1 And the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn; but, inasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; but the genealogy is not registered according to the birthright,
2 for Judah prevailed among his brethren, and of him was the prince, but the birthright was Joseph's),
3 -- the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Enoch and Phallu, Hezron and Carmi.
4 The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,
5 Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,
6 Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria carried away captive: he was prince of the Reubenites.
7 And his brethren by their families, in the genealogical register of their generations, were: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,
8 and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon;
9 and eastward he dwelt as far as the entrance to the wilderness from the river Euphrates; for their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead.
10 And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites, who fell by their hand; and they dwelt in their tents throughout the east side of Gilead.
11 And the children of Gad dwelt over against them, in the land of Bashan, as far as Salcah:
12 Joel was the chief and Shapham the next, and Jaanai, and Shaphat in Bashan.
13 And their brethren according to their fathers' houses were Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jaachan, and Zia, and Eber, seven.
14 -- These were the sons of Abihail, the son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz:
15 Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, was chief of their fathers' house.
16 And they dwelt in Gilead in Bashan, and in its towns, and in all the pasture-grounds of Sharon, as far as their limits.
17 All these were registered by genealogy in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.
18 The children of Reuben and the Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men who carried shield and sword, drawing the bow and skilful in war, were forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty, able to go forth to war.
19 And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab;
20 and they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them; for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them, because they put their trust in him.
21 And they took away their cattle: their camels fifty thousand, and two hundred and fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand asses, and a hundred thousand human souls.
22 For there fell down many slain, for the war was of God. And they dwelt in their stead until the captivity.
23 And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land, from Bashan as far as Baal-Hermon and Senir, and mount Hermon; they were many.
24 And these were the heads of their fathers' houses: Epher, and Jishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, heads of their fathers' houses.
25 And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.
26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, -- unto this day.
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Commentary on 1 Chronicles 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
1Ch 5:1-10. The Line of Reuben.
1. Now the sons of Reuben—In proceeding to give this genealogy, the sacred historian states, in a parenthesis (1Ch 5:1, 2), the reason why it was not placed first, as Reuben was the oldest son of Jacob. The birthright, which by a foul crime he had forfeited, implied not only dominion, but a double portion (De 21:17); and both of these were transferred to Joseph, whose two sons having been adopted as the children of Jacob (Ge 48:5), received each an allotted portion, as forming two distinct tribes in Israel. Joseph then was entitled to the precedency; and yet, as his posterity was not mentioned first, the sacred historian judged it necessary to explain that "the genealogy was not to be reckoned after the birthright," but with a reference to a superior honor and privilege that had been conferred on Judah—not the man, but the tribe, whereby it was invested with the pre-eminence over all the other tribes, and out of it was to spring David with his royal lineage, and especially the great Messiah (Heb 7:14). These were the two reasons why, in the order of enumeration, the genealogy of Judah is introduced before that of Reuben.
9. Eastward he inhabited unto the entering in of the wilderness from the river Euphrates—The settlement was on the east of Jordan, and the history of this tribe, which never took any part in the public affairs or movements of the nation, is comprised in "the multiplication of their cattle in the land of Gilead," in their wars with the Bedouin sons of Hagar, and in the simple labors of pastoral life. They had the right of pasture over an extensive mountain range—the great wilderness of Kedemoth (De 2:26) and the Euphrates being a security against their enemies.
1Ch 5:11-26. The Line of Gad.
11-15. the children of Gad dwelt over against them—The genealogy of the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh (1Ch 5:24) is given along with that of the Reubenites, as these three were associated in a separate colony.
16. Sharon—The term "Sharon" was applied as descriptive of any place of extraordinary beauty and productiveness. There were three places in Palestine so called. This Sharon lay east of the Jordan.
upon their borders—that is, of Gilead and Bashan: Gilead proper, or at least the largest part, belonged to the Reubenites; and Bashan, the greatest portion of it, belonged to the Manassites. The Gadites occupied an intermediate settlement on the land which lay upon their borders.
17. All these were reckoned … in the days of Jotham—His long reign and freedom from foreign wars as well as intestine troubles were favorable for taking a census of the people.
and in the days of Jeroboam—the second of that name.
18-22. Hagarites—or, "Hagarenes," originally synonymous with "Ishmaelites," but afterwards applied to a particular tribe of the Arabs (compare Ps 83:6).
Jetur—His descendants were called Itureans, and the country Auranitis, from Hauran, its chief city. These, who were skilled in archery, were invaded in the time of Joshua by a confederate army of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, who, probably incensed by the frequent raids of those marauding neighbors, took reprisals in men and cattle, dispossessed almost all of the original inhabitants, and colonized the district themselves. Divine Providence favoured, in a remarkable manner, the Hebrew army in this just war.
26. the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul—the Phalluka of the Ninevite monuments (see on 2Ki 15:19).
and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser—the son of the former. By them the trans-jordanic tribes, including the other half of Manasseh, settled in Galilee, were removed to Upper Media. This was the first captivity (2Ki 15:29).