2 Chronicles 25:5

5 Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and set over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, according to their fathers' houses, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men, able to go to war, who could handle spear and shield.

2 Chronicles 25:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 25:5

Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together
The inhabitants thereof:

and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds,
according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and
Benjamin;
he divided the people, according to their families throughout his kingdom, into thousands and hundreds, and out of their respective families appointed captains over them:

and he numbered them from twenty years old and above;
the usual age men were numbered at for war, to the fiftieth, according to Josephus; the Roman law ^F1 obliged none to be soldiers after fifty, nor might any be dismissed before ^F2; the age of military men with the Romans was from seventeen to forty six, or, as some, forty five; but with the Persians from twenty as here to fifty ^F3:

and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to
war, that could handle spear and shield;
which shows that their number was greatly decreased since the times of Jehoshaphat, ( 2 Chronicles 17:14-18 ) , occasioned by the wars under Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Joash; some copies of the Vulgate Latin ^F4 have only 30,000.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Seneca de Brevitate Vitae, c. 20.
F2 Liv. Hist. l. 42. c. 33.
F3 Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 20.
F4 Ed. of Sixtus V. the Lovain and MSS. in James's Corruption of the Fathers, p. 295.

2 Chronicles 25:5 In-Context

3 Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established for him, that he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king.

4 However he did not execute their children, but did as it is written in the Law in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, "The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall die for his own sin."

5 Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and set over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, according to their fathers' houses, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men, able to go to war, who could handle spear and shield.

6 He also hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel for one hundred talents of silver.

7 But a man of God came to him, saying, "O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel--not with any of the children of Ephraim.