The Fallible Study Bible

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1 Chronicles23:7–11

The Gershonites

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

1 Chronicles 23:7–11 — The Gershonites. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

7

The Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lag·gê·rə·šun·nî la‘·dān wə·šim·‘î

Word by word3 · parsed
לַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּ֖יlag·gê·rə·šun·nîThe GershonitesH1649
√ Gêrᵉshunnîy — a Gereshonite or descendant of GereshonPreposition-l, ArticleNounpropermasculine singular
Gêrᵉshunnîy: a Gershonite, descendant of Gershon A singular gentilic with the article, prefixed by lamed: to the Gershonite, not the sons of Gershon. K&D presses exactly this point: where Kohath and Merari are introduced by bᵉnê, Gershon is introduced by the clan adjective, which he takes as the Chronicler's signal that Ladan and Shimei head the two chief Gershonite lines rather than standing as Gershon's own sons.
לַעְדָּ֥ןla‘·dānLadanH3936
√ Laʻdân — Ladan, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Laʻdân: Ladan, the name of two Israelites A rare name, five verses in the whole canon, and the pivot of this unit's textual problem: Exodus 6:17 and 1 Chronicles 6:17 name Gershon's other line Libni. Gill identifies the two outright, Ellicott calls the identification unlikely, K&D argues the surname reading will not stand. The brief preserves that disagreement and so does this note.
וְשִׁמְעִֽי׃סwə·šim·‘îand ShimeiH8096
√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Shimʻîy: Shimi, the name of twenty Israelites Strong's own gloss is the warning label. Within these five verses the commentators count at least two distinct bearers: the brother of Ladan here and in v. 10, and a different Shimei in v. 9 whom Cambridge takes to be a descendant or client of Ladan's house. Recurrence of this name anywhere in the canon proves nothing by itself.
8

The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the first, Zetham, and Joel—three in all.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê la‘·dān yə·ḥî·’êl hā·rōš wə·zê·ṯām wə·yō·w·’êl šə·lō·šāh

Word by word7 · parsed
בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
bên: a son, in the widest sense, including grandson, subject, nation Masculine plural construct. The breadth of the lexeme is the whole interpretive question of this verse: Poole and Gill both refuse to read immediate sons here, and Pulpit reaches for 1 Chronicles 26:22 to show that at least two of the three are a generation further down. The Chronicler is charting a line, not registering births.
לַעְדָּ֗ןla‘·dānof LadanH3936
√ Laʻdân — Ladan, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
יְחִיאֵ֛לyə·ḥî·’êlJehielH3171
√ Yᵉchîyʼêl — Jechiel (or Jechavel), the name of eight IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
הָרֹ֧אשׁhā·rōšthe firstH7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcArticleNounmasculine singular
rôʼsh: the head, whether literal or figurative, in applications of place, time or rank Rendered "the first" by BSB, but the word is head, and it is the organising term of the unit: v. 9 uses its plural construct for the heads of the father-houses, and v. 11 gives it to Jahath. What the list records is not who was born first but who stands at the head of a house.
וְזֵתָ֥םwə·zê·ṯāmZethamH2241
√ Zêthâm — Zetham, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Zêthâm: Zetham, an Israelite One of the rarest names in the canon, appearing in only two verses: here and in the Gershonite treasury list of 1 Chronicles 26:22, which is the very passage Pulpit uses to argue that these men are grandsons of Ladan.
וְיוֹאֵ֖לwə·yō·w·’êland JoelH3100
√ Yôwʼêl — Joel, the name of twelve IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Joel here is a Gershonite house-head; Strong's counts twelve Israelites of the name.
שְׁלֹשָֽׁה׃סšə·lō·šāhthree [in all]H7969
√ shâlôwsh — threeNumbermasculine singular
A bare cardinal closing the sub-list; "in all" is the translators' supplement.
9

