And over the tribes of Israel were for the Reubenites Eliezer the son of Zichri was the prince; for the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maachah;
Chapter 27 completes David's ordering of his kingdom. After the army divisions come the men set over the twelve tribes — first Eliezer over Reuben, then Shephatiah over Simeon. A list of unknown names raises two questions. Why does Scripture keep such records? And why are the tribes placed in this order?
This list of tribal princes sits inside a larger section. There David organises every part of his kingdom. One writer traces the order of these chapters:
In 1 Chronicles 23 David divides the Levites for their services. In 1 Chronicles 24 he divides the sons of Aaron into their twenty-four courses, and in 1 Chronicles 25 the singers and musicians into the same number. In 1 Chronicles 26 we see the doorkeepers and other officials arranged. Then in 1 Chronicles 27 we have the civil officers for every month, and heads of tribes, and the royal overseers, each in his place.
So the chief officers of verse 16 serve on the civil side of a kingdom whose worship David has just set in order.
The appointments just before this list show what such rule involved. David gave men from Hebron charge over Reuben and its neighbours:
Those who remained at Hebron, where David's kingship had begun, were appointed "for the administration of Israel on this side Jordan westward, for all the business of Jehovah, and for the service of the king." "King David made" them "rulers over the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, for every matter pertaining to God, and the affairs of the king." So those who had been David's witnesses and companions from the beginning of his reign receive a special honour.
Verse 16 opens a list that runs to verse 22. Its order does not match other tribal lists in Scripture, and there is a reason for that:
Scripture lists Jacob's sons and the twelve tribes, if I am not mistaken, twenty-two times, and each time in a different order. We do not have space here to examine the reasons in detail.
The same writer looks at this list of princes and notes which tribes are left out:
Here again the order of the tribes differs from the others. Aaron, the high priest, has a place apart in the tribe of Levi, and Zadok is the prince of the priesthood… Joseph, a picture of the rejected, suffering Son, has three princes: one for the tribe of Ephraim, one for each of the half-tribes of Manasseh. Dan comes last… Gad and Asher are missing. Verses 23 and 24 seem to explain why they are missing. There we see that David, at the time of his failure, meant to number Israel — not only the men of war, but all the people from the age of twenty years and under. After that he does not do it again. This time he does not number the people, "for Jehovah had said He would increase Israel as the stars of heaven." He even sets Gad and Asher aside completely.
Reuben's ruler comes first here. That is striking, because the genealogies of Chronicles move Reuben out of the place his birth would have given him:
Reuben, the firstborn, has lost all his precedence. One reason is that this precedence goes to the royal tribe of Judah. The other is his own sin (1 Chronicles 5:1-2), which puts him after even Simeon, his brother. Besides, we are told that Joseph had the birthright, except for Judah's right to the kingship. It was fitting that the one rejected by his brothers should have the first place as head of the family of Israel.
Reuben's tribe still has its prince and its place in the king's service. What he lost was pre-eminence, not participation.
Eliezer son of Zichri and Shephatiah son of Maacah appear here and are otherwise unknown to us. A Bible dictionary says only this about Zichri: he was the father of "a ruler of the Reubenites" (Morrish Bible Dictionary). Yet the record exists, and that is the point:
There is something deeply solemn to the soul in being allowed to go over such a record of names long since forgotten by people, yet every one of which God has remembered, with every detail of their path through this world. Some day people will forget our names too, but God will forget neither us nor our ways.
- Order. David sets his whole kingdom in order — Levites, priests, singers, doorkeepers, then civil officers and heads of tribes, each in his place.
- Ordered by God. Scripture lists the tribes some twenty-two times, and never twice in the same order. This list of princes has its own design.
- Ordered rule. The rulers over Reuben and its neighbours served in "every matter pertaining to God, and the affairs of the king." One rule answered to both.
- Ordered mercy. Reuben lost the firstborn's place through sin. His tribe still keeps a prince. Lost pre-eminence is not lost service.
