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Context No. 189 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

1 Chronicles 23:12-20: in context

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 the LORD, 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.

David is old and organizing the Levites for temple service. This passage is the register of the Kohathites, and it contains one of the quietest facts in the Bible.

Amram's sons were Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to consecrate the most holy things, he and his sons forever, to burn incense, to minister, and to bless in God's name forever. Then verse fourteen: but as for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi. That is the whole entry. Gershom and Eliezer are listed as ordinary Levites, and Eliezer's line is noted as having only one son, though his descendants were many.

Aaron's family gets the priesthood in perpetuity. Moses, who spoke with God face to face, who brought the people out of Egypt, whose name the whole law carries, has descendants filed among the general Levite population with no office attached. He founded nothing for his own children. There is no record that he asked to. The man who could have had a dynasty and did not is a footnote in someone else's genealogy. What am I quietly assuming should pass to my own people because of what I did?

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