They organized them by lot, all alike: The pronoun They refers to David and the two priests, Zadok and Ahimelech, mentioned in verse 3. Revised English Bible uses the singular pronoun “He,” presumably referring to David. But this is not recommended. Organized is literally “divided” as in verses 3-4. They organized the descendants of Eleazar and Ithamar by dividing them into groups to determine the order of their times of service (see the comments on 1 Chr 24.3). They did it by lot. In verse 31 the writer speaks more specifically of the fact that they “cast lots.” The Hebrew word for lot is related to a word for “stone” or “stony ground.” The exact method for casting lots is not known, but possibly a number of objects made of stone or some other material were placed in some kind of container. Each object would have been marked as distinctive in some way so that when one was withdrawn from the container it would represent a particular family group. Or, more likely, the objects were thrown and then interpreted on the basis of how they fell. This was a method of determining the will of God. In this case the lots determined how the work in the Temple would be organized. All alike is literally “these with these.” This phrase is rendered “both on an equal footing” in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and “impartially” in New International Version. For this whole clause New American Bible has “Their functions were assigned impartially by lot.”
For there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar: This clause explains why David did not decide the order of service himself but why it was done by lots. Since both families had officers of the sanctuary and officers of God, neither family had an advantage over the other family. The precise meaning of and distinction between officers of the sanctuary and officers of God are not clear. In fact, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible states the following in a footnote: “One does not really know the significance of these expressions.” In a similar footnote Bible en français courant says “One does not know the exact meaning of the two expressions consecrated princes and princes of God. They denote the existence of rivalries between the two clans, rivalries that they attempted to overcome.” Several interpretations are possible:
• (1) Some interpreters suggest that the two expressions are probably synonymous here and that and should be translated “even” with the sense, “officers of the sanctuary, even officers of God”; for example, Berkeley translates this whole clause as “for high officers of the sanctuary, God’s high officers, had come from the descendants both of Eleazar and of Ithamar.” Translators may choose to paraphrase here by giving a single rendering for these two expressions rather than giving a literal translation, since a literal translation will probably have little meaning. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provide two models by which this may be done. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente translates “because there were people with high religious duties, among both the descendants of Eleazar and those of Ithamar.” Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente then explains in a footnote that this translation “seems to be the sense of the two Hebrew expressions princes of the sanctuary and princes of God, although it is not known what the exact meaning of these two titles is.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “for the leading priests of both groups, the descendants of Eleazar and the descendants of Ithamar, had equal rights as officers for worship in the sanctuary of God.”
• (2) Others suggest that officers of God describes officers of the sanctuary, meaning “outstanding leaders.” They take of God as having a superlative sense.
• (3) But nearly all translations take these expressions as two separate titles. The Hebrew word translated officers refers to a leader of a group. And the context usually indicates whether it is a military, civil, or religious group.
The Hebrew word translated sanctuary is literally “holy.” There are two ways of understanding the relationship of “holy” to the word officers.
• (1) Since this Hebrew word has no definite article, it most likely is an adjective modifying officers. Translations following this interpretation include “consecrated princes” (Bible en français courant), “sacred officers” (Revised English Bible), and “religious officials” (New Jerusalem Bible).
• (2) But it is also possible to understand the word “holy” as referring to the Temple. Translations following this second interpretation include “officers of the holy place” (New American Bible), “officials of the sanctuary” (New International Version), “Temple officials” (Good News Translation), and “sanctuary officers” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).
Some interpreters have understood officers of God to mean “having a godly character.” If the preceding phrase is translated “sacred officers,” then officers of God is similar in meaning. But if the correct translation of the preceding phrase is officers of the sanctuary, then this expression is more likely a title of some kind. Other translations include “princes of God” (Bible en français courant), “officers of the divine presence” (New American Bible), “officials of God” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible), “officers of God” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and “spiritual leaders” (Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje).
The precise sense of the Hebrew here is uncertain, but New Living Translation provides a helpful model for this verse, saying “All tasks were assigned to the various groups by means of sacred lots so that no preference would be shown, for there were many qualified officials serving God in the sanctuary from among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .