The Temple Service System

After David established Solomon as king, he gathered all the leaders of Israel, along with the priests and Levites. The Levites who were thirty years old and above were counted, and their total number of males was thirty-eight thousand. This was the total count of the Levites. David only counted the Levites with the purpose of arranging the Temple service and dividing the Levites into twenty-four divisions or courses.

At this time, the form of Levite service changed. Their former duty of “carrying the tabernacle” in the wilderness had ended. From then on, they were to assist the priests in the sanctuary with “the work of the house of God” and to “serve the sons of Aaron” as assistants to the priests.

In David’s time, there were ten chiefs from the Gershonite Levites, nine chiefs from the Kohathite Levites (excluding the sons of Aaron who served as priests), and five chiefs from the Merarite Levites. In the wilderness, Levites began their internship at twenty-five years old (Numbers 8:24-25) and commenced full service at thirty (Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 43, 47). However, after the Temple was built, it could accommodate more sacrifices, thus requiring more Levites to participate in service. David lowered the age for beginning service to twenty. Perhaps the period from twenty to thirty was an internship phase.

1、David’s Arrangement for the Temple Choir: David also, according to God’s heart, “set apart” from the Levites “the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun” to be solely responsible for musical worship. “The sons of Asaph” were responsible for singing, “the sons of Jeduthun” for singing and playing lyres, and “the sons of Heman” for singing and various musical instruments. The twenty-four sons of the three main choir leaders became the leaders of the twenty-four divisions, serving in rotation to match the twenty-four divisions of priests. Each division might have had twelve “instructors,” indicating an orderly arrangement.

2、David’s Arrangement for Temple Gatekeepers: The Levites appointed as gatekeepers came from the sons of Korah (of the Kohathite clan) and the sons of Hosah (of the Merarite clan). There were a total of four thousand of them, filling twenty-four posts.

3、David’s Arrangement for Treasury Management: Those responsible for the Temple treasuries came from the Gershonite and Kohathite Levites. The Temple treasury, holding items for the Temple, was managed by the sons of Jehieli from the Gershonites; the treasury for dedicated holy objects was managed by Shelomith, a descendant of Moses from the Kohathites.

4、David’s Arrangement for Levites Managing Affairs Outside the Temple: The “Izharites” and “Hebronites” were both Kohathite Levites. There were a total of six thousand Levites who served as “officials and judges,” all from the Kohathite clan.

The service arrangements David made for the Levites might seem entirely unspiritual—either guarding gates or managing treasuries, collecting taxes, or handling lawsuits. However, in “a kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), the Master of the work is God. Whether it was offering sacrifices at the altar, teaching from the pulpit, managing the storerooms, or guarding the Temple gates, all was done for God, with no distinction between sacred and secular, or high and low.

The Temple service described in 1 Chronicles chapters 23 to 26 never considered human interest or ability but was based solely on God’s divine calling. This is because service originates from God, not from human initiative. If our service comes from ourselves, even with zeal, ability, and experience, the result will only be self-glorification. But if our service comes from God, He will strengthen the weak, grant grace to the incapable, increase the faith of the timid, and help the failed. In this way, when we accomplish impossible tasks, we will genuinely confess that it is God’s power made perfect in our weakness, thus truly giving glory to God.