over which Shebuel was prince to the sums flowing into the temple treasures from the regular assessment; for the reference to 2Ki 12:19 and 2Ki 12:5 is no proof of this, because, though two kinds of קדשׁים are there distinguished, yet both are further defined. The quite general expression האצרות, the treasures, can naturally be referred only to the two different kinds of treasures distinguished in 1Ch 26:22. This reference is also demanded by the words נגיד...שׁבוּאל (1Ch 26:24). Heads of fathers'-houses, with their brethren (אהיהם), are mentioned as guardians of the two kinds of treasures spoken of in 1Ch 26:20; while here, on the contrary, we have Shebuel alone, without assistants. Further, the other guardians are not called נגיד, as Shebuel is. The word נגיד denotes not an overseer or steward, but only princes of kingdoms (kings), princes of tribes (1Ch 12:27; 1Ch 13:1; 1Ch 27:16; 2Ch 32:21), ministers of the palace and the temple, and commanders-in-chief (2Ch 11:11; 2Ch 28:7), and is consequently used in our section neither of Zetham and Joel, nor of Shelomoth. The calling of Shebuel נגיד consequently shows that he was the chief guardian of the sacred treasures, under whose oversight the guardians of the two different kinds of treasures were placed. This is stated in 1Ch 26:23, 1Ch 26:24; and the statement would not have been misunderstood if it had been placed at the beginning or the end of the enumeration; and its position in the middle between the Gershonites and the Kohathites is explained by the fact that this prince was, according to 1Ch 23:16, the head of the four Levite families descended from Kohath.
Verse 29
1Ch 26:29The officials for the external business. - 1Ch 26:29. “As to the Izharites, Chenaniah (see on 1Ch 15:22) with his sons was for the outward business over Israel for scribes and judges.” According to this, the external business of the Levites consisted of service as scribes and judges, for which David had set apart 6000 Levites (1Ch 23:4). Without sufficient reason, Bertheau would refer the external business to the exaction of the dues for the temple, because in Neh 11:16 ההיצנה המּלאכה for the temple is spoken of. But it does not at all follow that in our verse the external work had any reference to the temple, and that the scribes and judges had only this narrow sphere of action, since here, instead of the house of God, ישׂראל על is mentioned as the object with which the external service was connected.
Verse 30
Of Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brethren, 1700 valiant men,
