1Ch 26:32 | KD | STEP | David set another branch of the Hebronites, under the head Jeriah (cf. ), over the East-Jordan tribes. Between the words “Jeriah the head,” , and ואחיו, , a parenthesis is inserted, which gives the reason why David made these Hebronites scribes and judges among the East-Jordan tribes. The parenthesis runs thus: “As to the Hebronites, according to their generations, according to fathers, they were sought out in the fortieth year of David’s rule, and valiant heroes were found among them in Jazer of Gilead.” Jazer was a Levite city in the tribal domain of Gad, assigned, according to , to the Merarites (see on ). The number of these Hebronites was 2700 valiant men ( ). The additional האבות ראשׁי is obscure, for if we take אבות to be, as it often is in the genealogies, a contraction for בּית־עבות rof no, the number given does not suit; for a branch of the Hebronites cannot possibly have numbered 2700 fathers'-houses (πατριαὶ, groups of related households): they must be only 2700 men (גּברים), or heads of families, i.e., households. Not only the large number demands this signification, but also the comparison of this statement with that in 1Ch 26:30. The 1700 חיל בּני of which the Hebronite branch, Hashabiah with his brethren, consisted, were not so many πατριαὶ, but only so many men of this πατριά. In the same way, the Hebronite branch of which Jeriah was head, with his brethren, 2700 חיל בּני, were also not 2700 πατριαὶ, but only so many men, that is, fathers of families. It is thus placed beyond doubt that אבות ראשׁי cannot here denote the heads of fathers'-houses, but only heads of households. And accordingly we must not understand לאבות ( ) of fathers'-houses, as the lxx and all commentators do, but only of heads of households. The use of the verb נדרשׁוּ also favours this view, for this verb is not elsewhere used of the legal census of the people, i.e., the numbering and entering of them in the public lists, according to the great families and fathers'-houses. There may therefore be in נדרשׁוּ a hint that it was not a genealogical census which was undertaken, but only a numbering of the heads of households, in order to ascertain the number of scribes and judges to be appointed. There yet remain in this section three things which are somewhat strange: 1. Only 1700 scribes and judges were set over the cis-Jordanic land, inhabited as it was by ten and a half tribes, while 2700 were set over the trans-Jordanic land with its two and a half tribes. 2. Both numbers taken together amount to only 4400 men, while David appointed 6000 Levites to be scribes and judges. 3. The scribes and judges were taken only from two fathers'-houses of the Kohathites, while most of the other Levitical offices were filled by men of all the families of the tribe of Levi. On all these grounds, it is probable that our catalogue of the Levites appointed to be scribes and judges, i.e., for the external business, is imperfect. Division of the Army. Tribal Princes, Administrators of the Domains, and Councillors of State - 1 Chronicles 27 This chapter treats of the organization of the army ( ) and the public administration; in , the princes of the twelve tribes being enumerated; in , the managers of the royal possessions and domains; and in , the chief councillors of the king. The information on these points immediately succeeds the arrangement of the service of the Levites, because, as we learn from 1Ch 27:23., David attempted in the last year of his reign to give a more stable form to the political constitution of the kingdom also. In the enumeration of the twelve divisions of the army, with their leaders ( ), it is not indeed said when David organized the men capable of bearing arms for the alternating monthly service; but the reference in 1Ch 27:23. of our chapter to the numbering of the people, spoken of in 1 Chron 21, leaves no doubt of the fact that this division of the people stands in intimate connection with that numbering of the people, and that David caused the people to be numbered in order to perfect the military constitution of the kingdom, and to leave his kingdom to his son strong within and mighty without.

‏ 1 Chronicles 26:32

David set another branch of the Hebronites, under the head Jeriah (cf. 1Ch 23:9), over the East-Jordan tribes. Between the words “Jeriah the head,” 1Ch 26:31, and ואחיו, 1Ch 26:32, a parenthesis is inserted, which gives the reason why David made these Hebronites scribes and judges among the East-Jordan tribes. The parenthesis runs thus: “As to the Hebronites, according to their generations, according to fathers, they were sought out in the fortieth year of David’s rule, and valiant heroes were found among them in Jazer of Gilead.” Jazer was a Levite city in the tribal domain of Gad, assigned, according to Jos 21:39, to the Merarites (see on 1Ch 6:81). The number of these Hebronites was 2700 valiant men (1Ch 26:32). The additional האבות ראשׁי is obscure, for if we take אבות to be, as it often is in the genealogies, a contraction for בּית־עבות rof no, the number given does not suit; for a branch of the Hebronites cannot possibly have numbered 2700 fathers'-houses (πατριαὶ, groups of related households): they must be only 2700 men (גּברים), or heads of families, i.e., households. Not only the large number demands this signification, but also the comparison of this statement with that in 1Ch 26:30. The 1700 חיל בּני of which the Hebronite branch, Hashabiah with his brethren, consisted, were not so many πατριαὶ, but only so many men of this πατριά. In the same way, the Hebronite branch of which Jeriah was head, with his brethren, 2700 חיל בּני, were also not 2700 πατριαὶ, but only so many men, that is, fathers of families. It is thus placed beyond doubt that אבות ראשׁי cannot here denote the heads of fathers'-houses, but only heads of households. And accordingly we must not understand לאבות (1Ch 26:31) of fathers'-houses, as the lxx and all commentators do, but only of heads of households. The use of the verb נדרשׁוּ also favours this view, for this verb is not elsewhere used of the legal census of the people, i.e., the numbering and entering of them in the public lists, according to the great families and fathers'-houses. There may therefore be in נדרשׁוּ a hint that it was not a genealogical census which was undertaken, but only a numbering of the heads of households, in order to ascertain the number of scribes and judges to be appointed. There yet remain in this section three things which are somewhat strange: 1. Only 1700 scribes and judges were set over the cis-Jordanic land, inhabited as it was by ten and a half tribes, while 2700 were set over the trans-Jordanic land with its two and a half tribes. 2. Both numbers taken together amount to only 4400 men, while David appointed 6000 Levites to be scribes and judges. 3. The scribes and judges were taken only from two fathers'-houses of the Kohathites, while most of the other Levitical offices were filled by men of all the families of the tribe of Levi. On all these grounds, it is probable that our catalogue of the Levites appointed to be scribes and judges, i.e., for the external business, is imperfect. Division of the Army. Tribal Princes, Administrators of the Domains, and Councillors of State - 1 Chronicles 27

This chapter treats of the organization of the army (1Ch 27:1-15) and the public administration; in 1Ch 27:16-24, the princes of the twelve tribes being enumerated; in 1Ch 27:25-31, the managers of the royal possessions and domains; and in 1Ch 27:32-34, the chief councillors of the king. The information on these points immediately succeeds the arrangement of the service of the Levites, because, as we learn from 1Ch 27:23., David attempted in the last year of his reign to give a more stable form to the political constitution of the kingdom also. In the enumeration of the twelve divisions of the army, with their leaders (1Ch 27:1-15), it is not indeed said when David organized the men capable of bearing arms for the alternating monthly service; but the reference in 1Ch 27:23. of our chapter to the numbering of the people, spoken of in 1 Chron 21, leaves no doubt of the fact that this division of the people stands in intimate connection with that numbering of the people, and that David caused the people to be numbered in order to perfect the military constitution of the kingdom, and to leave his kingdom to his son strong within and mighty without.