The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the families of Ladan.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê šim·‘î šə·lō·mōṯ wa·ḥă·zî·’êl wə·hā·rān šə·lō·šāh ’êl·leh rā·šê hā·’ā·ḇō·wṯ lə·la‘·dān

Word by word10 · parsed
בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
שִׁמְעִ֗יšim·‘îof ShimeiH8096
√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
This Shimei is not the Shimei of v. 7: Ellicott, Poole, Gill and Cambridge all say so, and the closing clause of this very verse proves it by filing these three houses under Ladan.
שְׁלֹמוֹתšə·lō·mōṯShelomothH8013
√ Shᵉlômôwth — Shelomoth, the name of two IsraelitesNounproperfeminine singular
Shᵉlômôwth: Shelomoth, the name of two Israelites Parsed a proper noun feminine singular although the man is a house-head, the form ending in the feminine -ôth. K&D notes the alternative "Shelomoth or Shelomith" and immediately adds that 26:35 uses the name of a different man, which is the standing caution of this whole unit against treating a repeated name as a repeated person.
וַחֲזִיאֵ֛לwa·ḥă·zî·’êlHazielH2381
√ Chăzîyʼêl — Chaziel, a LeviteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְהָרָ֖ןwə·hā·rānand HaranH2039
√ Hârân — Haran, the name of two menConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
שְׁלֹשָׁ֑הšə·lō·šāhthree [in all]H7969
√ shâlôwsh — threeNumbermasculine singular
The second of the three closing counts; six houses for Ladan when it is added to v. 8.
אֵ֛לֶּה’êl·lehThese [were]H428
√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural
רָאשֵׁ֥יrā·šêthe headsH7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcNounmasculine plural construct
rôʼsh: head, chief Masculine plural construct, heads of, the same noun that stood singular over Jehiel in v. 8 and will stand over Jahath in v. 11. Ellicott suggests the names are at once the names of the guilds and of the men then leading them, which would make head an office as much as a person.
הָאָב֖וֹתhā·’ā·ḇō·wṯof the familiesH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationArticleNounmasculine plural
ʼâb: father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application Literally the fathers; BSB smooths to "the families." The idiom bêth ʼâb is the administrative unit the Chronicler is counting, and K&D explains that among the Levites these houses were founded not by the patriarch's grandsons, as elsewhere in Israel, but by his great-grandsons.
לְלַעְדָּֽן׃סlə·la‘·dānof LadanH3936
√ Laʻdân — Ladan, the name of two IsraelitesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
The lamed is one of assignment rather than descent: these houses are reckoned to Ladan.
10

And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the sons of Shimei—four in all.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê šim·‘î ya·ḥaṯ zî·nā wî·‘ūš ū·ḇə·rî·‘āh ’êl·leh ḇə·nê- šim·‘î ’ar·bā·‘āh

Word by word10 · parsed
וּבְנֵ֣יū·ḇə·nêAnd the sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
שִׁמְעִ֔יšim·‘îof ShimeiH8096
√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
The Shimei of v. 7, brother of Ladan, according to Gill on Kimchi's authority and Ellicott; Poole allows instead "the son or grandson of that Shimei." The commentators themselves do not agree which Shimei this is.
יַ֣חַתya·ḥaṯJahathH3189
√ Yachath — Jachath, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Yachath: Jachath, the name of four Israelites Named first here and made head in v. 11. Pulpit observes that Jahath "seems to have been a favourite name in this family" and points to 1 Chronicles 6:43, which is a claim about naming custom within a Levitical line, not about a single man.
זִינָ֔אzî·nāZinaH2126
√ Zîynâʼ — Zina, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
Zîynâʼ: Zina, an Israelite Spelled זִינָא here and זִיזָה one verse later, carrying two different Strong's numbers (H2126 and H2125) for what every commentator here treats as one man. Cambridge blames scribal confusion of similar letters, Pulpit refuses that explanation, Ellicott reports the versions. This study records the disagreement and does not settle it.
וִיע֖וּשׁwî·‘ūšJeushH3266
√ Yᵉʻûwsh — Jeush, the name of an Edomite and of four IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וּבְרִיעָ֑הū·ḇə·rî·‘āhand BeriahH1283
√ Bᵉrîyʻâh — Beriah, the name of four IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Bᵉrîyʻâh: Beriah, the name of four Israelites Fourth and last named, and with Jeush the house that v. 11 will fold into another. Strong's counts four Israelites of the name, so its appearance in other genealogies is not evidence of this man.
אֵ֥לֶּה’êl·lehTheseH428
√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural
בְנֵי־ḇə·nê-[were] the sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
שִׁמְעִ֖יšim·‘îof ShimeiH8096
√ Shimʻîy — Shimi, the name of twenty IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אַרְבָּעָֽה׃’ar·bā·‘āhfour [in all]H702
√ ʼarbaʻ — fourNumbermasculine singular
Four sons are counted here; v. 11 will count only three houses, and the next verse explains why.
11

