1 Chronicles 7:1

1 Chronicles 7:! says, Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimrom, four.  Next, we have a list of the descendants of Issacher.  Verse two adds, And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father's house, to wit, of Tola: they were valiant men of might in their generations; whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred.  The sons of Tola, one of Issachar's sons were known as valiant men of might and by the reign of David had grown to twenty-two thousand, six hundred in number.  It would be nice if we could multiply the number of Christians, God's people, by that number and that we would be valiant in our faith.  Verse three continues, And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons of Izrahiah; Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five: all of them chief men.  We are given a list of the sons Uzzi, one of the sons of Tola and told that they were chief men in Israel.  Verse continues, And with them, by their generations, after the house of their fathers, were bands of soldiers for war, six and thirty thousand men: for they had many wives and sons.  We are told these sons of Uzzi, who were said to be bands of soldiers of war, numbered thirty-six thousand, since they had many wives and sons.  Verse five concludes, And their brethren among all the families of Issachar were valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourscore and seven thousand.  We are then told that the total of the rest of the family of Issachar was eighty-seven thousand men.  Matthew Henry says the total of all the descendants of Issachar was one hundred forty-five thousand men.  Verse six states, The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three. Next, we have the list of the descendants of Benjamen. Verse seven adds, And the sons of Bela; Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour; and were reckoned by their genealogies twenty and two thousand and thirty and four.  Then we have the number of the sons of Bela, the firstborn of Benjamin.  There were twenty-two thousand and thirty-four of them, and they were known as men of valor.  We need to be known as people of valor for God.  Verse eight continues, And the sons of Becher; Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth. All these are the sons of Becher.  Then we have the descendants of Becher, Benjamin's second born.  Verse nine concludes, And the number of them, after their genealogy by their generations, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour, was twenty thousand and two hundred.  There were twenty-two thousand, two hundred of them, also known as men of valor.  Verse ten says, The sons also of Jediael; Bilhan: and the sons of Bilhan; Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar.  Verse eleven adds, All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.  They were also known as men of valor, soldiers fit to go to war, and numbered seventeen thousand, two hundred.  Verse twelve continues, Shuppim also, and Huppim, the children of Ir, and Hushim, the sons of Aher.  Matthew Henry says these were the sons of Dan, who had worshipped the golden calf instead of God.  If we want to be counted among God's people, we must not worship anything or anyone else, but must put our faith in Jesus Christ alone.  If we don't, we can never be a part of God's family, no matter who our parents may be.