Now the children of Israel. — This first verse is the heading or superscription of the list which follows.
After their number. — The stress lies on this phrase. It refers to the twelve courses of twenty-four thousand warriors each.
Chief fathers. — Heads of the clans.
Captains of thousands and hundreds. — See 1 Chronicles 13:1.
Their officers. — Scribes, who kept the muster-rolls, and did the work of recruiting sergeants.
The courses. — Here, military divisions, corps d’armée. The same Hebrew term (mahlĕqôth) was used of the Levitical classes in the preceding Chapter s.
Which came in and went out. — Scil. The class or corps which came in and went out. Render: That which came in and went out every month, for all the months of the year, i.e., the single corps, was twenty and four thousand. As regards construction, the whole verse, from “the chief fathers” to “of every course,” is a long apposition to “the children of Israel.”
Came in and went out month by month. — Every month, the division whose turn it was stood under arms, as a sort of national guard, ready for immediate service.