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1 Chronicles 23:6-11
David then organizes Levites into divisions, beginning with Gershon, and records clan heads while noting a merged household due to few sons.
Meaning in context
David then organizes Levites into divisions, beginning with Gershon, and records clan heads while noting a merged household due to few sons.
Section 2 of 6
Gershonite clans listed and counted
David then organizes Levites into divisions, beginning with Gershon, and records clan heads while noting a merged household due to few sons.
Movement
Remembering David after exile
Artifact
Genealogies and temple preparation
Biblical Timeline
Exile & Return
1 Chronicles context: 586 BC - 400 BC
Biblical Timeline
Exile & Return
1 Chronicles context
Exile & Return / 586 BC - 400 BC
1 Chronicles context is set in the exile and return, where Babylonian exile, return, rebuilding, and renewed covenant life under Persian rule.
Scripture Text
Thesis
David then organizes Levites into divisions, beginning with Gershon, and records clan heads while noting a merged household due to few sons.
Verse by Verse
David organizes Levites by Levi’s three lines David divides the Levites into assigned divisions connected to the three sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The point is a structured distribution of people based on ancestry.
Gershonite branches named Within the Gershonites, two foundational lines are identified: Ladan and Shimei. This sets up the rest of the list, which will detail their subgroups.
Ladan’s descendants and their household heads Ladan’s sons are listed as three, with Jehiel marked as the chief, alongside Zetham and Joel. Then Shimei’s three sons (Shelomoth, Haziel, Haran) are named, and the text closes by saying these were the heads of the father-houses associated with Ladan’s line.
Literary Context
This unit sits inside a larger administrative section where David prepares Israel’s worship workforce by registering, assigning, and structuring Levites for service connected to the sanctuary. After a broad statement that Levites are divided by Levi’s sons, the text proceeds family by family, giving names, relative status (like “chief” and “second”), and household groupings. The logic is list-like and practical: identify the main Gershonite branches, name their sub-branches, state totals, and clarify how the record treats smaller families for purposes of organization and counting.
Historical Context
Chronicles was compiled in the Persian-period setting, when Judah functioned as a small province inside a large empire and community life relied heavily on stable institutions like the temple and its personnel. Against that background, these genealogical and administrative lists help present an ordered memory of Israel’s past and a workable model for community structure. Within the story world, the scene is set in David’s reign, portraying him as establishing enduring patterns for Levite roles by family lines, ranks, and household units, so service could be assigned and tracked reliably.
Theological Significance
This passage presents David (within the story) organizing the Levites into structured divisions based on descent from Levi’s three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. It then focuses on the Gershonites and names two main Gershonite lines: Ladan and Shimei.
Questions
Keep Studying
Shimei’s descendants and a counting adjustment A second set of Shimei’s sons is listed as four: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. Jahath is identified as chief and Zizah as second. Because Jeush and Beriah had few sons, their lines are treated as a single father-house in the official reckoning for organization and counting.
The text’s main “work” is administrative and genealogical: it names household heads, marks rank among brothers (“chief,” “second”), gives small totals (three, three, four), and explains how an official count can combine two small branches into one unit.
Two places invite different readings.
First, Shimei appears with two different son-lists: one list of three (v. 9) and another list of four (vv. 10–11). Some understand these as two different individuals named Shimei within the wider Gershonite family, or as two levels of the family tree (for example, sons vs. later descendants). Others treat the text as listing Shimei’s family in two groupings for organizational reasons, with the overlap or variation reflecting how records were compiled.
Second, the line “These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Ladan” (v. 9) is not equally clear to everyone. Some take it to mean that the people just listed in v. 9 are counted under Ladan’s broader clan grouping for purposes of “father-house” administration. Others think the wording is awkward in context and suspect it reflects how this list was copied or arranged, so that the note may function like a summary tag for the preceding material rather than redefining Shimei’s relationship to Ladan.
Why the disagreement exists The passage is a compressed list with repeated names and brief notes, and it does not pause to explain how the two Shimei sections relate. Also, “sons” in genealogical lists can sometimes function more broadly than immediate children, and scribal or editorial shaping of lists can leave seams that later readers notice.
What this passage clearly contributes Explicitly, the text shows that Levite service organization is tied to ancestry and household structure, not just individual choice. It also shows that leadership rank is recognized within families (chief/second) and that official accounting can merge smaller branches into a single administrative unit when numbers are low (vv. 10–11). Within Chronicles’ larger project of presenting ordered temple personnel, this unit contributes a concrete example of how that order is recorded and managed (compare the broader Levite setup in 1 Chronicles 23:1).
shimei (šim·‘î)