16. psalteries] See note on xiii. 8.
¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;
17. Heman the son of Joel] a descendant of Samuel the prophet; vi. 33 (vi. 18, Hebrew). Compare Psalms lxxxviii. (title). As Heman was descended from Kohath, Asaph from Gershom, and Ethan from Merari, each division of the Levites was represented by a chief musician. Heman was king’s seer (xxv. 5).
Asaph the son of Berechiah] a descendant of Gershom; vi. 39–43 (24–28, Hebrew). Asaph was the chief of the musicians; xvi. 5, 7. One of the small collections of Psalms from which our Psalter was compiled was named after him; compare the titles of Psalms l., lxxiii.–lxxxiii.
Ethan the son of Kushaiah] a descendant of Merari; vi. 44–47. Compare Psalms lxxxix. (title). He is apparently called Jeduthun in xxv. 1–6. See also the note on xvi. 41.
18–24. These verses present several obscurities which can hardly be explained except by the supposition that the original text of the Chronicler has been added to by a later writer with intricate results. Several reconstructions are possible, the most plausible being that of Curtis which is followed in these notes.
¹⁸and with them their brethren of the second degree, Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers.
18. their brethren of the second degree] Read rather their twelve brethren: twelve being the number of names from Zechariah to Mikneiah. The last two, Obed-edom and Jeiel, were “doorkeepers,” not “singers,” although they were mistakenly supposed to belong to the list of singers by the author of verses 19–21 (see further regarding Obed-edom the note on xvi. 38).
Ben] This word, which means “son,” is an error. Read probably Bani.
the doorkeepers] See the notes on ix. 17.