1 Chronicles 27:1-34
1 Now the children of Israel after their number, to wit, the chief fathers and captains of thousands and hundreds, and their officers that served the king in any matter of the courses, which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year, of every course were twenty and four thousand.
2 Over the first course for the first month was Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
3 Of the children of Perez was the chief of all the captains of the host for the first month.
4 And over the course of the second month was Dodaia an Ahohite, and of his course was Mikloth also the ruler: in his course likewise were twenty and four thousand.
5 The third captain of the host for the third month was Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, a chiefb priest: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
6 This is that Benaiah, who was mighty among the thirty, and above the thirty: and in his course was Ammizabad his son.
7 The fourth captain for the fourth month was Asahel the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
8 The fifth captain for the fifth month was Shamhuth the Izrahite: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
9 The sixth captain for the sixth month was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
10 The seventh captain for the seventh month was Helez the Pelonite, of the children of Ephraim: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
11 The eighth captain for the eighth month was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zarhites: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
12 The ninth captain for the ninth month was Abiezer the Anetothite, of the Benjamites: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
13 The tenth captain for the tenth month was Maharai the Netophathite, of the Zarhites: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
14 The eleventh captain for the eleventh month was Benaiah the Pirathonite, of the children of Ephraim: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
15 The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was Heldaic the Netophathite, of Othniel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
16 Furthermore over the tribes of Israel: the ruler of the Reubenites was Eliezer the son of Zichri: of the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maachah:
17 Of the Levites, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel: of the Aaronites, Zadok:
18 Of Judah, Elihu,d one of the brethren of David: of Issachar, Omri the son of Michael:
19 Of Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah: of Naphtali, Jerimoth the son of Azriel:
20 Of the children of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Azaziah: of the half tribe of Manasseh, Joel the son of Pedaiah:
21 Of the half tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo the son of Zechariah: of Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner:
22 Of Dan, Azareel the son of Jeroham. These were the princes of the tribes of Israel.
23 But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens.
24 Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number, but he finished not, because there fell wrath for it against Israel; neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of king David.
25 And over the king's treasures was Azmaveth the son of Adiel: and over the storehouses in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages, and in the castles, was Jehonathan the son of Uzziah:
26 And over them that did the work of the field for tillage of the ground was Ezri the son of Chelub:
27 And over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite: over the increase of the vineyards for the wine cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite:
28 And over the olive trees and the sycomore trees that were in the low plains was Baalhanan the Gederite: and over the cellars of oil was Joash:
29 And over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite: and over the herds that were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai:
30 Over the camels also was Obil the Ishmaelite: and over the asses was Jehdeiah the Meronothite:
31 And over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagerite. All these were the rulers of the substance which was king David's.
32 Also Jonathan David's uncle was a counsellor, a wise man, and a scribe:e and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni was with the king's sons:
33 And Ahithophel was the king's counsellor: and Hushai the Archite was the king's companion:
34 And after Ahithophel was Jehoiada the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar: and the general of the king's army was Joab.
The Book of 1 Chronicles
God rules History
1 Chronicles
Ian Mackervoy
Chapter 27
Organisation of other leaders – 1 Chronicles 27:1-34
Army groups – 1 Chronicles 27:1-15
v1 Each month a group of 24 000 men served the king in the army. Among these men were family leaders, officers over groups of 1000 or 100 men, and officials of the king. Each group served for one month each year.
v2 Jashobeam, son of Zabdiel, was the leader of the first group, which served during the first month. There were 24 000 men in his group. v3 He was a *descendant of Perez. And he was the leader of all the army officers during the first month.
v4 Dodai was from the town called Ahoah. He was the leader of the group for the second month. Mikloth was the chief officer in this group. There were 24 000 men in the group.
v5 The third leader, for the third month, was Benaiah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He was the chief officer and there were 24 000 men in his group. v6 This Benaiah was a brave man. He was one of the 30 special soldiers whom he led. His son Ammizabad was in command of his group.
v7 The 4th leader, for the 4th month, was Asahel, the brother of Joab. Later, his son Zebadiah took his place as the leader. There were 24 000 men in his group.
v8 The 5th leader, for the 5th month, was Shamhuth, from Izrah’s family. There were 24 000 men in his group.
v9 The 6th leader, for the 6th month, was Ira, son of Ikkesh, from the town called Tekoa. There were 24 000 men in his group.
v10 The 7th leader, for the 7th month, was Helez. He came from the town called Pelon. He was a *descendant of Ephraim. There were 24 000 men in his group.
v11 The 8th leader, for the 8th month, was Sibbecai. He was from Hushah and he was from Zerah’s family. There were 24 000 men in his group.
v12 The 9th leader, for the 9th month, was Abiezer. He was from Anathoth in Benjamin. There were 24 000 men in his group.
v13 The 10th leader, for the 10th month, was Maharai. He was from Netophah and he was from Zerah’s family. There were 24 000 men in his group.
v14 The 11th leader, for the 11th month, was Benaiah. He was from Pirathon in Ephraim. There were 24 000 men in his group.
v15 The 12th leader, for the 12th month, was Heldai. He was from Netophah and he was from Othniel’s family. There were 24 000 men in his group.