- Ordered memory. Eliezer and Shephatiah mean nothing to us. God remembered every name and every step of their path — and He will not forget ours.
for the Levites, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel; for Aaron, Zadok;
Chapter 27 lists David's officers: the army captains serving month by month, then a chief for each tribe. Verse 17 gives Levi two names, its own leader and Zadok for Aaron — so why two heads for one tribe, and why a priest among a king's officials?
This chapter shows David's kingdom in its outward order. Even the numbers in the lists carry meaning.
In 1 Chronicles 27 we have more of the kingdom in its outward order… Twelve is the number devoted to perfection in human government — in government by man. In the Church, seven, because it is spiritual administration. In Israel, twelve — twelve tribes, not seven. So it is here in the coming kingdom. Only there is a double witness of it. It is twenty-four.
The verse names a leader for Levi, then a separate name for Aaron.
Aaron, the high priest, occupies a place apart in the tribe of Levi, and Zadok is the prince of the priesthood. He is "the one who shall walk before [the Lord's] Anointed" forever. He serves as priest not only during Solomon's reign, but also during Christ's thousand-year reign.
Aaron's place apart came with work no one else could touch. It still ran under David's direction.
The offerings on the altar of burnt offering, the altar of incense, the work of the most holy place, and the making of atonement for Israel — all this is the special work of Aaron. He has a prominence in Levi similar to David's in the tribe of Judah. No one could interfere with Aaron or his sons, or with their appointed work. But each branch of the tribe of Levi had to look to David for the detail of their service. And it was always according to all that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded.
Zadok's line and his name both say something.
He was a descendant of Aaron, Eleazar and Phinehas (1 Chronicles 6:50–53). His name comes from the verb "to justify," and his father was called Ahitub, which means "brother of goodness."
A promise about a faithful priest stands behind this name. It also shows what priesthood on its own could never do.
God would raise up for Himself a faithful priest to walk before His anointed — a second hint of the coming kingdom. Joshua had stood before Eleazar (Numbers 27:21). For that time the high priest had held the foremost place in Israel. This was to change. Even the "faithful priest" is to walk before the king. Priesthood has failed to maintain the link between God and His people. Now the king is to be the link, although he too will fail and pass. Only the "threefold cord" of prophet, priest, and king, as found in Christ, will not be broken… The "faithful priest" was raised up in Zadok, as the representative of the line of Phinehas and Eleazar. Eli was a descendant of Ithamar, Aaron's fourth son, and not of Eleazar. So Eleazar's line had for a time lost the high priesthood promised to Phinehas forever (Numbers 25:13).
A priest stands here among the king's officers. That marks a shift.
Here (1 Chronicles 6:49) we have them again, but only down to Zadok and Ahimaaz, to the time of David. That was the period when authority in the things of God passed from the priest to the king. David takes the place of supremacy that had belonged to the priest. The picture is then complete of the time when Christ the true King is present.
Two reasons hold Zadok's line in place for the future.
Zadok takes his place as the high priest, and we know this will be the line when the Lord Jesus comes to reign… They were faithful. But there is another reason too, which does not appear in the prophecy. They were the proper descendants. They were the direct descendants of Phinehas. Long before David, God had sworn in the wilderness that there should be an everlasting covenant with the priesthood and the family of Phinehas. If God remembers His promises, neither does He forget His covenant with man.
Follow one thread through the verse: order → a place apart → righteousness → subordination → permanence.
- Order. The chapter records the kingdom's outward order. Twelve is the number of government among the twelve tribes, and here it is doubled to twenty-four.
- A place apart. Aaron has his own name inside Levi. He holds a prominence in his tribe like David's in Judah, and no one else could touch his work.
- Righteousness. Zadok descends from Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas. His name comes from the verb "to justify."
- Subordination. He is the promised faithful priest, from Eleazar's line and not Eli's. Yet he walks before the anointed king, because authority in the things of God has passed from priest to king.
