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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Chronicles 27:23 - 27:23
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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 מִסְפָּרָם points back to לְמִסְפָּרָם, 1Ch 27:1. מִסְפָּר נָשָׂא as in Num 3:40 = רֹאשׁ נָשָׂא, 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 (promised) to increase Israel like to the stars of heaven” (Gen 22:17), which cannot mean: For it was impossible for David to number all, because they were as numerous as the stars of heaven, which of course cannot be numbered (Berth.). The thought is rather that David never intended to number the whole people from the youngest to the eldest, for he did not desire in fidem divinarum promissionum inquirere aut eam labefactare (J. H. Mich.); and he accordingly caused only the men capable of bearing arms to be numbered, in order to organize the military constitution of the kingdom in the manner recorded in 1Ch 27:2-15. But even this numbering which Joab had begun was not completed, because wrath came on Israel because of it, as is narrated in 1 Chron 21. For this reason also the number, i.e., the result of the numbering begun by Joab, but not completed, is not included in the number of the chronicle of King David, i.e., in the official number which was usually inserted in the public annals. בְּמִסְפַּר neither stands for בְּסֵפֶר (according to 2Ch 20:34), nor does it denote, “in the section which treats of the numberings” (Berth.). הַיָּמִים דִּבְרֵי is a shorter expression for h' דִּבְרֵי סֵפֶר, book of the events of the day.