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1Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel. 2He gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. 3The Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. 4David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of Yahweh’s house, six thousand were officers and judges, 5four thousand were doorkeepers, and four thousand praised Yahweh with the instruments which I made for giving praise.”

6David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

7Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. 8The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, Zetham, and Joel, three. 9The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ households of Ladan. 10The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. 11Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah didn’t have many sons; therefore they became a fathers’ house in one reckoning.

12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. 13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before Yahweh, to minister to him, and to bless in his name forever. 14But as for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi. 15The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 16The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. 17The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. 18The son of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. 19The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 20The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief, and Isshiah the second.

21The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. 22Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters only; and their relatives, the sons of Kish, took them as wives. 23The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

24These were the sons of Levi after their fathers’ houses, even the heads of the fathers’ houses of those who were counted individually, in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of Yahweh’s house, from twenty years old and upward. 25For David said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. 26Also the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service.” 27For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were counted, from twenty years old and upward. 28For their duty was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of Yahweh’s house—in the courts, in the rooms, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of God’s house; 29for the show bread also, and for the fine flour for a meal offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all measurements of quantity and size; 30and to stand every morning to thank and praise Yahweh, and likewise in the evening; 31and to offer all burnt offerings to Yahweh on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before Yahweh; 32and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers for the service of Yahweh’s house.

Place

Hebron

Type
City
Location
31.524, 35.109
 Site Study | Brian Kvasnica

Beyond the important connections between Abraham, the other patriarchs, and the matriarchs centered around the Machpelah Cave (see above at Gen 23:3), Hebron continued to be a central city in Biblical history, earning the place of one of the four most sacred cities in Jewish tradition. Hebron was a city of refuge and a Levitical city (Josh 21:11-13 and 1 Chr 6:55-57)  as well as the place where David first centered his reign: at the pool (traditionally connected with Birket es-Sultan), David executed the two sons of Rimmon who had murdered Saul’s son Ishboshet (2 Sam 4:12); and  where David was crowned king (2 Sam 2:3-4; 5:5)  and reigned for 7 ½ years where six sons were born to him before conquering Jerusalem where he had 13 more sons.  Even after the Exile in the sixth century BC, Jews returned to Hebron (Neh 11:25) probably living alongside Edomites.  In the second-century BC Simon Maccabeus took Hebron from the Edomites (1 Macc 5:65; Josephus, Antiquities, XII, viii, 6) and in the Great revolt of AD 70, first Simon bar-Gioras captured the city (Josephus, War, IV, ix, 7), and then Vespasian’s general Cerealis conquered it, slaughtering its inhabitants and burning it (War IV, ix, 9).

Copyright © 2026 Brian Kvasnica. All rights reserved.

Hebron in the Land of Canaan

 Site Study | Brian Kvasnica | Hebron

23:2 Hebron was first built as a Canaanite city seven years prior to Zoan (Greek Tanis) in Egypt (Num 13:22) and is located 3,040 ft. above sea-level in the southern tribal allotment of Judah.  The city is also called Kiriath-Arba (Gen 23:2, etc.) possibly after a forefather of the Anakim (Josh 14:15; 15:13), or as of the four cities, thus “City-of-Four” (Hebrew arba, “four”; see Josh 15:54; 2 Sam 2:3; Neh 11:25). Here Abram’s name was changed to Abraham (Gen 17:5) and here (in conjunction with Mamre), came the three angels with the promise of a son (18:1 ff.).  At Hebron, Isaac and Jacob often lived (35:27; 37:14).  From Hebron Jacob sent Joseph to seek his brothers (37:14).  There also Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt (46:1).  Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah from Ephron in order to bury Sarah (Genesis 23), and Abraham himself was buried there (Gen 25:9-10), as was Isaac (Gen 35:27-29), and all the patriarchs and their wives except Rachel (49:30ff; 50:13).  Today the site is known as Tel Hebron or Jebel Rumeidah and is inhabited by a few dozen Jewish families after excavations were carried out by P.C. Hammond in the 1960’s but not published and in the 1980’s by A. Ofer as well as M. Anbar and N. Na’aman.  More recently Emanuel Eisenberg excavated the north side of the tell and Jeffrey Chadwick is beginning to write up Hammond’s report.  In Arabic today, the town is known as el Khalil ("the friend” of God), a favorite name for Abraham, as seen also in James 2:23.  The gigantic edifice built by Herod the Great still stands and is a place for many pilgrimages even today.  For later Biblical and post-biblical connections see further site study on Hebron at 1 Chr 3:1.

Copyright © 2026 Brian Kvasnica. All rights reserved.
Person & place data: Theographic Bible Metadata by Robert Rouse (Viz.Bible), CC BY-SA 4.0.