1 Chronicleschapter 27
34 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
This is the list of the Israelites—the heads of families, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and their officers who served the king in every matter concerning the divisions on rotating military duty each month throughout the year. There were 24,000 men in each division:
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 1 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for a community with no army, no crown lands and no government of its own, and it shows them how a working kingdom was run. It turns from the Levites to the officers of the state. The first hearers knew what it cost a farming people to keep soldiers ready, and this chapter shows one way it was done. Many of the commanders named here appear earlier as David's mighty men. Listen for the short admission in the middle about a count that was never finished. Then notice the two foreigners placed over the king's animals.
Context
- Who
- A community with no army, no crown lands and no standing government of its own
- What
- A register of the twelve monthly army divisions, the leaders of the tribes, the stewards of the royal estates and David's counsellors.
- Where
- The whole kingdom, in twelve divisions of service, with royal farms from the plain of Sharon to the eastern valleys.
- When
- Within David's reign before its last years, since the list of counsellors still names Ahithophel among the living.
- Why
- To record the order of David's kingdom and to keep on the record the warning of the unfinished census.
Historical context
The chapter is David's administration rather than David's voice, and it names the men who held each charge.
Show the rest of the historical context, 5 more paragraphs
It can be placed inside the reign rather than at its close. Albert Barnes reads verses 32 to 34 as earlier material, because Ahithophel is still named as the king's counsellor, and that man died after Absalom's revolt failed to follow his advice.
The setting is the whole kingdom, twelve districts of muster and the crown estates that ran from the plain of Sharon to the eastern valleys.
A first hearer understood the army as a rotation and a reader today may expect a standing force. Twelve divisions of 24,000 men each served one month a year and then went home to their fields, which kept a trained force always available without taking the country off the land. It is the logic of the priests' courses applied to war. The commanders are men from the earlier lists of the Three and the Thirty, now holding district commands. Beside them stand the tribal officers, one to a tribe, forming a civil chain of command alongside the military one.
The chapter then pauses to admit something. David did not record the count of men under twenty, and the census Joab began was never finished, because wrath came upon Israel for it and the number was left out of the royal record. The official record kept the gap and explained it.
The final list is an inventory of crown property, and it is one of the most concrete pictures of an ancient royal economy in Scripture. There are officers over the storehouses, the field workers, the vineyards and the wine vats. Others hold the olive and sycamore trees of the foothills, the oil stores, the herds in Sharon and in the valleys, the camels, the donkeys and the flocks. Two of the specialists are foreigners, an Ishmaelite over the camels and a Hagrite over the flocks, because desert peoples knew those animals best.
Significance
This is what a working state looked like, remembered by people who had none. It reads as a picture of order, with everything counted, everyone accountable and each man's name set against his charge.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The note about the unfinished census stood at the centre of the administrative section as a permanent warning. Even good bookkeeping can be done in pride.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
1 Chronicles carries no weekly portion and no Haftarah, and no part of it is read in the synagogue service on any Sabbath of the year. In the Hebrew Bible Chronicles stands among the Writings, and the Haftarah is drawn from the Prophets, so the yearly cycle passes this book over entirely. This site's own table of synagogue readings records the same absence. It holds no portion, no Haftarah use and no festival reading for any of the twenty-nine chapters of the book.
How it is read
The corpus carries nineteen kept notes of Rashi for this chapter in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, under CC-BY, more than for any other chapter of 16 to 29 except the last. He reads the chapter as a register of a working kingdom, and he marks its three parts as they begin. They are the monthly divisions from the first verse, the princes of the tribes from the sixteenth, and the stewards of the king's property from the twenty-fifth (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:1:1, 27:16:1 and 27:25:1).
Two notes turn on descent from Perez. Jashabeam is chief over all twelve commanders, and Rashi gives the reason for the appointment, that he was of the sons of Perez (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:3:1). He then uses the same fact to explain a difference of title. Benaiah is called the leader of the host more fully than the others, which Rashi reads as a mark of honour. Jashabeam is styled chief of all the leaders for the honour of David, who came of the same line (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:5:1). At the fourth he names Mikloth as the officer who assisted his commander (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:4:1). At the sixth he matches Benaiah with the notice about the thirty earlier in the book (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:6:1). At the eighth he glosses the form of Shamhuth's name (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:8:1).
