1 Chronicles 9:21
1Ch 9:21 1Ch 9:21 is quite unconnected with the preceding context, the conjunction w being omitted, and its contents also present considerable difficulties. Zechariah, the son of Meshelemiah, can only be the Zechariah who is mentioned in 1Ch 26:2 as the first-born of Meshelemiah, and who lived in the time of David; for at the time when David divided the porters into classes, there fell to him the lot towards midnight, i.e., the duty of waiting at the door on the north side of the holy place (1Ch 26:14). With this, indeed, the general statement of our verse, “he was porter of the door (or the entrance) of the tent of the covenant,” is not inconsistent. But what purpose does this general statement serve? With what design is Zechariah, and he alone, mentioned? We have no means of giving a definite answer to this question; but he may perhaps be named as being the person who, before David’s division of the Levites into classes was carried out, had charge of the porters’ service in the tabernacle. But even if this conjecture be accepted as well grounded, the abrupt way in which it is mentioned still remains enigmatical.
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