David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.
We have here an account, I. Of the princes of the tribes. Something of the ancient order instituted by Moses in the wilderness was still kept up, that every tribe should have its prince or chief. It is probable that it was kept up all along, either by election or by succession, in the same family; and those are here named who were found in...
Commenting on 1 Chronicles 27:16-34
But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under,.... Only those that were twenty years and upwards; but, according to Cornelius Bertram (k), he numbered them that were under twenty, though but sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, or nineteen years of age, provided they were of robust bodies, and of a tall stature, and able to bear arms; which he takes to...
But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under--The census which David ordered did not extend to all the Israelites; for to contemplate such an enumeration would have been to attempt an impossibility (Gen 28:14), and besides would have been a daring offense to God.