In I Chronicles 25:9-31, there is a lengthy list of individuals who appear to each have 12 brothers and sons. Do they actually each have exactly 12? That seems a bit unrealistic.

Here’s the story: We read at the beginning of this chapter that David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals—I Chronicles 25:1a. Essentially David is laying out the first “worship teams” for the services to be held in the coming temple. The core leadership is Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. All those coming after them are sons and other relatives that altogether are going to make up 24 “divisions” of musicians who would be called on a regular rotation that would avoid any signs of favoritism. The listed names are not only the family members of the moment but also those who would succeed them. The “sons” of Asaph are listed in verses 9, 10, 11 and 14 (sometimes with variant name spellings) that ultimately comprised 4 of the 24 divisions. The “sons” of Jeduthun comprised 6 divisions and are listed in verses 9, 11, 15, 17, 19 and 21. The “sons” of Heman consisted of 14 divisions and are listed in verses 13, 16, 18, 20 and verses 22-31. So the 12 divisions, each with 12 male family members, totaled 288, and they were assigned their duties by lot, again ensuring no possibility of favoritism.