📖WEB · 1 Chronicles 7:5
What does 1 Chronicles 7:5 mean?
"Their brothers among all the families of Issachar, mighty men of valor, listed in all by genealogy, were eighty-seven thousand."
— 1 Chronicles 7:5 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers’ houses, of Tola; mighty men of valor in their generations. Their number in the days of David was twenty-two thousand six hundred.
The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, five; all of them chief men.
With them, by their generations, after their fathers’ houses, were bands of the army for war, thirty-six thousand; for they had many wives and sons.
Their brothers among all the families of Issachar, mighty men of valor, listed in all by genealogy, were eighty-seven thousand.
The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael, three.
The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers’ houses, mighty men of valor; and they were listed by genealogy twenty-two thousand thirty-four.
The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher.
Explanation
1 Chronicles 7:5 concludes a short genealogical record of the tribe of Issachar, one of the twelve tribes of Israel descended from Jacob's son Issachar. The verse simply states that when all the families and relatives of Issachar were counted according to their genealogical registers, the total number of "mighty men of valor" — meaning able-bodied fighting men — came to eighty-seven thousand. This is a summary statement, tallying up the military manpower of this one tribe based on the family lines listed just before it in verses 1-4.
To understand this verse, it helps to know the purpose of 1 Chronicles as a whole. Traditionally attributed to Ezra or a group of scribes working after the Babylonian exile, Chronicles was written for the Jewish community that had returned to the land of Judah, likely in the fifth or fourth century BC. After decades in exile, the returning Israelites needed to reconnect with their national and religious identity, and part of that process involved re-establishing who belonged to which tribe and family line. The opening nine chapters of 1 Chronicles are devoted almost entirely to genealogies, tracing the lineages of all twelve tribes from Adam onward. These lists were not filler; they served as a kind of national record, reaffirming that despite the trauma of exile, God had preserved the covenant people and their tribal structure intact.
Theologically, this verse and its surrounding genealogy testify to God's faithfulness in preserving Israel as a numerous, identifiable people, fulfilling the promises made to the pat
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