The singers the children of Asaph, a hundred and twenty-eight.
The list of returning exiles pauses here to count one family of singers. The 128 sons of Asaph stand between the Levites and the gatekeepers. Why does God bother to record a choir by name, and why are there more singers than Levites?
One commentator sees the survival of this list as evidence of God's pleasure in a small response.
The first thing to notice is that this record exists at all. It shows how precious to God was the response His grace had produced in the hearts of His people. They may have entered only weakly into His thoughts about His house. For this reason He has kept this list. It is evidence that He sees with joy the smallest fruits of His Spirit's work. It also shows that the very names of His people are known and announced. This encourages everyone to walk in His ways, to stand with His interests, and to stay faithful in times of corruption and falling away.
The verse lists the singers on their own, but they belonged to the Levites. Adding them back changes the small figure of 74 in the verse before.
The children of Asaph, and the children of the gatekeepers (Ezra 2:41-42), were also Levites. Altogether, then, they numbered 341. But only these 74 were available for this special work.
The exiles had come from a place where they could not sing. That background gives the count of singers its weight.
Only seventy-four Levites returned. This was a very small number. There were more singers than Levites. The children of Asaph, that sweet and blessed singer in Israel, were 128. No doubt they encouraged the returning exiles in song, by the spirit of praise and worship. The Babylon experience, so beautifully expressed in Psalm 137, was past. "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres... How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?" All was changed now. God was working. Deliverance had come, and singing was no doubt heard again among the returning crowds.
Another passage says what the singers actually did. David put them over the song in the Lord's house, and their praise points forward.
We can learn what they did from another passage. "These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD after the ark rested there... they performed their service according to their order" (1 Chronicles 6:31-32). The psalmist refers to these when he says, "Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!" (Psalm 84:4). This was the work of the singers: praising the Lord "day and night" (1 Chronicles 9:33). It is a shadow of the endless work of the redeemed in heaven (Revelation 5). It is a blessed service — if service is the right word — and the Church has the privilege of starting it here on earth while it waits for the return of our blessed Lord.
The next verse names the gatekeepers. One writer sets the two roles side by side:
There were also singers (v. 41), to give praise to God. And there were gatekeepers (v. 42), who would be responsible to keep out everything that would interfere with the Lord's glory.
Commentators differ in tone here. One celebrates the recovered song. Another turns the gap between 128 singers and 74 Levites into a question.
The singers, the sons of Asaph, were more numerous than the sons of Levi: the Word mentions 128 of them (Ezra 2:41). What a precious work it is to sing the praises of God! But do we not often see many in the gatherings of the saints taking the role of the "children of Asaph"? They take it to avoid a service that is more demanding and that calls for greater responsibility.
The shortage that shows up beside the singers is treated as a recurring pattern rather than a one-off:
It is good to see that there were priests among them (v. 36), and also Levites (v. 40)... But Levites always seem to be in short supply. Here we find just 74 Levites for about 4,000 priests. Those who are willing to be engaged in practical work for the benefit of the people of God are notoriously few. But praise the Lord there are some!
- Recorded. God kept this list. He sees with joy the smallest fruits of His Spirit's work, and He knows His people by name.
- Recovered. Singers and gatekeepers were Levites too. Counting them all gives 341, though only 74 were free for that special work.
- Released. The lyres hung up in Babylon are in use again. Deliverance had come, God was working, and song came back with the people.
- Rehearsed. The singers praised God day and night. That is a shadow of what the redeemed will do in heaven, and the Church can begin it now.
- Rebalanced. Few Levites came back, because returning cost them any inheritance but the LORD. And the pleasant role must never be a way of dodging the demanding one.
The children of the doorkeepers the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all a hundred and thirty-nine.
This verse is one line in a long register of families who came back from captivity. It names six households of gatekeepers, 139 men in all, and raises a question: why did guarding a door matter enough for God to record it?
Why do these names survive at all? One writer finds the answer in the fact that the list exists.
He has caused this list to be preserved. It is evidence that He sees with joy the smallest fruits of His Spirit's work. He knows the very names of His people and makes them known, to encourage everyone to walk in His ways, to take His interests as their own, and to stay faithful in times of corruption and falling away from God.
The gatekeepers were not a separate tribe of their own. Verses 40 to 42 count them together with the singers and the other Levites.
The children of Asaph, and the children of the gatekeepers (Ezra 2:41-42), were also Levites. Altogether, therefore, they numbered 341.
Older English Bibles call these men "porters," meaning keepers of a door. So what did the charge involve?
The gatekeepers had charge of the gates. Their responsibility was to admit only those who had the proper qualifications to enter the city and approach the house, and to refuse all others.
A gate can fail in two ways. It can let in what should stay out, and it can shut out someone with every right to come in.
The doorkeepers had charge of all the gates of the temple. They had to be able to repel any attempt against the house of God. They had to watch with constant energy, so that no defiled person could enter the courts of the Lord. But they also had to keep the doors open, so that they never shut out a priest who had the right to enter the temple.
Why did the returning company need 139 men at the doors? The answer lies in what they were guarding. The list sets singers and gatekeepers side by side.
There were also singers (v. 41), to give praise to God, and gatekeepers (v. 42) who would be responsible to keep out everything that would interfere with the Lord's glory.
The link between the two is closer than it first appears. Careless work at the gate does not simply admit the wrong people; it empties the house of song.
The singers gave the Lord His portion. Only the redeemed can sing the songs of Zion. So the gatekeepers had to carry out their responsibilities faithfully, if the Lord was to have His portion. To let in those without divine qualifications is to admit those who cannot sing. Worship is lost where the gatekeepers are lax. When an assembly of God's people today loses its worship, that usually goes together with letting people in carelessly.
Commentators read this office as a picture of a responsibility Christians still carry.
They held a most important post, and so do the gatekeepers of today. Every believer — every member of the body of Christ — has his place, for example, at the Lord's supper. That is true, and we must always insist on it. Even so, the "gatekeepers" of the assembly have the responsibility of asking for proof that people are what they claim to be. Slackness or neglect here has produced the most serious consequences in many an assembly. In some cases it has destroyed all testimony for Christ and brought open dishonour on His blessed name. So it matters greatly that only faithful and trusted men should do the work of "gatekeepers," especially in a day of common profession, when everyone alike claims to be a Christian.
So who appoints such men today? Another writer answers that no one does.
In the Church of God today we surely need such gatekeepers, but the Church has no authority to appoint them. Instead, since the Spirit of God dwells in the Church, He will move godly men to do this necessary work willingly, with no need of appointment. They have the Word of God to guide them in it, for the Spirit of God always works by means of that Word.
- Named. God kept six gatekeeper families on record by name. He sees with joy the smallest fruit of His Spirit's work.
- Guard. Their office was to admit those qualified to come near the house, and to refuse all others.
- Open. The same watchfulness had to keep the doors open. No priest with a right to enter could be turned away.
- Worship. Guarding the gate protects the singing. Hold it loosely, and praise is the first thing to go.
- Today. The Church cannot appoint gatekeepers, yet the Spirit of God still moves godly men to the work, with the Word to guide them.