Day 116. 1 Chronicles 6-7

More names. . . . .
But among them are names that we recognize—the three heroes of the Exodus, Moses, Aaron, and the prophetess Miriam (6:3). It is a measure of her great importance to find Miriam's name listed, since women are seldom mentioned in these genealogies, except as the consorts of kings. In the Book of Chronicles, only the descendents of Aaron are designated as priests—all other members of the tribe of Levi are Levites, who served the tabernacle and later the temple in lesser capacities. Among those were some who served as temple musicians, "whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD, after the ark came to rest there" (6:31)--in other words, after the tabernacle was brought to Jerusalem. When Solomon builds the temple these musicians "performed their service in due order" there (6:32). We will have more to say about ancient Israelite worship later.
After the priest Abiathar supports Adonijah rather than Solomon, he was deposed and Zadok put in his place (6:8), returning the priesthood to the line of Phinehas, whom God had promised would always be priests (see Numbers 25:1-13).
In Deuteronomy 10:9 the priests are not given territory in the Promised Land—the LORD is their birthright. Instead they receive towns to live in and pasturelands surrounding them to support their flocks and herds. This is the way in which God chooses to provide for those who conduct and provide for his worship. Each tribe had some these Levitical settlements within its territory, and they are designated and reaffirmed in 6:54-81.
In chapter 7 we return to genealogies of the various tribes and clans. More names. A word of clarification here--the Land of Promise was divided into 12 parts—a holy number denoting completeness—and each part apportioned to the descendents of one of the sons of Jacob. Because the tribe of Levi received no territory, the descendents of the two sons of Joseph—Manasseh and Ephraim—are designated territories in their own right. Thus the holy number 12 is preserved.
These genealogies are not always terribly interesting to us in themselves—something of an understatement—but they contain tidbits of interesting information about Israel in this long-ago time. Apparently members of the clan of Ephraim were not above doing some cattle rustling—7:21--and even then they met with the fate appropriate to cattle rustlers in every time.