📖WEB · 1 Chronicles 12:31
What does 1 Chronicles 12:31 mean?
"Of the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were mentioned by name, to come and make David king."
— 1 Chronicles 12:31 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
and Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father’s house twenty-two captains.
Of the children of Benjamin, Saul’s relatives, three thousand: for until then, the greatest part of them had kept their allegiance to Saul’s house.
Of the children of Ephraim twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers’ houses.
Of the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were mentioned by name, to come and make David king.
Of the children of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their heads were two hundred; and all their brothers were at their command.
Of Zebulun, such as were able to go out in the army, who could set the battle in array, with all kinds of instruments of war, fifty thousand, and who could command and were not of double heart.
Of Naphtali one thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty-seven thousand.
Explanation
First Chronicles 12:31 is part of a long list describing the tribal contingents that gathered to support David when he was made king over all Israel, first at Ziklag while he was still fleeing Saul, and then more fully at Hebron after Saul's death. In plain terms, this verse simply notes that eighteen thousand men from the half-tribe of Manasseh came to David, and that these men were "mentioned by name" — meaning they were not an anonymous mass but a recorded, identifiable group of individuals who committed themselves to David's cause.
The book of 1 Chronicles was written after the Babylonian exile, likely by a priestly or Levitical author (traditionally associated with Ezra), for a community of Jews returning to
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