(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.

Verses 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.

24:1-31 The divisions of the priests and Levites. - When every one has, knows, and keeps his place and work, the more there are the better. In the mystical body of Christ, every member has its use, for the good of the whole. Christ is High Priest over the house of God, to whom all believers, being made priests, are to be in subjection. In Christ, no difference is made between bond and free, elder and younger. The younger brethren, if faithful and sincere, shall be no less acceptable to Christ than the fathers. May we all be children of the Lord, fitted to sing his praises for ever in his temple above.And the rest of the sons of Levi were these,.... Who were not priests, only Levites; and from hence, to 1 Chronicles 24:30 their names are given; of the sons of Amram, Shubael, and his son Jehdeiah; Rehabiah the son of Eleazar, and Isshiah the son of Rehabiah; of the Izharites, so called from Izhar, the brother of Amram, Shelomoth, and his son Jahath; and of the sons of Hebron, another brother of Amram, Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam; of the sons of Uzziel, another brother of Amram, Michah, and his son Shamir; Isshiah the brother of Michah, and his son Zechariah: the sons of Merari, Mahli and Mushi, his immediate sons; from whom sprung by Jaaziah, Beno, Shoham, Zaccur and Ibri; of Mahli sprung Eleazar, who had no sons; and Kish, whose son was Jerahmeel; the sons of Mushi, another son of Merari, Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth; most of these names are the same with those in 1 Chronicles 23:16,

these were the sons of the Levites, after the house of their fathers; some of the principal of them.