Verse 1 A different group of soldiers served the king each month. There were 24 000 men in each group. To lead the group, there were officers over 1000 men. Then there were officers over 100 men. Also, family leaders and the king’s officials had some control over the army.
The king always had 24 000 men ready for war. There was always a group ready to guard the king. If an enemy attacked, the king could call all 12 groups of soldiers to fight. This would be an army of 288 000 men.
The men served in the army for one month in the year. During the rest of the year, they lived and worked as normal citizens.
Verses 2-15 Jashobeam had been the leader over David’s 30 special soldiers (11:11). Also, he was one of the three most famous soldiers. He killed 300 men at one time with his *spear. He was the top leader during the first month, that is, the month called Nisan. He was from the *tribe of Judah. Perez was a son of Judah.
Jashobeam was the chief leader for the first month, the month called Nisan. The month called Nisan is during March or April in a modern calendar.
Here is a list of the names of the *Jewish months. The first month was called Nisan and the second month was called Iyar. The third month was called Sivan and the 4th was called Tammuz. The 5th month was called Ab and the 6th was called Elul. The 7th month was called Tishri and the 8th was called Marcheshvan. The 9th month was called Chisleu and the 10th was called Tebeth. The 11th month was called Shebat and the 12th was called Adar. Many of these months do have different names as well. For example, Nisan is often Abib and Iyar is Zif.
Dodai (verse 4) was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the second of the famous three soldiers (11:12). Dodai had Mikloth as his chief officer. Dodai was the leader during the second month.
Benaiah (verse 5) was the leader of King David’s personal guards. He was as well-known as the famous three soldiers. But he was not one of them. He did many great deeds (11:22-30). He had his son Ammizabad as his chief officer. Benaiah was the leader during the third month.
It seems that such groups already existed well before the end of David’s rule. In the original group, Asahel (verse 7) may have been a leader. He was one of the 30 special soldiers. But Abner killed Asahel in the battle between David and Ish-Bosheth (2 Samuel 2:18-23). So, Asahel died before David formed these groups. However, the 4th group still had Asahel’s name as the leader. Maybe this was to give honour to his name. His son Zebadiah was in fact the leader of this group.
The leaders for each of the other months were among the 30 special soldiers (11:26-47).
Leaders of the *tribes – 1 Chronicles 27:16-24
v16 These were the leaders of the *tribes of *Israel. Eliezer son of Zicri was over the *tribe of Reuben. Shephatiah son of Maacah was over the *tribe of Simeon. v17 Hashabiah son of Kemuel was over the *tribe of Levi. Zadok was over the family of Aaron. v18 Elihu, one of David’s brothers, was over the *tribe of Judah. Omri son of Michael was over the *tribe of Issachar. v19 Ishmaiah son of Obadiah was over the *tribe of Zebulun. Jerimoth son of Azriel was over the *tribe of Naphtali. v20 Hoshea son of Azaziah was over the *tribe of Ephraim. Joel son of Pedaiah was over half the *tribe of Manasseh. v21 Iddo son of Zechariah was over half the *tribe of Manasseh in Gilead. Jaasiel son of Abner was over the *tribe of Benjamin. v22 Azarel son of Jeroham was over the *tribe of Dan. These were the leaders of the *tribes of *Israel.
v23 The *LORD had promised to make the *Israelites as many as the stars in the sky. So, David did not count those who were 20 years old or younger.
v24 Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the people, but he did not finish the task. God was angry at *Israel because of this count. So, the official records of King David’s rule did not include the number of the people.
Verses 16-22 This is a list of the leaders of the *tribes at the time when David counted the people.
We do not know why the list did not include the *tribes of Gad and Asher. There is a leader over the *tribe of Levi. But the *Levite *clan of Aaron had Zadok the chief priest as their leader. Because half of the *tribe of Manasseh lived east of the river Jordan, they had two leaders. Joel was the leader for the half *tribe on the west of the river. And Iddo was the leader for the half *tribe on the east of the river.
