Monday, 11 November 2019
What was the command structure in the army of Israel?
Abner (1 Samuel 14:50; 17:55; 26:5; 2 Samuel 2:8) is said to be commander of the army. Joab is said to be “over the army” (2 Samuel 8:16) and commander of the army (2 Samuel 20:23; 1 Kings 1:19; 1 Chronicles 27:34). Omri, likewise, was the commander of the army before he was made king (1 Kings 16:16). During the rebellion of Absalom, Joab, Abishai and Ittai were each commanders of one-third of the army (2 Samuel 18:2).
Likewise, there are many other examples where men are listed as in command of large numbers of troops (tens or hundreds of thousands), particularly those from individual tribes or other groupings like the Cherethites and Pelethites (2 Samuel 20:23).
But what about the organisation amongst smaller groups within the army?
Commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens are mentioned in Exodus 18:21 and 25.
In Numbers 31: 14; 48, the commanders of 1,000s and 100s are spoken of as the commanders of the army which may be the equivalent of commissioned officers now while those in charge of 50s and 10s may be the equivalent of non-commissioned officers.
I will assume that the same structure was still used in the time of Asa and Jehoshaphat.
In the time of Jehoiada the priest and king Joash, we read of the captains who were over the army (2 Kings 11:15; 2 Chronicles 23:14).
I will assume that the same structure was still used in the time of Asa and Jehoshaphat.
David was sent to take 10 cheeses to the commanders of his brothers’ thousand (1 Samuel 17:18). Later, David was himself made a commander of a thousand by Saul (1 Samuel 18:13).
David himself was captain of Saul’s bodyguard at one time (1 Samuel 22:14). This is probably a different position from when he became commander of a thousand. It is more likely to be similar to the position of leader over David’s 30/33/37 mighty men who had a commander or possibly two (2 Samuel 23:8, 18-19).
David also became captain over the 400 men who joined him when he was on the run from Saul (1 Samuel 22:2).
In the time of Solomon, we are told that foreigners were enslaved, but the the Israelites were used as soldiers, officials, commanders, captains, chariot commanders and horsemen. That gives a few titles to go on with!
But still I have the need for names/titles for various groups within the army. For writing the story I do not want to use special army terms like battalion, brigade, platoon, etc, so I will use words that are in more general use but can be applied here:
- squad: 10 men (including the leader)
- group: 5 squads plus a commander – total 51 men
- company: two groups with a company commander: total 103 men.
Later I will have to work with thousands, and for the moment, I think the best option is to have the thousand as a section that includes more administration support, etc. So
- thousand: 9 companies (927 men) plus a commander and staff (message carriers, armour-bearers, cooks, “young men”, weaponers, storesmen, etc.: total 1,000 men (approximately).
Tuesday, 12 November 2019
On first consideration, the chronology of the reign of Asa is a problem.
The numbers that are easy:
- Asa began to reign in the 20th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel (1 Kings 15:9). This fits with Rehoboam reigning for 17 years and Abijah/Abijam reigning for 3 years over Judah.
- Jeroboam reigned over Israel 22 years (1 Kings 14:20) and his son Nadab reigned 2 years, starting in the 2nd year of Asa king of Judah (1 Kings 15:25)
- Baasha killed Nadab and took over as king of Israel in the 3rd year of Asa (1 Kings 15:28, 33)
- Baasha reigned 24 years over Israel (1 Kings 15:33)
- In the days of Asa, the land had rest for 10 years (2 Chronicles 14:1)
- Asa was attacked by Zerah the Ethiopian with a million men and defeated him (2 Chronicles 14:9-12). God praised his faith and Asa responded with religious reforms in the 3rd month of the 15th year of his reign (2 Chronicles 15:8, 10).
- Elah, the son of Baasha (1 Kings 16:6) reigned for 2 years after Baasha, beginning in the 26th year of Asa (1 Kings 16:8)
- Zimri rebelled against Elah and killed him. He reigned 7 days in the the 27th year of Asa (1 Kings 16:9-10, 15)
- Omri was anointed king and attacked Zimri who committed suicide. There was a time of uncertainty where Israel had two leaders Tibni and Omri, but Omri triumphed and became king in his own right about 4 years later in the 31st year of Asa (1 Kings 16:15-18, 21-23).