Jahath was the first and Zizah was the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were counted as one family and received a single assignment.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ya·ḥaṯ way·hî- hā·rōš wə·zî·zāh haš·šê·nî wî·‘ūš ū·ḇə·rî·‘āh lō- hir·bū ḇā·nîm way·yih·yū ’āḇ lə·ḇêṯ ’e·ḥāṯ lip̄·qud·dāh

Word by word15 · parsed
יַ֣חַתya·ḥaṯJahathH3189
√ Yachath — Jachath, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Jahath, first-named in v. 10 and now formally head; Strong's counts four Israelites of the name.
וַֽיְהִי־way·hî-wasH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
Qal consecutive imperfect of hâyâh, singular: and he became the head. The same verb returns plural at word 10 for the merged house.
הָרֹ֔אשׁhā·rōšthe firstH7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcArticleNounmasculine singular
rôʼsh: the head, whether literal or figurative, in applications of place, time or rank The third appearance of this noun in four verses (v. 8 of Jehiel, v. 9 in the plural of all the Ladanite chiefs, and here of Jahath). Headship, not birth order, is what the register is recording, and it is the one relational fact the Chronicler repeats.
וְזִיזָ֖הwə·zî·zāhand ZizahH2125
√ Zîyzâh — Zizah, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הַשֵּׁנִ֑יhaš·šê·nîwas the secondH8145
√ shênîy — properly, double, iArticleNumberordinal masculine singular
shênîy: properly double, second An ordinal of rank within the house. Zizah is the name spelled Zina one verse earlier.
וִיע֤וּשׁwî·‘ūšbut JeushH3266
√ Yᵉʻûwsh — Jeush, the name of an Edomite and of four IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וּבְרִיעָה֙ū·ḇə·rî·‘āhand BeriahH1283
√ Bᵉrîyʻâh — Beriah, the name of four IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
לֹֽא־lō-did notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
The negative particle that governs the whole following clause and produces the merger.
הִרְבּ֣וּhir·būhave manyH7235
√ râbâh — to increase (in whatever respect)VerbHifilPerfectthird person common plural
râbâh: to increase, in whatever respect Hiphil perfect, third common plural: they did not make many sons. The causative stem states the shortfall actively rather than as misfortune, and the phrase is the only cause the text gives for the administrative decision that follows. Ellicott preserves it: "had not multiplied sons."
בָנִ֔יםḇā·nîmsonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural
וַיִּֽהְיוּ֙way·yih·yūso they were counted asH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
Consecutive imperfect of hâyâh, now plural: and they became. Two houses become the subject of one verb, which is the merger happening in the grammar.
אָ֔ב’āḇone familyH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular
ʼâb: father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application Half of the idiom bêth ʼâb with word 12, the same construction English rendered "the families" back in v. 9. It names an administrative house, not a living parent.
לְבֵ֣יתlə·ḇêṯ. . .H1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
bayith: a house, in the greatest variation of applications, especially family Construct with lamed: for a house of a father. The interlinear leaves this gloss blank because BSB distributes the two-word idiom across the whole clause; in Hebrew it is one phrase and the destination of the merger.
אֶחָֽת׃ס’e·ḥāṯand received a singleH259
√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumberfeminine singular
Feminine one, agreeing with the feminine noun that follows rather than with bayith: the text counts one muster.
לִפְקֻדָּ֖הlip̄·qud·dāhassignmentH6486
√ pᵉquddâh — visitation (in many senses, chiefly official)Preposition-lNounfeminine singular
pᵉquddâh: visitation, in many senses, chiefly official The technical term of the whole chapter's census. Pulpit glosses it "enumeration" and lists the derived senses "care," "custody," and "office"; K&D calls it "one official class" and cross-references 1 Chronicles 24:3 and 2 Chronicles 17:14; Ellicott renders it "muster." The two small houses are not struck from the roll, they are given one turn of duty between them.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A clan adjective where a father's name should stand — 23:7

