The Muster Roll of a Fruitful Army Text: 1 Chronicles 7:1-5
Introduction: The Skeleton of History
We come this morning to a passage that causes the modern reader to glaze over. It is a genealogy. For many, the genealogies of Scripture are like the terms and conditions of a software update, something to be scrolled past as quickly as possible to get to the "I agree" button. They seem to be little more than dry, dusty lists of unpronounceable names. But this is a profound mistake. These lists are not filler. They are not God clearing His throat. These genealogies are the skeleton of history upon which the entire body of redemptive truth is built. They are the receipts of God's covenant promises. They are the proof that God works in time, in space, with real families, in real history.
The Chronicler, writing to a post-exilic community, is reminding Israel of who they are. They had been nearly wiped out, their temple destroyed, their land occupied. They were tempted to believe that God's promises had failed. And so the Chronicler begins his work with nine chapters of genealogies. He is laying the foundation. He is saying, "Look. God has not forgotten. Here are the receipts. Here is the unbroken line from Adam. Here is the line of Judah, from whom the king will come. And here are the other tribes, your brothers." These lists are a bulwark against despair. They are a declaration that God keeps His covenant through generations.
Our text today focuses on the tribe of Issachar. And what we find here is not just a list of names, but a snapshot of a thriving, fruitful, and formidable people. This is a muster roll. This is a census for war. And in this, we are taught a crucial lesson about the nature of the Christian life. We are not called to be a debating society, but an army. We are not called to a quiet, private spirituality, but to a generational, covenantal faithfulness that produces mighty men of valor, ready for war. The world scoffs at fruitfulness, at large families, at patriarchal order. But as we see in Issachar, this is precisely God's ordained method for building His kingdom. Let us not be embarrassed by it. Let us learn from it.
The Text
Now the sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. The sons of Tola were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam and Samuel, heads of their fathers’ households. The sons of Tola were mighty men of valor in their generations; their number in the days of David was 22,600. The son of Uzzi was Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, Isshiah; all five of them were chief men. With them by their generations according to their fathers’ households were 36,000 troops of the army for war, for they had many wives and sons. Their relatives among all the families of Issachar were mighty men of valor, recorded by genealogy, in all 87,000.
(1 Chronicles 7:1-5 LSB)
Covenant Heads and Households (v. 1-2a)
We begin with the foundational structure of the tribe.
"Now the sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. The sons of Tola were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam and Samuel, heads of their fathers’ households." (1 Chronicles 7:1-2a)
The first thing to notice is how God counts. He counts by family, by household. The entire structure of society in Scripture is patriarchal. The fundamental unit is not the individual, but the family under its covenant head. The sons of Issachar are named, and then the sons of Tola are named, and they are identified as "heads of their fathers' households." This is the divinely ordained pattern of authority and representation. The health of a nation, and the health of the church, is directly tied to the health of its households.
Our modern world despises this structure. It seeks to atomize society into a collection of autonomous individuals, each a law unto himself. The state then gladly steps into the vacuum created by the collapse of the family, becoming the great father and mother to all. But God's way is different. He builds His kingdom through the multiplication of faithful households, generation after generation. When men lead their homes in righteousness, when they catechize their children and govern their affairs with wisdom, the nation is strong. When they abdicate this responsibility, the nation rots from the inside out.
The Chronicler is reminding the returned exiles of this very thing. Their task was not to reinvent society based on some new progressive idea, but to rebuild according to the ancient pattern God had given them. And our task is the same. We are to build and defend the Christian household as the central institution of the kingdom.
Mighty Men in Their Generations (v. 2b)
Next, we see the character and strength that this godly order produces.
"The sons of Tola were mighty men of valor in their generations; their number in the days of David was 22,600." (1 Chronicles 7:2b LSB)
The result of this household structure was not a society of effeminate weaklings. It produced "mighty men of valor." The Hebrew here is gibborim chayil. This is a term that combines martial prowess with substance, character, and standing. These are not mere thugs; they are men of consequence, men of courage, men fit for leadership and for war. This is the goal of biblical masculinity. It is not about bluster or machismo, but about strength under authority, courage rooted in conviction, and a readiness to defend the good, the true, and the beautiful.