- Omri reigned 12 years (1 Kings 16:23) but it seems to me likely that the 12 years included the time of uncertainty while he struggled with Tibni. If so, he would have continued to reign until about the 39th year of Asa.
- Ahab, the son of Omri became king in the 38th year of Asa (1 Kings 16:29) and reigned over Israel for 22 years. He may have reigned with his father for some time – possibly between 1 (see 1 Kings 16:15-16) and 5 years (see 1 Kings 16:23).
- Asa reigned 41 years (2 Chronicles16:13 and roughly by combining 1 Kings 16:29 and 1 Kings 22:41)
The complications
2 Chronicles 16:1 tells us that Baasha built Ramah to isolate Judah in the 36th year of the reign of Asa. Several of the numbers above do not fit with this since they place the death of Baasha in about the 26th year of Asa. The most reasonable (and common) explanation for this is that the word “reign” here refers not to the kingship of Asa, but to the kingdom over which Asa ruled, counting from the splitting of the kingdom after the death of Solomon. The nation of Judah has existed for 20 years when Asa became king, so the 36th year would mean the 15th or 16th year of Asa’s reign.
So, does this seem reasonable? It is apparently the standard explanation accepted by Jewish scholars (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_of_Judah#Rabbanic_Literature). I am no Hebrew scholar, but it is interesting that the word used for “reign” in 2 Chronicles 15:19 and 16:1 is “malkuwth” (Strongs 4438) which is mostly translated “kingdom” rather than “reign” (eg. 1 Kings 2:12; 1 Chronicles 12:23; 14:2; 17:11 & 14; 2 Chronicles 11:17; 33:13). Where the word clearly means reign, another word is often used (“malak” (Strongs 4427) – see 1 Kings 15:9, 10, 24, 25, 28 and 33 as examples).
However, this word distinction is not universal, even in Asa’s reign. If we look at the use of the word “reign” in that period, we see the following:
- 1 Kings 15:9 Asa began to reign (“malak”)
- 1 Kings 15:10 he reigned (“malak”) 41 years
- The other references to events during the reign of Asa in 1 Kings 15 and 16 use the expression “in the xth year of Asa”. Other uses of the word “reign” in that time referring to other kings reigning all the use “malak”.
- 2 Chronicles 14:1 Asa reigned (“malak”) instead of Abijah
- 2 Chronicles 15:10 3rd month of 15th year of Asa’s reign (“malkuwth”)
- 2 Chronicles 15:19 no more war until the 35th year of Asa’s reign (“malkuwth”)
- 2 Chronicles 16:1 in the 36th year of the reign (“malkuwth”) of Asa
- 2 Chronicles 16:12 in the 39th year of his reign (“malkuwth”)
- 2 Chronicles 16:13 dying in the 41st year of his reign (“malak”)
- 2 Chronicles 17:1 Jehoshaphat reigned (“malak”) his place
Of these references, the ones that raise questions are all those where the word “malkuwth” is used, yet we cannot say that all such uses must refer to a time since the establishment of Judah, because the 15th year (2 Chronicles 15:10) of the kingdom of Judah was in the time of Rehoboam, at least 5 years before the time of Asa.
All in all, it is a puzzle and I cannot come up with a consistent method of interpretation. I feel that the most likely meaning of the dates in Chronicles above is:
- 2 Chronicles 15:10 Attack by Ethiopians followed by religious reforms in the 3rd month of 15th year of Asa’s reign (“malkuwth”)
- 2 Chronicles 15:19 no more war until the 35th year of the kingdom of Judah (the 15th year of Asa’s reign). This is in a section that is a summary of Asa’s reign. His reign included a period of 10 years of peace for the land (2 Chronicles 14:1) and the attack by the Ethiopians may have ended that 10 years of peace that would have thus started in the 5th year of his reign, about two years after Baasha became king over Israel.
- 2 Chronicles 16:1 in the 36th year of the kingdom of Judah (the 16th of the reign of Asa, Baasha started causing trouble again.
- 2 Chronicles 16:12 in the 39th year of his reign he became diseased in his feet. There seems to be too much praise of Asa for him to have spent more than half of his reign ignoring God in his suffering. Despite the fact that this is just one verse away from the next date which uses the other word, I will assume that both refer to the reign of Asa, not the time since the establishment of the kingdom of Judah.
- 2 Chronicles 16:13 Asa died in the 41st year of his reign.
