1 Chronicleschapter 12
40 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Now these were the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still banished from the presence of Saul son of Kish (they were among the mighty men who helped him in battle;
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 1 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for a small community that needed to remember what a united Israel looked like. It gathers the men who came over to David, first while he was an outlaw and then when the tribes made him king. Every tribe is named, including the ones Assyria had scattered. Listen for the skills the compiler records, and for the words of loyalty spoken by one of the warriors. The chapter closes with a feast of provisions carried in from far away, and with joy in Israel.
Context
- Who
- A small community that needed to remember what a united Israel looked like
- What
- The lists of warriors who joined David at Ziklag and in the strongholds, and the tribes who came to Hebron to make him king.
- Where
- Ziklag in Philistine territory, the strongholds of the wilderness, and finally Hebron.
- When
- About 1015 to 1003 BC, from David's years as a fugitive to his crowning at Hebron.
- Why
- To show that men from every tribe chose David and that his kingdom rested on the will of the whole nation.
Historical context
1 Chronicles names no author, and it names its own sources at 29:29, the histories of Samuel the seer, Nathan the prophet and Gad the seer. The Babylonian Talmud at tractate Bava Batra 15a assigns the book to Ezra the scribe, and C. F. Keil follows that tradition. Sara Japhet, H. G. M. Williamson and Gary Knoppers hold instead that an anonymous writer of the Persian period compiled it. The chapter gathers men who came to David between his outlaw years and his coronation, about 1015 to 1003 BC, at Ziklag, in the wilderness strongholds and at Hebron. A first hearer knew that Ziklag had been handed to David while he was a fugitive with a price on his head, so the men who joined him there were committing treason against Saul. He knew Benjamin was famous for left-handed slingers, which was an advantage against a shield carried on the left arm. He knew that the first month means spring, when snowmelt off Mount Hermon turns the Jordan into a torrent, and that the Gadites swam it in armour. Understanding of the times meant reading the seasons, the calendar and the political weather, which told a farming and fighting society when to sow and when to muster. The Hebron gathering was a supply operation as well as a coronation. Meal, fig cakes, raisins, wine, oil, cattle and sheep came in on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen from as far as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali.
Significance
Every tribe is named, including the ones Assyria had erased, so the writer keeps his readers from imagining that Israel meant only the people they could see. The Gadite line, that the least was equal to a hundred and the greatest to a thousand, does the same work. Numbers were never the story then, and the returned community's small numbers were never the story now.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The roll of the men who came to David has no place in the synagogue year. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for this book, and no festival reading.
Its material is met in the weeks of Genesis where the tribes are blessed. The corpus carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayishlach 27 under the second verse, and two passages of the same work from Vayechi, at 24 under the ninth verse and at 13 under the thirty-eighth. Under the twentieth it carries Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetzei 3:1. Vayechi is the portion of Jacob's blessing of his sons, and the fighting qualities this chapter counts tribe by tribe are read there against what Jacob said each of them would be.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. One note here is worth having for what it shows about the man himself. On the Benjamite archers who used either hand, Rashi describes the weapon as he knows it, a bow shot forward and backward, and a stone laid on the bowstring and shot. He then says in his own voice that he saw many such men (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:2:1). An eleventh-century reader of this verse is looking at soldiers in his own country while he writes.
The setting is kept in front of the reader throughout. The men came while David was hiding from Saul. Rashi fixes the strongholds from 1 Samuel 23 and 24, the wilderness of Maon and the strongholds of En-gedi (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:1:1 and 12:9:1). The crossing of the Jordan in the first month he dates to Nisan, when the snows had melted (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:16:1). The raid on the Amalekite troop he sets at the time David's wives were taken, before he reached Ziklag (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:22:1).
The arrival of the men of Benjamin is read as a delicate moment. Saul was of their tribe, so David might have taken them for men sent to bind him. Rashi says they brought David's sister's son Amasa with them, and men of Judah as well, so that David would see they came in good faith (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:17:1). The word for what came over Amasai when he answered is the one place in the chapter where Rashi rules against a reading. It means a will or a desire and it is not a spirit of prophecy, and he sets the phrase used of Jephthah in Judges 11:29 beside it (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:19:1).
