1 Chronicles 27:15
The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.
The twelfth month had as its captain Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel. His course or division numbered twenty and four thousand. The verse stands as the close of a list presenting twelve monthly courses, with one captain-led division assigned to each month of the year, forming the regular army.
The division of the year into twelve such monthly courses supports reckoning prophetic time by a twelve-month year, which together with a thirty-day month gives a 360-day year. The same twelve-month arrangement shows that Israel's months and annual feasts were governed by new moons rather than by a fixed day of the week. The list of regular divisions is suggested as a possible reason the army totals differ between the two accounts of the census, in that the account in 1 Chronicles 21:5 may have included the regular army, which was then somewhat smaller than in the list, unlike the account in 2 Samuel 24:9.