_whom David ... did ordain_] The Chronicler attributes to David the organisation of the priests (xxiv. 3), of the Levites (xxiii. 27; xxiv. 31), of the singers (xxv. 1 ff.), and of the doorkeepers (in this passage). It has been thought that this verse is at variance with verses 18, 19, where the Mosaic origin of the gatekeepers seems to be implied. But in answer it may be said that the Chronicler is guilty of no inconsistency in ascribing the _origin_ of the doorkeepers to the Mosaic period and saying here that David and Samuel “ordained them in their set office,” for the phrase refers, not to their origin, but to their _organisation_. For another suggestion see below on verse 26. _Samuel_] The association of Samuel with the organisation of the sanctuary is confined to this passage, and is a significant illustration of the working of late Jewish thought, which was little concerned with historic probability and much with edification. The tradition has probably arisen from the remark in 1 Samuel iii. 15, that Samuel “opened the doors of the house of the Lord.” As Samuel died before the reign of David, the Chronicler doubtless does not intend to represent him as contemporary with David in the organisation of the Temple, but probably supposes that Samuel’s work was done in connection with the tent, which according to the Chronicler was located in Gibeon (2 Chronicles i. 3). _the seer_] For the title, xxvi. 28, xxix. 29; 1 Samuel ix. 9; and compare 2 Chronicles xvi. 7. _in their set office_] or _in their trust_; i.e. in their responsible positions. ²³So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of the house of the LORD, even the house of the tabernacle¹, by wards. ¹ Hebrew _Tent_. =23.= _the house of the tabernacle_] margin _Tent_. The phrase designates the period before the building of the Temple. ²⁴On¹ the four sides were the porters, toward the east, west, north, and south. ¹ Hebrew _Towards the four winds_. =24.= _On the four sides_] Fuller details are given in xxvi. 14‒18. ²⁵And their brethren, in their villages, were to come in every seven days from time to time to be with them: =25.= _in their villages_] No special villages inhabited by porters are mentioned, but perhaps porters as well as singers dwelt in the “villages of the Netophathites” (verse 16; Nehemiah xii. 28, Revised Version). ²⁶for the four chief porters, who were Levites, were in a set office, and were over the chambers and over the treasuries in the house of God. ²⁷And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge _thereof_ was upon them, and to them pertained the opening thereof morning by morning.