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1 Chronicles 26 · a question people ask

Are Meshelemiah and Shelemiah the same man?

In the text

The chapter opens with "Meshelemiah the son of Kore" (26:1), whose sons begin with "Zechariah the firstborn" (26:2). At the lots, "The lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a wise counselor, they cast lots" (26:14). Both men have a son named Zechariah, and chapter 9 says, "Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper of the door of the Tent of Meeting" (9:21). In Hebrew the two names are spelled differently, and Strong's gives them separate numbers (H4920 and H8018). The chapter doesn't say they are one man, and these notes don't join them.

The verses

“For the divisions of the doorkeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph. Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,”
1 Chronicles 26:1-2 · World English Bible
“The lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a wise counselor, they cast lots; and his lot came out northward.”
1 Chronicles 26:14 · World English Bible
“Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper of the door of the Tent of Meeting.”
1 Chronicles 9:21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Chronicles 26

1 Chronicles 26: For every gate

The doorkeepers took their gates by lot, "the small as well as the great" (26:13); Obed-Edom had eight sons "for God blessed him" (26:5); and a son of Gershom, the son of Moses, kept the treasuries, where even what Saul had dedicated was kept beside David's gifts (26:24, 26:28).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions