1 Chronicles 12:6

Elkanah, and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korhites,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) Five members of the Levitical clan Korah. The name “Elkanah” occurs thrice in the lineage of Heman, the Korhite musician (1Chronicles 6:33 ff.), and in that of Samuel (1Chronicles 6:22 ff.).

Jesiah.—Heb., Yishshiyāhû; “Jahu is ray possession.” (Comp. Psalm 16:5.)

Azareel is a priestly name. (See Nehemiah 11:13.) There must have been Levites about the Tabernacle at Gibeon. But these Korhites may have been members of the Judean clan Korah, mentioned in 1Chronicles 2:43, but otherwise unknown.

Jashobeam occurred as chief of the Three Heroes (1Chronicles 11:11).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:1-22 Here is an account of those who appeared and acted as David's friends, while he was persecuted. No difficulties or dangers should keep the sinner from coming to the Savior, nor drive the believer from the path of duty. Those who break through, and overcome in these attempts, will find abundant recompence. From the words of Amasai we may learn how to testify our affection and allegiance to the Lord Jesus; his we must be throughly; on his side we must be forward to appear and act. If we are under the influence of the Spirit, we shall desire to have our lot among them, and to declare ourselves on their side; if in faith and love we embrace the cause of Christ, he will receive, employ, and advance us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The skill of the Benjamites as archers is noted in 1 Chronicles 8:40, and 2 Chronicles 14:8. Their proficiency in using the left hand appears in the narrative of Judges (Judges 3:15, and marginal reference) where their special excellency as slingers is also noticed.

Even of Saul's brethren - Compare 1 Chronicles 12:29. Even of Saul's own tribe there were some who separated themselves from his cause, and threw in their lot with David.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. Ismaiah the Gibeonite—It appears that not only the Canaanites who were admitted into the congregation (Jos 9:1-27), but people of the tribe of Benjamin, were among the inhabitants of Gibeon. The mention of "the Gederathite," probably from Gederah (Jos 15:36), in the lowlands of Judah; of the Korhites (1Ch 12:6), from Korah (1Ch 2:43), and of Gedor (1Ch 12:7), a town in Judah, to the southwest of Beth-lehem (compare 1Ch 4:4), shows that this first list contains men of Judah as well as Benjamin [Bertheau].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Elkanah, and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korhites. Not Korahites, descendants of Levi, 1 Chronicles 9:19, but the posterity of Korah a Benjaminite.

Geneva Study Bible

Elkanah, and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korhites,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. the Korhites] R.V. the Korahites. Probably not the Levitic but the Calebitic sons of Korah (1 Chronicles 2:43), who belonged to Judah, are meant.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - Jashobeam. Possibly the same with him of 1 Chronicles 11:11; 1 Chronicles 27:2. Korhites. Some authorities are as positive that this name designates Levitic Korahites, as others are sceptical about it. Bertheau explains the name as meaning descendants of Korah of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:43). Others surmise that a Benjamite Korah, otherwise unknown to us, is pointed to. There does not seem any intrinsic difficulty in supposing that these were some of the Levite Korahites, whose proper and allotted abode was in Benjamin, or perhaps in Judah. 1 Chronicles 12:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

החרוּפי (Keri החריפי) is a patronymic, which denotes either one descended from Haruph, or belonging to the חריף בּני mentioned in Nehemiah 7:34 along with the Gibeonites. The קרחים, Korahites, in 1 Chronicles 12:6 are, without doubt (cf. Delitzsch, Ps. S. 300), descendants of the Levite Korah, one division of whom David made guardian of the thresholds of the tent erected for the ark of the covenant on Zion, because their fathers had been watchers of the entrance of the camp of Jahve, i.e., had in that earlier time held the office of watchers by the tabernacle; see on 1 Chronicles 9:18. The names Elkanah and Azareel are thoroughly Levitic names, and their service in the porter's office in the holy place may have roused in them the desire to fight for David, the chosen of the Lord. But there is no reason why we should, with Bertheau, interpret the words as denoting descendants of the almost unknown Korah of the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:43), or, with the older commentators, refer it to some other unmentioned Benjamite who bore this name. The explanation of the connection existing between these Levitic Korahites and the Benjamites, which is presupposed by the mention of them among the Benjamites, may be found in the fact that the Levites received no tribal domain of their own, and possessed only cities for dwelling in in the domains of the other tribes, with whom they were consequently civilly incorporated, so that those who dwelt in the cities of Benjamin were properly reckoned among the Benjamites. At the partition of the land under Joshua, it is true, only the priests received their cities in Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin; while, on the contrary, the Kohathites, who were not priests, among whom the Korahites were, received their cities in the tribal domain of Ephraim, Dan, and half-Manasseh (Joshua 21:9-26). But when the tabernacle was transferred from Shiloh to Nob, and afterwards to Gibeon, the Korahite doorkeepers must, without doubt, have migrated to one of the Levitic cities of Benjamin, probably for the most part to Gibeon, and who were reckoned among the Benjamites. As to הגּדור מן, vide 1 Chronicles 12:4. If this be so, there remains no cogent reason for supposing that in our register, besides the Benjamites, men out of other tribes are also introduced. With that there falls away at once Bertheau's further conclusion, that the author of the Chronicle has considerably abridged the register, and that from 1 Chronicles 12:4 onwards men of Judah also are named, the list of whom must certainly (?) have been originally introduced by special superscription similar to those in 1 Chronicles 12:8, 1 Chronicles 12:16, 1 Chronicles 12:19. His further reason for his conjecture - namely, that our register makes use of the qualificative epithets, "the Gibeathite," "the Anathothite," etc., only in a few special cases-is of no force whatever; for we are not justified in assuming that we may expect to find here, as in the register in 1 Chronicles 11:26-47, such qualificatives after every individual name. The character of our register cannot be arrived at by a comparison with the list of David's heroes in 1 Chronicles 11; it should rather be sought for by comparing it with the succeeding list, whose contents are of a similar kind with its own. David's chosen corps of thirty heroes was much more important for the history of his reign, than the lists of the men who joined themselves to him and fought on his behalf before he ascended the throne. For that reason the thirty heroes are not only mentioned by name, but their descent also is told us, while that more detailed information is not given with regard to the others just mentioned. Only the names of the Gadites and Manassites are mentioned; of the Benjamites and men of Judah, who came to him in the mountain fastness (1 Chronicles 12:16-18), the name of only one, Amasai, is given; while of the Benjamites who came to Ziklag, 1 Chronicles 12:3-7, such qualificative statements are made in reference to only a few individuals, and in these cases the object probably was to distinguish them from other well-known persons of the same name.