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Context No. 1044 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

1 Chronicles 15:16-24: in context

16David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers with instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up their voices with joy. 17So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; 18and with them their brothers of the second rank: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers. 19So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were given cymbals of bronze to sound aloud; 20and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with stringed instruments set to Alamoth; 21and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps tuned to the eight-stringed lyre, to lead. 22Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the singing. He taught the singers, because he was skillful. 23Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. 24Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before God’s ark; and Obed-Edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark.

David is bringing the ark to Jerusalem, and he arranges the music carefully. He tells the chief Levites to appoint their brothers as singers and players, on harps, lyres, and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. Names are listed, singers, instrumentalists at different pitches, doorkeepers for the ark, trumpet-blowing priests. And one man is singled out for a particular reason: Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was put in charge of the singing; he directed it because he was skillful.

The little phrase about Chenaniah, he was put in charge of the singing because he was skillful, says something easy to miss about worship. This was no casual, thrown-together noise; David assigned trained singers, players tuned to different pitches, and a skilled director over the whole thing, because bringing the ark of God deserved music done well. Skill is treated here as a qualification for leading worship, and it is honored, Chenaniah leads because he is good at it. At the same time, the passage carefully names a whole range of roles, singers, harpists, cymbal-players, trumpeters, and doorkeepers, so that alongside the skilled director stand the ones who simply guard the door. The music is excellent and the labor is shared; a gifted leader is put in his place, and the humble gatekeepers are named right alongside him. God's worship calls for both, the honing of real skill offered to him, and a body of many roles where the doorkeeper and the director both have their appointed place. Excellence and humility are not at odds; here they stand in the same procession.

Am I offering God my actual skill, honed and given well, and can I honor both the gifted and the doorkeeper, taking my own appointed place in the procession without envy?

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