Matthew Henry on 1 Chronicles 26:1-19
Observe, I. There were porters appointed to attend the temple, who guarded all the avenues that let to it, opened and shut all the outer gates and attended at them, not only for the state, but for service, to direct and instruct those who were going to worship in the courts of the sanctuary in the decorum they were to observe, to encourage those that were timorous, to send back the strangers and unclean, and to guard against thieves and others that were enemies to the house of God. In allusion to this office, ministers are said to have the keys to the kingdom of heaven committed to them (Mat 16:19), that they may admit, and exclude, according to the law of Christ.
II. Of several of those tha…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Chronicles 26:13
THE GATES ASSIGNED BY LOT. (Ch1 26:13-19)
they cast lots--Their departments of duty, such as the gates they should attend to, were allotted in the same manner as those of the other Levitical bodies, and the names of the chiefs or captains are given, with the respective gates assigned them.
Adam Clarke on 1 Chronicles 26:13
They cast lots - for every gate - None of these captains or their companies were permitted to choose which gate they would guard, but each took his appointment by lot.
John Gill on 1 Chronicles 26:13
And they cast lots,.... To determine at which gate each should stand, who at this gate, and who at the other, &c.
as well the small as the great, according to the house of their fathers, for every gate; meaning, not little ones and grown persons in a family, but the smaller and poorer families, and the larger and richer ones, had their places assigned them at the several gates, as the lot directed; they did not go according to the dignity and precedence of their families, but according to lot.
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Chronicles 26:13