Three of his notes exist to stop a reader drawing the wrong conclusion from a number. Judah sent the smallest company of any tribe, and the reason is that Judah had already crowned David in Hebron and had no need to come (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:25:1). Only three thousand came from Benjamin, because the greater part of that tribe was still keeping the watch of the house of Saul (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:30:1). Zadok is called a youth here, so a reader should not wonder that he held no command (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:29:1). Jehoiada in the same list is the father of Benaiah (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:28:1).
Rashi also answers the question of why the list runs so long. The point of it is that men were coming to David at all times, and the roll is the proof (Rashi on I Chronicles 12:23:1).
The corpus carries seven further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. Four of them are further notes of Rashi, at I Chronicles 12:8:1, 12:14:1, 12:21:1 and 12:27:1, and three stand at Metzudat David on I Chronicles 12:3:1, 12:7:1 and 12:31:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the second verse, the ambidextrous archers, it holds Shemot Rabbah 37:1, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 50:2, Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 1:8:1 and Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayishlach 27. On the eighth, the Gadites with faces like lions, it holds Bereshit Rabbah 98:4, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 49:19:2 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 33:20:1.
The strongholds and the men who reached them carry the next run. On the ninth verse the corpus holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 24 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 46:16:8. Two passages of Otzar Midrashim stand with them, one from the Midrashim on King Solomon at 6 and one from Lekach Tov on the blessings of Jacob at 21. On the fifteenth it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 30:11:2 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 30:11:1.
The meeting between David and the men of Benjamin draws the heaviest Talmudic weight. On the eighteenth verse the corpus holds Berakhot 55b:10, Megillah 14b:9 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Megillah 1:30. On the nineteenth, the answer of Amasai, it holds Gittin 62a:15, Aggadat Bereshit 57:1 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Gittin 5:27. On the twentieth it holds Aggadat Bereshit 5:2 and Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetzei 3:1. On the twenty-first it holds Bava Batra 123b:3, Ein Yaakov, Bava Batra 8:22 and the Glick Edition at 8:20. On the twenty-second it holds Jerusalem Talmud Eruvin 1:10:5.
The muster at Hebron carries the rest. On the twenty-third verse the corpus holds Midrash Shmuel 23:9, Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 32:3:3 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 32:3:2. On the twenty-fifth it holds Midrash Shmuel 15:2, and on the twenty-eighth Kohelet Rabbah 1:4:4. On the thirty-second, the men of Issachar who knew the times, it holds Bereshit Rabbah 72:5, Bamidbar Rabbah 13:17 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yoma 2:7. On the thirty-third it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 13:15 and 13:20 with Aggadat Bereshit 83:1. On the thirty-fourth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 98:17 and Vayikra Rabbah 25:2, on the thirty-sixth Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 33:22:1, and on the thirty-eighth Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 13. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on I Chronicles 12:1:1 to 12:30:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on I Chronicles 12:3:1, 12:7:1 and 12:31:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/1-chronicles/12.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter, and the four further Rashi notes it marks linked; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion, no Haftarah and no festival reading for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Warriors who slipped away to David at Ziklag
1 Chronicles 12:1-2
came to David at Ziklag: These are Saul’s kinsmen from Benjamin, archers who could use either hand, and they came to David at Ziklag while Saul still reigned. No account in Samuel names this company, and the whole chapter is material Chronicles alone preserves, four separate musters building toward the coronation at Hebron.
