32 -- And the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.
And Abraham took another wife named Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan; and the sons of Dedan were the Asshurim, and the Letushim, and the Leummim. And the sons of Midian were Ephah, and Epher, and Enoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah.
The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hand of Mid'ian seven years. And the hand of Mid'ian prevailed over Israel; and because of Mid'ian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites put in seed the Mid'ianites and the Amal'ekites and the people of the East would come up and attack them; they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the neighborhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or ass. For they would come up with their cattle and their tents, coming like locusts for number; both they and their camels could not be counted; so that they wasted the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Mid'ian; and the people of Israel cried for help to the LORD.
And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now will this company lick up all that is round about us, as an ox licks up the green herb of the field. Now Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. And he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is on the river in the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, a people is come out from Egypt; behold, they cover the face of the land, and they abide over against me. And now come, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are mightier than I: perhaps I may be able to smite them, and drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed, having the rewards of divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.
And Pharaoh heard of this matter, and sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat by the well. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew [water], and filled the troughs, to water their father's flock.
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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].