1 Chronicles 6:1 - Meaning and Application

The priests and Levites cared more than other Israelites about keeping their family lines clear and proving them. Their honor and privileges depended on being able to show that they came from the right line. We even read of some who may really have been priests, but because they could not find the record of their family tree or prove their descent from an official record, they were treated as unclean, removed from the priesthood, and not allowed to eat the holy food (Ezra 2:62-63).

Only a little is recorded here about the family lines of this sacred tribe. The first ancestors are named twice, in 1 Chronicles 6:1 and 1 Chronicles 6:16, because they matter so much. Gershom, Kohath, and Merari are names we know well from Numbers, where the Levite families were arranged and given their duties. Aaron, Moses, and Miriam are also names we know far better than the rest, and we should not pass over them without remembering that this was the Moses and Aaron whom God honored as tools of Israel’s rescue and settlement, and as pictures of the One who was to come. Moses stood as a prophet, and Aaron as a priest. Nadab and Abihu are also mentioned, even though they had no children and so do not affect the family line, and their mention should remind us of God’s terrifying justice when they offered strange fire. Their example teaches us to always stand in awe before him.

The line of Eleazar, Aaron’s successor, is traced down to the time of the captivity, from 1 Chronicles 6:4-15. It begins with Eleazar, who came out of slavery in Egypt, and ends with Jehozadak, who went into captivity in Babylon. In a sense, this shows that because of their sins they were left where they were found. It may also suggest that the Levitical priesthood did not bring anything to completion, but that a better hope had still to come. Not all the men listed here were high priests, because during the time of the judges that office, for one reason or another, passed into the family of Ithamar, Eli’s family. But it returned to the proper line in Zadok.

About Azariah, 1 Chronicles 6:10 says that he was the one who served as priest in the temple Solomon built. Many think this was the same Azariah who boldly resisted King Uzziah when the king tried to take over the priestly office (2 Chronicles 26:17-18), even though doing so risked his life. That was the action of a true priest, a man with real zeal for God. He firmly defended the priesthood and held its boundaries against a daring attack, so it is fitting that Scripture says he carried out the priest’s office. He is honored for that. By contrast, Urijah, one of his later descendants, showed weak obedience to King Ahaz by building an idolatrous altar for him, and so he is left out of this genealogy, as perhaps others were too. Some think this note about Azariah should belong to his grandfather of the same name in 1 Chronicles 6:9, the son of Ahimaaz, and that he was the priest who first served in Solomon’s temple.

Some other Levite families are also traced here. One branch of Gershom, the family of Libni, is followed as far as Samuel, who had the added honor of being a prophet as well as a Levite. One branch of Merari, the family of Mahli, is also traced through several generations in 1 Chronicles 6:29-30.