Notice that they were mighty men "in their generations." This valor was not a one-time fluke. It was a legacy, passed down from father to son. Faithfulness is generational. Courage is taught, modeled, and inherited. This is the principle of covenant succession. We are to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, expecting them to take up the faith of their fathers and to be more valiant for the truth than we were.
And their number was not insignificant. From just one grandson of Issachar, Tola, came 22,600 fighting men in the time of David. God's covenant promise to Abraham was to make his descendants as numerous as the stars, and here we see the partial fulfillment of that promise. God blesses obedience with fruitfulness. This is a truth our civilization has forgotten to its own demographic peril.
Chief Men and a Fruitful Army (v. 3-4)
The account continues, drilling down another generation and expanding on their strength.
"The son of Uzzi was Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, Isshiah; all five of them were chief men. With them by their generations according to their fathers’ households were 36,000 troops of the army for war, for they had many wives and sons." (1 Chronicles 7:3-4 LSB)
Here we see leadership multiplying. The five sons of Izrahiah were all "chief men." Leadership begets leadership. A faithful patriarch raises up sons who are themselves fit to lead. This is the biblical pattern of discipleship. It is not primarily a classroom exercise, but a life-on-life impartation of wisdom and character within the household.
And then we come to the engine of their growth, the reason for this formidable army. The reason they had 36,000 troops for war was simple: "for they had many wives and sons." Now, we must handle this carefully. The Chronicler is stating a historical and sociological fact. Under the Old Covenant, polygamy was tolerated by God, though it was never His ideal, which was established in Genesis 2. But the underlying principle is what we must grasp. They were fruitful. They embraced children as a blessing from the Lord. They understood that the future belongs to the fruitful.
Our culture has declared war on children. Through abortion, contraception, and a pervasive anti-natalist sentiment, the West is committing demographic suicide. Christians must be the ultimate counter-culture here. We must joyfully and unashamedly embrace the fruit of the womb. We must see our children not as burdens or lifestyle accessories, but as arrows in the hand of a warrior (Psalm 127:4). A full quiver is a great blessing, and it is the primary way God builds His army on earth.
The Grand Total (v. 5)
The passage concludes with a summary of the tribe's strength.
"Their relatives among all the families of Issachar were mighty men of valor, recorded by genealogy, in all 87,000." (1 Chronicles 7:5 LSB)
The total number of fighting men in the tribe of Issachar was 87,000. This is a staggering number. This was a tribe that could not be trifled with. Their strength did not come from clever political maneuvering or superior technology. It came from covenant faithfulness, lived out in the household, resulting in generational fruitfulness.
And notice the final phrase: "recorded by genealogy." Their identity and their strength were tied to their history. They knew who they were because they knew where they came from. This is why the world works so hard to erase our history, to tear down monuments, to rewrite textbooks. A people with amnesia is a people easily conquered. The Chronicler is fighting this by carefully recording the genealogies. He is giving Israel back its memory, and therefore its identity and its strength.
Conclusion: Muster for the New Covenant War
So what does this ancient muster roll have to do with us? Everything. We too are in a covenant. We too are part of a great historical line that stretches back, not just to Abraham, but to the second Adam, Jesus Christ. We have been grafted into the true Israel.
And we too are at war. Our enemies are not the Ammonites or the Philistines, but "principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). This is a far more serious war, with eternal stakes. And God's strategy for winning this war has not changed. He is building His army through the multiplication of faithful, fruitful, Christian households.
This passage is a rebuke to our small, sterile, individualistic vision of Christianity. It calls us to something bigger, something generational. It calls men to be heads of their households, mighty men of valor who teach their sons to do the same. It calls families to be fruitful, to joyfully welcome children and to raise them as soldiers for Christ's army. It calls the church to be a collection of strong families, a tribe that is formidable in its unity and its numbers.
The world sees a large Christian family and scoffs. They see a waste of resources, a burden on the planet. God sees a platoon. He sees reinforcements. He sees the advance of His kingdom. The men of Issachar were not just a list of names; they were 87,000 reasons why the enemies of God should tremble. Let us, by God's grace, go and do likewise. Let us build our households, raise our children in the faith, and present to our King a mighty army, ready for the battles He has set before us.