Courses of the Levites are sometimes mentioned in connection with those of the priests, as if the Levites had an exactly similar organisation.(121) Indeed, twenty-four courses of the singers are expressly named.(122) But on examination we find that “course” for the Levites in all cases where exact information is given(123) does not mean one of a number of divisions which took work in turn, but a division to which a definite piece of work was assigned, _e.g._, the care of the shewbread or of one of the gates. The idea that in ancient times there were twenty-four alternating courses of Levites was not derived from the arrangements of the chronicler’s age, but was an inference from the existence of priestly courses. According to the current interpretation of the older history, there must have been under the monarchy a very great many more Levites than priests, and any reasons that existed for organising twenty-four priestly courses would apply with equal force to the Levites. It is true that the names of twenty-four courses of singers are given, but in this list occurs the remarkable and impossible group of names already discussed:— “_I-have-magnified_, _I-have-exalted-help_; _Sitting-in-distress_, _I-have-spoken_ _In-abundance Visions_”(124) which are in themselves sufficient proof that these twenty-four courses of singers did not exist in the time of the chronicler. Thus the chronicler provides material for a fairly complete account of the service and ministers of the Temple; but his interest in other matters was less close and personal, so that he gives us comparatively little information about civil persons and affairs. The restored Jewish community was, of course, made up of descendants of the members of the old kingdom of Judah. The new Jewish state, like the old, is often spoken of as “Judah”; but its claim to fully represent the chosen people of Jehovah is expressed by the frequent use of the name “Israel.” Yet within this new Judah the old tribes of Judah and Benjamin are still recognised. It is true that in the register of the first company of returning exiles the tribes are ignored, and we are not told which families belonged to Judah or which to Benjamin; but we are previously told that the chiefs of Judah and Benjamin rose up to return to Jerusalem. Part of this register arranges the companies according to the towns in which their ancestors had lived before the Captivity, and of these some belong to Judah and some to Benjamin. We also learn that the Jewish community included certain of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh.(125) There may also have been families from the other tribes; St. Luke, for instance, describes Anna as of the tribe of Asher.(126) But the mass of genealogical matter relating to Judah and Benjamin far exceeds what is given as to the other tribes,(127) and proves that Judah and Benjamin were co-ordinate members of the restored community, and that no other tribe contributed any appreciable contingent,