the instruments which I made] Compare 2 Chronicles xxix. 26.
6–23. It is natural to expect that twenty-four heads of fathers’ houses will appear in this list (compare note on verse 4), in harmony with the twenty-four courses of priests, of musicians, and of doorkeepers referred to in the chapters following. The present text, however, appears to yield but twenty-two, and the various emendations suggested in order to obtain twenty-four are all precarious. The best suggestion is that of Curtis, for which see note on verse 22.
⁶And David divided them into courses[¹] according to the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
[¹] Hebrew divisions.
6. the sons of Levi] Compare vi. 1, 16.
⁷Of the Gershonites; Ladan[¹] and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Ladan; Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three.
[¹] In chapter vi. 17, Libni.
7. Ladan and Shimei] For “Ladan” here and in xxvi. 21 we have in vi. 17 and Exodus vi. 17 “Libni.”
⁹The sons of Shimei; Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Ladan.
9. The sons of Shimei] This Shimei in distinction from the Shimei of verses 7, 10 might conceivably be a descendant of Ladan, although the relationship is not indicated; but it is more probable that some confusion has come into the text of verses 8, 9, 10—as e.g. that verse 9b “These were ... of Ladan” is a gloss, and that for Shimei in verse 10 we should read Shelomoth.