v. 14. These be the heads of their father's houses. The tribes were considered as branching off first into families, or clans, or heads of the father-houses; these again branch off into the father-houses themselves. The sons of Reuben, the first-born of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these be the families of Reuben. Cf Gen_46:9; 1Ch_5:3.
v. 15. And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanitish woman; these are the families of Simeon. Cf Gen_46:10; 1 Chronicles 4-24.
v. 16. And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their; generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari,Gen_46:11; and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred and thirty and seven years.
v. 17. The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimi, according to their families.
v. 18. And the sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years.
v. 19. And the sons of Merari: Mahali and Mushi; these are the families of Levi according to their generations.
v. 20. And Amram took him Jochebed, his father's sister, to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses; and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years. Cf 1Ch_6:1-3. Note that the sum of the ages of these three generations, plus the age of Moses at the time of the Exodus, is four hundred eighty-seven years; so there is no difficulty in making Bible chronology fit. of the three children of Amram and Jochebed, Aaron was three years older than Moses, and Miriam was older than either.
v. 21. And the sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.
v. 22. And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri. These were the cousins of Moses and Aaron.
v. 23. And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife, a woman of the tribe of Judah, 1Ch_2:10; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
v. 24. And the sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korhites.
v. 25. And Eleazar, Aaron's son, took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families, the heads of the father-houses.
v. 26. These are that Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. Although the heads of the father-houses of Reuben and Simeon were also mentioned, the genealogy was here inserted chiefly for the sake of showing the family relations of Moses and Aaron.
v. 27. These are they which spake to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt; these are that Moses and Aaron, Moses being mentioned in first place again on account of his leadership at the time of the Exodus. The men through whom the Lord performed such great works occupy a place of honor in the history of the Lord's kingdom.