1 These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, Issachar and Zebulun,
2 Dan, Joseph and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
3 The sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah: [which] three were born to him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah; and he slew him.
4 And Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Pherez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five.
5 The sons of Pherez: Hezron and Hamul.
6 And the sons of Zerah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.
7 And the sons of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the accursed thing.
8 And the sons of Ethan: Azariah.
9 And the sons of Hezron, who were born to him: Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai.
10 And Ram begot Amminadab; and Amminadab begot Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah;
11 and Nahshon begot Salma, and Salma begot Boaz,
12 and Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse;
13 and Jesse begot his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimea the third,
14 Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,
15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh;
16 and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.
17 And Abigail bore Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.
18 And Caleb the son of Hezron had children by Azubah [his] wife, and by Jerioth: her sons are these: Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.
19 And Azubah died, and Caleb took him Ephrath, and she bore him Hur.
20 And Hur begot Uri, and Uri begot Bezaleel.
21 And afterwards Hezron went to the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, and he took her when he was sixty years old; and she bore him Segub.
22 And Segub begot Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead;
23 and Geshur and Aram took the villages of Jair from them, with Kenath and its dependent towns, sixty cities. All these were sons of Machir the father of Gilead.
24 And after the death of Hezron in Caleb-Ephratah, Abijah, Hezron's wife, bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.
25 And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were: Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, of Ahijah.
26 And Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.
27 And the sons of Ram, the firstborn of Jerahmeel, were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker.
28 And the sons of Onam were Shammai and Jada. And the sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.
29 And the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail, and she bore him Ahban and Molid.
30 And the sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim; and Seled died without sons.
31 And the sons of Appaim: Jishi; and the sons of Jishi: Sheshan; and the sons of Sheshan: Ahlai.
32 And the sons of Jada, the brother of Shammai: Jether and Jonathan; and Jether died without sons.
33 And the sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel.
34 And Sheshan had no sons, but daughters; and Sheshan had an Egyptian servant, whose name was Jarha;
35 and Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant as wife, and she bore him Attai.
36 And Attai begot Nathan, and Nathan begot Zabad,
37 and Zabad begot Ephlal, and Ephlal begot Obed,
38 and Obed begot Jehu, and Jehu begot Azariah,
39 and Azariah begot Helez, and Helez begot Elasah,
40 and Elasah begot Sismai, and Sismai begot Shallum,
41 and Shallum begot Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begot Elishama.
42 And the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron.
43 And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema.
44 And Shema begot Raham, the father of Jorkeam. And Rekem begot Shammai;
45 and the son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur.
46 And Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, and Moza, and Gazez; and Haran begot Gazez.
47 And the sons of Jehdai: Regem, and Jotham, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph.
48 Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah;
49 and she bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbena and the father of Gibea. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.
50 These are the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah: Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim,
51 Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Beth-gader.
52 And Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim had sons: Haroeh, Hazi-Hammenuhoth.
53 And the families of Kirjath-jearim were the Jithrites, and the Puthites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; of them came the Zoreathites and the Eshtaolites.
54 The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, and the Netophathites. Atroth-Beth-Joab, and the Hazi-Hammana-hethites, the Zorites;
55 and the families of the scribes who dwelt at Jabez: the Tireathites, the Shimeathites, the Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 2
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
1Ch 2:1, 2. Sons of Israel.
1Ch 2:3-12. Posterity of Judah.
3. The sons of Judah—His descendants are enumerated first, because the right and privileges of the primogeniture had been transferred to him (Ge 49:8), and because from his tribe the Messiah was to spring.
6. Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara—These five are here stated to be the sons of Zerah, that is, of Ezra, whence they were called Ezrahites (1Ki 4:31). In that passage they are called "the sons of Mahol," which, however, is to be taken not as a proper name, but appellatively for "sons of music, dancing," &c. The traditional fame of their great sagacity and acquirements had descended to the time of Solomon and formed a standard of comparison for showing the superior wisdom of that monarch. Jewish writers say that they were looked up to as prophets by their countrymen during the abode in Egypt.
7. the sons of Carmi—He was the son of Zimri, or Zabdi, as he is called (Jos 7:1).
Achar—or Achan (Jos 7:1). This variety in the form of the name is with great propriety used here, since Achar means "troubler."
1Ch 2:13-17. Children of Jesse.
15. David the seventh—As it appears (1Sa 16:10; 17:12) that Jesse had eight sons, the presumption is from David being mentioned here as the seventh son of his father, that one of them had died at an early age, without leaving issue.
