Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 7:1-6

"And of the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. And the sons of Tola: Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers` houses, [to wit], of Tola; mighty men of valor in their generations: their number in the days of David was two and twenty thousand and six hundred. And the sons of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Isshiah, five; all of them chief men. And with them, by their generations, after their fathers` houses, were bands of the host for war, six and thirty thousand; for they had many wives and sons. And their brethren among all the families of Issachar, mighty men of valor, reckoned in all by genealogy, were fourscore and seven thousand. [The sons of] Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three." — 1 Chronicles 7:1-6 (ASV)

THE GREAT CLANS OF ISSACHAR, BENJAMIN, NAPHTHALI, WEST MANASSEH, EPHRAIM, AND ASHER.

(1–5) The tribe of Issachar, its clans and their military strength.

Now the sons of Issachar. — Hebrew, and to the sons — that is, “and as for the sons of Issachar, Tola, Puah, etc., there were four of them.” The Vatican Septuagint uses the dative; the Alexandrian manuscript uses the nominative, which is perhaps a correction.

The four names are given in Genesis 46:13, where the second is Puwwah and the third is lôb; and in Numbers 26:23, where the second name is also Puwwah, but the third is Iâshûb (he returns). The Hebrew text here has Iâshîb (he makes return); the Hebrew margin, adopted by the Authorized Version, is the same as the text of Numbers 26:24.

These verses supply names and facts not found elsewhere. We have here some of the results of the census of David (2 Samuel 24 and, as noted below, 1 Chronicles 21).

Heads of their father’s house. — Rather, chiefs of their father-houses (septs or clans).

Of Tola. — Belonging to Tola, that is, to the great clan or sub-tribe so called.

In their generations. — According to their registers or birth-rolls.

Whose number. — The number of the warriors of all the six groups of the Tolaite branch of Issachar.

In the days of David. — See the census (1 Chronicles 21).

Izrahiah... — All these names contain a divine element. Izrahiah means “Yah rises (like the sun)” ; Michael means “Who is like God?” (Isaiah 40:25).

Before Ishiah, the word and has fallen out of the text.

Five: all of them chief men. — Hebrew, five chiefs (heads) altogether (all of them). But perhaps the punctuation should be as in the Authorized Version (1 Chronicles 7:7).

By their generations. — Hebrew, after or according to their birth-rolls or registers. The census of the Uzzite warriors was taken “according to their birth-rolls and their father-houses” (septs or clans).

Bands of soldiers. — Hebrew, troops of the host of war or of the battle-host.

For they had many wives and sons. — They refers to the clans represented by the hereditary chiefs Izrahiah, Michael, and the rest.

And their brethren. — Fellow-tribesmen.

Families. — This means clans (mishpehôth). The verse states the number of warriors for the whole tribe of Issachar in David’s census was 87,000. The rendering is: “And their kinsmen, of all the clans of Issachar, valiant warriors. Eighty-seven thousand was their census for the whole (tribe).”

Reckoned in all by their genealogies. — Hebrew, hithyahsâm, a difficult word peculiar to the Chronicler in the Old Testament, but reappearing in Rabbinic Hebrew. The present form is a verbal noun with a suffix pronoun, and means “their enrolling” or “enrolment,” their census; compare ἀπογράφεσθαι (Luke 2:1).

As the Tolaites numbered 22,600, and the sons of Izrahiah 36,000, the other sons of Issachar must have amounted to 28,400 to make up the total of 87,000 for the tribe. At the first census of Moses (Numbers 1:29), the warriors of Issachar were 54,400; at the second (Numbers 26:25), they were 64,300. (Compare Judges 5:15 and Judges 10:1 for the ancient prowess of Issachar.)