Study Desk

The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 men ready for military service—able-bodied men who could handle shield and sword, who could use a bow, and who were trained for battle.

They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them.

But Aaron and his descendants were the ones who presented offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense in connection with all that was done in the Most Holy Place, making atonement for Israel, in accordance with all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

These were the locations of their settlements allotted as their territory (they were assigned to the descendants of Aaron who were from the Kohathite clan, because the first lot was for them):

According to their family genealogy, they had 36,000 men ready for battle, for they had many wives and children.

Their father Ephraim mourned for them many days, and his relatives came to comfort him.

All these were descendants of Asher—heads of families, choice men, brave warriors and outstanding leaders. The number of men ready for battle, as listed in their genealogy, was 26,000.

The priests, who were heads of families, numbered 1,760. They were able men, responsible for ministering in the house of God.

Shallum son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his fellow gatekeepers from his family (the Korahites) were responsible for guarding the thresholds of the tent just as their ancestors had been responsible for guarding the entrance to the dwelling of the Lord .

Their fellow Levites in their villages had to come from time to time and share their duties for seven-day periods.

But the four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasuries in the house of God.

They would spend the night stationed around the house of God, because they had to guard it; and they had charge of the key for opening it each morning.

A Levite named Mattithiah, the firstborn son of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with the responsibility for baking the offering bread.

Some of the Kohathites, their fellow Levites, were in charge of preparing for every Sabbath the bread set out on the table.

Those who were musicians, heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night.

Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord ; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance,

He was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistines gathered there for battle. At a place where there was a field full of barley, the troops fled from the Philistines.

David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!"

Some Gadites defected to David at his stronghold in the wilderness. They were brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. Their faces were the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles in the mountains.

These Gadites were army commanders; the least was a match for a hundred, and the greatest for a thousand.