The fourth division draws a note that supplies a death the chapter does not mention. Asahel heads the month and his son Zebadiah is named after him. Rashi explains that Asahel had been killed by Abner early in David's reign, so the son was appointed in his place over the division (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:7:1).
The two verses about the count David did not finish are read together as a single argument. At the twenty-third Rashi restates what the book has already said. David counted Israel and the Levites and appointed them to their service, and nobody under twenty years old was counted in any of it. At the twenty-fourth he puts the rest as a question to the reader, that Joab began on another occasion to count those above twenty and did not finish (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:23:1 and 27:24:1). The census of chapter 21 is therefore held apart from the registers of this chapter rather than merged with them.
The stewards are read as evidence of the scale of the household, and Rashi says outright what the list is for. It is told for David's greatness, down to the man appointed over the she-donkeys (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:25:1). He then gives each post its actual work. It is ploughing the soil (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:26:1), hoeing and pruning the vines (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:27:1), and planting the olives and gathering them (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:28:1). The three stockmen are read as specialists. Shirtai was set over the cattle of Sharon because he knew that work, and the Ishmaelite over the camels because he knew their nature. Jaziz the Hagarite was set over the flocks because the Hagarites lived in tents in open country (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:29:1, 27:30:1 and 27:31:1).
The last two officers of the chapter draw the two most interesting notes in it. Jehiel with the king's sons is read as their guardian and tutor, the man who taught them manners (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:32:1). On Hushai the Archite, Rashi first settles the name from the Targum's rendering of a place name in Joshua and Judges. He then reports a tradition from Midrash Rabbah. After the sin with Bathsheba, David asked Hushai whether God would accept his repentance and give him time over the matter, and Hushai answered that he would. The title given Hushai, companion of the king, Rashi reads through the Targum as best man, on the strength of the same word used of Samson's companion (Rashi on I Chronicles 27:33:1). The tradition about the question put to Hushai is the commentary's and is reported here as the commentary's.
Metzudat David and Radak comment on this chapter as well. The corpus carries their refs with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand here cited and unquoted. Metzudat David comments at I Chronicles 27:2:1 and 27:21:1. Radak comments at I Chronicles 27:11:1, 27:15:1 and 27:18:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries twenty-one rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. Five stand on the first verse, the monthly divisions of twenty-four thousand men. They are Jerusalem Talmud Ketubot 5:7:3, Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim 4:1:3, Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 4:2:3, Ketubot 62a:1, and Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of The 32 Midot of Aggadah 1:20. Five stand on the last verse, where Ahithophel is succeeded by Jehoiada and Abiathar and Joab is named commander of the king's army. They are Berakhot 3b:31, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Berakhot 1:8, Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:13 and 1:14, and Sanhedrin 16b:1.
Four stand on the twenty-fifth verse, the treasuries of the king and the storehouses in the country. They are Midrash Tanchuma, Re'eh 14:1, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Re'eh 12:2, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 10:6, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 892:4. Three stand on the thirty-second, Jehiel with the king's sons: Introductions to Tanaitic Literature, Introduction to Halakhic Midrashim, Halakhic Midrash 21, and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 3:1 and 3:5.
The last four are single locators. Midrash Shmuel 21:2 stands on the fourth verse, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 938:28 on the fifteenth, and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayera 25:1 on the eighteenth. Midrash Tehillim 55:1 stands on the thirty-third, the verse about Hushai that Rashi also reads through a midrash. 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 27:1:1 to 27:33:1, nineteen kept notes in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on I Chronicles 27:2:1 and 27:21:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on I Chronicles 27:11:1, 27:15:1 and 27:18:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/1-chronicles/27.json, the 21 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; This site's table of synagogue readings, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, which records no portion, no Haftarah use and no festival reading for 1 Chronicles.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Twenty-four thousand men a month, all year long
1 Chronicles 27:1-2
The chapter opens with a heading before the list itself: twelve divisions of 24,000 men rotate one month at a time through the year. That puts the crown's standing army at 288,000, and no soldier serves more than a month running. Only the heads of the divisions are named here.