17. Jether the Ishmaelite—(compare 2Sa 17:25). In that passage he is called Ithra an Israelite; and there seems no reason why, in the early days of David, anyone should be specially distinguished as an Israelite. The presumption is in favor of the reading followed by the Septuagint, which calls him "Jetra the Jezreelite." The circumstance of his settling in another tribe, or of a woman marrying out of her own tribe, was sufficiently rare and singular to call for the statement that Abigail was married to a man of Jezreel.
1Ch 2:18-55. Posterity of Caleb.
18. Caleb the son of Hezron—The notices concerning this person appear confused in our version. In 1Ch 2:19 he is said to be the father of Hur, whereas in 1Ch 2:50 he is called "the son of Hur." The words in this latter passage have been transposed in the copying, and should be read thus, "Hur the son of Caleb."
begat children of Azubah his wife, and of Jerioth—The former was his spouse, while Jerioth seems to have been a secondary wife, and the mother of the children whose names are here given. On the death of his principal wife, he married Ephrath, and by her had Hur [1Ch 2:19].
21. Hezron … daughter of Machir the father of Gilead—that is, chief of that town, which with the lands adjacent was no doubt the property of Machir, who was so desirous of a male heir. He was grandson of Joseph. The wife of Machir was of the tribe of Manasseh (Nu 26:29).
22. Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead—As the son of Segub and the grandson of Hezron, he was of the tribe of Judah; but from his maternal descent he is called (Nu 32:41; De 3:14) "the son of Manasseh." This designation implies that his inheritance lay in that tribe in right of his grandmother; in other words, his maternal and adopting great-grandfather was Machir the son of Manasseh. Jair, inheriting his property, was his lineal representative; and accordingly this is expressly stated to be the case; for the village group of "Havoth-Jair" was awarded to him in that tribe, in consequence of his valiant and patriotic exploits. This arrangement, however, took place previous to the law (Nu 36:1-13), by which it was enacted that heiresses were to marry in their own tribe. But this instance of Jair shows that in the case of a man obtaining an inheritance in another tribe it required him to become thoroughly incorporated with it as a representative of the family through which the inheritance was received. He had been adopted into Manasseh, and it would never have been imagined that he was other than "a son of Manasseh" naturally, had not this passage given information supplementary to that of the passage in Numbers.
23. he took—rather "he had taken." This statement is accounting for his acquisition of so large a territory; he got it by right of conquest from the former possessors.
Kenath—This place, along with its group of surrounding villages, was gained by Nobah, one of Jair's officers sent by him to capture it (Nu 32:1, 2).
All these belonged to the sons of Machir—In their number Jair is included as having completely identified himself by his marriage and residence in Gilead with the tribe of Manasseh.
24. Caleb-ephratah—so called from uniting the names of husband and wife (1Ch 2:19), and supposed to be the same as was afterwards called Beth-lehem-ephratah.
Ashur, the father of Tekoa—(2Sa 14:2-4). He is called the father, either from his being the first founder, or perhaps the ruler, of the city.
34. Sheshan had no sons, but daughters—either he had no sons alive at his death, or his family consisted wholly of daughters, of whom Ahlai (1Ch 2:31) was one, she being specially mentioned on account of the domestic relations about to be noted.
35. Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife—The adoption and marriage of a foreign slave in the family where he is serving, is far from being a rare or extraordinary occurrence in Eastern countries. It is thought, however, by some to have been a connection not sanctioned by the law of Moses [Michaelis]. But this is not a well-founded objection, as the history of the Jews furnishes not a few examples of foreign proselytes in the same manner obtaining an inheritance in Israel; and doubtless Jarha had previously embraced the Jewish faith in place of the grovelling idolatries of his native Egypt. In such a case, therefore, there could be no legal difficulty. Being a foreign slave, he had no inheritance in a different tribe to injure by this connection; while his marriage with Sheshan's daughter led to his adoption into the tribe of Judah, as well as his becoming heir of the family property.
42. the sons of Caleb—(compare 1Ch 2:18, 25). The sons here noticed were the fruit of his union with a third wife.
55. the families of the scribes—either civil or ecclesiastical officers of the Kenite origin, who are here classed with the tribe of Judah, not as being descended from it, but as dwelling within its territory, and in a measure incorporated with its people.
Jabez—a place in Judah (1Ch 4:9).
Kenites that came of Hemath—who settled in Judah, and were thus distinguished from another division of the Kenite clan which dwelt in Manasseh (Jud 4:11).