14 Sons of Manasseh: Ashriel, whom Jaladah his Aramaean concubine bare, with Machir father of Gilead.
Sons of Manasseh: of Machir `is' the family of the Machirite; and Machir hath begotten Gilead; of Gilead `is' the family of the Gileadite. These `are' sons of Gilead: `of' Jeezer `is' the family of the Jeezerite; of Helek the family of the Helekite; and `of' Asriel the family of the Asrielite; and `of' Shechem the family of the Shechemite; and `of' Shemida the family of the Shemidaite; and `of' Hepher the family of the Hepherite. And Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons but daughters, and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad `are' Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. These `are' families of Manasseh, and their numbered ones `are' two and fifty thousand and seven hundred.
and if they do not pass over armed with you, then they have possessions in your midst in the land of Canaan.' And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answer, saying, `That which Jehovah hath spoken unto thy servants -- so we do; we -- we pass over armed before Jehovah `to' the land of Canaan, and with us `is' the possession of our inheritance beyond the Jordan.' And Moses giveth to them, to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Reuben, and to the half of the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorite, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land by its cities, in the borders, the cities of the land round about. And the sons of Gad build Dihon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah, and Beth-Nimrah, and Beth-Haran, cities of defence, and sheepfolds. And the sons of Reuben have build Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kirjathaim, and Nebo, and Baal-Meon (changed in name), and Shibmah, and they call by `these' names the names of the cities which they have built. And sons of Machir son of Manasseh go to Gilead, and capture it, and dispossess the Amorite, who `is' in it; and Moses giveth Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he dwelleth in it. And Jair son of Manasseh hath gone and captureth their towns, and calleth them `Towns of Jair;' and Nobah hath gone and captureth Kenath, and its villages, and calleth it Nobah, by his own name.
and the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I have given to the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, to all that Bashan, called the land of Rephaim. `Jair son of Manasseh hath taken all the region of Argob, unto the border of Geshuri, and Maachathi, and calleth them by his own name, Bashan-Havoth-Jair, unto this day. And to Machir I have given Gilead.
And the lot is for the tribe of Manasseh (for he `is' first-born of Joseph), for Machir first-born of Manasseh, father of Gilead, for he hath been a man of war, and his are Gilead and Bashan. And there is for the sons of Manasseh who are left, for their families; for the sons of Abiezer, and for the sons of Helek, and for the sons of Asriel, and for the sons of Shechem, and for the sons of Hepher, and for the sons of Shemida; these `are' the children of Manasseh son of Joseph -- the males -- by their families. As to Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, he hath no children except daughters, and these `are' the names of his daughters: Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah,
And afterwards hath Hezron gone in unto a daughter of Machir father of Gilead, and he hath taken her, and he `is' a son of sixty years, and she beareth to him Segub. And Segub begat Jair, and he hath twenty and three cities in the land of Gilead, and he taketh Geshur and Aram, the small villages of Jair, from them, with Kenath and its small towns, sixty cities -- all these `belonged to' the sons of Machir father of Gilead.
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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).