Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 24:4
Since more leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than those of Ithamar, they were divided accordingly. There were sixteen heads of families from the descendants of Eleazar and eight from the descendants of Ithamar.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The chronicler narrates David’s administrative reorganization of the priestly families during temple service preparations, explaining how numerical disparity dictated the allocation of leadership roles.
The words — רַבִּ֞ים (ra.Bim) = many and מִן־ (min-) = more than frame the demographic comparison that directly determined the sixteen-to-eight split between the two priestly lines.
The thread — This census methodology continues the chronicler’s registration of Levitical heads in 1 Chronicles 23:24 and 15:6, while Numbers 25:11 establishes the historical prominence of Eleazar’s line.
Why it lands — The text records a factual administrative division based on population size, requiring the reader to recognize that priestly service allocation followed demographic reality rather than arbitrary selection.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers.
Cross-references
- Numbers 25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal.
- 1 Chronicles 15:6 from the Merarites, Asaiah the chief and 220 of his relatives;
- 1 Chronicles 23:24 These were the descendants of Levi by their families—the heads of families, registered individually by name—those twenty years of age or older who worked in the service of the house of the LORD.