1 Chronicles 27:1
“This verse is a general heading to the list 1Ch 27:2-15. The heading has been taken from some fuller and more elaborate description of David’s army, whereof the writer of Chronicles gives us only an abridgement. Omitting the captains of thousands, the captains of hundreds, and the officers (probably “scribes”) who served the king, he contents himself with recording the “chief fathers” or heads of the divisions 1Ch 28:1, and the number of Iraelites in each course.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Chronicles 27:1
“By this order near three hundred thousand of his people were instructed and exercised in the use of their arms, and fitted for the defense of their king and kingdom when it should be needful, and in the mean time sufficient provision was made against any sudden tumults or irruptions of enemies.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Chronicles 27:1
“The probability is, that provided the requisite number was furnished, no stricter scrutiny would be made. A change of men might, to a certain degree, be encouraged, as it was a part of David's policy to train all his subjects to skill in arms; and to have made the enlistment fall always on the same individuals would have defeated that purpose.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jashobeam son of Zabdiel: led the first division of 24,000 men, and verse 3 makes him a descendant of Perez. The Targum Adam Clarke cites calls this month Nisan. Clarke adds that it names twelve months with no extra month for leap years.
1 Chronicles 27:2
“First course for the first month - Instead of mentioning first, second, third, etc., month, the Targum names them thus: First month, Nisan; second, Aiyar; third, Sivan; fourth, Tammuz; fifth, Ab; sixth, Elul; seventh, Tishri; eighth, Marchesvan; ninth, Cisleu; tenth, Tebeth; eleventh, Shebat; twelfth, Adar. No mention is made of a veadar or intercalary month.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 27:3-9
He was a descendant of Perez: Benaiah is the man already known from the mighty men, and verse 6 says he “was mighty among the Thirty and was over the Thirty”. Asahel heads the fourth division, though he died by Abner's hand at the start of David's reign. The honor passes to his son Zebadiah.
Dodai the Ahohite: led the division for the second month, with Mikloth as leader. Albert Barnes judges that the words Eleazar son of have dropped out before Dodai, making the commander the Eleazar of 1 Chronicles 11:12. He takes Mikloth as second in command.
1 Chronicles 27:4
“Dodai The words “Eleazar, son of,” have probably fallen out before Dodai (or Dodo). According to Jewish tradition, EIeazar 1Ch 11:12 was cousin to David; his father, Dodai, being Jesse’s brother. Mikloth was probably second in command to Eleazar.”
Benaiah son of Jehoiada the priest: Benaiah son of Jehoiada led the third division, in the month the Targum calls Sivan, as Adam Clarke cites it. Albert Barnes reads the priestly title in this verse as the high priest's deputy, called the second priest in 2 Kings 25:18. His division held 24,000 men.
1 Chronicles 27:5
“A chief priest - Rather, “the chief priest” - an expression by which is meant, not the high priest, but probably the high priest’s deputy, who is sometimes called “the second priest” 2Ki 25:18.”
Benaiah was mighty among the Thirty: Benaiah stood among the Thirty, David's mighty men, and was set over them. His son Ammizabad commanded his division in the third month. The same Benaiah son of Jehoiada heads the third division in verse 5.
Joab’s brother Asahel: Asahel, brother of Joab, gave his name to the fourth division, and his son Zebadiah commanded after him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that Asahel was slain in 2 Samuel 2:23, and read the name as an honor to his memory. Albert Barnes traces the plan to David's Hebron years.
