1 Chronicles 2 commentary

We are now come to the register of the children of Israel, that distinguished people, who were to dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations. But now, in Christ, all are welcome to his salvation who come to him; all have equal privileges according to their faith in him, their love and devotedness to him. All that is truly valuable consists in the favour, peace, and image of God, and a life spent to his glory, in promoting the welfare of our fellow-creatures.

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).

These are the sons of Israel - For this genealogy see the parallel places at Gen 29:32; Gen 30:5; Gen 35:18, Gen 35:22; Gen 46:8, etc.

Five of them in all - "These were all chief men; and on them the spirit of prophecy rested." - T.

Jether the Ishmeelite - "They called him Jether, because he girded himself with his sword, that he might assist David with the Arabians, when Abner was endeavoring to destroy David and the whole race of Jesse, as being unfit to enter into the congregation of the Lord, on account of Ruth the Moabitess." - T.

Azubah - "And why was she called Azubah? Because she was barren and despised. But her injury was manifested before the Lord; and she was comforted, and adorned with wisdom; and she span, skilfully, goats' hair for the court of the tabernacle." - T.

Uri begat Bezaleel - This was probably the famous artist mentioned Exo 31:2 (note), etc., where see the notes.

Whose name was Jarha - "And he gave him his liberty, and gave him Sheshan his daughter to wife." - T.

Now the sons of Caleb - This was not Caleb the son of Jephunneh, but Caleb the son of Hezron, 1Chr 2:18, 1Chr 2:50. But some think that Caleb the son of Hezron was the grandson of Caleb, son of Jephunneh; but this is probably fanciful.

The father of Ziph - "The prince of the Ziphites." - T.

Shobal - had sons - "Disciples and priests, to whom belonged the half of the oblations." - T.

The families of Kirjath-jearim - "These were the children of Moses, which Zipporah bare to him, viz., the Jethrites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; of these came the disciples of the prophets Zarah and Eshtaol." - T.

The sons of Salma - "The righteous Bethlehemites, who had a good name, as the Netophathites, who removed the guards which Jeroboam had placed in the way lest the people should carry the first-fruits to Jerusalem: for the sons of Salma carried baskets full of first-fruits privately to Jerusalem; and having cloven wood, they made ladders, and brought them to Jerusalem to be laid up in Beth-mokad for oblations. These came from the lineage of Joab the son of Zeruiah; and some of them were priests; and they divided the residue of the sacrifices with the sons of the prophets who were in Zorah." - T.

The families - "The families of the Rechabites, the sons of Eliezer the son of Misco, the disciple of Jabez; he was Othniel, the son of Kenaz. And he was called Jabez, because in his council he instituted a school of disciples; they were called Tirathim, because in their hymns their voice was like trumpets; and Shimathim, because in hearing they lifted up their faces, i.e., in prayer; and Suchathim, because they were overshadowed by the Spirit of prophecy. These Salmaei were the children of Zipporah, who were numbered among the Levites who came from the stock of Moses, the master of Israel, whose righteousness profited them more than chariots and horses." - T. See on 1Chr 4:9-10 (note).

Is the above explanation of Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Suchathites, the Targumist refers to the import of the Hebrew roots, whence these names are derived. See 1Chr 4:10. In this chapter many names of cities are given as the names of men.

Judah - Whom he puts first, because the best part of the right of the firstborn, namely, the dominion, was conferred upon him, Gen 49:8, and because the Messiah was to come out of his loins.

Dara - If these be the same who are mentioned as the sons of Machol, 1Kings 4:31, either the same man had two names, Zerah and Machol, as was usual among the Hebrews: or, one of these was their immediate father, and the other their grand - father. These are named, because they were the glory of their father's house. When the Holy Ghost would magnify the wisdom of Solomon, he saith, he was wiser than these four men. That four brothers should be so eminent, was a rare thing.

Carmi - Who is here mentioned, because he was the son of Zimri, who is also called Zabdi, Jos 7:1. Achar - Called Achan, Jos 7:1, and here Achar, with a little variation for greater significancy: for Achar signifies a troubler.

Eliab - Called also Elihu, chap.27:18, unless that was another person, and the word brother be taken more largely for a kinsman, as it is frequently.

Seventh - He had eight sons, 1Sam 16:10, but probably one of them died presently after that time.

Ishmaelite - By birth or habitation, but by profession an Israelite, 2Sam 17:25.

Her sons - The sons of Azubah, who is by way of distinction called his wife, when Jerioth probably was only his concubine, and, it may seem, barren: therefore upon Azubah's death he married another wife. And those other sons of this Caleb mentioned, ver.42, are his sons by some other wife distinct from all these.

Gilead - Of a man so called: a man of noted valour, and the great champion in those parts.

Sons of Machir - Partly to his own sons, and partly to his son - in - law Jair, who by reason of that dear affection which was betwixt them, and his forsaking his own tribe and kindred to fight for them and to dwell with them, is here reckoned as his own son.

Tekoa - A known place whose father he is called, because he was either the progenitor of the people inhabiting there: or, their prince and ruler: or, the builder of the city.

The sons - An expression often used in prophane authors too, where there is but one son.

Jarha - Probably he was not only a proselyte, but an eminent man: else an Israelite would not have given him his only daughter.

Beth - zur - A place in Judah.

Madmannah - This, and divers other following names are the names of places in Judah.

Bethlehem - That is, the inhabitants of Bethlehem.

Scribes - Either civil, who were public notaries, that wrote and signed legal instruments: or ecclesiastical. And these were either Levites, or Simeonites, or rather Kenites, and are here mentioned not as if they were of the tribe of Judah, but because they dwelt among them, and probably were allied to them by marriages, and so in a manner incorporated with them.

