God's Arithmetic: The Lineage of Worship Text: 1 Chronicles 6:16-30
Introduction: The Unskippable Pages
We come now to a portion of Holy Scripture that causes many modern Christians to stumble. We are a people who love the soaring heights of Isaiah, the practical wisdom of Proverbs, and the glorious theology of Romans. But when we arrive at the hard-packed earth of the genealogies, our pace slows. Our eyes glaze over. We are tempted to do a little hop, skip, and a jump over to the more "interesting" parts. We treat these chapters like the terms and conditions of a software update; we scroll past them to get to the good stuff, assuming they are just legal necessities with no real bearing on our lives.
But this is a form of functional unbelief. It is to say to God, "I appreciate the parts of Your Word that I find immediately stimulating, but these other parts seem like filler. You could have been a better editor." This is a profoundly arrogant posture for a creature to take before his Creator. Every word of God is pure. Every word is profitable. And these lists of names, these seemingly dry genealogies, are no exception. For the original audience, the remnant of Israel returning from the Babylonian exile, these lists were not boring. They were everything. They were their identity papers. They were their title deeds to the land. They were the tangible, historical proof that God had not abandoned His covenant promises, despite their catastrophic rebellion.
These names are the load-bearing walls of redemptive history. They show us that our faith is not a myth or a philosophy, but is grounded in real history, with real people, in a real place. God is a God of meticulous order, not of hazy, sentimental feelings. He keeps records. He remembers names. And in this particular list, He is laying out the official, authorized lineage of worship. He is showing us the men He set apart to minister before Him, to guard His holiness, and to lead His people in praise. To skip these pages is to skip the foundational grammar of true worship.
The Text
The sons of Levi were Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.
These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.
The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.
And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers’ households.
Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son,
Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son.
The sons of Kohath were Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son,
Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, and Assir his son,
Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son.
The sons of Elkanah were Amasai and Ahimoth.
As for Elkanah, the sons of Elkanah were Zophai his son and Nahath his son,
Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son.
The sons of Samuel were Joel the firstborn, and Abijah the second.
The sons of Merari were Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son,
Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son.
(1 Chronicles 6:16-30 LSB)
The Three Pillars of Worship (vv. 16-21, 29-30)
The passage begins by establishing the three foundational clans of the tribe of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari. These were not just three brothers; they were the heads of three divisions of holy service.
"The sons of Levi were Gershom, Kohath, and Merari... And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers’ households." (1 Chronicles 6:16, 19b)
In the book of Numbers, God assigns each of these families a specific, solemn duty. The Gershonites were responsible for the tabernacle's coverings, curtains, and screens. The Merarites handled the heavy lifting: the frames, pillars, bases, and pegs. And the Kohathites had the most holy charge of all: they carried the Ark of the Covenant, the table of showbread, the lampstand, and the altars. These were not volunteer positions. This was a divine assignment, passed down from father to son.
This tells us something crucial about worship. True worship is orderly. It is structured. It is institutional. God does not leave the details of His service up to our whims and creative impulses. He establishes an order, a liturgy, a people set apart for the task. The modern evangelical impulse to despise structure, to prefer a spontaneous, free-form spirituality, is a rebellion against the very nature of the God who arranges His servants in such a meticulous fashion. He is not the author of confusion, but of peace, and that peace is expressed in a well-ordered house.
The Chronicler lists these long lines of descent to show the continuity of this calling. Through generations, through apostasy, through judgment and exile, God preserved the line of His ministers. This is not a list of names; it is a testimony to God's covenant faithfulness. He promised Levi a place of service, and here is the record of that promise kept.
The Central Line and Its Blemishes (vv. 22-28)
The Chronicler then focuses his attention on the central and most prominent line, that of Kohath. This is the line that produced Moses and Aaron, and thus the high priesthood. But the list contains some jarring names, names that should catch our breath.
"The sons of Kohath were Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son..." (1 Chronicles 6:22 LSB)
Korah. That name rings like a cracked bell. This is the Korah who, in Numbers 16, led a wicked rebellion against Moses and Aaron. He was a Levite who was not content with his station. He coveted the priesthood for himself and gathered 250 chieftains to challenge God's appointed authority. For this, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed him and his conspirators whole. It was a terrifying judgment against presumption and envy.
And yet, here is his name, right in the official lineage. And not only his name, but the line continues through him. We know from Numbers 26:11 that "the sons of Korah did not die." God, in His inscrutable mercy, preserved the line of this great rebel. And not only did He preserve them, He redeemed them. The "sons of Korah" went on to become faithful temple musicians and gatekeepers, and they penned some of the most beautiful psalms in the psalter, including Psalm 42, 46, and 84. This is a stunning display of grace. God does not hold the son liable for the father's iniquity forever. He can take a polluted stream and make it run pure again. He is in the business of redeeming rebellious houses.
The line of Kohath continues, and it builds to a climax in verse 28.
"The sons of Samuel were Joel the firstborn, and Abijah the second." (1 Chronicles 6:28 LSB)
After this long list of names, we arrive at Samuel, the great prophet and judge, the man who bridged the era of the judges and the kings. This genealogy establishes his legitimacy. He was not a freelancer; he was a Kohathite Levite, a man from the proper stock, called by God to his office. But no sooner do we arrive at this peak than we are confronted with the valley that follows. The text names his sons, Joel and Abijah. And anyone who knows the history of Israel knows what comes next. 1 Samuel 8 tells us plainly: "Yet his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice."
Their corruption was the direct catalyst for Israel's sinful demand for a king. Here is the persistent tragedy of the Old Covenant. Even a man as godly as Samuel could not guarantee the faithfulness of his own children. The covenant promise was tied to a physical lineage, and that lineage was constantly being corrupted by sin. The chain of succession was always one generation away from snapping. Righteousness is not hereditary. This systemic failure, written right into the official records, cries out for a better system, a better covenant, and a better priest.
The Unbreakable Priesthood
Why does God preserve these records of failure alongside the records of faithfulness? He does it to show us the profound inadequacy of the Levitical system. It was a placeholder. It was a shadow pointing forward to the substance that was to come. The entire structure, based on physical descent, was flawed because it was entrusted to sinful men.
The rebellion of Korah and the corruption of Samuel's sons show us that a holy office does not make a man holy. A godly father does not guarantee a godly son. The system had a built-in obsolescence. It was designed to make us long for a priest who would not fail, whose sons would not be corrupt, and whose line would be unbroken by sin and death.
And that is precisely what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews argues this very point. Jesus is our Great High Priest, but He is not from the tribe of Levi. He is from Judah. His priesthood is not based on a genealogical chart, but on the power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 7:16). He is a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
Korah tried to seize a priesthood that was not his. Christ was given a priesthood that was eternally His. Samuel's sons corrupted their office for money. Christ, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, purchasing our redemption not with silver or gold, but with His own precious blood. The Levitical line was a chain of fathers and sons, always vulnerable to sin. Christ's priesthood is singular and perfect, and it never ends. He "always lives to make intercession" for us (Hebrews 7:25).
Because of His perfect work, we who are in Him are made part of a new "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). Our standing before God is not based on our family tree, but on our union with Christ. Our names are not recorded in the temple archives in Jerusalem, but in the Lamb's Book of Life in heaven. That is the only genealogy that ultimately matters.
So we do not despise these lists. We read them, and we thank God for them. We thank God for His faithfulness in preserving a line of worship, however flawed. We thank Him for the grace that redeemed the sons of Korah. And we thank Him for the failures that teach us to run to the only Priest who never fails, the Lord Jesus, whose lineage is from everlasting and whose ministry is perfect forever.