1 Chronicles 12:1
“Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag,.... Given him by Achish to live in, when he fled from Saul, 1Sa 27:6. while he yet kept himself close, because of Saul the son of Kish; when he was an exile from his own country, and obliged to live retired in a foreign one, because of Saul's persecution of him, and seeking to take away his life: and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war; not against Saul, with whom David had none, but with the Amalekites, and others, 1Sa 27:8.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Chronicles 12:1
“This chapter is composed wholly of matter that is new to us, no corresponding accounts occurring in Samuel. It comprises four lists: (1) One of men, chiefly Benjamites, who joined David at Ziklag 1Ch 12:1-7; (2) A second of Gadites who united themselves to him when he was in a stronghold near the desert 1Ch 12:8-15; (3) A third of Manassites who came to him when he was dismissed by the Philistines upon suspicion 1Ch 12:19-22; and (4) A fourth of the numbers from the different tribes who attended and made him king at Hebron 1 Chr. 12:23-40.”
archers using both the right: Benjamin's skill with the left hand runs through its history, from Ehud the judge (Judges 3:15) to the seven hundred left-handed slingers of Judges 20:16. Barnes adds 1 Chronicles 8:40 and 2 Chronicles 14:8 for Benjamite archers. Benjamin was Saul's own tribe.
1 Chronicles 12:2
“The skill of the Benjamites as archers is noted in 1Ch 8:40, and 2Ch 14:8. Their proficiency in using the left hand appears in the narrative of Judges (Jdg 3:15, and marginal reference) where their special excellency as slingers is also noticed. Even of Saul’s brethren - Compare 1Ch 12:29. Even of Saul’s own tribe there were some who separated themselves from his cause, and threw in their lot with David.”
1 Chronicles 12:3-7
Ahiezer their chief and Joash: The roster opens with Ahiezer their chief and Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite, from Gibeah, Saul's city. Jehu the Anathothite came from Anathoth, the town that later gave Judah the prophet Jeremiah. The name Jeremiah recurs three times in this chapter's lists, at verses 4, 10 and 13.
Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty: Gibeon was a town of Benjamin (Joshua 18:25), the city whose people Saul had tried to wipe out (2 Samuel 21:1 to 2). Ishmaiah is called a leader over the Thirty, and his name appears in no roll of chapter 11. Gill places Gederah in Judah.
1 Chronicles 12:4
“And Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty,.... That came with him, and he had the command of; this man was of Gibeon, another city in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:25. and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Josabad, the Gederathite; one of Gederah, a city in the tribe of Judah, perhaps on the borders of that and Benjamin; Joram speaks of it as belonging to the country of the city Aelia or Jerusalem.”
Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah: Bealiah joins baal, meaning lord or master, to a short form of the divine name, and so means the LORD is master. Hosea 2:16 later has Israel stop calling God by that word. Haruphite appears only here in this form.
1 Chronicles 12:5
“Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite. A native of Haruph or Hariph, see Neh 7:24.”
Jashobeam, who were Korahites: Gill reads these Korahites as the family of a Benjamite named Korah, distinct from the Levite gatekeepers of 1 Chronicles 9:19. The Levite Korah of Numbers 16:1 is the better known bearer of the name. Jashobeam shares his name with David's chief in 11:11.
1 Chronicles 12:6
“Elkanah, and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korhites. Not Korahites, descendants of Levi, 1Ch 9:19, but the posterity of Korah a Benjaminite.”
Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons: Gedor names a town in the hill country of Judah (Joshua 15:58), and a man named Gedor stands in Benjamin's genealogy at 1 Chronicles 8:31. Either may lie behind this Gedor. Jeroham's two sons close the first list of Ziklag men.
1 Chronicles 12:7
“And Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor. A city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:58 and might now belong to Benjamin; or this was another city of the same name in that tribe.”
1 Chronicles 12:8-9
whose faces were like the faces of lions: The Gadites are described as well as named, men whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were as swift as gazelles. The paired images mark older poetic material folded into the roster. Adam Clarke notes that swiftness ranked among the prized qualities of an ancient warrior.
1 Chronicles 12:8
“And were as swift as the roes - That swiftness was considered to be a grand accomplishment in a warrior, appears from all ancient writings which treat of military affairs.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezer the chief, Obadiah the: The Gadites are listed by rank, each name with its number from first to eleventh. Only Chronicles records this company. Their tribe lived in Gilead east of the Jordan, and verse 15 tells how they crossed the river in flood to reach David.
