Those Who Could Not Prove Their Fathers
59 These were those who went up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers’ houses and their offspring, whether they were of Israel: 60 the children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty-two. 61 Of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, and the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. 62 These sought their place among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore they were deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood. 63 The governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to serve with Urim and with Thummim. 64 The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, 65 in addition to their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred singing men and singing women. 66 Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five; 67 their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty. 68 Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they came to Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for God’s house to set it up in its place. 69 They gave according to their ability into the treasury of the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments. 70 So the priests and the Levites, with some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants, lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.
Six hundred fifty-two people had no papers, and the ruling on the priests among them postpones the question rather than closing it.
These were those who went up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers' houses and their offspring, whether they were of Israel.
Six hundred fifty-two people are counted in this category. They made the journey. They are in the register. What they lack is documentation, and the register records the lack alongside their names rather than omitting them.
Then a harder case. Among them were priestly families, including the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name — a house that had taken its identity from a marriage, and could no longer produce its own line.
The outcome is stated flatly: these sought their place among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore they were deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood.
The reason is not misconduct. Nothing is alleged against them, and the verse does not say they were not priests — it says the record was not found. A priesthood that handled the holy things on behalf of everyone else could not be staffed on an unverifiable claim, and the cost of that principle falls here on men who may well have been entitled.
And the ruling in verse 63 is more careful than it first appears. The governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to serve with Urim and with Thummim.
That is a deferral, not a verdict. The question is left open pending a means of settling it that nobody present possessed — and since no such priest is recorded in the book, the postponement stood. They keep their place in the community and their names in the register; only the holiest portions are withheld, and the withholding is provisional.
The chapter then closes with totals — the whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty — servants, animals counted to the last donkey, a treasury gift according to their ability, and the plainest possible ending: all Israel in their cities.
settled What this mark means