How many fighting men did Joab count?

Difficult Passages · Numbers in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles

How many fighting men did Joab count?

Chronicles adds the king’s standing army to Israel’s count, and Samuel adds the companies under David’s mighty men to Judah’s.

The Passages

2 Samuel 24:9

9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

1 Chronicles 21:5-6

5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword. 6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

1 Now the children of Israel after their number, to wit, the chief fathers and captains of thousands and hundreds, and their officers that served the king in any matter of the courses, which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year, of every course were twenty and four thousand.

2 Samuel 23:8-39

8 These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time. 9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away: 10 He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil. 11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory. 13 And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim. 14 And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! 16 And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. 17 And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. Read all of 2 Samuel 23:8-39

The Difficulty

Second Samuel: “there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men” (2 Samuel 24:9). First Chronicles: “all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men” (1 Chronicles 21:5). Israel differs by 300,000 and Judah by 30,000.

The Answer

The count was never finished or entered in the king’s records: “Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number, but he finished not … neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of king David” (1 Chronicles 27:24), and “Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them” (21:6). The two books give the totals reckoned on different terms.

Israel: David’s standing army served in twelve monthly courses “of every course … twenty and four thousand” (1 Chronicles 27:1), that is, 288,000, with their officers, about 300,000. Samuel counts the men of the land; Chronicles counts them with the army already under arms: 800,000 + 300,000 = 1,100,000. Gill gives this from a Jewish writer as “the best solution of the difficulty.”

Judah: Samuel’s 500,000 includes the thirty companies of a thousand under the captains of David’s mighty men (2 Samuel 23), whom Chronicles leaves out: 470,000 + 30,000. Or Samuel gives the round number. Gill gives both.

Sources

John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament, vol. 2 (1764), p. 622, on 2 Samuel 24:9

Here the number of the people in the several parts of the land of Israel was given, which were 800,000, there along with them, the numbers of the standing army which waited on the king in their courses, which were 24,000 every month, and amounted in the 12 months to 288,000.

Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the first edition, 2026-10-23
John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament, vol. 2 (1764), p. 622, on 2 Samuel 24:9

In 1 Chron. xxi. 5. they are said to be only 470,000, 30,000 less than here; which may be accounted for by making use of a round number, though something wanting, as is often done; or else the 30 companies, consisting of 1000 each, under the 30 captains mentioned in the preceding chapter, are taken into the account here, but left out in the book of Chronicles.

Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the first edition, 2026-10-23 (the Bible Study Tools text reads “eighty captains”)