1 Chronicles 12:10-14
Mishmannah the fourth: The eleven captains are ranked, from Mishmannah the fourth to Machbanai the eleventh. Verse 14 states their worth: the least of whom was a match for a hundred, and the greatest for a thousand. Barnes notes the passage's more poetic style and takes it as drawn from an early source.
Attai the sixth, Eliel the: The ordinals running through verses 9 to 13 give the order of command within the company. The same way of ranking officers appears in 1 Chronicles 27, where the army's commanders are listed by month. A man of Judah named Attai appears in 1 Chronicles 2:35.
Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the: Johanan means the LORD has been gracious, and Elzabad means God has given. Both names carry the faith of the families that gave them. Another Elzabad appears among the Levite gatekeepers in 1 Chronicles 26:7.
Jeremiah the tenth, and Machbanai: This is the second Jeremiah among the Gadite commanders, after the fifth in verse 10. The two men are told apart only by rank. A third Jeremiah came to David from Benjamin in verse 4, and the name recurs among Manasseh's heads in 5:24.
the least of whom was: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the words as a figure of speech for the strength of each man. The words can also be read as rank, with the least commanding a hundred and the greatest a thousand. Deuteronomy 32:30 speaks of one man pursuing a thousand.
1 Chronicles 12:14
“Another meaning, therefore, must obviously be sought, and excluding was, which is a supplement by our translators, the import of the passage is, that one of the least could discomfit a hundred, and the greatest was worth a thousand ordinary men; a strong hyperbole to express their uncommon valor.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
overflowing all its banks: The crossing is a feat: Jordan at flood stage, in the first month, and this company crossed it to put to flight the valley dwellers. Matthew Henry reads the exploit as the mark of men fit to be employed in God's cause, men who venture on trust in his protection.
1 Chronicles 12:15
“On the danger of the exploit, see the marginal reference note. This passage 1Ch 12:8-15 seems to be taken verbatim from an ancient source, the poetical expressions in 1Ch 12:8, 1Ch 12:14, being especially unlike the usual style of our author.”
1 Chronicles 12:16-17
Other Benjamites and some men from Judah: also came to David in his stronghold. If they came to betray him, he said, may the God of our fathers see it and judge you. Wesley notes that David leaves the matter with the covenant God and does not judge it himself.
if you have come to: David had reason for caution: Keilah and Ziph, in Judah, had been ready to hand him to Saul (1 Samuel 23:12 and 19 to 20). He leaves judgment of any betrayal to the God of the fathers. Henry sees him refusing to avenge himself.
1 Chronicles 12:17
“And thus he encourages himself to believe, that God would right him, if he was abused. For he was the God of his fathers; therefore a blessing was entailed upon him: and a God to all Israel in particular, as well as a Judge to all the earth.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 12:17
“He meant no harm to any man, which was his rejoicing in the day of evil, and enabled him, when he feared treachery, to commit his cause to him that judges righteously. He will not be judge in his own cause, though a wise man, nor avenge himself, though a man of valour; but let the righteous God, who hath said, Vengeance is mine, do both.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the Spirit came upon Amasai: , the chief of the Thirty, and he spoke a pledge. It ends Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers, for your God helps you. Wesley notes that the same words for the Spirit coming on a man are used of Israel's judges.