3 The sons of Judah ; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and he slew him.

Whom he puts first, because the best part of the Right of the First-born, to wit, the Dominion, was conferred upon him, Gen. 49. 8. and because the Messiah was to come out of his Loyns.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]; [illegible: 1 span]

6 And the Sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara : five of them in all.

If these be the same who are mentioned as the Sons of Machol, 1 King [illegible: 1+ letters]4. 31. Either the same Man had two Names, Zerah and Machol, as was usual among the Hebrews: Or, one of these was their immediate Father, and the other their Grandfather,

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]; [illegible: 1 span]; [illegible: 1 span]

7 And the sons of Carmi : Achar , the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed.

Who is here mentioned, because he was the Son of Zimri, who is also called Zabdi, Ios. 7. 1.

Called Achan, Ios. 7. 1. and here Achar, with a little variation for greater significancy: For Achar signifies a Troubler.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]; [illegible: 1 span]

13 And Jesse begat his first-born Eliab , and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third,

Called also Elihu, 1 Chron. 27. 18. unless that was another person, and the word Brother be taken more largely for a Kinsman, as it is frequently used.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]; [illegible: 1 span]

15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh :

For though he had eight Sons, 1 Sam. 16. 10. one of them either died presently after that time, or is neglected for some reason now unknown, as others are▪ See the Notes on Mat. 1. 8, 9.

17 And Abigail bare Amasa, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite .

By Birth or Habitation, but by Profession an Israelite, 2 Sam. 17. 25. where see my Notes.

18 And Caleb the son of Hezron † begat children of Azubah his wife, and of Jerioth: her sons are these, Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.

Not that Caleb, Numb. 13. 6. for he was the Son of Iephun [illegible: 1+ letters], of whom he speaks Ch. 4. 15. but another Caleb.

i. e. The Sons either 1. of Ierioth, she being last mentioned: Or, rather 2. of Azubah, who is by way of distinction called his Wife, when [illegible: 1 word] probably was onely his Concubine, and, as it may seem, [illegible: 1 word] ▪ And therefore upon Azubah's death he married another Wife, v. 19. And those other Sons of this Caleb mentioned below v. [illegible: 1+ letters]2. are his Sons by some other: Wife distinct from all these.

Marginal references: Heb. g[illegible: 1+ letters]t w[illegible: 1+ letters]th [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

21 And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead , whom he † married when he was threescore years old, and she bare him Segub.

i. e. Lay with her, as that Phrase is commonly used, as Gen. 4. [illegible: 1 word] & 6. 4.

Of a Man so called. Or, if Gilead be the Name of that known Country, Father is put for Head or Governour, as it is used, 1 Sam. 24. 11. 2 King. 5. 13. & 16. 7. Isa. 22. 21. Or, for Protectour, or Curatour, as Father is used Iob 29. 16. Ier. 2. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 3. This Man being a Man of noted Valour, and the Great Champion in those Parts.

Heb. And he took her, to wit, to Wife. Or, After he had taken her. For so the Particle vau is used, as hath been formerly noted.

Heb. And he was, to wit, when he went in unto her, Or, when he married her.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

22 And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead .

Which he had, though he was of the Tribe of Iudah, as [illegible: 1 word] we see, because he married a Daughter of Manasseh, Num. [illegible: 1+ letters]6. 29. whence he is called a Son of Manasseh, Numb. 32. 41. Deut. [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ 14. And because, being a Man of great Courage, he joyned himself [illegible: 1 word] that half Tribe in subduing Gilead, wherein he acted so Val[illegible: 1+ letters]ntly and Successfully, that he had 23 Cities or great Towns given to him to possess or dispose off: or, rather to Rule over them, [illegible: 1 word] have some Advantage from them; As a King is said to have his Kingdom, although he hath not the propriety of all the Lands and Houses in it.

23 And he took Geshur and Aram , with the towns of Jair , from them , with Kenath , and the towns thereof, even threescore cities: all these belonged to the sons of Machir , the father of Gilead.

Or, For he had taken. So this is the Reason why he had so great a Territory and Jurisdiction given to him.

Two Cities or great Towns so called.

i. e. With those 23. Cities which he is [illegible: 1 word] to have, v. 22.

i. e. From the former Inhabitants, which is easily understood.

Which was taken by Nobah, one of Iairs Commanders, sent by him to take it, as may be gathered from [illegible: 1 word]. 32. 41, 42.

Partly to his own Sons, and partly to his Son-in-law Iair, who by reason of that dear Affection which was [illegible: 1 word] them, and his forsaking his own Tribe and Kindred to [illegible: 1 word] for them and to dwell with them, is here reckoned as his own Son.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

24 And after that Hezron was dead in Calebephratah , then Abiah Hezrons wife bare him Ashur the father of Tekoa .

A place then so called by a Conjunction of the Names of the Man and his Wife; afterwards supposed to be called Bethlehem-Ephratah. Others translate the words thus, When Caleb took Ephratah. So it is an Ellepsis of the Verb which is here to be understood out of v. 19. where it is expressed.

After the Fathers death.

A known place, 2 Sam. 14. 2, 4. Ier. 6. 1. Amos 1. 1. Whose Father he is called, because he was either the Progenitour of the People inhabiting there: Or, their Prince and Ruler: Or, the Builder of the City.

25 And the sons of Jerahmeel the first-born of Hezron were, Ram the first-born, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah .

Or, of (the prefix, mem being oft understood) Ahijah, his Wife so called, as may seem probable from the next Verse, where he mentions another Wife.

31 And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi; Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan; Ahlai.

An Expression oft used both afterwards in this verse and elsewhere, and in profane Authors too, where there is but one Son. It is an Enallage of the Number, which is frequent in the Hebrew.

Marginal references: See ver. 34, 35.

34 Now Sheshan had no sons , but daughters: and Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.

To wit, living when he died, his Son Ahlai, v. 31. dying before him: unless Ahlai was the Name of a Daughter.

42 Now the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were, Mesha his first-born, which was the father of Ziph : and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron .

To wit, of that Caleb mentioned v. 18. as appears by comparing that Verse with v 25. And these are his Sons by another and his third Wife. See on v. 18.