1 Chronicles 27:7
“Asahel--This officer having been slain at the very beginning of David's reign [2Sa 2:23], his name was probably given to this division in honor of his memory, and his son was invested with the command.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 27:7
“Asahel died before the courses, as here described, could have been instituted. Perhaps the arrangements of David in his later years were based upon institutions belonging to the period of his reign at Hebron.”
the commander Shamhuth the Izrahite: Shamhuth the Izrahite commanded the fifth division of 24,000 men. The Targum Adam Clarke cites calls the fifth month Ab. Each division served one month in the year, and the turn of Shamhuth came in the fifth.
Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite: Ira son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa, led the sixth division of 24,000 men. The Targum Adam Clarke cites calls the sixth month Elul. The turn of Ira closed the first half of the year of divisions.
1 Chronicles 27:10-15
Helez the Pelonite, an Ephraimite: The list runs out the remaining six months, one division of 24,000 men after another, with no story attached to any of the six names. Chronicles lets the rest of the year's captains stand as names alone, as the book does through most of its rosters.
Sibbecai the Hushathite, a Zerahite: Sibbecai the Hushathite led the eighth division of 24,000 men. The word Zerahite names his clan, the house of Zerah. The Targum Adam Clarke cites calls the eighth month Marchesvan, and Sibbecai served in that month.
Abiezer the Anathothite, a Benjamite: Abiezer came from Anathoth and from the tribe of Benjamin. He led the ninth division of 24,000 men. The Targum Adam Clarke cites calls the ninth month Cisleu, the month of his turn.
Maharai the Netophathite, a Zerahite: Maharai the Netophathite, a man of the clan of Zerah, led the tenth division of 24,000 men. He shares that clan with Sibbecai, commander in the eighth month. The Targum Adam Clarke cites calls the tenth month Tebeth.
Benaiah the Pirathonite, an Ephraimite: , led the eleventh division of 24,000 men. He is a second Benaiah, distinct from Benaiah son of Jehoiada in verse 5. The Targum Adam Clarke cites calls the eleventh month Shebat.
Heldai the Netophathite: came from the family of Othniel and led the twelfth division. The Targum Adam Clarke cites calls this last month Adar. Twelve divisions of 24,000 men made 288,000 in all, each serving one month of the year.
Princes of the tribes, and the census God cut short
1 Chronicles 27:16-22
Over the Reubenites was Eliezer son of Zichri: A second list follows the military one: officers over the tribes, ranked above the captains because their standing was older. Adam Clarke notes that Asher and Gad are missing from the record. Benjamin's officer is “Jaasiel son of Abner”, whose father opposed David's rise and died by Joab's hand.
1 Chronicles 27:16
“Over the tribes of Israel - In this enumeration there is no mention of the tribes of Asher and Gad. Probably the account of these has been lost from this register. These rulers appear to have been all honorary men, without pay, like the lords lieutenants of our counties.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 27:16
“The ruler - These were the princes of the tribes, the constant rulers of the tribes; who seem to have had a superior power to these twenty four captains, and therefore are named before them, being probably the king's chief counsellors and assistants in the great affairs of his kingdom.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
over Levi was Hashabiah: Levi had its own officer, Hashabiah son of Kemuel. The house of Aaron, the priests, stood under Zadok as a separate charge. The list of tribes gives the priests and the other Levites each their own head.
over Judah was Elihu: Elihu, one of David's brothers, was set over Judah. Judah was the tribe of David, so the king kept its charge within his own family. Omri son of Michael held Issachar.
over Zebulun was Ishmaiah: Ishmaiah son of Obadiah led Zebulun. Jerimoth son of Azriel led Naphtali. They hold the seventh and eighth of the thirteen charges in the list of tribes that runs from verse 16 to verse 22.
over the Ephraimites was Hoshea: Hoshea son of Azaziah led the Ephraimites. Joel son of Pedaiah led one of the two halves of Manasseh, and verse 21 gives the half in Gilead its own officer. Manasseh thus has two officers in the list of tribes.
over Benjamin was Jaasiel: Iddo son of Zechariah led the half of Manasseh in Gilead. Jaasiel son of Abner led Benjamin. Matthew Henry notes that Abner had opposed David's rise to the throne, and reads the post given to Abner's son as good returned for evil.