1 Chronicles 12:18
“The spirit came upon Amasai - “The spirit of fortitude clothed Amasai, the chief of the mighty men; and he answered, For thy sake, O David, are we come, that we may be with thee, thou son of Jesse. Prosperity be to thee by night and by day; and prosperity be to thy helpers; for the Word of the Lord is thy assistant.” - T.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 12:18
“The Spirit - Not only saving graces, but other heroical and generous motions are ascribed to God's spirit, which here stirred up in him a more that ordinary greatness of mind and resolution.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Chronicles 12:18
“His we must be without reservation or power of revocation. On his side we must be forward to appear and act. To his interest we must be hearty well-wishers: "Hosanna! prosperity to his gospel and kingdom;" for his God helpeth him, and will till he shall have put down all opposing rule, principality, and power.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 12:19-21
Some from Manasseh defected to David: when he went with the Philistines to fight against Saul. Chronicles adds the captains' names and the notice that they helped David against the raiders. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown identify the raiders as the Amalekites who burned Ziklag (1 Samuel 30).
When David went to Ziklag: David's return to Ziklag follows his dismissal by the rulers in 1 Samuel 29, and he found the town burned (1 Samuel 30:1 to 3). These seven Manassite chiefs of thousands came to him then. Two of them are named Jozabad.
1 Chronicles 12:20
“As he went to Ziklag, there fell to him of Manasseh,.... Others besides the former, who joined him when he went with the Philistines; these joined him when he was dismissed from them, and was returning to Ziklag: namely: Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zilthai, captains of the thousands that were of Manasseh; that tribe being, as the rest were, divided into hundreds and thousands; these were captains over the thousands of the militia of the tribe.”
They helped David against the: The raiders were the Amalekites who burned Ziklag while David was away, as Gill and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain. These mighty men of valor from Manasseh helped David pursue the raiders (1 Samuel 30). Each was a commander in the army.
1 Chronicles 12:21
“And they helped David against the band of the rovers,.... The Amalekites, who, while he was gone with the Philistines, had seized on Ziklag, and burnt it, and carried the women captive, with what spoil they could make; these coming to David thus opportunely, assisted him in his pursuit and defeat of them: for they were all mighty men of valour, and were captains in the host; or army of David.”
men came to David day after day: to help him, until he had a great army, like the army of God. Gill records that the Targum reads the comparison as the heavenly host, the angels. Wesley takes the phrase as a picture of a number beyond counting, like the stars.
1 Chronicles 12:22
“That time - While he was at Ziklag, and in his march to Hebron, and principally at Hebron. Like - Innumerable, like the stars or angels, both which are called God's hosts.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The armies that came to turn the kingdom to him
1 Chronicles 12:23-27
who came to David at Hebron: The second list begins at Hebron, numbering the men armed for battle who came to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him. Judah sends 6,800 and Levi 4,600, and Jehoiada brings 3,700 more. Clarke identifies this Jehoiada as the father of Benaiah, a different man from Abiathar the high priest.
1 Chronicles 12:23
“Rather, “These are the numbers of the men, ready equipped for the host, that came to David, etc.” In the list which follows such points as (1) The large mumber sent by the trans-Jordanic tribes; (2) The large numbers from Zebulon, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan, all tribes somewhat remote, and generally speaking undistinguished; (3) The small size of the contingent from Judah, which is generally represented as numerically superior to every other tribe, and which might have been expected to be especially zealous on behalf of its own prince and tribesman; throw some doubt upon the numbers, which may be…”
From Judah: 6,800 armed troops: Judah had already made David its king at Hebron (2 Samuel 2:4 and 11), and its company here is among the smallest in the list. Shield and spear mark heavy infantry.
From Simeon: 7,100 mighty men: Simeon's towns lay inside the land of Judah (Joshua 19:1 and 9), yet Simeon's mighty men outnumber the armed troops from Judah. Genesis 49:7 foretold that Simeon and Levi would be scattered in Israel. Levi comes next in verse 26.
From Levi: 4,600: Numbers 1:47 to 49 kept Levi out of Israel's military census. Here Levites come armed to make David king. The next two verses name their leaders, Jehoiada and Zadok, from the priestly house of Aaron.
Jehoiada, leader of the house: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown identify Jehoiada as leader of the Aaronite fighting men, with Abiathar serving as high priest at the time. They take him as Benaiah's father (1 Chronicles 27:5).
