📖WEB · 1 Chronicles 26:13
What does 1 Chronicles 26:13 mean?
"They cast lots, the small as well as the great, according to their fathers’ houses, for every gate."
— 1 Chronicles 26:13 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons: Shimri the chief (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him chief),
Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, and Zechariah the fourth: all the sons and brothers of Hosah were thirteen.
Of these were the divisions of the doorkeepers, even of the chief men, having offices like their brothers, to minister in Yahweh’s house.
They cast lots, the small as well as the great, according to their fathers’ houses, for every gate.
The lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a wise counselor, they cast lots; and his lot came out northward.
To Obed-Edom southward; and to his sons the storehouse.
To Shuppim and Hosah westward, by the gate of Shallecheth, at the causeway that goes up, watchman opposite watchman.
Explanation
First Chronicles 26:13 describes a simple administrative moment: the Levite families responsible for guarding the temple gates cast lots to determine which family would be responsible for which gate. The verse specifically notes that this was done "the small as well as the great," meaning that no family, whether prominent or obscure, was given special treatment or exemption from the process. Every household, regardless of size or status, was included in the same fair method of assignment.
The context is King David's final preparations for the temple that his son Solomon would build. Though David himself would not construct the temple, he spent considerable effort organizing the priests, Levites, musicians, treasurers, and gatekeepers so that everything would run in an orderly way once the temple was completed. First Chronicles 26 specifically lists the gatekeepers, descendants of Korah and Merari, and details how their responsibilities were divided among the temple's various entrances — north, south, east, west, and the storehouse. Casting lots, a practice found throughout Scripture, was a way of allowing God to determine an outcome without relying on human favoritism, since it was believed that God guided the result even though the mechanism itself was left to chance.
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