1, 2. Concerning the divisions of the porters—There were four thousand (1Ch 23:6), all taken from the families of the Kohathites and Merarites (1Ch 26:14), divided into twenty-four courses—as the priests and musicians.

     5. God blessed him—that is, Obed-edom. The occasion of the blessing was his faithful custody of the ark (2Sa 6:11, 12). The nature of the blessing (Ps 127:5) consisted in the great increase of progeny by which his house was distinguished; seventy-two descendants are reckoned.

     6. mighty men of valour—The circumstance of physical strength is prominently noticed in this chapter, as the office of the porters required them not only to act as sentinels of the sacred edifice and its precious furniture against attacks of plunderers or popular insurrection—to be, in fact, a military guard—but, after the temple was built, to open and shut the gates, which were extraordinarily large and ponderous.

     10. Simri the chief . . . though . . . not the first-born—probably because the family entitled to the right of primogeniture had died out, or because there were none of the existing families which could claim that right.

     12. Among these were the divisions of the porters, even among the chief men—These were charged with the duty of superintending the watches, being heads of the twenty-four courses of porters.

     1Ch 26:13-19. THE GATES ASSIGNED BY LOT.