Lives of Scripture

Jeriah appears in the Levitical genealogies of 1 Chronicles as the firstborn son of Hebron, head of the Hebronite family within the clan of Kohath (1 Chronicles 23:19; 24:23). Scripture gives him one distinguishing notice beyond these lists: "In the fortieth year of David's reign the records were searched, and capable men were found among them at Jazer of Gilead" (1 Chronicles 26:31). David's officials had gone looking for reliable men from Jeriah's extended family, and found a large company of them -- 2,700 capable men, heads of households -- living east of the Jordan. The king responded by putting Jeriah and this whole company in charge of "all the affairs of God and of the king" among the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (26:32), placing spiritual and civil oversight of three tribes in the hands of this one Levite leader and his kin late in David's reign. Jeriah's story is brief and administrative rather than dramatic, but it reflects the broader picture 1 Chronicles paints of David's final years: a king carefully organizing worship, administration, and the wider tribal structure of Israel, using capable men wherever his search found them, even in a Transjordan outpost far from Jerusalem.