The Name either of a Man: or of a Place, of which see Ios. 15. 24, 55. And then Father is to be understood here as v. 23, & 24.

Not the Place so called, but a Man, as is evident because his Sons here follow.

45 And the son of Shammai was Maon: and Maon was the father of Beth-zur .

A Place in Iudah, Ios. 15. 58. See on v. 23.

47 And the sons of Jahdai ; Regem, and Jotham; and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph.

The Son of Gazez last mentioned: which is implied because he follows next after him in the Genealogy. Or, the Sons of Moza: whose Name might be changed into Iahdai for some Reason now unknown.

49 She bare also Shaaph the father of Madmannah , Sheva the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea: and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.

This, and divers other following Names are the Names of Places in Iudah, and Father is meant as v. 23, 24.

Marginal references: Josh. [illegible: 1+ letters]5. [illegible: 1 word].

51 Salma the father of Beth-lehem , Hareph the father of Beth-gader .

To wit, in part: For Boaz descended from another Salmon, who was the Son of Naasson, v. 11.

Called also Penuel the father of Gedor, ch. 4. 4.

52 And Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim, had sons; Haroeh , and half of the Manahethites.

Which may signifie an Overseer, a Prophet, or Teacher, or Ruler; but here is a proper Name, as appears from ch. 4. 2. where he is called Rea[illegible: 1+ letters]ah with no great variation in the Hebrew.

Marginal references: Or, Reajah, chap. 4. 2.; Or, half of the Menuchites, Or, [illegible: 1 word].

53 And the families of Kirjath-jearim ; the Ithrite, and the Puhite, and the Shumathite, and the Mishraite: of them came the Zareathite, and the Eshtaulite .

Or, In Kirjath-jearim, all which descended from Shobal, v. 51.

i. e. Of the Family of the Mishraite, last mentioned.

The Inhabitants of two places called Zoreah and Eshtaol, Ios. 15. 33.

54 The sons of Salma ; Bethlehem , and the Netophathite, Ataroth , the house of Joab , and half of the Manahethites , the Zorites .

Of that Salma mentioned v. 51.

i. e. The Inhabitants of Bethlehem.

The Name of a Person, or People.

The Progenitors of Ioab's Family.

The other half being mentioned v. 52

For, to wit, the Zorite.

Marginal references: Or, Atarit[illegible: 1+ letters]s: or, crowns of the House of Ioab.

55 And the families of the Scribes which dwelt at Jabez ; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath the father of the house of Rechab.

Either Civil, who were Publick Notaries who wrote and signed Legal Instruments: Or Ecclesiastical. And these were either Levites, or Simeonites, or rather Kenites, and are here mentioned not as if they were of the Tribe of Iudah, but because they dwelt among them, and probably were allied to them by Marriages, and so in a manner Incorporated with them.

Or, rather dwelt; Heb. Were Dwellers. For the other Translation, which dwelt, may seem to ins[illegible: 1+ letters]uate that these were Descendants of Iudah, which they were not; but this Translation onely signifies their Cohabitation with them, for which cause they are here named with them.

A Place in Iudah, so named probably from that Famous Iabez of that Tribe, ch. 4. 9.

Who dwelt in Iudah, Iudg. 1. 11. Thus they are distinguished from the other Branch of the Kenites, who dwelt in the Tribe of Manasseh, Iudg. 4. 11.

Marginal references: Judg. 1. 16.; Jer. 35. 2.

The Twelve Sons of Israel and the Families of Judah - 1 Chronicles 2-4:23

The list of the twelve sons of Israel (1Ch 2:1-2) serves as foundation and starting-point for the genealogies of the tribes of Israel which follow, 1Ch 2:3-8. The enumeration of the families of the tribe of Judah commences in 1Ch 2:3 with the naming of Judah’s sons, and extends to 1Ch 4:23. The tribe of Judah has issued from the posterity of only three of the five sons of Judah, viz., from Shelah, Pharez, and Zerah; but it was subdivided into five great families, as Hezron and Hamul, the two sons of Pharez, also founded families. The lists of our three chapters give us: (1) from the family of Zerah only the names of some famous men (1Ch 2:6-8); (2) the descendants of Hezron in the three branches corresponding to the three sons of Hezron, into which they divided themselves (1Ch 2:9), viz., the descendants of Ram to David (1Ch 2:10-17), of Caleb (1Ch 2:18-24), and of Jerahmeel (2:25-41). Then there follow in 1Ch 2:42-55 four other lists of descendants of Caleb, who peopled a great number of the cities of Judah; and then in 1 Chron 3 we have a list of the sons of David and the line of kings of the house of David, down to the grandsons of Zerubbabel; and finally, in 1 Chron 4:1-23, other genealogical fragments as to the posterity of Pharez and Shelah. Of Hamul, consequently, no descendants are noticed, unless perhaps some of the groups ranged together in 1Ch 4:8-22, whose connection with the heads of the families of Judah is not given, are of his lineage. The lists collected in 1 Chron 4:1-20 are clearly only supplements to the genealogies of the great families contained in 1 Chron 2 and 3, which the author of the Chronicle found in the same fragmentary state in which they are communicated to us.

The twelve sons of Israel, arranged as follows: first, the six sons of Leah; then Dan, the son of Rachel’s handmaid; next, the sons of Rachel; and finally, the remaining sons of the handmaids. That a different place is assigned to Dan, viz., before the sons of Rachel, from that which he holds in the list in Gen 35:23., is perhaps to be accounted for by Rachel’s wishing the son of her maid Bilhah to be accounted her own (vide Gen 30:3-6).

1Ch 2:3-5 The sons of Judah and of Pharez, 1Ch 2:3.f. - The five sons of Judah are given according to Gen 38, as the remark on Er which is quoted from Gen 38:7 of that chapter shows, while the names of the five sons are to be found also in Gen 46:12. The two sons of Pharez are according to Gen 46:12, cf. Num 26:21.