The verse is three words long and its first word is the problem. Kohath and Merari, later in the chapter, are introduced by בְּנֵי, sons of. Gershon is not. Here the Chronicler writes לַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּי, a singular gentilic with the article: to the Gershonite. K&D fastens on exactly this asymmetry and concludes that Ladan and Shimei "are not named as being sons of Gershon, but as founders of the two chief lines of Gershonites." Ellicott, working from the parallel lists rather than the grammar, reports only that 1 Chronicles 6:2 calls the two principal Gershonite branches "Libni" and Shimei, and that "Laadan is hardly the same as Libni." Gill goes the other way and equates them outright with Libni and Shimhi of Exodus 6:17, on the strength of the parallel. Cambridge states the substitution without adjudicating it. ⚙ Three named authorities, three verdicts, and the Hebrew supplies no article of proof either way. What the verse does establish is that the register begins not with a father but with a clan.

ii. Six houses for Ladan, and a second Shimei — 23:8-9

Verse 8 gives three names under Ladan and verse 9 three more under a Shimei, and then the closing clause of v. 9 files all six "to Ladan." That clause is what forces the commentators' hand. Ellicott: "This Shimei is not the same as the Shimei of 1Chronicles 23:7, whose sub-divisions are not given till 1Chronicles 23:10." Cambridge judges him "probably a descendant of Ladan or a client of his house." Gill reaches for Kimchi to the same end. Pulpit builds the case from three other passages, 1 Chronicles 24:22 and 26:21-26, and then adds the sentence a study Bible should not bury: "It is, of course, possible that the name stands here in error for some other name, but the supposition is gratuitous." ⚙ Note what the sources are doing. None of them has a manuscript variant; all of them are reasoning from the internal arithmetic of the list, which is the only evidence there is. Note too that בְּנֵי here cannot mean what English "sons" means: Poole flatly says these "could not be their immediate sons," and Pulpit reads at least two of the three in v. 8 as grandsons on the evidence of 1 Chronicles 26:22.

iii. Zina, Zizah, and a name that will not hold still — 23:10-11

The same man is זִינָא in v. 10 and זִיזָה in v. 11, one verse apart, and the interlinear gives the two spellings separate Strong's numbers, H2126 and H2125. The brief's commentators divide sharply. Cambridge: "the two words are readily confused in Hebrew writing." Pulpit, directly against him: the "difference of form cannot be accounted for by any mere clerical explanation." Ellicott stands between, calling the name "thus spelt quite differently in two consecutive verses," judging Zizah "probably right," and reporting that the LXX and Vulgate agree while Syriac and Arabic read "Zabda" instead. Gill notes the Septuagint and Vulgate reading too. ⚙ This is a small thing and the honest handling of it is small: the received Hebrew text of Chronicles spells one name two ways within two verses, the ancient versions do not agree on which is right, and no reading here depends on the answer.

