1 And sons of Issachar; Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four.
2 And sons of Tola: Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of the house of their fathers, `even' of Tola, mighty of valour in their generations: their number in the days of David `is' twenty and two thousand and six hundred.
3 And sons of Uzzi: Izrahiah; and sons of Izrahiah: Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, Hamishah -- all of them heads.
4 And beside them, by their generations, of the house of their fathers, `are' troops of the host of battle, thirty and six thousand, for they multiplied wives and sons;
5 and their brethren of all the families of Issachar `are' mighty of valour, eighty and seven thousand, all have their genealogy.
6 Of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.
7 And sons of Bela: Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of a house of fathers, mighty of valour, with their genealogy, twenty and two thousand, and thirty and four.
8 And sons of Becher: Zemirah, and Joash, and Eliezar, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abijah, and Anathoth, and Alameth. All these `are' sons of Becher,
9 with their genealogy, after their generations, heads of a house of their fathers, mighty of valour, twenty thousand and two hundred.
10 And sons of Jediael: Bilhan; and sons of Bilhan: Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tarshish, and Ahishahar.
11 All these `are' sons of Jediael, even heads of the fathers, mighty in valour, seventeen thousand and two hundred going out to the host for battle.
12 And Shuppim and Huppim `are' sons of Ir; Hushim son of Aher.
13 Sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, sons of Bilhah.
14 Sons of Manasseh: Ashriel, whom Jaladah his Aramaean concubine bare, with Machir father of Gilead.
15 And Machir took wives for Huppim and for Shuppim, and the name of the one `is' Maachah, and the name of the second Zelophehad, and Zelophehad hath daughters.
16 And Maachah wife of Machir beareth a son and calleth his name Peresh, and the name of his brother `is' Sheresh, and his sons `are' Ulam and Rakem.
17 And son of Ulam: Bedan. These `are' sons of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh.
18 And his sister Hammolecheth bare Ishhod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah.
19 And the sons of Shemida are Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.
20 And sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,
21 and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead; and slain them have men of Gath who are born in the land, because they came down to take their cattle.
22 And Ephraim their father mourneth many days, and his brethren come in to comfort him,
23 and he goeth in unto his wife, and she conceiveth and beareth a son, and he calleth his name Beriah, because in evil had been his house, --
24 and his daughter `is' Sherah, and she buildeth Beth-Horon, the lower and the upper, and Uzzen-Sherah --
25 and Rephah `is' his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son,
26 Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
27 Non his son, Jehoshua his son.
28 And their possession and their dwellings `are' Beth-El and its small towns, and to the east Naaran, and to the west Gezer and its small towns, and Shechem and its small towns, unto Gaza and its small towns;
29 and by the parts of the sons of Manasseh, Beth-Shean and its small towns, Taanach and its small towns, Megiddo and its small towns, Dor and its small towns; in these dwelt the sons of Joseph son of Israel.
30 Son of Asher: Imnah, and Ishve, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.
31 And sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel -- he `is' father of Birzavith.
32 And Heber begat Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua their sister.
33 And sons of Japhlet: Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath; these `are' sons of Japhlet.
34 and sons of Shamer: Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram.
35 And son of Helem his brother: Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal.
36 Sons of Zophah: Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah,
37 Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera.
38 And sons of Jether: Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.
39 And sons of Ulla: Arah, and Hanniel, and Rezia.
40 All these `are' sons of Asher, heads of the house of the fathers, chosen ones, mighty in valour, heads of the princes, with their genealogy, for the host, for battle, their number `is' twenty and six thousand men.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 7
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 7 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 7
1Ch 7:1-5. Sons of Issachar.
1. Jashub—or Job (Ge 46:13).
2. whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred—Although a census was taken in the reign of David by order of that monarch, it is not certain that the sacred historian had it in mind, since we find here the tribe of Benjamin enumerated [1Ch 7:6-12], which was not taken in David's time; and there are other points of dissimilarity.
3. five: all of them chief men—Four only are mentioned; so that as they are stated to be five, in this number the father, Izrahiah, must be considered as included; otherwise one of the names must have dropped out of the text. They were each at the head of a numerous and influential division of their tribe.
