(9) Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph.--See 1Chronicles 25:2, according to which Joseph was the second "son" of Asaph. Although not stated in the text, it must have been true of Joseph as of all the following heads, that "he, and his sons and his brethren were twelve." The specified total of 288 (1Chronicles 25:7) requires it.

The second to Gedaliah, who with his brethren and sons were twelve.--Rather, Gedaliah was the second, he and his brethren and his sons--twelve. The "brethren" and "sons" of the chiefs, in this and the following verses, are the eleven masters, or proficients, in each class.

Brethren.--Fellow-clansmen, or associates.

Sons.--Disciples, or subordinates.

Perhaps, however, we should think of elder and younger families, grouped together in one class.

Verses 9-31. - List of the choirs in the order in which their lots came. The formula, his sons, and his brethren, which follows twenty-two out of the twenty-four leaders' names which now come before us, is absent from ver. 9, where we should have looked for it, viz. after the name Joseph. It has been supposed that this is a mere omission of carelessness. But this can scarcely be asserted conclusively. It is observable, for instance, that the order of the formula in the same verse, on occasion of its very first occurrence, is not identical with the other twenty-two instances of it, the word "brethren" preceding "sons," and the pronoun "he" being expressed. The preposition (ל) is sometimes expressed and sometimes not expressed before both the proper names and the ordinal numerals of the list. Examination of the contents of these verses shows, either that it was due to the Divine direction of the lot (Proverbs 16:33) that an issue resulted which looks so unlike mere chance, and the system of which is so methodical and traceable; or that the lot-taking was not one of families and sons, all thrown together from the first. This supposition would, of course, leave room for some such ingenious hypothesis as that of Berthean, too artificial by far to be defensible except as a theory that would indeed work out the result. He suggests that the modus operandi was by two urns, one for the first seven odd numbers, into which were put the names of Asaph's four sons and of the second, third, and fourth of Heman; the other for the first seven even numbers, into which were put the six sons of Jeduthun and the first of Heman. Turning from such a concocted theory to these verses, we find that the first cast brings to the surface the second son of Asaph, and the second cast brings up the eldest son of Jeduthun. At the end of the seventh all of Asaph's sons are exhausted, and what would have been his next place (the ninth) is occupied by the second son of Heman, whose eldest had just taken the sixth place so thrown out by the lot. At the end of the fourteenth throw Jeduthun's six sons are all used up, and all the remaining places belong to Heman's sons, but still in the order in which they are thrown out by the lot.

25:1-31 The singers and musicians. - David put those in order who were appointed to be singers and musicians in the temple. To prophesy, in this place, means praising God with great earnestness and devout affections, under the influences of the Holy Spirit. In raising these affections, poetry and music were employed. If the Spirit of God do not put life and fervour into our devotions, they will, however ordered, be a lifeless, worthless form.Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph,.... His second son to the preference of the firstborn, 1 Chronicles 25:2,

the second to Gedaliah, who with his brethren and sons were twelve: and which must also be understood of Joseph, and supplied to him; for those being both in one verse, as Jarchi observes, it is but once mentioned, but must be supplied, or otherwise the number of two hundred and eighty eight could not be made up; the same is observed of all the other lots and courses to the end of the chapter as here, and therefore need no more remarks.