[1][2] The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE.

[12][4] Subsequently, three generations of the Kohathites, continuing with only the branches leading to famous siblings: Moses, Aaron and Miriam, then to the Aaronite high priests.

[4] Verses 4–15 contain twenty-two successors of Aaron from the time of his death to the Babylonian exile, but the abridged version of the same list in Ezra 7:1–7 only has 15 names instead of 22.

[13] The list apparently serves as a legitimizing role, that the high priests in office during Chronicler's time could genealogically be traced back to Zadok and even further to Aaron, while omitting some names mentioned in other documents (such as Jehoiada, cf.

[4] Omissions could be attributed to the confusion of the same names within the priestly families, such as recurrences of Amariah, Azariah and Zadok, leading to copyist errors.

[14] Two high-priests are given bits of narrative: Azariah son of Johanan "who served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem" (verse 10) and Jehozadak son of Seraiah "who went into exile when the Lord sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar" (vese 15), a witness to the destruction of Solomon's temple, therefore these two priests bracket the entire First Temple Period.

Genetic studies on the members of this group reveals that a majority of them share a pattern of values for six Y-STR markers, which researchers named the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH).

[23] Subsequent research using twelve Y-STR markers indicated that about half of contemporary Jewish Kohanim shared Y-chromosomal J1 M267, also called J1c3.

Molecular phylogenetics research published in 2013, 2016, and 2020 for haplogroup J1 (J-M267) yield a hypothetical most recent common ancestor of the Kohanim, named Y-chromosomal Aaron with age estimate 2,638–3,280 years Before Present (yBP) within subhaplogroup Z18271.

[24][25][26] Following the findings, similar investigation was made of men who identify as Levites, because Aaron is recorded in Hebrew Bible as a descendant of Levi, son of Jacob.

[30] Samaritans claim that the southern tribes of the House of Judah left the original worship as set forth by Joshua, and the schism took place in the twelfth century BC at the time of Eli.