PREVIOUS CHAPTER - NEXT CHAPTER - HELP - GR VIDEOS - GR YOUTUBE - TWITTER - SD1 YOUTUBE CHAPTER 27 1Ch 27:1-15. TWELVE CAPTAINS FOR EVERY MONTH.
1. came in and went out month by month--Here is an account of the
standing military force of Israel. A militia formed, it would seem, at
the beginning of David's reign (see
1Ch 27:7)
was raised in the following order: Twelve legions, corresponding to the
number of tribes, were enlisted in the king's service. Each legion
comprised a body of twenty-four thousand men, whose term of service was
a month in rotation, and who were stationed either at Jerusalem or in
any other place where they might be required. There was thus always a
force sufficient for the ordinary purposes of state, as well as for
resisting sudden attacks or popular tumults; and when extraordinary
emergencies demanded a larger force, the whole standing army could
easily be called to arms, amounting to two hundred eighty-eight
thousand, or to three hundred thousand, including the twelve thousand
officers that naturally attended on the twelve princes
(1Ch 27:16-24).
Such a military establishment would be burdensome neither to the
country nor to the royal treasury; for attendance on this duty being a
mark of honor and distinction, the expense of maintenance would be
borne probably by the militiaman himself, or furnished out of the
common fund of his tribe. Nor would the brief period of actual service
produce any derangement of the usual course of affairs; for, on the
expiry of the term, every soldier returned to the pursuits and duties
of private life during the other eleven months of the year. Whether the
same individuals were always enrolled, cannot be determined. 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. To
have confined each month's levy rigidly within the limits of one tribe
might have fallen hard upon those tribes which were weak and small. The
rotation system being established, each division knew its own month, as
well as the name of the commander under whom it was to serve. These
commanders are styled, "the chief fathers," that is, the hereditary
heads of tribes who, like chieftains of clans, possessed great power
and influence.
2, 3. Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel--(See on 1Ch 11:11; 2Sa 23:8). Hachmoni was his father, Zabdiel probably one of his ancestors; or there might be different names of the same individual. In the rotation of the military courses, the dignity of precedence, not of authority, was given to the hero. 4. second month was Dodai--or, "Dodo." Here the text seems to require the supplement of "Eleazar the son of Dodo" (2Sa 23:9). 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. 1Ch 27:16-24. PRINCES OF THE TWELVE TRIBES. 16. over the tribes of Israel: the ruler--This is a list of the hereditary chiefs or rulers of tribes at the time of David's numbering the people. Gad and Asher are not included; for what reason is unknown. The tribe of Levi had a prince (1Ch 27:17), as well as the other tribes; and although it was ecclesiastically subject to the high priest, yet in all civil matters it had a chief or head, possessed of the same authority and power as in the other tribes, only his jurisdiction did not extend to the priests. 18. Elihu--probably the same as Eliab (1Sa 16:6). 23. But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under--The census which David ordered did not extend to all the Israelites; for to contemplate such an enumeration would have been to attempt an impossibility (Ge 28:14), and besides would have been a daring offense to God. 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.
24. neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of
King David--either because the undertaking was not completed, Levi
and Benjamin not having been numbered
(1Ch 21:6),
or the full details in the hands of the enumerating officers were not
reported to David, and, consequently, not registered in the public
archives.
25. over the king's treasures--Those treasures consisted of gold,
silver, precious stones, cedar-wood, &c.; those which he had in Jerusalem as distinguished from others without the city.
27. the vineyards--These seem to have been in the vine growing
districts of Judah, and were committed to two men of that quarter.
28. olive trees and the sycamore trees . . . in the low plains--that is, the Shephela, the rich, low-lying ground between the Mediterranean and the mountains of Judah. 29. herds that fed in Sharon--a fertile plain between Cæsarea and Joppa. 30. camels--These were probably in the countries east of the Jordan, and hence an Ishmaelite and Nazarite were appointed to take charge of them. 31. rulers of the substance that was king David's--How and when the king acquired these demesnes and this variety of property--whether it was partly by conquests, or partly by confiscation, or by his own active cultivation of waste lands--is not said. It was probably in all these ways. The management of the king's private possessions was divided into twelve parts, like his public affairs and the revenue derived from all these sources mentioned must have been very large. GOTO NEXT CHAPTER - D. J-F-B INDEX & SEARCH
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