Ch 6:1. טִירָה, from טוּר, to surround in a circle, signifies in the older language a “nomad village” (cf. Gen 25:16; Num 31:10); here, on the contrary, it is sued in a derivative sense for “district,” to denote the circle of dwellings which were granted to the Levites in the cities of the other tribes. The following words, “For the sons of Aaron of the family of Kohath,” etc., are the superscription to 1Ch 6:54-61, and together with the confirmatory clause, “for to him the (first) lot had fallen,” are a repetition of Jos 21:10, where, however, רִאשֹׁנָה is found after הַגֹּורָל, and has perhaps been here dropped out.
1Ch 6:55-56
(6:40-41). 1Ch 6:55 and 1Ch 6:56 correspond almost verbally with Jos 21:11 and Jos 21:12, as 1Ch 6:57-60 also do with Jos 21:13-19. As we have already in our remarks on Joshua commented upon the whole catalogue, it will not be necessary to do more here than to group together the errors and defects of our text.
1Ch 6:57-60
(6:42-45). The plural הַמִּקְלָט עָרֵי is incorrect, for only one of the cities thereafter named, viz., Hebron, was a city of refuge for homicides, and in Jos 21:13 it is correctly written מִקְלָט עִיר. After יַתִּיר retfA the usual addition וְאֶת־מִגְרָשֶׁיהָ is omitted, 1Ch 6:59. Before Bethshemesh the name Juttah has been lost, and before Geba (1Ch 6:60) the name Gibeon, so that only eleven cities are mentioned, but the sum is rightly given as thirteen. Instead of the name חִילֵן, 1Ch 6:58, there is found in Jos 21:15 and Jos 15:51 חֹלֹן; instead of עַיִן, Jos 21:16, we have in 1Ch 6:59 the more correct name עָשָׁן; and the name עַלֶּמֶת, 1Ch 6:60, is in Jos 21:18 עַלְמֹון.
1Ch 6:61-63
(6:46-48). Summary statements of the number of cities which the remaining Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites received in the domains of the various tribes, corresponding to Jos 21:5-7. In 1Ch 6:61 occurs a hiatus; between הַמַּטֶּה and מִמַּחֲצִית the words “Ephraim and of the tribe of Dan and” have been omitted. In 1Ch 6:48 the words “of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan” are quite intelligible without חֲצִי, which is found in Joshua.
1Ch 6:64-65
(6:49-50). 1Ch 6:64 and 1Ch 6:65 are not here in their proper place; for their contents show that they should be in the middle of the thirty-ninth verse, after the general superscription, and before the words “for the sons of Aaron.” They are found also in Jos 21:8-9, as a superscription before the enumeration by name of the cities assigned to the priests; but how the confusion has arisen in our text cannot be certainly ascertained. Bertheau thinks “the wish to make mention of the cities of the high-priestly family at the beginning of the enumeration, has induced the author of the Chronicle to communicate the introductory remarks belonging to the lists of cities with other statements as to the tribal domains, only after the enumeration of the cities of the sons of Aaron.” By that supposition the position of 1Ch 6:61 is certainly explained, but not that of 1Ch 6:64 and 1Ch 6:65; for even with the supposed desire, 1Ch 6:64 and 1Ch 6:65 should have been placed before 1Ch 6:61. But besides, this, the clause וגו אַהֲרֹן לִבְנֵי in 1Ch 6:54 neither has anything to connect it with the preceding superscription nor a verb; and the subject of וַיִּתְּנוּ, 1Ch 6:55, is also wanting. That which was missed before 1Ch 6:54 and in 1Ch 6:55 is contained in 1Ch 6:64 and 1Ch 6:65; whence it is manifest that 1Ch 6:64 and 1Ch 6:65 ought to stand before 1Ch 6:54, and have by some inexplicable accident fallen out of their proper place, and have come into an unsuitable position after 1Ch 6:63. The plurals יִקְרְאוּ and שֵׁמֹות, instead of the singulars יִקְרָא and שֵׁם, as in Jos 21:9, bring the words into more manifest correspondence with the circumstances, since the subject of יִקְרְאוּ, “the sons of Israel,” may be easily supplied from 1Ch 6:53, and many names of cities are mentioned. The masc. אֶתְהֶם instead of the fem. אֶתְהֶן is probably only an oversight. With 1Ch 6:66 begins the enumeration of the cities of the other Levitic families only summarily given in 1Ch 6:61, which forms a very suitable continuation of 1Ch 6:63.
