| Barnes' Notes on the Bible Whose number was in the days of David ... - The writer would seem by this passage to have had access to the statistics of the tribes collected by David, when he sinfully "numbered the people" (marginal reference). The numbers given in 1 Chronicles 7:4-5 probably came from the same source.
Clarke's Commentary on the BibleWhose number was in the days of David - Whether this was the number returned by Joab and his assistants, when they made that census of the people with which God was so much displeased, we know not. It is worthy of remark that we read here the sum of three tribes, Benjamin, Issachar, and Asher, under the reign of David, which is mentioned nowhere else; and yet we have no account here of the other tribes, probably because the author found no public registers in which such enumeration was recorded.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd the sons of Tola,.... The eldest son of Issachar, whose posterity are only reckoned by name: Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father's house, to wit, of Tola; the principal man of his family: they were valiant men of might in their generations, famous for their courage and military exploits, though they sprang from Tola, whose name signifies "a worm"; and which name Bochart (k) conjectures was given him by his parents, because he was so weakly that they had no hopes of raising him; and yet from him sprung such mighty men, and from them such a numerous race, as follows: whose number was, in the days of David, two and twenty thousand and six hundred; besides those of the posterity of Uzzi, after mentioned. This was at the time Joab took the number of Israel, by the order of David, 1 Chronicles 21:5. (k) Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 21. col. 630.
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old TestamentThe six sons of Tola are not elsewhere met with in the Old Testament. They were "heads of their fathers'-houses of Tola." לתולע after אבותם לבית (with the suffix) is somewhat peculiar; the meaning can only be, "of their fathers'-houses which are descended from Tola." It is also surprising, or rather not permissible, that לתולדותם should be connected with חיל גּבּורי. לתולדותם belongs to the following: "(registered) according to their births, they numbered in the days of David 22,600." The suffixes ם- do not refer to ראשׁים, but to the בּית־אבות, the fathers'-houses, the males in which amounted to 22,600 souls. As David caused the people to be numbered by Joab (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21:1), this statement probably rests on the results of that census.
Geneva Study BibleAnd the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father's house, to wit, of Tola: they were valiant men of might in their generations; {b} whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred. (b) That is, their number was found to be this big when David counted the people, 2Sa 24:1.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary2. whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred-Although a census was taken in the reign of David by order of that monarch, it is not certain that the sacred historian had it in mind, since we find here the tribe of Benjamin enumerated [1Ch 7:6-12], which was not taken in David's time; and there are other points of dissimilarity.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary7:1-40 Genealogies. - Here is no account either of Zebulun or Dan. We can assign no reason why they only should be omitted; but it is the disgrace of the tribe of Dan, that idolatry began in that colony which fixed in Laish, and called it Dan, Jud 18 and there one of the golden calves was set up by Jeroboam. Dan is omitted, Re 7. Men become abominable when they forsake the worship of the true God, for any creature object.
Matthew Henry's Whole Bible CommentaryChapter 7 In this chapter we have some account of the genealogies, I. Of Issachar (v. 1-5). II. Of Benjamin (v. 6-12). III. Of Naphtali (v. 13). IV. Of Manasseh (v. 14-19). V. Of Ephraim (v. 20-29). VI. Of Asher (v. 30-40). Here is no account either of Zebulun or Dan. Why they only should be omitted we can assign no reason; only it is the disgrace of the tribe of Dan that idolatry began in that colony of the Danites which fixed in Laish, and called Dan, and there one of the golden calves was set up by Jeroboam. Dan is omitted, Rev. 7. Verses 1-19 We have here a short view given us, I. Of the tribe of Issachar, whom Jacob had compared to a strong ass, couching between two burdens (Gen. 49:14), an industrious tribe, that minded their country business very closely and rejoiced in their tents, Deu. 33:18. And here it appears, 1. That they were a numerous tribe; for they had many wives. So fruitful their country was that they saw no danger of over-stocking the pasture, and so ingenious the people were that they could find work for all hands. Let no people complain of their numbers, provided they suffer none to be idle. 2. That they were a valiant tribe, men of might (v. 2, 5), chief men, v. 3. Those that were inured to labour and business were of all men the fittest to serve their country when there was occasion, The number of the respective families, as taken in the days of David, is here set down, amounting in the whole to above 145,000 men fit for war. The account, some think, was taken when Joab numbered the people, 2 Sa. 24. But I rather think it refers to some other computation that was made, perhaps among themselves, because it is said (1 Chr. 27:24) that that account was not inserted in the chronicles of king David, it having offended God. II. Of the tribe of Benjamin. Some account is here given of this tribe, but much larger in the next chapter. The militia of this tribe scarcely reached to 60,000; but they are said to be mighty men of valour, v. 7, 9, 11. Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf, Gen. 49:27. It was the honour of this tribe that it produced Saul the first king, and more its honour that it adhered to the rightful kings of the house of David when the other tribes revolted. Here is mention (v. 12) of Hushim the sons of Aher. The sons of Dan are said to be Hushim (Gen. 46:23), and therefore some read Aher appellatively, Hushim-the sons of another (that is, another of Jacob's sons) or the sons of a stranger, which Israelites should not be, but such the Danites were when they set up Micah's graven and molten image among them. III. Of the tribe of Naphtali, v. 13. The first fathers only of that tribe are named, the very same that we shall find, Gen. 46:24, only that Shillem there is Shallum here. None of their descendents are named, perhaps because their genealogies were lost. IV. Of the tribe of Manasseh, that part of it which was seated within Jordan; for of the other part we had some account before, ch. 5:23, etc. Of this tribe observe, 1. That one of them married an Aramitess, that is, a Syrian, v. 14. This was during their bondage in Egypt, so early did they begin to mingle with the nations. 2. That, though the father married a Syrian, Machir, the son of that marriage, perhaps seeing the inconvenience of it in his father's house, took to wife a daughter of Benjamin, v. 15. It is good for the children to take warning by their father's mistakes and not stumble at the same stone. 3. Here is mention of Bedan (v, 17), who perhaps is the same with that Bedan who is mentioned as one of Israel's deliverers, 1 Sa. 12:11. Jair perhaps, who was of Manasseh (Jdg. 10:3), was the man. | 