- Permanence. His line lasts for two reasons. They were faithful, and God had sworn an everlasting covenant with Phinehas. He has not forgotten it.
for Judah, Elihu of the brethren of David; for Issachar, Omri the son of Michael;
This verse is one line in a long register: the chief over Judah, David's own brother, and the chief over Issachar. Two questions sit behind the bare list — why does Judah stand first, and why keep names like these at all?
The list of tribal chiefs comes where the chapter sets out the kingdom's outward order. One writer marks that shift, and the number that shapes the list:
In 1 Chronicles 27 we have more the kingdom in its outward regulations… Twelve is the number devoted to perfection in human government — in government by man. In the Church, seven, because it is spiritual administration. In Israel, twelve — twelve tribes, not seven.
Judah opens the roll of tribes. One writer traces that first place to God's choice, not to anything good in Judah's own story:
Judah, from whom comes the Lawgiver, is presented first. But Judah is chosen by pure grace; his history teaches us this here. His wife, a Canaanite, gives him a first-born son, Er, whom the Lord put to death because of his wickedness… Even so, God gives Judah the first place. He does it because, according to His counsels, the Prince is to come from him.
Who was Elihu? One reference work gives little more than his family tie and a possible second name:
Elihu: brother of David, made ruler in Judah. Perhaps the same as Eliab.
That link is a possibility, not a certainty. If it holds, the man now set over Judah is the brother God passed over when He chose a king. One writer explains why:
Eliab's heart was separated from God. We see it in the next chapter (v. 28). He was a scoffer. He was the first to resent openly how divine grace was working in David. The flesh always does this, despite its religion. Yet the prophet Samuel was deceived by appearances. He thought Eliab was fit for the service of the Lord, the chosen ruler over His inheritance.
Omri son of Michael heads Issachar. One writer shows how far that tribe had come by David's day:
A great change in Issachar. In Jacob's prophecy he was only "a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds," but by now the men of Issachar had made progress. They were men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.
Another writer turns that same quality on readers today:
If we lack their discernment, let us remember this: to help us, God has given us the wisdom and counsel of fellow believers who understand what Israel ought to do — what is right today for the people of God! "All their kinsmen were under their command." May we be like them and listen to those whom the Lord has equipped to give counsel.
Read the full roll of chiefs and two tribes are absent. One writer ties the gap to the verses that follow, where David stops counting the people:
Gad and Asher are missing. Verses 23 and 24 appear to explain why they are left out… At the time of his failure, David's thought was to number Israel… After that he never does it again. His earlier action was an act of rebellion against the Lord, perhaps without his realising it. It was all the more serious because all his life he had been able to prove that his only safeguard was to trust in the Lord.
Lists of names like this can look like dead weight. One writer, commenting on a similar register, draws the opposite conclusion:
Any sacrifice made, or service done, for God's work and interests is not forgotten. Instead it stands on record before Him… Malachi tells us that in his day "a book of remembrance was written" before the Lord "of those who feared the LORD and esteemed His name." That book was not only for Malachi's day. It existed in Nehemiah's day, and exists in our day too. Let us not forget that!
- Named by grace. Judah heads the list of tribal chiefs by grace alone — the Prince was to come from him.
- Named after rejection. Elihu appears only as David's brother, and one reference work suggests, without insisting, that he is Eliab — the brother God refused as king.
- Named for discernment. Issachar, once pictured as a donkey crouching between the sheepfolds, now supplies a chief from a tribe that understood the times.
- Names left out. Gad and Asher are missing, and one writer links that gap to David's earlier failure in numbering the people.
- Names kept. God keeps every service done for Him on record, so a list of names is never dead weight.
for Zebulun, Jishmaiah the son of Obadiah; for Naphtali, Jerimoth the son of Azriel;
Two names in the middle of a long roll: Ishmaiah over Zebulun, Jeremoth over Naphtali. No deed of either man is recorded. So why does God keep such names, and set the tribes in such a careful order?
