1 Chronicles 7:4-5 -

The meaning of these verses, especially of the former of them, is not quite evident. This seems to say that as the Tolaites were in David's time twenty-two thousand six hundred, so the Uzzites taken from among them numbered thirty-six thousand additional. But were not the Uzzites included in the Tolaites? and did not the figure thirty-six thousand embrace the accumulated numbers, whilst the balance of fifty-one thousand necessary to make up the eighty-seven thousand of 1 Chronicles 7:5 , was drawn from all the other branches of the Issachar tribe? This is not the view, however, generally taken, and if the numbers of 1 Chronicles 7:2 and 1 Chronicles 7:4 are distinct, the balance needful for 1 Chronicles 7:5 will, of course, be twenty-eight thousand four hundred. It cannot be denied that this view is favoured by the special description applied to these Uzzites, or Izrahiahites, as bands of soldiers for war; their disposition and their training constituting possibly the reason of their being singled out for further description from among the sons of Tola. The statement of the total number of the tribe of Issachar in David's time is wonderfully corroborated by the two censuses of Moses — Numbers 1:28 , Numbers 1:29 , fifty-four thousand four hundred; and Numbers 26:23-25 , sixty-four thousand three hundred. The total of Issachar, four score and seven thousand , is a good proportion of the aggregate total of all the tribes, given ( 2 Samuel 24:8 , 2 Samuel 24:9 ) as eight hundred thousand. Grove, however, adds all the above numbers, and makes thereby Issachar's total one hundred and forty-five thousand six hundred, which seems disfavoured by the numbers at the second census of Moses. At the time of this census Issachar came third of all the tribes, only Judah and Dan taking precedence. The bands of soldiers for war . This expression culminates in the word ( גְדוּדִים ) "bands," which is applied ( Genesis 49:19 ) to Gad, and almost invariably to the irregular but special bodies of fighting men of the nations round (Authorized Version, 1 Chronicles 12:23 is incorrect, the Hebrew word being different). The examples are too numerous to quote, but some of the more important instances are 2 Kings 6:23 ; 2 Kings 13:20 ; 2 Kings 24:2 ; Hosea 6:9 ; Hosea 7:1 .