The answer for this question should be 21 not twenty.
"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."
Hi John. Just on the matter in 2 Samuel & 1 Chronicles.
Even though the numbers differ greatly, there should be no reason to assume error or textual corruption. Joab undertook the work unwillingly & therefore performed it imperfectly. According to 1Chronicles 21:6, he refused altogether to number the tribes Levi and Benjamin; & according to 1 Chronicles 27:24 "he finished not," and no official record was made of the result: "neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of king David."
I think that the numbers were, in part, mere estimates. Here (2 Samuel), Israel is said to be 8 hundred thousand, in 1 Chronicles, 1.1 million; but the latter probably includes an estimate (i.e. not an included number) of the omitted tribes of Benjamin and Levi, and perhaps of portions of other tribes.
On the other hand, Judah in 2 Samuel is numbered 500,000 (a round number like all the rest), and in 1 Chronicles, 470,000. The difference is due perhaps to an estimate of the officiating priests and Levities accounted to Judah.
Another possibility, (from 1 Chronicles 27), is that the regular army of 288,000 (twelve divisions of 24,000 each) is included in Israel in one case and excluded in the other. And that in the same way in regard to Judah, "the thirty" may have had command of a special body of 30,000. Possibly in one case, the descendants of the old Canaanites were reckoned (since it appears from 2 Chronicles 2:17, that David "had numbered them"), and in the other, they were excluded. There is no reason to doubt the general reliability of the numbers since we're not given all the considerations/calculations used in numbering them. In any case, it appears that a probable total population of five or six million is in order.
The Ahimelek of 1 Samuel 26:6, the Hittite, was very likely one of David's warriors; a foreigner, one of many, who attached themselves to David, & particularly after David was made king. Others were Uriah the Hittite ( 2 Samuel 11); Ittai the Gittite ( 2 Samuel 15:19); plus the Cherethites & Pelethites; & those mentioned in 1 Chronicles 27:27-31. These recognized David's authority of kingship & were pleased to be subservient to him & come under the true God.
And the Ahimelek of 1 Samuel chapter 21, was a priest, whom King Saul accused of being in collaboration with his enemy David, and thus had him killed by Doeg. Ahimelek is the same one (called Abimelech in 1 Chronicles 18:16) & thought to be a scribal error.
The emphasis is on Israel's unity under David.Davids mighty men were the 1st groups to go out on duty in the service of the king.
The same way we need to be today we need to have unity serving God!Because divided we are falling so quickly!God's saints are his mighty men that need to go before the unsaved to show them a better way....
1 Chronicles 26:27-28, 1 Chronicles 27:24,
Joab going outside of King David's orders, but for the good of David & Israel? 2 Samuel 18, 2 Samuel 19:1-8, 2 Samuel 24:1-3,
1 Chronicles 21:3, 1 Chronicles 21:6,
As Chris stated revenge, Joab had went after before: 1 Chronicles 11:6-8, 1 Chronicles 11:20, 2 Samuel 3:24-28, 2 Samuel 3:30,
1 Kings 1,
1 Kings 2:5-6, 1 Kings 2:22, 28-34,
Hopefully this is useful in your study
"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."
Even though the numbers differ greatly, there should be no reason to assume error or textual corruption. Joab undertook the work unwillingly & therefore performed it imperfectly. According to 1Chronicles 21:6, he refused altogether to number the tribes Levi and Benjamin; & according to 1 Chronicles 27:24 "he finished not," and no official record was made of the result: "neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of king David."
I think that the numbers were, in part, mere estimates. Here (2 Samuel), Israel is said to be 8 hundred thousand, in 1 Chronicles, 1.1 million; but the latter probably includes an estimate (i.e. not an included number) of the omitted tribes of Benjamin and Levi, and perhaps of portions of other tribes.
On the other hand, Judah in 2 Samuel is numbered 500,000 (a round number like all the rest), and in 1 Chronicles, 470,000. The difference is due perhaps to an estimate of the officiating priests and Levities accounted to Judah.
Another possibility, (from 1 Chronicles 27), is that the regular army of 288,000 (twelve divisions of 24,000 each) is included in Israel in one case and excluded in the other. And that in the same way in regard to Judah, "the thirty" may have had command of a special body of 30,000. Possibly in one case, the descendants of the old Canaanites were reckoned (since it appears from 2 Chronicles 2:17, that David "had numbered them"), and in the other, they were excluded. There is no reason to doubt the general reliability of the numbers since we're not given all the considerations/calculations used in numbering them. In any case, it appears that a probable total population of five or six million is in order.
And the Ahimelek of 1 Samuel chapter 21, was a priest, whom King Saul accused of being in collaboration with his enemy David, and thus had him killed by Doeg. Ahimelek is the same one (called Abimelech in 1 Chronicles 18:16) & thought to be a scribal error.
The emphasis is on Israel's unity under David.Davids mighty men were the 1st groups to go out on duty in the service of the king.
The same way we need to be today we need to have unity serving God!Because divided we are falling so quickly!God's saints are his mighty men that need to go before the unsaved to show them a better way....
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