Verse 5
(5) Moreover four thousand were porters.—Literally, and four thousand (are to be) warders. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 9:21-27.) Reuss thinks 4,000 warders too many; but the different clans went on duty in turn.
And four thousand praised the Lord . . .—Rather, and four thousand (are to be) praising the Lord with the instruments that I have made for praising. (On “praising,” see 1 Chronicles 16:4.) We have here an interesting reference to the fact that David was not only a minstrel and inspired psalmist, but also an inventor of stringed instruments. So the prophet Amos (1 Chronicles 6:5) speaks of the effeminate nobles of Israel, “who prattle on the mouth of the nebel, that invent themselves instruments of music, like David.” The reference is repeated in Nehemiah 12:36.
Which I have made.—This expression proves that 1 Chronicles 23:4-5 should be within inverted commas, as representing a spoken decree of David. Ewald thinks that the narrative is interrupted in 1 Chronicles 23:5 by a fragmentary quotation from an ancient poet who speaks in the name of Jehovah, characterising the musicians as “those whom I have formed to sing my praise.” (But see 2 Chronicles 7:6.)
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