1 Chronicles 25 Study Notes

25:1 Music was certainly a part of the worship of God before David’s time, but he made it a regular part of everyday worship in the tabernacle and at the site of the ark and later in the temple. David, a man of war, was also a man of music. He placed the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (also known as Ethan) in charge of the music for the future temple. The Chronicler associates the musical ministry with prophecy.

25:2-5 This time the numbers work out smoothly. Asaph had four sons, Jeduthun had six, and Heman had fourteen. Thus there were twenty-four natural divisions, and it turned out that the larger number of their relatives came to 288, thus creating twenty-four divisions of exactly twelve each. Lots were drawn to draft these Levites into their groups.

25:6-31 These 288 musicians were the leaders, who had a total of four thousand men to draw on (23:5). The men of the twenty-four divisions reported to the twelve sons of the three head musicians, and they in turn took their directions directly from the king. For most other temple functions, the high priest was the final authority, but since the order of music was primarily David’s innovation, he did not relinquish control over this part of the ministry.