1 Chronicles 12 Footnotes

12:1 Ziklag was given to David for his base of operations as a mercenary for Achish, king of Gath, after David had fled Saul (1Sm 27:6).

12:15 The “first month” refers to the new year that began in the spring, when the Jordan would be flooding due to winter snow-melt and rain (Jos 3:13).

12:24 The numbers have troubled many commentators because they seem larger than our knowledge of ancient Palestine would support. Some solutions are the following. (1) The Hebrew word eleph, “thousand,” is the name of a military unit and not a literal number. In this case, 6,800 becomes “six military units, eight hundred strong.” (2) Another proposal is that the Hebrew word should be pronounced alluph, “military leader.” Then 6,800 becomes eight hundred troops under the command of six officers. In light of the comparison of David’s army to the innumerable hosts of heaven in v. 22, perhaps these numbers should be best understood literally.