1 Chronicles 27:21
“Though Abner was David's enemy, and opposed his coming to the throne, yet David would not oppose the preferment of his son, but perhaps nominated him to this post of honour, which teaches us to render good for evil.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
over Dan was Azarel: Azarel son of Jeroham led Dan, the last of the charges. The list closes by calling these men the tribal leaders of Israel. It runs to thirteen charges, with Asher and Gad absent from it.
1 Chronicles 27:23-24
the men aged twenty or under: David left the young uncounted: “the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky”. The promise echoes Genesis 15:5. Verse 24 turns to the census David did take, which Joab “began to count the men but did not finish”.
1 Chronicles 27:23
“Joab was disgusted with it, and did it by halves; David was ashamed of it, and willing it should be forgotten, because there fell wrath for it against Israel. A good man cannot, in the reflection, please himself with that which he knows God is displeased with, cannot make use of that, nor take comfort in that, which is obtained by sin.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 27:23
“David’s numbering of the people was therefore a military arrangement in order to fix the amount of his standing army. To the general Oriental prejudice against numbering possessions, etc., there was added in the case of the Jews a special objection - a feeling that it would be irreverent to attempt to count what God had promised should be countless.”
1 Chronicles 27:23
“The limitation to a certain age was what had probably quieted David's conscience as to the lawfulness of the measure, while its expediency was strongly pressed upon his mind by the army arrangements he had in view.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joab son of Zeruiah began: Joab began the count and left it unfinished. Adam Clarke gives two reasons: the plague struck first, or Joab chose to keep the number back from the king. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hold that the count stayed out of David's chronicles as a record of divine judgment.
1 Chronicles 27:24
“Neither was the number put in the account - Joab did not return the whole number; probably the plague began before he had finished: or, he did not choose to give it in, as he had entered on this work with extreme reluctance; and he did not choose to tell the king how numerous they were.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 27:24
“No notice was taken of this census in the historical register, as from the public calamity with which it was associated it would have stood as a painful record of the divine judgment against the king and the nation.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Stewards of the fields and the king's own counselors
1 Chronicles 27:25-31
the royal storehouses: A civil list follows the military ones, with named overseers for the storehouses, fields, vineyards, olive and sycamore trees, herds, camels, donkeys and flocks. Two are named by their people, “Obil the Ishmaelite” over the camels and “Jaziz the Hagrite” over the flocks. They are foreign men managing crown property.
1 Chronicles 27:25
“This section is important as showing that David, the younger son of a not very opulent family 1Sa 16:11, 1Sa 16:20, had now become a large landed proprietor, as well as a capitalist, possessed of much moveable wealth. We may perhaps see the sources of both these kinds of property, in the successful wars which he had waged 1Sa 27:8-9; 1Sa 30:20; 2Sa 8:4, 2Sa 8:7-8, 2Sa 8:12; in the revenue derived from subject kings 1Sa 8:2, 1Sa 8:14; 1Sa 10:19; and in the purchase and occupation of lands in different places.”
Ezri son of Chelub: had charge of the field workers. John Wesley pairs his post with the storehouses of verse 25, one officer over the labor and another over the harvest put in store. Wesley sees the same pairing in the vineyards of verse 27.
Shimei the Ramathite: had charge of the vineyards, and Zabdi the Shiphmite of their produce for the wine vats. John Wesley reads the split as one man over the workers and one over the fruit. He finds the same pair in the fields of verse 26.
1 Chronicles 27:27
“Vineyards - Over the workmen and labourers in the vineyards; as the next officer is over the fruit of the vineyards. In like manner, one man was over the labourers in the fields, ver. 26, and another over the fruits of the fields put into stores.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Baal-hanan the Gederite: kept the olive and sycamore trees of the foothills. Joash kept the stores of olive oil. The pairing follows the pattern John Wesley finds in verses 26 and 27, one man over the trees and another over what they yield.
