21. the band of rovers] The reference is to the Amalekites who burnt Ziklag (1 Samuel xxx. 1 ff.). The Hebrew word gĕdūd, here translated “band,” is translated “troop” in 1 Samuel xxx. 8, 15.
and were captains] Render, and they became captains.
²²For from day to day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God.
22. the host of God] The phrase comes from Genesis xxxii. 2; compare Psalms lxviii. 15 (Revised Version) “a mountain of God.” The epithet “of God” is used to distinguish a thing as “very great.”
23–40 (compare 2 Samuel v. 1).
The Forces which came to Hebron to make David King.
²³And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, which came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord.
23. And these are, etc.] It may confidently be said that the list as it stands is the composition of the Chronicler himself, for the syntax and vocabulary of the passage are his, and there is no evidence to suggest that its statements are based on those of some ancient document. Its value in the idealistic account of David which the Chronicler furnishes is obvious, implying as it does not only that the northern as well as the southern tribes concurred whole-heartedly in the election of David, but also that the occasion was one of great military display. On the huge numbers alleged to have come from the North (Zebulun, Naphtali, Dan, and Asher being credited with 155,600 warriors) compare the following note, and, in general, on midrashic exaggeration of numbers in Chronicles see the note on 2 Chronicles xvii. 14.
²⁴The children of Judah that bare shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred, armed for war.
24. six thousand and eight hundred] Contrast the numbers assigned to the northern tribes in verses 33 ff. It may be the idea of the Chronicler that the unanimous support of the southern tribes could be assumed, and that only chosen representatives of these tribes attended. But much more probably the multitudes of Zebulun (verse 33), etc. are simply due to his desire to magnify the share taken by the north, whilst the problem of the numerical contrast with Judah, etc. did not present itself to him as it does to us.
²⁵Of the children of Simeon, mighty men of valour for the war, seven thousand and one hundred. ²⁶Of the children of Levi four thousand and six hundred.