1 Chronicles 9:17

17–27 (cp. Neh_11:19; 1Ch_26:1-19). Organisation and Duties of the Porters (Doorkeepers)

17. porters] Render, doorkeepers as in 1Ch_16:38 and 1Ch_26:1 (R.V.). In Solomon’s Temple there were “keepers of the threshold,” three in number (2Ki_25:18), priests in rank (ibid. 1Ch_12:9).

Shallum … Ahiman] These two names are absent from Neh_11:19 together with the clause Shallum was the chief. This omission of all reference to Shallum must be accidental.

Shallum, Akkub and Talmon] The three names represent families, not individuals; cp. Ezr_2:41 = Neh_7:45, where the fuller form is given, the children of Shallum, … the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub.… These names persist in the five lists of porters which refer to post-exilic times; Ezr_2:42 = Neh_7:45; Neh_11:19 = 1Ch_9:17 (Shallum is to be supplied in Neh. from Chron.); Neh_12:5 (Meshullam = Shallum). When however the reference is to the days of David the prominent names are Meshelemiah = Shelemiah (= Shallum?), Obed-edom, and Hosah; 1Ch_15:18; 1Ch_15:24; 1Ch_16:38; 1Ch_26:1; 1Ch_26:4; 1Ch_26:10.

Ahiman] Elsewhere in the O.T. this name occurs only among the names of the sons of Anak, and it is probable that the Chronicler (or some scribe) made here an error of transcription, and that Ahiman has arisen from the word aheihem “their brethren” which follows.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Shallum the son of Kore,.... The same as in Ch1 9:17 whose pedigree is traced up to Ebiasaph the son of Korah, see Exo 6:24.

and his brethren, of the house of his father, the Korahites; so called, because they descended from Korah:

were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle; until the temple was built:

and their fathers being over the host of the Lord; the Levites, who were the Lord's army, and whose service is represented as a warfare, Num 4:5.

were keepers of the entry; into the tabernacle, that none might enter that were impure; or into the court of the priests, excepting priests; or into the holiest of all, as Kimchi suggests.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Ch 9:17 And the porters [were], Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brethren: Shallum [was] the chief;

Ver. 17. Shallum was the chief.] He was overseer of the overseers of the porters.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Shallum the son of Kore,.... The same as in Ch1 9:17 whose pedigree is traced up to Ebiasaph the son of Korah, see Exo 6:24.

and his brethren, of the house of his father, the Korahites; so called, because they descended from Korah:

were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle; until the temple was built:

and their fathers being over the host of the Lord; the Levites, who were the Lord's army, and whose service is represented as a warfare, Num 4:5.

were keepers of the entry; into the tabernacle, that none might enter that were impure; or into the court of the priests, excepting priests; or into the holiest of all, as Kimchi suggests.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

(17) And the porters were, Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman.—Comp. Neh_11:18-19, which sums up thus: “All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred fourscore and four. Moreover the porters, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren that kept the gates, were an hundred seventy and two.” Shallum does not appear.

Ahiman may have originated out of the following:

Their brethren.—Heb., aheihem. Comp. also Neh_12:25-26, where we are told that (Mattaniah and Bakbukiah, Obadiah and) Meshullam (i.e., Shallum), Talmon, and Akkub were porters keeping ward at the storehouses of the Temple gates, in the times of Joiakim son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and of Nehemiah and Ezra. It is clear that the names of the porters likewise represent families or guilds, which had hereditary charge of the Temple gates. In fact, all the Levitical functions appear to have descended in the same families from father to son, like the various civil offices in the Roman empire; and tradition ascribed the entire arrangement to David, the second founder of the national worship. At this point the correspondence with Nehemiah 11 ceases.

Shallum was the chief.—This really belongs to 1Ch_9:18, and introduces a description of the duties of the Levites, which extends over 1Ch_9:18-34. Translate, Shallum is the chief even unto this day in the king’s gate, on the east side. Shallum (“recompense”) is called “Shelemiah” (1Ch_26:14), which, again, is a curtailment of Meshelemiah (“Jah recompenseth”), 1Ch_26:1; 1Ch_9:21 infra. The fact that Shallum—Meshelemiah—is spoken of as warder in David’s day as well as in the post-exilic age, proves that a guild or clan, not an individual, is in question. The eastern gate was the post of honour (Eze_46:1-2), and the royal entry. The old name of the King’s Gate would naturally be retained in the restored Temple.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sellum had the superintendency over all the porters. (Haydock) --- He was also at the head of one of the four bands which guarded the doors, east, west, north, and south of the temple, with various apartments, ver. 26. (Calmet) --- Brother. Hebrew, "brethren," or bands. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Porters; whose office it was to keep all the gates of the temple, that no unclean person or thing might enter into it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The porters here are those who had charge of the entrances to the sanctuary. The word employed (revo) is used, however, generally of gate or door keepers (2Sa_17:26; Joh_10:3; Mar_13:3, 4; Joh_18:16) Their number, stated in ver. 22 as two hundred and twelve, is probably corrected in Neh_11:19 to one hundred and seventy-two, made up of twenty-four for every week, (1Ch_26:17, 1Ch_26:18) "entering on the sabbath" upon their work, (2Ki_11:5 2Ch_23:4) in rotation for seven weeks, and the four "chief warders." For the five porters here mentioned there are only two mentioned in Neh_11:19, and neither of those Shallum, the chief. But see also Ezr_2:42; Neh_7:45.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Porters - Whose office it was to keep all the gates of the temple, that no unclean person or thing might enter into it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The doorkeepers were

"The guards were" or "The gatekeepers were"

Shallum ... Akkub ... Talmon ... Ahiman ... Kore ... Ebiasaph

These are all the names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

they stood guard at the king's gate on the east side for the camp of Levi's descendants

"Levi's descendants guarded the king's gate on the east side of their camp"

Korahites

descendants of Korah (See: How to Translate Names)

the door to the tent ... the entrance

These phrases both refer to the entrance of the tent of meeting, or the tabernacle.

the tent

This is a metonym for the second temple, which the people built after they returned from Babylon. (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

descend

king

gate

Korah

ancestor

tent

Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.