the altar of incense] Exodus xxx. 1–10.
to make atonement] compare Leviticus iv. 31, xvi.; 2 Chronicles xxix. 24.
50–53 (= 35–38 according to the Hebrew division).
The Line of Aaron to Ahimaaz.
⁵⁰And these are the sons of Aaron; Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son; ⁵¹Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son; ⁵²Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son; ⁵³Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.
This is a fragment, slightly changed in wording, of the genealogy given in verses 4–14. It goes as far as the reign of David. Some writers maintain that verses 4–14 are an interpolation in the text of Chronicles, and that the present passage is the primary list of high-priests. But the arguments in favour of that view seem to the present writer outweighed by the two considerations adduced by Curtis, Chronicles, p. 127: (1) “that a list of high-priests thus inserted between verse 49 (the duties of all the sons of Aaron) and verses 54 ff. (the cities of all the Aaronidae), seems out of place,” as it breaks the thread of the Chronicler’s arrangement of the material; and (2) that its insertion might well be due to a scribe who “expected a list of the sons of Aaron after the verse describing their duties—just as the list of Levites precedes the verse detailing their duties.”
54–81 (= 39–66 according to the Hebrew division).
The forty-eight Levitic cities.
This section has been adopted with some rearrangement from the parallel passage in Joshua. In Joshua the number of cities taken from each group of tribes and given to its respective division of the Levites is first stated, no city being named; and next the names of the cities are given under each division of the Levites and under the name of the tribe from which the cities were taken. In Chronicles the cities given to the Aaronites are first mentioned by name and reckoned to be thirteen in number (verses 55–60); next the cities given to each remaining division of the Levites are reckoned shortly by number only (verses 61–63); lastly, these cities are separately reckoned at length by name only (verses 66–81). This rearrangement is not happy; perhaps the Chronicler originally intended to give the Aaronite cities only by name as well as number, and so verses 66–81 (containing the names of the non-Aaronite cities) may be a supplement to the original text. Notice that no names of cities taken from Simeon are given; but this apparently arises through the Chronicler’s rearrangement of the parallel passage in Joshua; for verse 65, which here follows the list of Aaronite cities, mentions Simeon, and in the original context (Joshua xxi. 9) it precedes the list.
(Critical Note on 54–81.)
The text of the passage has suffered in transcription. In verses 55–60 eleven names are given, but thirteen are reckoned (verse 60), the explanation being that the names Juttah and Gibeon (Joshua xxi. 16, 17) have fallen out. In verse 61, after or before Manasseh, the names of Ephraim and Dan have fallen out (compare verse 66 and Joshua xxi. 5); Manasseh contributed only two out of the ten cities. Before verse 69 we must restore from Joshua xxi. 23 the words, And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs. In verse 77 or immediately before verse 78 two names of cities of Zebulun have fallen out; compare verse 63 (“twelve cities”) with verses 77–81 (ten cities only are named).
54–60 (= Joshua xxi. 10–19).
The [thirteen] cities of the Aaronites.