(8) And they cast lots, ward against ward.--Rather, And they cast lots of charge, that is, for determining the order in which each of the twenty-four guilds, or classes, should take charge of the services. (Comp, the LXX., ??????? ?????????, "lots of courses;" and see Luke 1:6.) Some Hebrew MSS. and the Targum repeat the word "ward" (mishmereth, "charge"), whence the reading of the Authorised Version. The ancient versions omit the word altogether.

As well the small as the great.--Heb., exactly as the small (or, the younger), so the great (or, the elder). (Comp. the Vulg., "ex aequo tam major quam minor.") But perhaps leummath is here used absolutely: "They cast lots in like manner" (1Chronicles 24:31). The senior houses, or guilds, had no advantage over the juniors, the order of rotation being decided by lot. (Comp. 1Chronicles 24:31.)

The teacher as the scholar.--Literally, cunning (1Chronicles 25:7) with learner. According to 1Chronicles 23:5, the whole number of Levites appointed for the service of song was 4,000. These were all included in the twenty-four classes, 288 of them being "cunning" men, that is, masters in their art, and the remaining 3,712 forming the rank and file of the choirs under the training of the proficients. The Aramaic word talmid (scholar) occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. It is the term used of the disciples of the Rabbis in the Talmud, and is the exact equivalent of the New Testament word, ???????.

Verse 8. - This verse should be translated, And they cast lots of attendance, small and great equally, teacher with scholar. The Septuagint translates גורָלות מִשִׁמֶרֶת by the words κλήρους ἐφημεριῶν.

25:1-31 The singers and musicians. - David put those in order who were appointed to be singers and musicians in the temple. To prophesy, in this place, means praising God with great earnestness and devout affections, under the influences of the Holy Spirit. In raising these affections, poetry and music were employed. If the Spirit of God do not put life and fervour into our devotions, they will, however ordered, be a lifeless, worthless form.And they cast lots, ward against ward,.... That is, which ward or course of the singers should answer to and attend on the first ward or course of the priests in their weekly service, and which the second, and so on:

as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar; no regard was had to the age of a person, his being the firstborn or a younger brother, or to his office and station, whether as a teacher or a learner in the science of singing; he was made the head of a course, as the lot came up; and it may easily be observed, by comparing the lots in the following verses with the sons of the chief singers, according to the order of them in 1 Chronicles 25:2 that the younger are often preferred in the courses by lot to the elder, of which even the first lot is an instance.