In these chapters David sets the whole kingdom in working order before his death. One writer traces the sequence:
In 1 Chronicles 23 David divides the Levites for their services. In 1 Chronicles 24 he divides the sons of Aaron into twenty-four groups, and in 1 Chronicles 25 the singers and musicians into the same number. In 1 Chronicles 26 he arranges the doorkeepers and other officials. Then in 1 Chronicles 27 we have the civil officers for every month, the heads of tribes, and the royal overseers, each in his own place.
Our verse sits among those heads of tribes. The chapter as a whole is about service to the king:
This chapter (verses 1-15) deals with the service of the king. As in all these lists, the number twelve and its factors keep appearing. It deals with the kingdom on earth, with the twelve tribes at its center.
We know Ishmaiah and Jeremoth only by a father's name and a tribe. Writing on a similar list in Numbers, one writer reads such rolls as a preview of a greater record:
And may we not say that this seventh chapter of Numbers is one of those sample pages from the book of eternity, on which the finger of God has engraved the names of His servants and the record of their work? Turn to 2 Samuel 23 and Romans 16, and you will find two similar pages. In the first are the names and the deeds of David's mighty men; in the second, the names and the deeds of Paul's friends at Rome. In both we see what we are sure is true of all the saints of God and the servants of Christ, from first to last. Each one has his own special place on the roll, and each one his place in the Master's heart; and all of it will come to light in due time.
One writer turns this into a motive, pointing to the coming of the Lord:
No name and no deed, even the smallest, will then be forgotten. What a motive this should be, above all in the serious days we live in, as we see the day drawing near! Let us serve Him and be as devoted to our absent but coming Lord as David's mighty men were to him.
Verse 19 is one link in a chain of pairs, and the chain itself is unusual. One commentator lays this list alongside every other tribal list in Scripture and notes what has moved:
Here again, the order in which the tribes are named differs from the other lists... Dan comes last, for the prophetic reason already mentioned about the millennial reign. Gad and Asher are missing. Verses 23 and 24 seem to explain why. There we see that at the time of his failure David meant to number Israel... This time he does not number the people, "for Jehovah had said He would increase Israel as the stars of heaven" (verse 23).
One writer weighs Zebulun's position and its record:
"Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea." That is, he trades with the Gentile world, which at that time marked a compromise of divine order. Yet, strange to say, when great crises came and the people of God were in real danger, Zebulun was one of the tribes that took a leading and brave part in defending divine principle... and fifty thousand of them came to David for battle, "expert in war, … which could keep rank, not of a double heart." (1 Chronicles 12:33.)
(The ESV renders that phrase "with singleness of purpose.")
These same two names later mark Galilee. One writer reads them for their meanings:
Galilee, the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, showed clearly the ruin into which the people of God had sunk. Zebulun, the dweller in relationship, as he should have been, had long fulfilled Jacob's prophecy... Now it was only "the way of the sea," as if swallowed up in its waters, while Naphtali, the struggler, sat struggling no more, in a darkness that was truly the "shadow of death." But the Saviour of sinners is not stopped by that, and there in the darkness was the very place for light to spring up. And now there had come to Zebulun a Dweller, in whom God Himself could dwell with man; and to Naphtali more than a struggler, a glorious Conqueror.
- Placed — David set every servant in order: Levites, priests, singers, doorkeepers, then civil officers and heads of tribes.
- Named — Ishmaiah and Jeremoth have no recorded deed, yet God wrote their names down. Such lists are sample pages from the book of eternity, where each servant has his own place on the roll.
- Ordered — This tribal list differs from every other, and Gad and Asher are missing. One commentator ties that to David's refusal to number the people again after his failure.
- Proved — Zebulun traded with the nations, yet fifty thousand of its men came to David undivided in heart.