1 Chronicles 12:27
“Jehoiada, the leader of the Aaronites--not the high priest, for that was Abiathar (1Sa 23:9), but the leader of the Aaronite warriors, supposed to be the father of Benaiah (1Ch 11:22).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 12:28-29
Zadok, a mighty young man of valor: , comes with 22 commanders from his own family. He is the priest who anoints Solomon king in 1 Kings 1. Benjamin, the kinsmen of Saul, sends only 3,000, most of whom had remained loyal to the house of Saul up to that time.
From Benjamin, the kinsmen of: Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the small number from Benjamin as a sign that most of Saul's kinsmen held back. The house of Saul kept their loyalty until Abner won Benjamin over in 2 Samuel 3:19. Only 3,000 came to Hebron.
1 Chronicles 12:30-31
From Ephraim: 20,800 mighty men: Ephraim sends 20,800, and the half-tribe of Manasseh sends 18,000 designated by name to make David king. Keil takes the naming of individuals as a sign that the Chronicler drew on an actual muster record. Bennett notes that these two tribes stand with Judah here, though the kingdom later divides.
designated by name to come: Designated by name marks these men as chosen and registered for the task, a formal delegation from their tribe. This is the half of Manasseh west of the Jordan. The eastern half comes with Reuben and Gad in verse 37.
1 Chronicles 12:31
“Manasseh - Which was within Jordan: for of the other half beyond Jordan he speaks, ver. 37. By name - Who were not ashamed publickly to own David by putting their names to some paper presented to them for that purpose.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
From Issachar, men who understood the times: Issachar is the one tribe in the list credited with insight: men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. It sends 200 chiefs. Adam Clarke records that the Targum expands the phrase into men skilled in astronomy who fixed the months and seasons, a later gloss.
1 Chronicles 12:32
“Children of Issachar - According to the Targum they were all astronomers and astrologers: “and the sons of Issachar, who had understanding to know the times, and were skilled in fixing the beginnings of years, the commencement of months, and the intercalation of months and years; skillful in the changes of the moon, and in fixing the lunar solemnities to their proper times; skillful also in the doctrine of the solar periods; astrologers in signs and stars, that they might show Israel what to do; and their teachers were two hundred chiefs of the Sanhedrin: and all their brethren excelled…”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 12:32
“Hence we read of the princes of Issachar, Judg. v. 15 . They knew how to rule, and the rest knew how to obey. It is happy indeed when those that should lead are intelligent and judicious, and those who are to follow are modest and obsequious.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 12:33-37
From Zebulun: 50,000 fit for service: Each remaining tribe is marked by a trait: Zebulun sends 50,000, who with one purpose were devoted to David. Barnes reads this as the Chronicler's method, naming for each tribe the thing it was most admired for. Wesley reads the phrase at Zebulun as loyalty without pretense.
1 Chronicles 12:33
“Expert in war ... - Rather “arrayed for battle with all harness of battle, who set the battle in array with no double heart,” excelling, that is, in the matter of their arms and accoutrements. The writer notes in each tribe the point in which it was most admirable.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 12:33
“Double heart - They were sincerely loyal, and did not dissemble with David, pretending to be for him, while in their hearts they favoured Saul's family.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
From Naphtali: 1,000 commanders: Naphtali lay in the far north, west of the Sea of Galilee, and still sent 37,000 men under a thousand officers. Deborah's song praises Naphtali for risking death on the heights (Judges 5:18). The northern tribes came in strength.
From Dan: 28,600 prepared for: The tribe of Dan moved from its first allotment near the coast to Laish in the north, which it renamed Dan (Judges 18:27 to 29). Its 28,600 men marched south to Hebron.
From Asher: 40,000 fit for: Asher held the coastal plain north of Carmel toward Tyre (Joshua 19:24 to 31). Its 40,000 is among the largest counts from the tribes west of the Jordan. Asher had also answered Gideon's call in Judges 6:35.
from east of the Jordan: Reuben, Gad and eastern Manasseh send the largest single company, 120,000 men. These are the tribes whose settlement and exile chapter 5 records. Their land had been Ish-bosheth's base at Mahanaim (2 Samuel 2:8 to 9).