5. fourscore and seven thousand—exclusive of the 58,600 men which the Tola branch had produced (1Ch 7:24), so that in the days of David the tribe would have contained a population of 45,600. This large increase was owing to the practice of polygamy, as well as the fruitfulness of the women. A plurality of wives, though tolerated among the Hebrews, was confined chiefly to the great and wealthy; but it seems to have been generally esteemed a privilege by the tribe of Issachar, "for they had many wives and sons" [1Ch 7:4].
1Ch 7:6-12. Of Benjamin.
6. The sons of Benjamin—Ten are named in Ge 46:21, but only five later (1Ch 8:1; Nu 26:38). Perhaps five of them were distinguished as chiefs of illustrious families, but two having fallen in the bloody wars waged against Benjamin (Jud 20:46), there remained only three branches of this tribe, and these only are enumerated.
Jediael—Or Asbel (Genesis 46. 21).
7. the sons of Bela—Each of them was chief or leader of the family to which he belonged. In an earlier period seven great families of Benjamin are mentioned (Nu 26:38), five of them being headed by these five sons of Benjamin, and two descended from Bela. Here five families of Bela are specified, whence we are led to conclude that time or the ravages of war had greatly changed the condition of Benjamin, or that the five families of Bela were subordinate to the other great divisions that sprang directly from the five sons of the patriarch.
12. Shuppim also, and Huppim—They are called Muppim and Huppim (Ge 46:21) and Hupham and Shupham (Nu 26:39). They were the children of Ir, or Iri (1Ch 7:7).
and Hushim, the sons—"son."
of Aher—"Aher" signifies "another," and some eminent critics, taking "Aher" as a common noun, render the passage thus, "and Hushim, another son." Shuppim, Muppim, and Hushim are plural words, and therefore denote not individuals, but the heads of their respective families; and as they were not comprised in the above enumeration (1Ch 7:7, 9) they are inserted here in the form of an appendix. Some render the passage, "Hushim, the son of another," that is, tribe or family. The name occurs among the sons of Dan (Ge 46:23), and it is a presumption in favor of this being the true rendering, that after having recorded the genealogy of Naphtali (1Ch 7:13) the sacred historian adds, "the sons of Bilhah, the handmaid, who was the mother of Dan and Naphtali." We naturally expect, therefore, that these two will be noticed together, but Dan is not mentioned at all, if not in this passage.
1Ch 7:13. Of Naphtali.
13. Shallum—or Shillem (Ge 46:24).
sons of Bilhah—As Dan and Naphtali were her sons, Hushim, as well as these enumerated in 1Ch 7:13, were her grandsons.
1Ch 7:14-40. Of Manasseh.
14, 15. The sons of Manasseh—or descendants; for Ashriel was a grandson, and Zelophehad was a generation farther removed in descent (Nu 26:33). The text, as it stands, is so confused and complicated that it is exceedingly difficult to trace the genealogical thread, and a great variety of conjectures have been made with a view to clear away the obscurity. The passage [1Ch 7:14, 15] should probably be rendered thus: "The sons of Manasseh were Ashriel, whom his Syrian concubine bare to him, and Machir, the father of Gilead (whom his wife bare to him). Machir took for a wife Maachah, sister to Huppim and Shuppim."
21. whom the men of Gath … slew, &c.—This interesting little episode gives us a glimpse of the state of Hebrew society in Egypt; for the occurrence narrated seems to have taken place before the Israelites left that country. The patriarch Ephraim was then alive, though he must have arrived at a very advanced age; and the Hebrew people, at all events those of them who were his descendants, still retained their pastoral character. It was in perfect consistency with the ideas and habits of Oriental shepherds that they should have made a raid on the neighboring tribe of the Philistines for the purpose of plundering their flocks. For nothing is more common among them than hostile incursions on the inhabitants of towns, or on other nomad tribes with whom they have no league of amity. But a different view of the incident is brought out, if, instead of "because," we render the Hebrew particle "when" they came down to take their cattle, for the tenor of the context leads rather to the conclusion that "the men of Gath" were the aggressors, who, making a sudden foray on the Ephraimite flocks, killed the shepherds including several of the sons of Ephraim. The calamity spread a deep gloom around the tent of their aged father, and was the occasion of his receiving visits of condolence from his distant relatives, according to the custom of the East, which is remarkably exemplified in the history of Job (Job 2:11; compare Joh 11:19).