- Dawned — In Zebulun and Naphtali the light later sprang up: a Dweller in whom God could dwell with man, and a Conqueror.
for the children of Ephraim, Hosea the son of Azaziah; for the half tribe of Manasseh, Joel the son of Pedaiah;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
for the half [tribe] of Manasseh in Gilead, Jiddo the son of Zechariah; for Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner;
1 Chronicles 27 closes David's great ordering of the kingdom, and verses 16–22 list one prince for each tribe. Verse 21 names two of them. Both names carry more weight than a simple list suggests.
The chapters just before this one set out the temple service. This one turns to running the nation.
The doorkeepers and other officials are arranged in 1 Chronicles 26. Then in 1 Chronicles 27 we have the civil officers for every month, the heads of the tribes, and the royal officials in their places.
Verse 21 gives Manasseh a second prince, because the tribe had been split in two.
Joseph, a picture of the rejected, suffering Son, has three princes: one for the tribe of Ephraim, and one for each of the half-tribes of Manasseh. Dan comes last, for a prophetic reason that looks on to the millennial reign.
The list is not complete. Gad and Asher have no prince at all. The reason offered lies in the next verses, where David stops short of counting the people.
Gad and Asher are missing. Verses 23 and 24 seem to explain why. There we see that at the time of his failure David meant to number Israel — not only the men of war, but all the people from the age of twenty years and under. After that he never numbers them again. His earlier act was, perhaps without his realizing it, an act of rebellion against the Lord. That was all the more serious, since all his life long he had been able to prove that his only safeguard was to trust in the Lord.
Gilead lay across the Jordan, outside the land itself. Manasseh alone held ground on both sides of the river.
Faith can take hold even of this present life, using this world without abusing it. These tribes are not completely condemned for choosing their portion in that way. The ideal, as seen in the millennium, was a portion on both sides of the river. Manasseh does have this: half the tribe in the land and the other half in Gilead. Yet their request raised questions with Moses, and later with the whole assembly. That shows the danger in such a position. So Moses demanded that they bear their full share of the fighting. They could take up their land east of the river only after the rest of Israel was settled.
The second name in the verse is the surprise. Benjamin was Saul's own tribe. The man set over it was the son of Saul's own army commander.
You know the story of "Abner the son of Ner, Saul's uncle" (1 Samuel 14:50). You remember he was the commander of Saul's army (2 Samuel 2:8), and he fought for Saul's family for some years after David became king. David seems always to have honoured and admired Abner. When Abner at last came to make peace, David received him and made him a feast. Joab was jealous of Abner, and at that time he murdered him in cold blood. It was partly for this deed that Joab was later put to death. David tells us what he thought of Abner when he said: "Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?"
The son of a murdered man could have been passed over. Instead his name stands in the roll of the kingdom's princes.
It is very refreshing, in view of this sad murder, to find that David made Jaasiel, Abner's son, ruler of the tribe of Benjamin. (1 Chronicles 27:21).
This appointment fits the pattern of David's whole reign. What he received from God set the rule for how he treated others.
Grace was shown towards David, and grace was also shown in David. It was the great rule of his life. It shaped his dealings with others, just as it had shaped God's dealings with him. Called to inherit blessing, he gives blessing... So when he is fully settled on the throne, he is still the man of grace and kindness. In that hour of glory he remembers those who had been his friends in his suffering and exile.
- Order — chapter 27 moves from temple duties to the kingdom's civil officers. Verse 21 sits in the list of tribal princes.
- Honour — Joseph's line gets three princes: Ephraim, and each half of Manasseh. Dan comes last.
- Omission — Gad and Asher have no prince. After his earlier sin, David would not number the people again.
- Place — half of Manasseh lived in Gilead, east of the Jordan. A portion on both sides of the river is the ideal picture.
- Grace — Benjamin's prince is Abner's son. The king who received grace gave grace, even to the family of a man who once fought against him.
for Dan, Azareel the son of Jeroham. These were the princes of the tribes of Israel.
