What Does 1 Chronicles 15:18 Mean in the King James?
And with them their brethren of the second degree, Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the porters.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The gatekeepers are named among the brethren, so guarding the threshold belongs inside the shared work.
THE MEANING
A shared work holds distinct ranks and tasks within one company. Here, named gatekeepers stand among the brethren: tending the threshold is part of the gathering’s work. The list gives each person and function a place in the whole.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that only the visible work belongs to the whole: even the people who tend the threshold are named among the company.
THE ROOT
שֹׁעֲרִים
shoʿarim
GROWS FROM
שׁער
š-ʿ-r
Gate, entrance, threshold.
“porters” in this verse is shoʿarim. The Hebrew names these people as gatekeepers, tying their work to the gate itself, the place where passage occurs. The verse places them among the named brethren, so tending the threshold belongs within the company’s ordered service.
ALSO GROWS
shaʿar: Gate or entrance.
שַׁעַר
This is the threshold the gatekeepers tend.
shoʿer: A person who guards a gate.
שׁוֹעֵר
This singular form names the function assigned to the listed group.
עֹבֵד אֱדוֹם
ʿOvêd-ʾEdom
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
Serve, work.
The first part of Obed-edom’s name, Obed, shares the root עבד (ʿ-b-d), meaning “serve.” That service-language sits beside the word “porters”: tending the threshold is one form of service within this list.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavad: To serve or work.
עָבַד
This verbal form carries the root present in the name’s first element.
ʿeved: A servant.
עֶבֶד
This noun shows the same service-root as a person’s role.
הַמִּשְׁנִים
hammišnîm
GROWS FROM
שׁנה
š-n-h
Repeat, do again; make a second.
“second degree” in this verse is hammišnîm. The designation comes from the language of a second or repeated order. Yet the text still calls this group “their brethren”: distinction of rank does not cancel belonging.
ALSO GROWS
mishneh: A second or duplicate part.
מִשְׁנֶה
It shares the sense of a further order or layer.
sheni: Second in sequence.
שֵׁנִי
The ordinal keeps their place distinct while the verse still names them brethren.
THE PATTERN
A shared sacred work has distinct roles, each held within the whole.
And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was for song: he instructed about the song, because he was skilful.For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.THE THREAD
And the porters were, Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brethren: Shallum was the chief;Both verses use שֹׁעֲרִים (shoʿarim, “gatekeepers”) for the porters. The repeated word opens the list outward: gatekeeping is a recognized service carried by named brethren, not an unnamed edge.
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