iv. Nine houses, and one muster for two of them — 23:7-11

The arithmetic is the point of the passage. Three houses in v. 8 plus three in v. 9 gives six under Ladan; four sons in v. 10 give three houses under Shimei, because הִרְבּוּ is negated of Jeush and Beriah. Nine in all. JFB states it in a line: "They had nine fathers' houses, six descended from Laadan, and three from Shimei." K&D reaches the same total and explains the mechanism, that two houses "had not many sons, were included in one father's-house, one pᵉquddâh, i.e., one official class," citing 1 Chronicles 24:3 and 2 Chronicles 17:14 for the sense. Ellicott sets the nine clans "among the 24,000 Levites of 1Chronicles 23:4." Pulpit turns to the word itself: פְקֻדָּה is "enumeration," and its derived senses run to "care," "custody," and "office." ⚙ So the decision recorded here is administrative and merciful at once: a house too small to carry a rota is not deleted from the register, it is paired, named, and given a turn.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text. Five verses of names are easy to skim, and skimming them misses the only editorial decision the passage actually narrates. Everything up to v. 11a is a list. Then the Chronicler stops listing and explains himself: Jeush and Beriah did not multiply sons, so they became one father's house, for one muster. He did not have to say that. He could have written seven names instead of nine and moved on to Kohath, and no reader would have known that two houses had been thinned. Instead he records the shortfall, keeps both names on the roll, and describes the accommodation made for them. What the register therefore preserves is a house that could not hold its own place and was not therefore lost. That is a fact about the administration of the temple service under David, and the Chronicler, writing to a returned and much reduced community, had reason to keep it. Beyond that this unit will not go. There is no promise here, no oracle, no covenant clause, and inventing significance for Haziel or Haran would be a lie told in a pious voice. The honest yield of a genealogy is small and load-bearing: these people were counted, by name, including the ones who were almost too few to count.

A house too small to stand alone is not struck from the roll; it is given one turn at the door. (This is the tool's own sentence, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Ladan the Gershonite, again over the treasuries verbal / quotation: confirmed

The rare name לַעְדָּן and the clan adjective גֵּרְשֻׁנִּי occur together in only one other place in the canon, 1 Chronicles 26:21, where the Ladanite Gershonites are set over the treasuries of the house of the LORD. Cambridge ties the two verses expressly: "For Laadan (R.V. Ladan) here and in 1 Chronicles 26:21 we have in 1 Chronicles 6:17 and Exodus 6:17 Libni." K&D notes the same recurrence. The Verifier confirms both lexemes shared. This is the same register continued, not an echo.

1 Chronicles 26:21

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H3936 Laʻdân (in 5 vv, rare) and H1649 Gêrᵉshunnîy (in 12 vv), the two occurring together only here and at 26:21; Cambridge and K&D both identify the two passages as the same house, so the shared rare lexeme is not a homonym coincidence

Zetham and Joel over the treasures structural / thematic: confirmed

Zetham is one of the rarest names in Scripture, standing in two verses only: 1 Chronicles 23:8 and 1 Chronicles 26:22, where he appears with Joel. Pulpit uses precisely this pair to argue that the last two names of v. 8 "appear to have been grandsons" rather than sons of Ladan. ⚙ The link is administrative rather than quotational: the same men, or the same houses, turn up doing a named job later in the same book's Levitical survey.

1 Chronicles 26:22

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H2241 Zêthâm (in 2 vv, the two being this verse and 26:22) and H3100 Yôwʼêl (in 19 vv); Pulpit draws the same connection. Tiered structural rather than verbal because the shared lexemes are proper names inside two lists, which is continuity of register, not reuse of wording

Libni or Ladan: a name the parallel lists do not share flagged: verify source

Where this verse has Ladan, Exodus 6:17, Numbers 3:18 and 1 Chronicles 6:17 have Libni in the same slot beside Shimei. The brief's commentators split four ways. Gill: these "are the same with Libni and Shimhi." Ellicott: Ladan is "hardly the same as Libni, but a branch prominent in the time of David." K&D: "Laadan seemingly cannot be regarded as a surname of Libni," and he argues instead for two chief lines. Cambridge reports the difference without ruling. ⚙ No shared lexeme can be adduced, because the disputed point is that the lexemes differ.