1Ch 2:6-8 Sons and descendants of Zerah. - In 1Ch 2:6, five names are grouped together as בּנים of Zerah, which are found nowhere else so united. The first, Zimri, may be strictly a son; but זמרי may perhaps be a mistake for זבדּי, for Achan, who is in 1Ch 2:7 the son of Carmi, is in Jos 7:1 called the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah. But זבדּי (Josh.) may also be an error for זמרי, or he may have been a son of Zimri, since in genealogical lists an intermediate member of the family is often passed over. Nothing certain can, however, be ascertained; both names are found elsewhere, but of persons belonging to other tribes: Zimri as prince of the Simeonites, Num 25:14; as Benjamite, 1Ch 8:36; 1Ch 9:42; and as king of Israel, 1Ki 16:9; Zabdi, 1Ch 8:19 (as Benjamite), and 1Ch 27:27, Neh 11:17. The four succeeding names, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, are met with again in 1Ki 5:11, where it is said of Solomon he was wiser than the Ezrahite Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Machol, with the unimportant variation of דרדע for דרע. On this account, Movers and Bertheau, following Clericus on 1Ki 4:31 (1Ki 5:11), hold the identity of the wise men mentioned in 1Ki 5:11 with the sons (descendants) of Zerah to be beyond doubt. But the main reason which Clericus produces in support of this supposition, the consensus quatuor nominum et quidem unius patris filiorum, and the difficulty of believing that in alia familia Hebraea there should have been quatuor fratres cognomines quatuor filiis Zerachi Judae filii, loses all its force from the fact that the supposition that the four wise men in 1Ki 5:11 are brothers by blood, is a groundless and erroneous assumption. Since Ethan is called the Ezrahite, while the last two are said to be the sons of Machol, it is clear that the four were not brothers. The mention of them as men famous for their wisdom, does not at all require that we should think the men contemporary with each other. Even the enumeration of these four along with Zimri as זרח בּני in our verse does not necessarily involve that the five names denote brothers by blood; for it is plain from 1Ch 2:7, 1Ch 2:8 that in this genealogy only single famous names of the family of Zerah the son of Judah and Tamar are grouped together. But, on the other hand, the reasons which go to disprove the identity of the persons in our verse with those named in 1Ki 5:11 are not of very great weight. The difference in the names דרע and דרדע is obviously the result of an error of transcription, and the form העזרחי   (1Ki 5:11) is most probably a patronymic from זרח, notwithstanding that in Num 26:20 it appears as זרחי, for even the appellative עזרח, indigena, is formed from זרח. We therefore hold that the persons who bear the same names in our verse and in 1Ki 5:11 are most probably identical, in spite of the addition מחול בּני to Calcol and Darda (1Ki 5:11). For that this addition belongs merely to these two names, and not to Ezrah, appears from Psa 88:1 and Psa 89:1, which, according to the superscription, were composed by the Ezrahites Heman and Ethan. The authors of these psalms are unquestionably the Heman and Ethan who were famed for their wisdom (1Ki 5:11), and therefore most probably the same as those spoken of in our verse as sons of Zerah. It is true that the authors of these psalms have been held by many commentators to be Levites, nay, to be the musicians mentioned in 1Ch 15:17 and 1Ch 15:19; but sufficient support for this view, which I myself, on 1Ki 5:11, after the example of Hengstenberg, Beitrr. ii. S. 61, and on Ps 88 defended, cannot be found. The statement of the superscription of Psa 88:1 - “a psalm of the sons of Korah” - from which it is inferred that the Ezrahite Heman was of Levitic origin, does not justify such a conclusion.The above quoted statement of the superscription of Psa 88:1 can contain no information as to the author of the psalm, for this reason, that the author is expressly mentioned in the next sentence of the superscription. The psalm can only in so far be called a song of the children of Korah, as it bears the impress peculiar to the Korahite psalms in contents and form.

For though the musician Heman the son of Joel was Korahite of the race of Kohath (1Ch 6:18-23), yet the musician Ethan the son of Kishi, or Kushaiah, was neither Korahite nor Kohathite, but a Merarite (1Ch 6:29.). Moreover, the Levites Heman and Ethan could not be enumerated among the Ezrahites, that is, the descendants of Zerah, a man of Judah.

The passages which are quoted in support of the view that the Levites were numbered with the tribes in the midst of whom they dwelt, and that, consequently, there were Judaean and Ephraimite Levites - as, for example, 1Sa 1:1, where the father of the Levite Samuel is called an Ephrathite because he dwelt in Mount Ephraim; and Jdg 17:7, where a Levite is numbered with the family of Judah because he dwelt as sojourner (גּר) in Bethlehem, a city of Judah - certainly prove that the Levites were reckoned, as regards citizenship, according to the tribes or cities in which they dwelt, but certainly do not show that they were incorporated genealogically with those tribes because of their place of residence.Not even by intermarrying with heiresses could Levites become members of another tribe; for, according to the law, Num 36:5., heiresses could marry only men of their own tribe; and the possibility of a man of Judah marrying an heiress of the tribe of Levi was out of the question, for the Levites possessed no inheritance in land.

The Levites Heman and Ethan, therefore, cannot be brought forward in our verse “as adopted sons of Zerah, who brought more honour to their father than his proper sons” (Hengstb.). This view is completely excluded by the fact that in our verse not only Ethan and Heman, but also Zimri, Calcol, and Dara are called sons of Zerah, yet these latter were not adopted sons, but true descendants of Zerah. Besides, in 1Ch 2:8, there is an actual son or descendant of Ethan mentioned, and consequently בּני and בּן cannot possibly be understood in some cases as implying only an adoptive relationship, and in the others actual descent. But the similarity of the names is not of itself sufficient to justify us in identifying the persons. As the name Zerah again appears in 1Ch 6:26 in the genealogy of the Levite Asaph, so also the name Ethan occurs in the same genealogy, plainly showing that more than one Israelite bore this name. The author of the Chronicle, too, has sufficiently guarded against the opinion that Zerah’s sons Ethan and Heman are identical with the Levitical musicians who bear the same names, by tracing back in 1 Chron 6 the family of those musicians to Levi, without calling them Ezrahites.The supposition of Ewald and Bertheau, that these two great singers of the tribe of Judah had been admitted into their guild by the Levitic musical schools, and on that account had been received also into their family, and so had been numbered with the tribe of Levi, is thus completely refuted, even were it at all possible that members of other tribes should have been received into the tribe of Levi.

