24 Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah,
These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the great flow of waters; And after the birth of Arpachshad, Shem went on living for five hundred years, and had sons and daughters: And Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he became the father of Shelah: And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters: And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber: And after the birth of Eber, Shelah went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters: And Eber was thirty-four years old when he became the father of Peleg: And after the birth of Peleg, Eber went on living for four hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters: And Peleg was thirty years old when he became the father of Reu: And after the birth of Reu, Peleg went on living for two hundred and nine years, and had sons and daughters: And Reu was thirty-two years old when he became the father of Serug: And after the birth of Serug, Reu went on living for two hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters: And Serug was thirty years old when he became the father of Nahor: And after the birth of Nahor, Serug went on living for two hundred years, and had sons and daughters: And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah: And after the birth of Terah, Nahor went on living for a hundred and nineteen years, and had sons and daughters: And Terah was seventy years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, The son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, The son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 1
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 1 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 1
1Ch 1:1-23. Adam's Line to Noah.
1. Adam, &c.—"Begat" must be understood. Only that one member of the family is mentioned, who came in the direct order of succession.
4-23. Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth—The three sons of this patriarch are enumerated, partly because they were the founders of the new world, and partly because the fulfilment of Noah's prophecy (Ge 9:25-27) could not otherwise appear to have been verified.
12. Casluhim (of whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim—a better rendering is, "and Casluhim, of whom came the Philistim and Caphtorim." They were brethren, the sons of Casluhim, and at first dwelt together, whence their names are used interchangeably. The Caphtorim are described as inhabiting Azzah, or Gaza, the seat of the Philistines.
14-17. the Jebusite, &c.—At 1Ch 1:14-17 the names are not those of individuals, but of people who all sprang from Canaan; and as several of them became extinct or were amalgamated with their brethren, their national appellations are given instead of the personal names of their ancestors.
17. Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech—or, "Mash"; these were the children of Aram, and grandsons of Shem (Ge 10:23).
18. Arphaxad begat Shelah—Cainan, the father's name, is omitted here. (See Lu 3:36).
19. Peleg—(See on Ge 10:25).
22. Ebal—or, "Obal" (Ge 10:28).
1Ch 1:24-28. Shem's Line to Abraham.
24-27. Shem, &c.—This comprises a list of ten, inclusive of Abraham.
1Ch 1:29-31. Sons of Ishmael.
29. These are their generations—the heads of his twelve tribes. The great northern desert of Arabia, including the entire neck, was colonized by these tribes; and if we can recover, in the modern geography of this part of the country, Arab tribes bearing the names of those patriarchs, that is, names corresponding with those preserved in the original catalogue of Scripture, we obtain at once so many evidences, not of mere similarity, but of absolute identification [Forster].
Nebaioth—gave rise to the Nabathæans of the classic, and the Beni Nabat of Oriental writers.
Kedar—the Arab tribe, El Khedeyre, on the coast of Hedgar.
Abdeel—Abdilla, the name of a tribe in Yemen.
30. Dumah—Dumah and Tema, the great Arab tribes of Beni Teman. Thus this writer [Historical Geography of Arabia] traces the names of all the heads of the twelve tribes of Ishmael as perpetuated in the clans or tribes of the Arabs in the present day.
1Ch 1:32, 33. Sons of Keturah.
32. sons of Keturah—These became founders of nomadic tribes in the north of Arabia and Syria, as Midian of the Midianites (Ge 36:35; Jud 6:2).
and Shuah—from whom Bildad sprang (Job 2:11).
1Ch 1:34-42. Posterity of Abraham by Esau.
36. sons of Eliphaz—the tribe Adites, in the center country of the Saracens, so called from his mother, Adah (Ge 36:10).
Teman—gave rise to the land of Teman, near the head of the Red Sea.
Omar—the tribe Beni-Amma, settled at the northern point of Djebel Shera (Mount Seir).
Zephi—the tribe Dzaf.
Gatam—Katam, inhabited by the tribe Al Saruat, or "people of Sarah."
Kenaz—the tribe Aenezes, a tribe whose settlement lies in the neighborhood of Syria.
Amalek—the Beni Malak of Zohran, and the Beni Maledj of the Shat el Arab.
37. Reuel—a powerful branch of the great Aeneze tribe, the Rowalla Arabs.
Shammah—the great tribe Beni Shammar. In the same way, the names of the other kings and dukes are traced in the modern tribes of Arabia. But it is unnecessary to mention any more of these obscure nomads, except to notice that Jobab (1Ch 1:44), one of the kings of Edom, is considered to be Job, and that his seat was in the royal city of Dinahab (Ge 36:32; 1Ch 1:43), identified with O'Daeb, a well-known town in the center of Al Dahna, a great northern desert in the direction of Chaldea and the Euphrates [Forster].