Exodus 6:17 · Numbers 3:18 · 1 Chronicles 6:17

basis: No Verifier basis exists and none can: the link rests on two different names standing in the same genealogical slot. Provenance is contested among the named commentators themselves (Gill identifies, Ellicott doubts, K&D denies), so the connection is recorded as disputed rather than confirmed

Jeush: one name, an Edomite and several Israelites flagged: verify source

The Verifier links this unit to Genesis 36:18 and 1 Chronicles 1:35 by the shared lexeme H3266, and to 1 Chronicles 7:10, 8:39 and 2 Chronicles 11:19 as well. But Strong's own gloss on the word is the refutation of the link: Jeush, the name of an Edomite and of four Israelites. The Genesis and 1 Chronicles 1 occurrences are a son of Esau by Oholibamah; the others are a Benjamite, a son of Eshek, and a son of Rehoboam. ⚙ The thread is recorded here to be dismissed, because a reader meeting the shared Strong's number without this note would take it for evidence.

Genesis 36:18 · 1 Chronicles 1:35 · 1 Chronicles 7:10 · 1 Chronicles 8:39 · 2 Chronicles 11:19

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H3266 Yᵉʻûwsh (in 7 vv). The shared lexeme is genuine but the referents are not: Strong's glosses H3266 as the name of an Edomite and of four Israelites, and no source in this brief connects the Gershonite Jeush to any of them. Flagged as a homonym, not a link

The family of Shimei, mourning apart flagged: verify source

Pulpit's whole note on v. 10 opens with a bare cross-reference: "(See Zechariah 12:13.)" That prophecy lists the houses of Israel mourning each apart, and names the family of Shimei among them alongside the house of Levi. ⚙ Whether Zechariah's Shimei is this Gershonite Shimei is exactly the question Pulpit does not answer, and Strong's counts twenty Israelites of the name. The cross-reference is genuine and printed; the identification behind it is not established.

Zechariah 12:13

basis: Provenance is a bare cross-reference in the Pulpit Commentary with no argument attached, and it is absent from the Verifier candidate list, so no computed shared-lexeme basis is recorded. H8096 Shimʻîy is glossed by Strong's as the name of twenty Israelites, which makes the identification of the two bearers unverified

The weaker members and the muster of one structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 11 records an administrative principle: two houses too small to serve alone are not dropped but joined, named, and given one פְקֻדָּה, one turn of official duty. Paul argues a structurally identical case about the body in 1 Corinthians 12:22-24, that the members which seem weaker are necessary and are given the greater honour. ⚙ This is a resemblance of pattern only. No shared wording is claimed, and none could be: one text is Hebrew and the other Greek, and Paul is not citing Chronicles.

1 Chronicles 23:11 · 1 Corinthians 12:22-24

basis: Cross-Testament, Hebrew to Greek, so no shared Strong's number can be adduced and a verbal tier is impossible in principle. The basis is a shared organisational pattern, the weak unit retained and given a place, observed by this tool and not asserted by any source in the brief

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Levitical office as shadow ancient/widely-held

Barnes, the only voice in this brief to look past the names, points the reader to 1 Chronicles 23:28-32 as "the most complete account in Scripture of the nature of the Levitical office." These nine Gershonite houses exist for that office: rotas at the sanctuary, care of its furniture and its courts. ⚙ Hebrews reads the whole apparatus as a copy and shadow of heavenly things, served by a priesthood that had to be renewed because death prevented its members from continuing, and replaced by one who continues forever. The register in front of us is the machinery of that shadow, down to the detail that houses could shrink and had to be merged. That the Levitical system is a shadow fulfilled in Christ is the settled reading of the apostolic church, not a novelty of this study.