But to hold, with Movers, S. 237, that the recurrences of the same names in various races are contradictions, which are to be explained only on the supposition of genealogical combinations by various authors, will enter into the head of no sensible critic. We therefore believe the five persons mentioned in our verse to be actual descendants of the Judaean Zerah; but whether they were sons or grandsons, or still more distant descendants, cannot be determined. It is certainly very probable that Zimri was a son, if he be identical with the Zabdi of Jos 7:1; Ethan and Heman may have been later descendants of Zerah, if they were the wise men mentioned in 1Ki 5:11; but as to Calcol and Dara no further information is to be obtained. From 1Ch 2:7 and 1Ch 2:8, where of the sons (בּני) of Zimri and Ethan only one man in each case is named, it is perfectly clear that in our genealogy only individuals, men who have become famous, are grouped together out of the whole posterity of Zerah. The plural בּני in 1Ch 2:7 and 1Ch 2:8, etc., even where only one son is mentioned, is used probably only in those cases where, out of a number of sons or descendants, one has gained for himself by some means a memorable name. This is true at least of Achan, 1Ch 2:7, who, by laying hands on the accursed spoils of Jericho, had become notorious (Josh 7). Because Achan had thus troubled Israel (עכר), he is called here at once Achar. As to Carmi,vide on 1Ch 4:1.

The only name given here as that of a descendant of Ethan is Azariah, of whom nothing further is known, while the name recurs frequently. Nothing more is said of the remaining sons of Zerah; they are merely set down as famous men of antiquity (Berth.). There follows in 1 Chronicles 2:9-41

The family of Hezron, the first-born son of Pharez, which branches off in three lines, originating with his three sons respectively. The three sons of Hezron are Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai; but the families springing from them are enumerated in a different order. First (1Ch 2:10-17) we have the family of Ram, because King David is descended from him; then (1Ch 2:18-24) the family of Chelubai or Caleb, from whose lineage came the illustrious Bezaleel; and finally (vv. 25-41), the posterity of the first-born, Jerahmeel.

1Ch 2:9 לו נולד אשׁר, what was born to him. The passive stands impersonally instead of the more definite active, “to whom one bore,” so that the following names are subordinated to it with את. The third person singular Niph. occurs thus also in 1Ch 3:4 and 1Ch 26:6; the construction of Niph. with את frequently (Gen 4:18; Gen 21:5, and elsewhere). Ram is called, in the genealogy in Mat 1:3-4, Aram; comp. רם, Job 32:2, with ארם, Gen 22:21. כּלוּבי is called afterwards כּלב; cf. on 1Ch 2:18.

1Ch 2:10-15

The family of Ram (1Ch 2:10-12), traced down through six members of Jesse. - This genealogy is also to be found in Ruth. 1Ch 4:19-21; but only here is Nahshon made more prominent than the others, by the addition, “prince of the sons of Judah.” Nahshon was a prince of Judah at the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt (Num 1:7; Num 2:3; Num 7:12). Now between him, a contemporary of Moses, and Pharez, who at the immigration of Jacob into Egypt was about fifteen years old, lies a period of 430 years, during which the Israelites remained in Egypt. For that time only three names - Hezron, Ram, and Amminidab - are mentioned, from which it is clear that several links must have been passed over. So also, from Nahshon to David, for a period of over 400 years, four generations - Salma, Boaz, Obed, and Jesse - are too few; and consequently here also the less famous ancestors of David are omitted. שׂלמא is called in Rth 4:20-21, שׁלמה and שׂלמון. In 1Ch 2:13-15, seven sons and two daughters of Jesse, with those of their sons who became famous (1Ch 2:16, 1Ch 2:17), are enumerated. According to 1Sa 17:12, Jesse had eight sons. This account, which agrees with that in 1Sa 16:8-12, may be reconciled with the enumeration in our verse, on the supposition that one of the sons died without posterity. In 1Sa 16:6. and 1Ch 17:13, the names of the eldest three - Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah - occur. Besides ישׁי, we meet with the form אשׁי (1Ch 2:13); and the name שׁמּה is only another form of שׁמעה, which is found in 2Sa 13:3 and in 1Ch 20:7, and is repeated in 2Sa 13:32 and 2Sa 21:21 in the Kethibh (שׁמעי). The names of the other three sons here mentioned (1Ch 2:14 and 1Ch 2:15) are met with nowhere else.

1Ch 2:16-17

The sisters of David have become known through their heroic sons. Zeruiah is the mother of the heroes of the Davidic history, Abishai, Joab, and Asahel (cf. 1Sa 26:6; 2Sa 2:18; 2Sa 3:39; 2Sa 8:16, and elsewhere). Their father is nowhere mentioned, “because their more famous mother challenged the greater attention” (Berth.). Abigail was, according to 2Sa 17:25, the daughter of Nahash, a sister of Zeruiah, and so was only a half-sister of David, and was the mother of Amasa the captain of the host, so well known on account of his share in the conspiracy of Absalom; cf. 2Sa 17:25; 2Sa 19:14, and 2Sa 20:10. His father was Jether, or Jithra, the Ishmaelite, who in the Masoretic text of 2Sa 17:25 is called, through a copyist’s, error, היּשׂראלי instead of היּשׁמעאלי; see comm. on passage.

