The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Eleazar was the father of Phinehas, Phinehas was the father of Abishua,
Earlier text
These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years. The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, by their clans. The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years. The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of the Levites according to their records. And Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. And Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the clans of the Korahites. Aaron's son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These were the heads of the Levite families by their clans.
This is a genealogy, not a law text. 1 Chronicles 6:1-4 reproduces the Levitical spine of Exodus 6:16-25 name for name and in the same order: Levi's three sons Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; Kohath's four sons Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel; Amram's children; Aaron's four sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar; and Eleazar the father of Phinehas. The Chronicler makes two changes. He adds Miriam alongside Aaron and Moses, where Exodus 6:20 names only the two brothers (Numbers 26:59 supplies her). And where Exodus stops at Phinehas, Chronicles keeps going — Abishua, Bukki, Uzzi, on through Zadok and Hilkiah to Seraiah and Jehozadak.
The same list serves two purposes. Exodus inserts it at the hinge of the exodus narrative to credential the men about to confront Pharaoh, and says so outright: "It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, 'Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt'" (Exodus 6:26). The Chronicler, writing to a restored community, uses it to certify the Zadokite priesthood serving the second temple — and to record, in the register's last line, where the line ended: "Jehozadak went into captivity when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar" (6:15).
That is the theological weight of the reused list. A priestly genealogy is a record of succession, and succession is required only because priests die. The Chronicler's roll call begins in Egypt and ends in Babylon; every name in it is a funeral. Hebrews states the problem in exactly these terms: "there have been many priests, since they were prevented by death from continuing in office" (Hebrews 7:23). Christ holds His priesthood on a different basis altogether — "not on the basis of a law of physical descent, but by the power of an indestructible life" (Hebrews 7:16) — and therefore "He holds His priesthood permanently, because He continues forever; therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:24-25). The list of dead priests is worth reading because it makes the delight of that "always" measurable: there is no gap in the intercession, no name after His, no exile that ends the line.