Three days of feasting, and joy in Israel
came to Hebron fully determined: All these men of war came fully determined to make David king, while the rest of the Israelites were of one mind. Gill reads the verse's two Hebrew phrases about the heart as saying the choice was undivided. Keil takes the verse as the hinge the chapter has built toward.
1 Chronicles 12:38
“All these men of war that could keep rank,.... Well disciplined men: came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David king over Israel; they were all of one mind, and quite hearty and sincere in fixing David on the throne of all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart also to make David king; those who came not were of the same mind; it was the unanimous voice of the people that he should be their king.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 12:38
"O Lord, deliver me from lying lip, from treacherous tongue": not from another's tongue but from my own. Another's tongue does not injure me; my own is my enemy. Deliver me; deliver me from my own tongue. My tongue is a sword, and it is slaying my soul. I think that I am harming my enemy; I do not realize that I am killing myself. My adversaries may contradict me when I speak to them, but I shall speak peace. Their spirit may be hostile, but let our spirit be that of peacemakers.
Jerome · written before 420 · Homilies on the Psalms 41 (Ps 119[120])patristic
1 Chronicles 12:39-40
eating and drinking: They spent three days eating and drinking with David. Provisions came as well, for their neighbors came bringing food, and there was joy in Israel. Adam Clarke takes the feast as kept by deputies of the numbered host, since so large a company could not have feasted that long.
1 Chronicles 12:39
“And there they were with David three days, eating and drinking,.... Keeping a festival, to testify their joy on this occasion: for their brethren had prepared for them; not the inhabitants of Hebron only, but all the country round about, brought in provisions on this joyful occasion; otherwise the men of Hebron would not have been able to have provided what was sufficient for such a vast number, as appears by what follows.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 12:39
“They were with David three days - These were the deputies of the different people mentioned here: it is not possible that all the thousands mentioned above could have feasted with David for three days; and yet it appears there was even of these a great number, for the men of Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who were nearest to this place of rendezvous, had brought all the necessaries for such a feast.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
their neighbors from as far: Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali lay in the north, a long way from Hebron, and still sent food on pack animals. Fig cakes and raisin cakes were pressed fruit that kept on the road, like the gift Abigail brought David in 1 Samuel 25:18. Henry ties the joy to righteous rule.
1 Chronicles 12:40
“And good reason; for when the righteous bear rule the city rejoices. Thus, when the throne of Christ is set up in a soul, there is, or ought to be, great joy in that soul: and provision is made for the feasting of it, not as here for two or three days, but for the whole life, nay, for eternity.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: Roll of honour and muster record, four early companies followed by a tribal census and a three-day feast, as table classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Four musters gathered into one verdict | Four separate companies come before the tribes are reached. They are the Benjamite archers at Ziklag, the Gadites at the stronghold, Benjamin and Judah met with a conditional welcome, and the Manassites from the Gilboa campaign. The tribal numbers at Hebron follow. C. F. Keil reads verse 38 as the hinge the whole chapter has been building toward across all four.C. F. Keil, The Books of the Chronicles, on 1 Chronicles 12:38. | 1 Chronicles 12:1, 1 Chronicles 12:8, 1 Chronicles 12:16, 1 Chronicles 12:19, 1 Chronicles 12:23 |
| The heart, said over every company | David offers that his heart shall be knit to them at verse 17. Zebulun is marked as free of a double heart at verse 33. The muster closes at verse 38 with men who came with a perfect heart and a nation of one heart. John Gill reads the doubled language of verse 38 as the record's own way of saying the choice was undivided anywhere in the nation.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, on 1 Chronicles 12:38. | 1 Chronicles 12:17, 1 Chronicles 12:33, 1 Chronicles 12:38 |