1Ch 2:18-24 The family of Caleb. - That כּלב is merely a shortened form of כּלוּבי, or a form of that word resulting from the friction of constant use, is so clear from the context, that all exegetes recognise it. We have first (1Ch 2:18-20) a list of the descendants of Caleb by two wives, then descendants which the daughter of the Gileadite Machir bore to his father Hezron (1Ch 2:21-23), and finally the sons whom Hezron’s wife bore him after his death (1Ch 2:24). The grouping of these descendants of Hezron with the family of Caleb can only be accounted for by supposing that they had, through circumstances unknown to us, come into a more intimate connection with the family of Caleb than with the families of his brothers Ram and Jerahmeel. In 1Ch 2:42-55 follow some other lists of descendants of Caleb, which will be more fully considered when we come to these verses. The first half of the 18th verse is obscure, and the text is probably corrupt. As the words stand at present, we must translate, “Caleb the son of Hezron begat with Azubah, a woman, and with Jerioth, and these are her (the one wife’s) sons, Jesher,” etc. בּניה, filii ejus, suggests that only one wife of Caleb had been before mentioned; and, as appears from the “and Azubah died” of 1Ch 2:19, Azubah is certainly meant. The construction את הוליד, “he begat with,” is, it is true, unusual, but is analogous to חוליד מן, 1Ch 8:9, and is explained by the fact that הוליד may mean to cause to bear, to bring to bearing; cf. Isa 66:9 : therefore properly it is, “he brought Azubah to bearing.” The difficulty of the verse lies in the ואת־יריעות אשּׁה, for, according to the usual phraseology, we would have expected אשׁתּו instead of אשּׁה. But אשּׁה may be, under the circumstances, to some extent justified by the supposition that Azubah is called indefinitely “woman,” because Caleb had several wives. ואת־וריעות gives no suitable meaning. The explanation of Kimchi, “with Azubah a woman, and with Jerioth,” cannot be accepted, for only the sons of Azubah are hereafter mentioned; and the idea that the children of the other wives are not enumerated here because the list used by the chronicler was defective, is untenable: for after two wives had been named in the enumeration of the children of one of them, the mother must necessarily have been mentioned; and so, instead of בּניה, we should have had עזוּבה בּני. Hiller and J. H. Michaelis take ואת as explicative, “with Azubah a woman, viz., with Jerioth;” but this is manifestly only the product of exegetical embarrassment. The text is plainly at fault, and the easiest conjecture is to read, with the Peschito and the Vulgate, את אשׁתּו instead of ואת אשּׁה, “he begat with Azubah his wife, Jerioth (a daughter); and these are her sons.” In that case אשּׁה would be added to עזוּבה, to guard against עזוּבה being taken for acc. obj. The names of the sons of Azubah, or of her daughter Jerioth, do not occur elsewhere.

1Ch 2:25

Four sons were born to Jerahmeel by his first wife. Five names indeed follow; but as the last, אחיּה, although met with elsewhere as a man’s name, is not ranged with the others by ו copul., as those that precede are with each other, it appears to be the name of a woman, and probably a מ has fallen out after the immediately preceding ם. So Cler., J. H. Mich., Berth. This conjecture gains in probability from the mention in 1Ch 2:26 of another wife, whence we might expect that in 1Ch 2:25 the first wife would be named.

1Ch 2:26-27

Only one son of the second wife is given, Onam, whose posterity follows in 1Ch 2:28-33; for in 1Ch 2:27 the three sons of Ram, the first-born of Jerahmeel, are enumerated.

1Ch 2:28

Onam had two sons, Shammai and Jada; the second of these, again, two sons, Nadab and Abishur.

1Ch 2:29-31

To Abishur his wife Abihail bore likewise two sons, with whom his race terminates. - In 1Ch 2:30, 1Ch 2:31, Nadab’s posterity follow, in four members, ending with Ahlai, in the fourth generation. But Ahlai cannot well have been a son, but must have been a daughter, the heiress of Sheshan; for, according to 1Ch 2:34, Sheshen had no sons, but only daughters, and gave his daughter to an Egyptian slave whom he possessed, to wife, by whom she became the mother of a numerous posterity. The שׁשׁן בּני is not irreconcilable with this, for בּני denotes in genealogies only descendants in general, and has been here correctly so explained by Hiller in Onomast. p. 736: quicquid habuit liberorum, sive nepotum, sustulit ex unica filia Achlai.

1Ch 2:32-41

The descendants of Jada, the brother of Shammai, in two generations, after which this genealogy closes with the subscription, “these were the sons of Jerahmeel.”Bertheau reckons up to “the concluding subscription in 1Ch 2:33” the following descendants of Judah: “Judah’s sons = 5; Hezron and Hamul = 2; Zerah’s sons = 5; Karmi, Akar, and Azariah = 3; Ram and his descendants (including the two daughters of Jesse, and Jeter the father of Amasa) = 21; Kaleb and his descendants = 10; Jerahmeel and his descendants = 24: together = 70.” But this number also is obtained only by taking into account the father and mother of Amasa as two persons, contrary to the rule according to which only the father, without the mother, is to be counted, or, in case the mother be more famous than the father, or be an heiress, only the mother.  - In 1Ch 2:34-41 there follows the family of Sheshan, which was originated by the marriage of his daughter with his Egyptian slave, and which is continued through thirteen generations. The name of this daughter is in 1Ch 2:25. not mentioned, but she is without doubt the Ahlai mentioned in 1Ch 2:31. But since this Ahlai is the tenth in descent from Judah through Pharez, she was probably born in Egypt; and the Egyptian slave Jarha was most likely a slave whom Sheshan had in Egypt, and whom he adopted as his son for the propagation of his race, by giving him his daughter and heir to wife. If this be the case, the race begotten by Jarha with the daughter of Sheshan is traced down till towards the end of the period of the judges. The Egyptian slave Jarha is not elsewhere met with; and though the names which his posterity bore are found again in various parts of the Old Testament, of none of them can it be proved that they belonged to men of this family, so as to show that one of these person shad become famous in history.

