13 They cast lots, the small as well as the great, according to their fathers' houses, for every gate.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
They cast lots - for every gate - None of these captains or their companies were permitted to choose which gate they would guard, but each took his appointment by lot.
And they cast lots,.... To determine at which gate each should stand, who at this gate, and who at the other, &c.
as well the small as the great, according to the house of their fathers, for every gate; meaning, not little ones and grown persons in a family, but the smaller and poorer families, and the larger and richer ones, had their places assigned them at the several gates, as the lot directed; they did not go according to the dignity and precedence of their families, but according to lot.
THE GATES ASSIGNED BY LOT. (1-Chronicles 26:13-19)
they cast lots--Their departments of duty, such as the gates they should attend to, were allotted in the same manner as those of the other Levitical bodies, and the names of the chiefs or captains are given, with the respective gates assigned them.
The distribution of the stations by lot followed (cf. 1-Chronicles 25:8), the small as the great; i.e., the younger as the older cast lots, according to their fathers'-houses, "for door and door," i.e., for each door of the four sides of the temple, which was built so that its sides corresponded to the points of the compass.
Cast lots - Determining the times and places of their service not by age or dignity, but merely by lot. Every gate - That it might be known to whom the care of each gate was more especially committed.
*More commentary available at chapter level.