The first Malchijah mentioned in the Bible was a priest of ancient
Israel after the order of
Aaron, during the reign of
King David in the 10th century BC. Malchijah led the fifth of the 24
priestly divisions. The biblical passage of
1 Chronicles 24 documents the division of the priests during the reign of King David. These priests were all descendants of Aaron, who had four sons:
Nadab,
Abihu,
Eleazar and
Ithamar. However, Nadab and Abihu died before Aaron and only Eleazar and Ithamar had sons. One priest,
Zadok, from Eleazar's descendants and another priest,
Ahimelech, from Ithamar's descendants were designated to help create the various priestly orders. Sixteen of Eleazar's descendants were selected to head priestly orders while only eight of Ithamar's descendants were so chosen. The passage states that this was done because of the greater number of leaders among Eleazar's descendants. Lots were drawn to designate the order of ministering for the heads of the priestly orders when they entered the
temple. Since each order was responsible for ministering during a different week, Malchijah's order was stationed as a watch at the
Tabernacle during the fifth week of the year on the
Hebrew calendar. ==In Nehemiah==