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Selected Verse: 1 Chronicles 24:4 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
1Ch 24:4	King James	And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
there were more chief men found--The Hebrew may be translated, "There were more men as to heads of the sons of Eleazar." It is true, in point of fact, that by the census the number of individuals belonging to the family of Eleazar was found greater than in that of Ithamar. And this, of necessity, led to there being more fathers' houses, and consequently more chiefs or presidents in the former.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

there were more chief men found--The Hebrew may be translated, "There were more men as to heads of the sons of Eleazar." It is true, in point of fact, that by the census the number of individuals belonging to the family of Eleazar was found greater than in that of Ithamar. And this, of necessity, led to there being more fathers' houses, and consequently more chiefs or presidents in the former.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
As the sons of Eleazar proved to be more numerous in respect of the heads of the men than the sons of Ithamar, they (David, Zadok, and Ahimelech) divided them thus: "For the sons of Eleazar, heads of fathers'-houses, sixteen; and for the sons of Ithamar, (heads) of fathers'-houses, eight." הגּברים לראשׁי means neither in respect to the number of the men by the head (cf. Ch1 23:3), nor with respect to the chiefs of the men, divided according to their fathers'-houses (Berth.). The supplying of the words, "divided according to their fathers'-houses," is perfectly arbitrary. The expression הגּברים ראשׁי is rather to be explained by the fact that, according to the natural articulations of the people, the fathers'-houses, i.e., the groups of related families comprehended under the name בּית־אבות, divided themselves further into individual households, whose heads were called גּברים, as is clear from Jos 7:16-18, because each household had in the man, הגּבר, its natural head. הגּברים ראשׁי are therefore the heads, not of the fathers'-houses, but of the individual households, considered in their relation to the men as heads of households. Just as בּית־אב sa tsuJ .s is a technical designation of the larger groups of households into which the great families fell, so הגּבר is the technical expression for the individual households into which the fathers'-houses fell.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

As the sons of Eleazar proved to be more numerous in respect of the heads of the men than the sons of Ithamar, they (David, Zadok, and Ahimelech) divided them thus: "For the sons of Eleazar, heads of fathers'-houses, sixteen; and for the sons of Ithamar, (heads) of fathers'-houses, eight." הגּברים לראשׁי means neither in respect to the number of the men by the head (cf. Ch1 23:3), nor with respect to the chiefs of the men, divided according to their fathers'-houses (Berth.). The supplying of the words, "divided according to their fathers'-houses," is perfectly arbitrary. The expression הגּברים ראשׁי is rather to be explained by the fact that, according to the natural articulations of the people, the fathers'-houses, i.e., the groups of related families comprehended under the name בּית־אבות, divided themselves further into individual households, whose heads were called גּברים, as is clear from Jos 7:16-18, because each household had in the man, הגּבר, its natural head. הגּברים ראשׁי are therefore the heads, not of the fathers'-houses, but of the individual households, considered in their relation to the men as heads of households. Just as בּית־אב sa tsuJ .s is a technical designation of the larger groups of households into which the great families fell, so הגּבר is the technical expression for the individual households into which the fathers'-houses fell.

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