army. When Asahel, therefore, is called commander of the fourth division of the host, it is done merely honoris causâ, since the division over which his son was named, de patris defuncti nomine (Cler.).
Verse 8
Shamhuth is called in 1Ch 11:27 Shammoth, and in 2Sa 23:25 Shamma. He was born in Harod; here he is called היּזרח the Jizrahite, = הזּרחי, 1Ch 27:13, of the family of Zerah the son of Judah (1Ch 2:4, 1Ch 2:6).
Verse 9
Ira; see 1Ch 11:28, 2Sa 23:26.
Verse 10
Verse 11
Sibbecai; see 1Ch 11:29, 2Sa 23:27.
Verse 12
Abiezer; see 1Ch 11:28; 2Sa 23:27; he was of Anathoth in the tribe of Benjamin (Jer 1:1).
Verse 13
Maharai (see 1Ch 11:30; 2Sa 23:28) belonged also to the family of Zerah; see 1Ch 27:11, 1Ch 27:8.
Verse 14
Benaiah of Pirathon; see 1Ch 11:31, 2Sa 23:30.
Verse 15
Heldai, in 1Ch 11:30 Heled, in 2Sa 23:29 erroneously called Heleb, belonging to Othniel's family (Jos 15:17).
Verses 16-17
1Ch 27:16-17The princes of the twelve tribes. - The enumeration of the tribal princes, commencing with the words, “and over the tribes of Israel,” immediately follows the catalogue of the divisions of the army with their commanders, because the subjects are in so far connected as the chief management of the internal business of the people, divided as they were into tribes, was deposited in their hands. In the catalogue the tribes Gad and Asher are omitted for reasons unknown to us, just as in 1 Chron 4-7, in the genealogies of the tribes, Dan and Zebulun are. In reference to Levi, on the contrary, the Nagid of Aaron, i.e., the head of the priesthood, is named, viz., Zadok, the high priest of the family of Eleazar.
Verses 18-19
Elihu, of the brethren of David, is only another form of the name Eliab, 1Ch 2:13, David's eldest brother, who, as Jesse's first-born, had become tribal prince of Judah.
Verses 20-22
Of Manasseh two tribal princes are named, because the one half of this tribe had received its inheritance on this side Jordan, the other beyond Jordan. גּלעדה, towards Gilead, to designate the East-Jordan Manassites.
Verses 23-24
1Ch 27:23-24 1Ch 27:23 and 1Ch 27:24 contain a concluding remark on the catalogue of the twelve detachments into which the men capable of bearing arms in Israel were divided, contained in 1Ch 27:2-15. David had not taken their number from the men of twenty years and under, i.e., he had only caused those to be numbered who were over twenty years old. The word מספּרם points back to למספּרם, 1Ch 27:1. מספּר נשׂא as in Num 3:40 = ראשׁ נשׂא, Exo 30:12; Num 1:49, to take up the sum or total. The reason of this is given in the clause, “for Jahve had said (