| The Gadites described in paired lines | Verse 8 gives the Gadites two matched clauses, faces like the faces of lions and feet as swift as the roes upon the mountains. Albert Barnes reads the older and more poetic style of verses 8 to 15 as drawn from an early source rather than written fresh, and points to verse 14 in the same connection. Adam Clarke records that swiftness ranked among the prized qualities of any ancient warrior.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, on 1 Chronicles 12:15. | 1 Chronicles 12:8, 1 Chronicles 12:14 |
| Amasai answers in the second person, and in verse | Verse 18 turns from record into speech. The Spirit comes on Amasai and he answers David directly, that they are his and on his side, thou son of Jesse, with peace pledged to him and to his helpers. Matthew Henry takes the threefold pledge, being his, standing on his side and being hearty for his interest, as the pattern a follower still owes. John Wesley reads the Spirit here as stirring a courage the man did not raise in himself.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 1 Chronicles 12:18. | 1 Chronicles 12:18 |
The scale of the Gadite command, and what it means
11 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verse 14 says that one of the least was over a hundred and the greatest over a thousand. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown correct the rendering, reading it as a statement that one of the least could discomfit a hundred rather than command them, and they take the line as hyperbole for personal valour. Albert Barnes prefers the marginal rendering and compares Leviticus 26:8. The site's published exposition carries both readings.
Albert Barnes adds a structural argument from the same passage. The poetic expressions at verses 8 and 14 are unlike the Chronicler's ordinary style, so verses 8 to 15 look taken verbatim from an older source.
Issachar, and four readings of one verse
Verse 32 credits the children of Issachar with understanding of the times and the knowledge of what Israel ought to do, and gives them two hundred heads whose whole tribe was at their commandment. They are the only tribe in the list credited with insight rather than numbers.
Adam Clarke records the Targum's expansion, that they were astronomers and astrologers skilled in fixing the beginnings of years and the seasons. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report the same Jewish tradition of learning in astronomical and physical science. Albert Barnes reads the phrase politically instead. Matthew Henry reads it as leaders wise enough to read their moment and a people wise enough to follow them. The site's published exposition marks the Targum's reading as a later gloss rather than the text's own claim, and this row states the four readings without choosing between them.
The numbers at Hebron, and the one that is small
The second list frames the whole muster as the fulfilment of a promise, the tribes coming to turn the kingdom of Saul to David according to the word of the LORD. Judah supplies six thousand eight hundred and Levi four thousand six hundred, with the house of Aaron under Jehoiada three thousand seven hundred more. Adam Clarke identifies this Jehoiada as the father of Benaiah rather than the sitting high priest Abiathar. The priestly tribe stands armed in a coronation muster where Numbers would ordinarily exempt it from a military census.
Benjamin sends three thousand only. Albert Barnes renders the reason so that the greatest part of them still maintained their allegiance to the house of Saul. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the small number as a measure of how unpopular the movement was in Saul's own tribe. Ephraim sends twenty thousand eight hundred and the half tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, and C. F. Keil reads the naming of individuals inside so large a number as evidence of an actual muster record rather than a round estimate.
Zadok appears here for the first time, a young man of valour with twenty-two captains of his father's house, the same priest who anoints Solomon at 1 Chronicles 29 and 1 Kings 1.
The feast, and who actually ate it
Three days of eating and drinking close the chapter, with provision carried in on asses, camels, mules and oxen. Adam Clarke argues that the three days were kept by deputies rather than by the whole numbered host, since so vast a company could not have feasted together that long. He adds that the nearest tribes carried the greater share of supplying it. Matthew Henry reads the same verses as an entertainment made for an occasion the nation could not help celebrating.
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, on 1 Chronicles 12:1; This site's published book guide, src/components/book/guides/1-chronicles/Book1ChroniclesGuide.tsx, the BANDS table, whose band heading quotes 12:38 and This site's published book sections table, src/lib/bible/book-sections.ts, the entry "1 Chronicles": "history".
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Berean Standard Bible; Charles Spurgeon; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. H. Bennett, The Books of Chronicles (Expositor's Bible).