In First Chronicles, chapter six, verse one, gives the descendants of Levi, the line of the high priests, down to the captivity and lists the Levitical cities. God had chosen the sons of Levi for spiritual service in the Tabernacle in Numbers three through four and the temple in First Chronicles twenty-three to twenty-six. The chapter points to the importance of true worship according to the instruction of God.
The Descent of the High-priests from Levi and their Line to the Captivity lists the high priests given in First Chronicles six, but verses four through fourteen are incomplete. In the first place, twenty years for each generation mentioned is a space of four hundred and forty years from the Mosaic age to the captivity. The interval must have been probably around seven hundred years.
In the second place, some priests (doubtless high priests) mentioned in the course of history find no place, such as Eli, Ahimelech (son of Ahitub), Abiathar (David’s fellow-exile), Azariah (the contemporary of the leper-king Uzziah), Urijah (the contemporary of king Ahaz), and Azariah as in Second Chronicles thirty-one, verse ten. The object of the list seems to shew the legitimacy of the position of Jehozadak, whose son Jeshua continued the succession after the Return.
The family of Aaron, or the high-priestly line of Aaron, to the time of the Babylonian exile. Still, the connection of Aaron with the patriarch Levi begins with the three sons of Levi, given in the theme verse in First Chronicles six, verse one as in Genesis forty-six, verse eleven, and in Exodus six, verse sixteen, and other passages. Of Levi’s grandchildren, only the four sons of Kohath (First Chronicles six, verse two) are noticed. Amram is the only one whose descendants – Aaron, Moses, and Miriam – are named (First Chronicles six, verse three). Aaron’s sons are introduced so that the enumeration of his family in the high-priestly line of Eleazar might follow. However, Nadab and Abihu were killed when they offered strange fire before Jahve (Leviticus 10:1.), Aaron’s race was continued only by his sons Eleazar and Ithamar. After Aaron’s death, his eldest son Eleazar was chosen by God to be his successor in the high priest’s office, and the line of Eleazar came into possession of the high-priestly dignity.