1Ch 2:42-45 Other renowned descendants of Caleb. - First of all there are enumerated, in 1Ch 2:42-49, three lines of descendants of Caleb, of which the two latter, 1Ch 2:46-49, are the issue of concubines. - The first series, 1Ch 2:42-45, contains some things which are very obscure. In 1Ch 2:42 there are menitioned, as sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel, Mesha his first-born, with the addition, “this is the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah, the father of Hebron,” as it reads according to the traditional Masoretic text. Now it is here not only very surprising that the sons of Mareshah stand parallel with Mesha, but it is still more strange to find such a collocation as “sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron.” The last-mentioned difficulty would certainly be greatly lessened if we might take Hebron to be the city of that name, and translate the phrase “father of Hebron,” lord of the city of Hebron, according to the analogy of “father of Ziph,” “father of Tekoa” (1Ch 2:24), and other names of that sort. But the continuation of the genealogy, “and the sons of Hebron were Korah, and Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema” (1Ch 2:43), is irreconcilable with such an interpretation. For of these names, Tappuah, i.e., apple, is indeed met with several times as the name of a city (Jos 12:17; Jos 15:34; Jos 16:8); and Rekem is the name of a city of Benjamin (Jos 18:27), but occurs also twice as the name of a person - once of a Midianite prince (Num 31:8), and once of a Manassite (1Ch 7:16); but the other two, Korah and Shema, only occur as the names of persons. In 1Ch 2:44., moreover, the descendants of Shema and Rekem are spoken of, and that, too, in connection with the word הוליד, “he begat,” which demonstrably can only denote the propagation of a race. We must therefore take Hebron as the name of a person, as in 1Ch 6:2 and Exo 6:18. But if Hebron be the name of a man, then Mareshah also must be interpreted in the same manner. This is also required by the mention of the sons of Mareshah parallel with Mesha the first-born; but still more so by the circumstance that the interpretation of Mareshah and Hebron, as names of cities, is irreconcilable with the position of these two cities, and with their historical relations. Bertheau, indeed, imagines that as Mareshah is called the father of Hebron, the famous capital of the tribe of Judah, we must therefore make the attempt, however inadmissible it may seem at first sight, to take Mareshah, in the connection of our verse, as the name of a city, which appears as father of Hebron, and that we must also conclude that the ancient city Hebron (Num 13:23) stood in some sort of dependent relationship to Mareshah, perhaps only in later time, although we cannot at all determine to what time the representation of our verse applies. But at the foundation of this argument there lies an error as to the position of the city Mareshah. Mareshah lay in the Shephelah (Jos 15:44), and exists at present as the ruin Marasch, twenty-four minutes south of Beit-Jibrin:vide on Jos 15:44; and Tobler, Dritte Wanderung, §129 and 142f. Ziph, therefore, which is mentioned in 2Ch 11:8 along with Mareshah, and which is consequently the Ziph mentioned in our verse, cannot be, as Bertheau believes, the Ziph situated in the hill country of Judah, in the wilderness of that name, whose ruins are still to be seen on the hill Zif, about four miles south-east from Hebron (Jos 15:55). It can only be the Ziph in the Shephelah (Jos 15:24), the position of which has not indeed been discovered, but which is to be sought in the Shephelah at no great distance from Marasch, and thus far distant from Hebron. Since, then, Mareshah and Ziph were in the Shephelah, no relation of dependence between the capital, Hebron, situated in the mountains of Judah, and Mareshah can be thought of, neither in more ancient nor in later time. The supposition of such a dependence is not made probable by the remark that we cannot determine to what time the representation of our verse applies; it only serves to cover the difficulty which renders it impossible. That the verse does not treat of post-exilic times is clear, although even after the exile, and in the time of the Maccabees and the Romans, Hebron was not in a position of dependence on Marissa. Bertheau himself holds Caleb, of whose son our verses treat, for a contemporary of Moses and Joshua, because in 1Ch 2:49 Achsa is mentioned as daughter of Caleb (Jos 15:16; Jdg 1:12). The contents of our verse would therefore have reference to the first part of the period of the judges. But since Hebron was never dependent on Mareshah in the manner supposed, the attempt, which even at first sight appeared so inadmissible, to interpret Mareshah as the name of a city, loses all its support. For this reason, therefore, the city of Hebron, and the other cities named in 1Ch 2:43., which perhaps belonged to the district of Mareshah, cannot be the sons of Mareshah here spoken of; and the fact that, of the names mentioned in 1Ch 2:43 and 1Ch 2:44, at most two may denote cities, while the others are undoubtedly the names of persons, points still more clearly to the same conclusion. We must, then, hold Hebron and Mareshah also to be the names of persons.

