23 1 So when David was old and full of days, he made his son Solomon king over Israel
David was organized. Even on his death bed he found time to make sure things were set in order.
God told David that Solomon would take his place and David made sure Solomon would be the one to sit on his throne and he anointd Solomon king while he was yet alive but sick.
The Divisions and Duties of the Levites
2 And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. 3 Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and above; and the number of individual males was thirty-eight thousand. 4 Of these, twenty-four thousand were to look after the work of the house of the Lord, six thousand were officers and judges 5 four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand praised the Lord with musical instruments, "which I made," said David, "for giving praise."
David was organized. He counted how many men were available to carry out the assignments to make sure God's house was fully functioning and he used every last one of the men he counted. Everyone was busy.
6 Also David separated them into divisions among the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 7 Of the Gershonites: Laadan and Shimei. 8 The sons of Laadan: the first Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel--three in all. 9 The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran--three in all. These were the heads of the fathers' houses of Laadan. 10 And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the four sons of Shimei. 11 Jahath was the first and Zizah the second. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they were assigned as one father's house. 12 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel--four in all. 13 The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should sanctify the most holy things, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister to Him, and to give the blessing in His name forever. 14 Now the sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi 15 The sons of Moses were Gershon and Eliezer. 16 Of the sons of Gershon, Shebuel was the first. 17 Of the descendants of Eliezer, Rehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. 18 Of the sons of Izhar, Shelomith was the first. 19 Of the sons of Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth 20 Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah was the first and Jesshiah the second. 21 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish 22 And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but only daughters; and their brethren, the sons of Kish, took them as wives. 23 The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth--three in all.
David paid attention not only to the numbers, David further organized the men into groups according to family names. When we are overseers, we must not merely appoint people to a task, but know who they are and what their expertise is. This allows people to know you value who they are and what they can do. Today, we count the people we have on our staff, but we have no idea of their strengths and weaknesses are, and we definitely do not know their names. There is a sense of honor when you call people by their names. Remembering names is also important because people will feel they are important to you if their name is remembered; it makes people feel valued and encourages them to be more comfortable working or speaking with you. ... By using someone's name and remembering it, it shows a greater connection to who that person is.
24 These were the sons of Levi by their fathers' houses--the heads of the fathers' houses as they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of twenty years and above.
25 For David said, "The Lord God of Israel has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever"; 26 and also to the Levites, "They shall no longer carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service." 27 For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; 28 because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God, 29 both with the showbread and the fine flour for the grain offering, with the unleavened cakes and what is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of measures and sizes; 30 to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening; 31 and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the set feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord; 32 and that they should attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the Lord.
David lowers the age of the Levites from 30 to 20. The Levite's permanent position now will be to care for the temple that Solomon will build instead of the portable tabernacle. The age changed because more people will be needed to care for God's house. Every part of God's house and all the people needed to be of service in God's house will be needed. Cooks, porters, judges, singers, musicians, ushers, housekeeping, and everything that is important to man have a position in making sure all people are cared for in every way.
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