This short verse names the chief of Dan and closes a long list of tribal leaders. Two questions stand out: why record these names at all, and why does the tribal order here differ from every other list in Scripture?
The chapters before this one arranged the service of God's house. Chapter 27 turns to the running of the kingdom, and its number is twelve, not seven.
In 1 Chronicles 27 we see more of the kingdom in its outward regulations… The number twenty-four stands out here, whether as an actual count or in thousands. Twelve is the number devoted to perfection in human government — in government by man. In the Church it is seven, because that is spiritual administration. In Israel it is twelve — twelve tribes, not seven. So it will be in the kingdom to come; only there it is a double witness. It is twenty-four… The Millennium will be the great establishment of the kingdom.
So these twelve princes belong to a kingdom picture that looks on to the Millennium.
Lists of the tribes appear many times in Scripture, and the order changes from list to list. One writer reads meaning into the order here.
Here again, the tribes come in a different order from the other lists. Aaron, the high priest, occupies a place apart in the tribe of Levi, and Zadok is the prince of the priesthood. He is the one who will walk before the LORD's Anointed forever. He holds the priesthood not only during Solomon's reign, but also during Christ's millennial reign. Joseph, who pictures the rejected and suffering Son, has three princes: one for the tribe of Ephraim, and one for each of the half-tribes of Manasseh. Dan comes last, and the reason is prophetic: it has to do with the millennial reign.
The same writer compares this list with the sealing of the tribes in Revelation.
In this prophetic and symbolic picture every distinction is wiped out, except that Judah takes first place. In Revelation the subject is God's government and Christ's millennial reign. Here we no longer find the half-tribes of Manasseh. Levi is sealed like the other tribes. Joseph replaces Ephraim. Dan is left out altogether. He falls under judgment, as Jacob's prophecy foretold; Dan represents the Antichrist and his people, and they cannot be sealed.
Yet Dan still has a prince here, still one of the twelve. Another writer follows both notes through Scripture: judgment on this tribe, and a place kept for it.
Scripture lists the tribes about eighteen times, and every list gives the full representative number of twelve. But Jacob had thirteen sons, so one or another is always left out… The list in Revelation leaves out Dan and Ephraim. Both tribes stood out for their link with idolatry in Israel, and that is the likely reason their names are blotted out there. But in the end grace triumphs. Dan is named first when the land is divided among the tribes in the future (Ezekiel 48:2). Yet though named first, Dan lies farthest from the temple, in the extreme north.
The list closes with a summary line, yet two tribes have no prince: Gad and Asher. One writer traces the gap back to David's failure in numbering Israel.
Gad and Asher are missing. Verses 23 and 24 seem to explain why. There we see what David wanted at the time of his failure. He wanted to number Israel — not only the men of war, but also everyone from twenty years old and under. Afterwards he does it no more. His earlier action was an act of rebellion against the Lord, perhaps without his realising it. It was all the more serious because all his life long he had been able to learn by experience that his only safeguard was to trust in the Lord. This time he does not number the people, because the LORD had said He would increase Israel as the stars of heaven (v. 23). He even sets Gad and Asher completely aside, just as Joab was once unwilling to number Levi and Benjamin.
The gap in the record marks a lesson learned. The king who once wanted numbers now leaves the count to God.
- Ordered. Chapter 27 sets out the kingdom in its outward regulations. Twelve rules the chapter — the number of government by man — doubled to twenty-four for a double witness.
- Headed. Every tribe has one prince, and the order points on to Christ's reign — Zadok over the priesthood, three princes for Joseph.
- Judged. Dan stands last for a prophetic reason. Its link with idolatry is the likely reason Revelation leaves it out of the sealing altogether.
- Kept. Even so, Dan has a prince here and an inheritance in Ezekiel 48 — last in honour, never lost from the twelve, because grace triumphs in the end.
- Trusted. One writer ties the absence of Gad and Asher to David's earlier sin in numbering Israel. The king who learned that his only safeguard was trust in the Lord stopped counting.