Shitrai the Sharonite: kept the herds that grazed in Sharon. Shaphat son of Adlai kept the herds in the valleys. John Wesley notes that every officer in this list served the substance of David, with none kept for state or sport.
Obil the Ishmaelite: had charge of the camels, and Jehdeiah the Meronothite of the donkeys. The name Ishmaelite marks Obil as a man of Ishmael's line serving the king of Israel. John Wesley counts these posts among the stewards of David's estate.
Jaziz the Hagrite: kept the flocks. He is the twelfth officer over King David's property in verses 25 to 31. John Wesley and Matthew Henry call David a great soldier, a great scholar and a great prince, and yet a careful keeper of his estate.
1 Chronicles 27:31
“David was a great soldier, a great scholar, and a great prince, and yet a great husband of his estate, kept a great deal of ground in his own hand, and stocked it, not for pleasure, but for profit; for the king himself is served of the field, Eccles.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 27:31
“All these - It is observable, here are no officers for state, none for sport, no master of the ceremonies, or of the bounds, but all for substance, agreeable to the simplicity and plainness of those times. David was a great soldier, a great scholar, and a great prince; and yet a great husband of his estate.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Chronicles 27:32-34
David’s uncle Jonathan was a counselor: The chapter closes with the king's inner circle: “Ahithophel was the king’s counselor”, and “Hushai the Archite was the king’s friend”. Albert Barnes places the list before the later years of the reign, since it still names Ahithophel. Ahithophel later hanged himself when Absalom did not follow his advice.
1 Chronicles 27:32
“A list - supplemental in character - of some chief officers of David, not mentioned before. The list cannot belong to a very late part of David’s reign, since it contains the name of Ahithophel, who killed himself during Absalom’s rebellion 2Sa 17:23. 1Ch 27:33 Was the king’s companion - or, “king’s friend,” as in 1Ki 4:5. Compare also 2Sa 16:17. 1Ch 27:34 After Ahithophel - i. e., next in counsel to Ahithophel: inferior to him, but superior to all others.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 27:32
“Another, who no doubt excelled in learning and prudence, was tutor to his children. Ahithophel, a very cunning man, was his counsellor: but Hushai, an honest man, was his companion and confidant.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ahithophel was the king’s counselor: , and Hushai was his friend. John Wesley calls the friend the man trusted with the king's secrets, citing 2 Samuel 15:37. He sums up the pair this way: a cunning man was counselor, and an honest man was friend.
1 Chronicles 27:33
“Counsellor - The person whose counsel in matters of state the king most prized and followed. Companion - Or his friend, 2 Sam. xv, 37, the person whom he trusted with his secrets, and whose conversation was most pleasant and acceptable to him. Observe, A cunning man was his counsellor: but an honest man was his friend.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ahithophel was succeeded by Jehoiada: Jehoiada son of Benaiah, then Abiathar, followed Ahithophel as counselor. The Targum Adam Clarke cites has them ask counsel of Ahithophel first and then inquire of Jehoiada and Abiathar by Urim and Thummim. Joab commanded the king's army.
