Chronicles I 27:1

1 Now the sons of Israel according to their number, heads of families, captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, and scribes ministering to the king, and for every affair of the king according to divisions, every ordinance of coming in and going out monthly, for all the months of the year, one division of them twenty-four thousand.

Chronicles I 27:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Chronicles 27:1

Now the children of Israel after their number
Not the whole body of the people, but the militia of the nation; for after the account of the division of the priests and Levites into courses, follows an account of the militia of the nation, being divided also into monthly courses; which, though done in the beginning of David's reign, as Kimchi and Jarchi observe, yet is here related; and that it was so soon is clear from the instance of Asahel, who was killed while David was king in Hebron, ( 1 Chronicles 27:7 ) to wit,

the chief fathers;
the chief men in the tribes, the princes of them, not the natural fathers of the soldiers in each course, as a learned man suggests ^F9: since it can never be thought that such a number sprung from those as made a course of 24,000; for they are distinct from the captains and officers after mentioned, under which the soldiers were; besides, why should they be called "chief fathers?" these, no doubt, were the general officers or princes, under which the captains and inferior officers were:

and captains of thousands and hundreds;
in the several tribes:

and their officers;
that were under them:

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;
by which it appears that the militia of the kingdom was divided into twelve courses, which served each month by turns; when one went out another came in; by which means the king was well supported and guarded, and had an army at once at command upon any insurrection or war that might arise; and each course serving but one month in a year, it was no great burden upon them, even if they maintained themselves, since they were at leisure, the other eleven months, to attend to their business; and especially if it was, as Jarchi observes, that not the poor but the rich were selected for this service:

of every course were twenty and four thousand;
so that the twelve courses amounted to 288,000 men.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Delaney's Life of King David, vol. 1. p. 319.

Chronicles I 27:1 In-Context

1 Now the sons of Israel according to their number, heads of families, captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, and scribes ministering to the king, and for every affair of the king according to divisions, every ordinance of coming in and going out monthly, for all the months of the year, one division of them twenty-four thousand.

2 And over the first division of the first month Isboaz the son of Zabdiel: in his division twenty-four thousand.

3 Of the sons of Tharez was chief of all the captains of the host for the first month.

4 And over the division of the second month Dodia the son of Ecchoc, and over his division Makelloth also chief: and in his division twenty and four thousand, chief men of the host.

5 The third for the third month Banaias the son of Jodae the chief priest: and in his division twenty and four thousand.