1Ch 6:66-70
(6:51-55). The cities of the remaining Kohathites; cf. Jos 21:20-26. For וּמִמִּשְׁפְּחֹות we must read וּלְמִשְׁפְּחֹות, for the preposition מִן gives no suitable sense: it is never used to introduce a subject. The sense is, “as regards the families of the sons of Kohath, the cities of their dominion in the tribe of Ephraim were (the following). They gave them.” The plur. הַמִּקְלָט עָרֵי instead of the sing., as in 1Ch 6:57. As to the four cities of the tribe of Ephraim, 1Ch 6:52, 1Ch 6:53, see on Jos 21:21-22, where instead of יָקְמְעָם we find the name קִבְצַיִם. Before 1Ch 6:54 a whole verse has been lost, which was as follows: “And of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and her pastures, Gibbethon and her pastures;” cf. Jos 21:23. Then follows 1Ch 6:69, which contains the names of the two other cities of the tribe of Dan. In 1Ch 6:70 we have the names of the cities of half Manasseh, Aner and Bileam, i.e., Ibleam (Jos 17:11), correctly given; but the names Taanach and Gath-rimmon in Jos 21:25 are incorrect, and have been inserted through a transcriber's error, arising from the copyist's eye having wandered to the preceding verse. The singular לְמִשְׁפַּחַת, 1Ch 6:70, is incorrect; and the plural לְמִשְׁפְּחֹות is to be substituted (as in 1Ch 6:66). The words וגו לִבְנֵי לְמִשְׁפְּחֹות are a subscription, which corresponds to לָהֶם וַיִּתְּנוּ in 1Ch 6:67.
1Ch 6:71-76
(6:56-61). The cities of the Gershonites; cf. Jos 21:27-33. “To the sons of Gershon (they gave) out of the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan and Ashtaroth;” see on Jos 21:27. In 1Ch 6:72, קֶדֶשׁ is a mistake for קִשְׁיֹון, Jos 21:28 (see on Jos 19:20); in 1Ch 6:73, רָאמֹות for the more correct יַרְמֹות, Jos 21:29, a city which was also called רֶמֶת, Jos 19:21, or had been so called originally; and עָנֵם for עֵין־גַּנִּים (Josh.), as the city is called also in Jos 19:21. It cannot be determined whether ענם is a transcriber's error, or another name for עֵין־גַּנִּים. In 1Ch 6:74, מָשָׁל (which should perhaps be pointed מִשָׁל) is a contracted form of מִשְׁאָל, Josh. 31:30; Jos 19:26; and in 1Ch 6:75, חוּקֹק is probably an error for חֶלְקָת, Jos 21:31; Jos 19:25, occasioned by its being confounded with חֻקֹּק in the tribe of Naphtali, Jos 19:34. In 1Ch 6:76 the fact that Kadesh was a city of refuge is not mentioned, as it is in Jos 21:32. חַמֹּון is a shortened form of חַמֹּות־דֹּאר, Jos 21:32; for this city is called in Jos 19:35 חַמַּת, from the warm springs in the neighbourhood. Finally, Kirjathaim is contracted in Jos 21:32 into קַרְתָּן.
1Ch 6:77
(6:62). The cities of the Merarites; cf. Jos 21:34-37. “To the sons of Merari the remaining,” sc. Levites. In Jos 21:34 it is more clearly put הַנֹּותָרִים הַֽלְוִיִּם, for the remaining Merarites are not spoken of. What is intended to be said is, that the Merarites, alone of the Levites, are still to be mentioned. In the tribe of Zebulun, in 1Ch 6:77, only two cities are named, Rimmon and Tabor, instead of the four - Jokneam, Karthah, Dimnah, and Nahalal - in Jos 21:34. The first two names have been dropped out of our text, while רִמֹּונֹו corresponds to the דִּמְנָה of Joshua, but is a more correct reading, since רִמֹּון occurs in Jos 19:13 among the cities of Zebulun, while דִּמְנָה is not mentioned; and תָּבֹור must consequently correspond to the נַהֲלָל in Joshua. Nahalal occurs in Jos 19:15 and in Jdg 1:30, in the form Nahalol, among the cities of Zebulun, and consequently seems to be the more correct name, but has not yet been pointed out with certainty, since its identification with Mâlul (Arabic m‛lûl), south-west from Nazareth, rests upon very slender foundation. Bertheau's conjecture that the name of the city has been dropped out, and that of a more exact description of its position, perhaps תָּבֹר כִּסְלֹת גְּבוּל עַל, Jos 19:12, only the last word has remained, is no more probable than that of Movers, that instead of the name of the city, only the neighbourhood in which the city lay, viz., Mount Tabor, is mentioned.
1Ch 6:78-79
(6:63-64). 1Ch 6:78-79 are wanting in some editions of the book of Joshua, but are found in many MSS and in the oldest printed copies, and have been omitted only by an oversight; see on Jos 21:30., note 2. As to the city Bezer, see on Deu 4:43; and concerning Jahzah, Kedemoth, Mephaath, vide on Jos 13:18.
1Ch 6:80-81
(6:65-66). For Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge (Jos 21:36), and Mahanaim, see on Jos 13:26; and for Heshbon and Jazer, on Num 21:28, Num 21:32.