Verses 23-24 The *LORD promised that he would make the *Israelites as many as the stars. ‘As many as the stars’ was a phrase that meant too many to count. The *LORD gave this promise to Abraham about 1000 years before the time of David (Genesis 15:5). Because of that promise, David did not count those who were 20 years of age or less.
However, David did order a count of the men who were old enough to fight in the army.
Joab did not finish the count. He was against the idea. He knew that it was wrong to do it (21:6). So, he did not count the *tribes of Levi and Benjamin.
Because of the count and the *sins of the nation, God was angry. And he punished the people (21:7).
Samuel, Nathan and Gad made records of the events during David’s life (29:29-30). But they did not record the number of the people.
Other officials – 1 Chronicles 27:25-34
v25 Azmaveth son of Adiel was responsible for the place where the king kept his valuable things. Jonathan son of Uzziah was responsible for the other places where there were stores. These were in the country, in towns, in villages, and in castles. v26 Ezri son of Kelub was responsible for the field workers who farmed the land. v27 Shimei, from Ramah town, was responsible for the *vineyards. Zabdi, from Shepham, was responsible for the products from the *vineyards. And he was responsible for the places where people stored the wine. v28 Baal-Hanan, from Geder, was responsible for the *olive trees and sycamore trees in the western hills. Joash was responsible for the places where people stored *olive oil. v29 Shitrai, from Sharon, was responsible for the cows that were in Sharon. And Shaphat son of Adlai was responsible for the cows in the valleys. v30 Obil, a *descendant of Ishmael, was responsible for the camels. Jehdeiah, from Meronoth, was responsible for the *donkeys. v31 Jaziz, from the *Hagrites, was responsible for the sheep and goats. All these men were the officials who took care of King David’s property.
v32 Jonathan, David’s uncle, was a wise man and a teacher of the law. He was one of the men who advised David. Jehiel son of Hacmoni took care of the king’s sons. v33 Ahithophel was the king’s adviser. Hushai, from the town called Arka, was the king’s friend. v34 After Ahithophel, Jehoiada and Abiathar advised the king. (Jehoiada was Benaiah’s son.)
Joab was the chief officer of the king’s army.
Verses 25-31 These verses are a list of the king’s officials. They looked after his wealth and they controlled his *vineyards and farms. A *vineyard is a kind of farm where people produce *grapes.
The sycamore trees in verse 28 were also called sycamore-*fig trees. They produce a light wood, which is useful for many purposes. They also yield fruit. That fruit is like the *fig, but its quality is not so good. Poor people in particular would gather the fruit. The people would cut into the fruit about 4 days before they picked them. Then the fruit was ready and people could eat them. There were people whose job was to look after the sycamore-*fig trees (Amos 7:14).
Verses 32-34 Ahithophel joined David’s son, Absalom, when Absalom tried to organise a revolution against David. But when Absalom did not follow Ahithophel’s advice, Ahithophel killed himself (2 Samuel 17:23). Afterwards, Jehoiada and Abiathar took Ahithophel’s place, and they advised King David.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.spears ~ long sticks with sharp ends that soldiers used as weapons during battles.
weapon ~ a tool of war that soldiers use in attack or defence during a battle, for example: swords, spears and slings.
sling ~ The sling was a weapon. It was a bit of leather with two strings. The soldier would put a smooth stone in the leather bit. Then he would swing it round above his head by the strings. Finally, he would let the stone fly out of the sling.
tribe ~ The Israelites originally consisted of the 12 large families of the sons of Jacob. These families became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to a Jew.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
lord ~ someone with authority such as the king.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. The name probably means: ‘He is always God.’ This name has a relationship with God’s special promises to his people.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
Levite ~ a person who belongs to the tribe of Levi.
tribe ~ The Israelites originally consisted of the 12 large families of the sons of Jacob. These families became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
clan ~ part of a tribe, a group of families.
tribe ~ The Israelites originally consisted of the 12 large families of the sons of Jacob. These families became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
sin ~ Sin is the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because they are guilty of sin.
vineyard ~ a farm where grapes grow.
grape ~ a fruit which people use to make wine.
olive ~ a fruit from which we get olive oil. It grows on an olive tree.
donkey ~ an animal that is like a small horse. It can carry people or goods.
Hagrites ~ people from various tribes in the desert. They were descendants of Hagar, the mother of Ishmael.
tribe ~ The Israelites originally consisted of the 12 large families of the sons of Jacob. These families became the 12 tribes of Israel.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
grape ~ a fruit which people use to make wine.
fig ~ a kind of sweet fruit that grows on a tree.