Chapter 6
Descendants of Levi, starting with Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The descendants through Kohath are listed first. Aaron, Moses, and Miriam were the Great Grands of Levi, through Kohath and Amram.
2023 - The sentence above is only true if this is the same Amram that married Jochebed. We know that it IS the same because of these verses from way back in Exodus: 18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. ... 20 Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father's sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years. [Exo 6:18, 20 ESV]. So, Levi himself went to Egypt with Jacob when Joseph was second to Pharoah. Israel was there for 450 years. Moses was 80 when he was sent back to Egypt...I think. So...Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses. Call that 3 generations since Levi was a grown man when he got there and Moses a grown man when they left. That still makes it 150 years per generation. What we don't know is how old each of these men were when they had the son that is included in the generation. Looks like Amram was Kohath's first. Moses was Amram's second. I guess the point is that you really have to stretch out these generations to get 450 out of just four total generations. And this still counts the whole 450 years in Egypt as part of the captivity of Israel, even though they did not go down there as captives, but as honored guests.
2023 - Also, I believe we get the succession of High Priests of Israel here. We go from Aaron to the first priest of Solomon's Temple in vss 3b-10. These would have been priests while the Ark was still at Kirioth-Jearim, during the time of the judges and so on, right up through Saul and then David. Then we get the High Priests from the Temple to the exile in 10-15. There is enough information here to "fix" where we are in Israel's history if we have the name of a priest. Usually, we also get the name of a King - two King's really - in other places. So we can really narrow things down in places where a King is talking to a High Priest and both names are given.
2023 - One last thing. Both Elkanah and Samuel appear in the genealogies of this chapter. They are descended from Levi, but Samuel was not a priest, he was judge. The last judge of Israel. When he died, it was upon hearing the news that both his sons - Joel and Abijah - had died in battle. These were very corrupt sons, abusing their positions as sons of Samuel. It was because these two were so bad that Israel demanded a King, irritating both Samuel and God very much. What we see is that Samuel was descended from Merari, son of Levi, while the High Priests were descended from Kohath, son of Levi. So both judges and High Priests would have been present in the land from Aaron right up until Samuel died, after which there were only High Priests. There does not seem to be anything "special" about the sons of Gershon, though he appears to be the first born. Really, there was nothing that special about Merari either. It just so happened that the last Judge of Israel descended from him, but there were judges at various times from many other tribes also.
Asaph is mentioned here. He wrote many of the Psalms, and served in the temple. He is mentioned many times in the OT.
There is also an explanation of the Levitical vs the Aaronic priesthoods. Seems to me the Levites were called to service in the tabernacle while Aaron and his descendants were called to do the sacrifices in the temple.
The descendants from Aaron would seem to be the ones who would serve as high priests. The lineage runs from Levi to the taking away of Judah and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. This is Aaron's line, the high priestly line. I believe the kingly line, through David, also runs up to Nebuchadnezzar. This from 1 Chron 3:17:
17 and the sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son, [1Ch 3:17 ESV] I think Jeconiah was King when Jehozadak was High Priest. If I'm reading this right:
15 and Jehozadak went into exile when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. [1Ch 6:15 ESV]
Verse sixteen is a repeat of verse 1. It takes us all the way back to Levi, and sort of "resets". Instead of details of Kohath's descendants, it works it's way around to Gershom. These go down all the way to Samuel, and his two sons Joel and Abijah. Then the sons of Merari - Levi's third son - are given two verses.
Beginning in 31, we get a list of all the Levitical descendants who were musicians in the Tent of Meeting and then in the Tabernacle. If the Bible goes to this much trouble to point out the musicians, who would ever say that God does not want music in His house?
At the end of the list of musicians, these two verses:
48 And their brothers the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God. 49 But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the work of the Most Holy Place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. [1Ch 6:48-49 ESV]
This is the difference between the Levitical and Aaronic priesthoods. Aaron and his descendants did the sacrifices and made atonement. The other descendants of Levi did all the rest that was required for maintaining the Tabernacle. Aaronic - sacrifice, Levitical - service. And that all goes back to the rebellion at Sinai when it was the Levites who carried out Moses sentence of death on some of the people for their rebellion.
Beginning in 54, we are told where each of these descendants settles in Canaan. There are many possible studies here of place names. So many of these city names look familiar. I think it would be interesting to trace their mentions through the Bible, maybe find out what they were called in NT times, and see just how many show up for all the history of Israel.