1 Chronicles 27:34
“And after Ahithophel - The Targum is curious: “When they went to war, they asked counsel of Ahithophel; and, after the counsel of Ahithophel, they inquired by Urim and Thummim of Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah, prince of the Sanhedrin, and chief of the priesthood; and from Abiathar, the high priest.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Administrative list, the civil and military rosters of the reign, given in four registers, as Barnes classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| 24,000 men in his division, month after month | The military register closes every month with the same total. The phrase 24,000 men in his division stands twelve times, counted in the Berean text in the store, once for each month of the year. Verse 1 states the same figure at the head as the standing size of each division, so the number is given thirteen times in all.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 1 Chronicles 27:1. | 1 Chronicles 27:1, 1 Chronicles 27:2, 1 Chronicles 27:8, 1 Chronicles 27:15 |
| Four registers, one after another | The chapter gives four separate lists with no narrative between them. The first is the twelve monthly divisions at verses 1 to 15, and the second is the princes over the tribes at verses 16 to 22. The third is the stewards of crown property at verses 25 to 31, and the fourth is the king's counsellors at verses 32 to 34. Each list has its own principle of order, by month, by tribe, by holding and by office.Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on 1 Chronicles 27:25. | 1 Chronicles 27:1, 1 Chronicles 27:16, 1 Chronicles 27:25, 1 Chronicles 27:32 |
| The count not taken, and the count that was | Verses 23 and 24 sit inside a chapter of counting and set two censuses against each other. David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky. Joab began the count David did order and did not finish it, and wrath came upon Israel, so the number was never entered in the royal record.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 1 Chronicles 27:23. | 1 Chronicles 27:23, 1 Chronicles 27:24 |
| Was in charge of, said of steward after steward | The civil register grades every holding by the same phrase. The words was in charge of stand fifteen times in the chapter, counted in the Berean text in the store, running from the royal storehouses at verse 25 to the flocks at verse 31. The repetition is how the list says that nothing the crown held was left unassigned.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on 1 Chronicles 27:25. | 1 Chronicles 27:25, 1 Chronicles 27:27, 1 Chronicles 27:29, 1 Chronicles 27:31 |
The structure of the number
14 more paragraphs on the patterns
Twelve divisions of 24,000 give a standing levy of 288,000 men, with no soldier serving more than one month in the year. Matthew Henry and Albert Barnes both read the figure that way. The same 288 that counts the singers at 25:7 stands here in thousands, and the text draws no comparison between the two.
The historical value
Two of the commanders reach back into David's earlier history. Benaiah at the third month is the man Chronicles has already named as mighty among the Thirty and set over the Thirty. Asahel heads the fourth course although he died at the very start of David's reign by Abner's hand at 2 Samuel 2:23, and the command passes to his son Zebadiah.
The tribal list at verses 16 to 22 is incomplete. Adam Clarke notes that Asher and Gad are missing from the record, and the text gives no explanation. Benjamin's prince is Jaasiel son of Abner, the son of the general who opposed David's rise.
Two of the stewards are named by nationality rather than by tribe, Obil the Ishmaelite over the camels at verse 30 and Jaziz the Hagrite over the flocks at verse 31. Foreign specialists managed crown property beside Israelite officers.
Albert Barnes places the council list before the later years of the reign, since verse 33 still names Ahithophel among the living. That counsellor hanged himself after Absalom's revolt failed to follow his advice, at 2 Samuel 17:23.
The debated concept
The size of the standing levy belongs to the question the dossier carries about the numbers in Chronicles. Three positions stand there with their holders. C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch, in Biblical Commentary on the Books of Chronicles, 1872, read the divergences as copying damage in the Hebrew numeral notation. John Wenham, in Large Numbers in the Old Testament, Tyndale Bulletin 18, 1967, reads the Hebrew eleph as a unit or a clan rather than always a literal thousand. A third reading takes the totals as deliberate scale in the ancient way of stating magnitude. The page states the three and gives no verdict.
The omission of Asher and Gad is a second open point. The commentators record the gap and offer no settled account of it, and this page carries it as a gap.
The divine connection
Verses 23 and 24 are the chapter's theological centre, and they turn on a promise. David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky. That is the promise given to Abraham at Genesis 15:5. A census inside an administrative chapter is stopped short by a covenant word.
The next sentence sets the other census beside it. Joab began the count of chapter 21 and did not finish, wrath came upon Israel, and the number was left out of the royal record. Read together, the two verses show a count for administration standing unpunished and a count of the men of war bringing the judgment chapter 21 already told.
The New Testament and the later church
This chapter is not quoted in the New Testament. The promise it rests on at verse 23 is quoted often, at Romans 4:18 and Hebrews 11:12 among other places, where Abraham's descendants are counted as the stars. The chapter's own contribution is to show a king declining to measure what God had promised to multiply.
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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; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on 1 Chronicles 27:25 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 1 Chronicles 27:1.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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).