hundreds, and out of their respective families appointed captains over them: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above; the usual age men were numbered at for war, to the fiftieth, according to Josephus; the Roman law (a) obliged none to be soldiers after fifty, nor might any be dismissed before (b); the age of military men with the Romans was from seventeen to forty six, or, as some, forty five; but with the Persians from twenty as here to fifty (c): and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield; which shows that their number was greatly decreased since the times of Jehoshaphat, Ch2 17:14 , occasioned by the wars under Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Joash; some copies of the Vulgate Latin (d) have only 30,000. (a) Seneca de Brevitate Vitae, c. 20. (b) Liv. Hist. l. 42. c. 33. (c) Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 20. (d) Ed. of Sixtus V. the Lovain and MSS. in James's Corruption of the Fathers, p. 295.