What does 1 Chronicles 11:42 mean?

This verse names one of the men in the roster of David's "mighty men," the elite warriors who fought alongside him and helped establish his kingdom. Adina, son of Shiza, is identified as a Reubenite—a descendant of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son—and is singled out as a leader among his tribal kinsmen, commanding a company of thirty men who served under him. The verse itself is brief and factual, simply recording his name, his father's name, his tribal identity, and the scope of his command.

The context is 1 Chronicles 11, which records the establishment of David's kingship over Israel and then catalogs the warriors who supported him, both during his years as a fugitive from Saul and after he became king. This list closely parallels the one in 2 Samuel 23, though Chronicles includes some additional names, likely drawing on official military or royal records available to the Chronicler. The Chronicler wrote after the Babylonian exile, addressing a community of returned exiles who needed to reconnect with their history and identity as the covenant people of God. By preserving these names, the Chronicler affirmed that Israel's restoration was rooted in its full national heritage—not just the tribe of Judah, from which David came, but also tribes like Reuben, which by this time had lost much of its former promin