Hebrews 8:5 · Hebrews 7:23-25 · Hebrews 9:11-14

Jeush and Beriah, and a kingdom given to a little flock novel

⚙ The only decision this unit narrates is what to do with a house that did not multiply. David's administration answers by pairing the two and giving them one muster: the name stays, the service stays, the scale changes. Ellicott states the reason without sentiment, they "were numerically weak." The Gospels record the same reckoning made about the disciples, a little flock told not to fear because the kingdom is their Father's good pleasure to give, and Paul records that God chose the weak and the things that are not. ⚙ No commentator in this brief makes this connection, and the text of 1 Chronicles 23:11 does not invite it; it is offered as a reading to be tested, not as the meaning of the verse.

1 Chronicles 23:11 · Luke 12:32 · 1 Corinthians 1:27-28

Names kept on a roll novel

⚙ Haziel and Haran are named once in Scripture and never again. Zetham appears twice. The Chronicler's habit, and the habit of the whole canon after him, is to keep names that no longer do anything, and the New Testament carries that habit forward into the book of life, where what is recorded is not achievement but membership. This is a widely made devotional connection rather than an exegesis of these verses, and it is marked as such: nothing in 1 Chronicles 23:7-11 mentions any book but a muster roll.

Luke 10:20 · Revelation 3:5

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Two spellings of one name stand two verses apart: זִינָא Zina (H2126) at v. 10 and זִיזָה Zizah (H2125) at v. 11. Cambridge attributes it to confusion of similar Hebrew letters; Pulpit expressly denies that a clerical explanation suffices; Ellicott prefers Zizah and reports that the LXX and Vulgate agree, while Syriac and Arabic read "Zabda." This study does not adjudicate.

Shimei. The name occurs in vv. 7, 9 and 10 and does not denote one man. Ellicott, Cambridge, Poole and Gill all separate the Shimei of v. 9 from the Shimei of v. 7, on the internal evidence that v. 9 files his sons under Ladan. Poole and Gill then disagree about the Shimei of v. 10, Gill making him Gershon's son and Ladan's brother on Kimchi's authority, Poole suggesting "the son or grandson of that Shimei." Strong's glosses H8096 as the name of twenty Israelites.

Ladan or Libni. The parallel lists at Exodus 6:17, Numbers 3:18 and 1 Chronicles 6:17 read Libni where this verse reads Ladan. Gill identifies them, Ellicott judges the identification unlikely, K&D argues against it and proposes instead that Ladan and Shimei founded two chief lines. There is no manuscript evidence in this brief for any of the three positions.

Sources. Matthew Henry's entry under all five verses is a single blanket note on 1 Chronicles 23:1-23, and Barnes's is a standing pointer to 1 Chronicles 23:28-32; neither comments on these names. The Geneva entries in this brief reproduce the verse text followed by a section heading and contain no exposition, so Geneva is not cited in this unit. Poole has no note at vv. 7 and 9. The K&D entry at vv. 7 and 8 is truncated in the brief with 436 characters unread, so his argument about the Shimei of v. 9 is quoted only as far as the brief carries it.

Transcription. The Pulpit Commentary text quoted here carries printing or scanning corruptions of the name Laadan: "Libui" for Libni at v. 7, and "Landau" for Laadan at vv. 9 and 11. The quotations are reproduced exactly as received, errors included, rather than silently corrected.

What is uncertain. Whether Ladan is Libni; which Shimei is meant in each of the three verses; whether Zina or Zizah is the original spelling; whether the three names of v. 8 are sons or grandsons. The count of nine Gershonite houses is agreed by Ellicott, JFB, K&D and Pulpit alike, and is the one firm result of the unit.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)