²Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.
2. None ... but the Levites] Numbers i. 50, vii. 9. Nothing is said in the parallel place (2 Samuel vi. 13) of the Levites, but bearers (and not a cart) are spoken of with regard to this second attempt. Compare 2 Chronicles v. 4, note.
³And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord unto its place, which he had prepared for it. ⁴And David gathered together the sons of Aaron, and the Levites:
3. assembled all Israel] It was a solemn religious assembly (Hebrew Ḳāhāl, Greek ἐκκλησία).
⁵of the sons of Kohath; Uriel the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twenty: ⁶of the sons of Merari; Asaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty: ⁷of the sons of Gershom; Joel the chief, and his brethren an hundred and thirty: ⁸of the sons of Elizaphan; Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred: ⁹of the sons of Hebron; Eliel the chief, and his brethren fourscore: ¹⁰of the sons of Uzziel; Amminadab the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twelve.
5–10. Remark that besides the three great Levitical divisions, Kohathites, Gershonites, and Merarites, three additional classes (sons of Elizaphan, of Hebron, and of Uzziel) are given in verses 8–10. This unusual sixfold division, and the smallness of the numbers of Levites have been taken as indicating that the whole passage xv. 1–15 is drawn by the Chronicler from an earlier source, but the argument is not convincing. “The text does not imply that Elizaphan, Hebron, and Uzziel were coordinated with Kohath, Gershom, and Merari”; and the small numbers are accounted for by the view that only selected Levites were chosen for the task (so Curtis, Chronicles, p. 127).
5. the sons of Kohath; Uriel] Kohath had four sons (Exodus vi. 18 = 1 Chronicles vi. 18): Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Here the descendants of Amram (exclusive of the priests, the Aaronites) represented by Uriel head the list (verse 5), and the descendants of Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel appear in verses 8, 9, 10 respectively. Elizaphan (verse 8) either stands for the Izhar of Exodus vi. 18, or is the name of some prominent descendant of Izhar after whom the whole family was named. He is mentioned again in 2 Chronicles xxix. 13. As regards number the Kohathites were 512 against 350 of the sons of Merari and the sons of Gershom combined. In vi. 60–63 (45–48, Hebrew) 23 cities are reckoned to Kohath against 25 to Merari and Gershom combined. The Kohathites formed the largest and most important of the three divisions of the Levites.
¹¹And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab,
11. Zadok and Abiathar] This double priesthood (2 Samuel viii. 17, xv. 29, 35, xix. 11, xx. 25) came to an end in the reign of Solomon (1 Kings ii. 27, 35). Zadok is always mentioned first as being descended from Eleazar the third son of Aaron, while Ithamar from whom Abiathar (Ahimelech) was descended through Eli (1 Kings ii. 27) was the fourth son (xxiv. 1, 3). In two of the passages quoted in this note Abiathar (probably being confused with his father) is called Ahimelech or Abimelech (2 Samuel viii. 17 = 1 Chronicles xviii. 16; 1 Chronicles xxiv. 3). Conversely in Mark ii. 26 Ahimelech is called Abiathar. In the Chronicler’s list of high-priests (vi. 4–14) Zadok alone is mentioned, the line of Eleazar alone being given.
the priests] Only the two chief priests are mentioned here. Other priests blew with the trumpets in front of the Ark (verse 24).