Now, if the Masoretic text be correct, the use of the phrase, “and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron,” instead of “and Mareshah, the sons of the father of Hebron,” can only have arisen from a desire to point out, that besides Hebron there were also other sons of Mareshah who were of Caleb’s lineage. But the mention of the sons of Mareshah, instead of Mareshah, and the calling him the father of Hebron in this connection, make the correctness of the traditional text very questionable. Kimchi has, on account of the harshness of placing the sons of Mareshah on a parallel with Mesha the first-born of Caleb, supposed an ellipse in the expression, and construes מר ובני, et ex filiis Ziphi Mareshah. But this addition cannot be justified. If we may venture a conjecture in so obscure a matter, it would more readily suggest itself that מרשׁה is an error for מישׁע, and that חברון אבי is to be taken as a nomen compos., when the meaning would be, “and the sons of Mesha were Abi-Hebron.” The probability of the existence of such a name as Abihebron along with the simple Hebron has many analogies in its favour: cf. Dan and Abidan, Num 1:11; Ezer, 1Ch 12:9, Neh 3:19, with Abi-ezer; Nadab, Exo 6:23, and Abinadab. In the same family even we have Abiner, or Abner, the son of Ner (1Sa 14:50.; 2Sa 2:8; cf. Ew. §273, S. 666, 7th edition). Abihebron would then be repeated in 1Ch 2:43, in the shortened form Hebron, just as we have in Jos 16:8 Tappuah, instead of En-tappuah, Jos 17:7. The four names introduced as sons of Hebron denote persons, not localities: cf. for Korah, 1Ch 1:35, and concerning Tappuah and Rekem the above remark. In 1Ch 2:44 are mentioned the sons of Rekem and of Shema, the latter a frequently recurring man’s name (cf. 1Ch 5:8; 1Ch 8:13; 1Ch 11:44; Neh 8:4). Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkam. The name יקעם is quite unknown elsewhere. The lxx have rendered it Ἰεκλὰν, and Bertheau therefore holds Jorkam to be the name of a place, and conjectures that originally יקדעם (Jos 15:56) stood here also. But the lxx give also Ἰεκλὰν for the following name רקם, from which it is clear that we cannot rely much on their authority. The lxx have overlooked the fact that רקם, 1Ch 2:44, is the son of the Hebron mentioned in 1Ch 2:43, whose descendants are further enumerated. Shammai occurs as a man’s name also in 1Ch 2:28, and is again met with in 1Ch 4:17. His son is called in 1Ch 2:45 Maon, and Maon is the father of Bethzur. בּית־צוּר is certainly the city in the mountains of Judah which Rehoboam fortified (2Ch 11:7), and which still exists in the ruin Bet-sur, lying south of Jerusalem in the direction of Hebron. Maon also was a city in the mountains of Judah, now Main (Jos 15:55); but we cannot allow that this city is meant by the name מעון, because Maon is called on the one hand the son of Shammai, and on the other is father of Bethzur, and there are no well-ascertained examples of a city being represented as son (בּן) of a man, its founder or lord, nor of one city being called the father of another. Dependent cities and villages are called daughters (not sons) of the mother city. The word מעון, “dwelling,” does not per se point to a village or town, and in Jdg 10:12 denotes a tribe of non-Israelites.

1Ch 2:46 Descendants of Caleb by two concubines. - The name עיפה occurs in 1Ch 2:47 and 1Ch 1:33 as a man’s name. Caleb’s concubine of this name bore three sons: Haran, of whom nothing further is known; Moza, which, though in Jos 18:26 it is the name of a Benjamite town, is not necessarily on that account the name of a town here; and Gazez, unknown, perhaps a grandson of Caleb, especially if the clause “Haran begat Gazez” be merely an explanatory addition. But Haran may also have given to his son the name of his younger brother, so that a son and grandson of Caleb may have borne the same name.

1Ch 2:47

The genealogical connection of the names in this verse is entirely wanting; for Jahdai, of whom six sons are enumerated, appears quite abruptly. Hiller, in Onomast., supposes, but without sufficient ground, that יהדּי is another name of Moza. Of his sons’ names, Jotham occurs frequently of different persons; Ephah, as has been already remarked, is in 1Ch 1:33 the name of a chief of a Midianite tribe; and lastly, Shaaph is used in 1Ch 2:49 of another person.

1Ch 2:48-49

Another concubine of Caleb was called Maachah, a not uncommon woman’s name; cf. 1Ch 3:2; 1Ch 7:16; 1Ch 8:29; 1Ch 11:43, etc. She bore Sheber and Tirhanah, names quite unknown. The masc. ילד instead of the fem. ילדה, 1Ch 2:46, is to be explained by the supposition that the father who begat was present to the mind of the writer. 1Ch 2:49. Then she bore also Shaaph (different from the Shaaph in 1Ch 2:47), the father of Madmannah, a city in the south of Judah, perhaps identical with Miniay or Minieh, southwards from Gaza (see on Jos 15:31). Sheva (David’s Sopher scribe is so called in the Keri of 2Sa 20:25), the father of Machbenah, a village of Judah not further mentioned, and of Gibea, perhaps the Gibeah mentioned in Jos 15:57, in the mountains of Judah, or the village Jeba mentioned by Robinson, Palest. ii. p. 327, and Tobler, Dritte Wanderung, S. 157f., on a hill in the Wady Musurr (vide on Jos 15:57). This list closes with the abrupt remark, “and Caleb’s daughter was Achsah.” This notice can only refer to the Achsah so well known in the history of the conquest of the tribal domain of Judah, whom Caleb had promised, and gave as a reward to the conqueror of Debir (Jos 15:16.; Jdg 1:12); otherwise in its abrupt form it would have no meaning. Women occur in the genealogies only when they have played an important part in history. Since, however, the father of this Achsah was Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who was about forty years old when the Israelites left Egypt, while our Caleb, on the contrary, is called in 1Ch 2:42 the brother of Jerahmeel, and is at the same time designated son of Hezron, the son of Pharez (1Ch 2:9), these two Calebs cannot be one person: the son of Hezron must have been a much older Caleb than the son of Jephunneh. The older commentators have consequently with one voice distinguished the Achsah mentioned in our verse from the Achsah in Jos 15:16; while Movers, on the contrary (Chron. S. 83), would eliminate from the text, as a later interpolation, the notice of the daughter of Caleb. Bertheau, however, attempts to prove the identity of Caleb the son of Hezron with Caleb the son of Jephunneh. The assertion of Movers is so manifestly a critical tour de force, that it requires no refutation; but neither can we subscribe to Bertheau’s view. He is, indeed, right in rejecting Ewald’s expedient of holding that 1Ch 2:18-20 and 1Ch 2:45-50 are to be referred to Chelubai, and 1Ch 2:42-49 to a Caleb to be carefully distinguished from him; for it contradicts the plain sense of the words, according to which both Chelubai, 1Ch 2:9, and Caleb, 1Ch 2:18 and 1Ch 2:42, is the son of Hezron and the brother of Jerahmeel. But what he brings forward against distinguishing Caleb the father of Achsah, 1Ch 2:49, from Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel, 1Ch 2:42, is entirely wanting in force. The reasons adduced reduce themselves to these: that Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the conqueror and possessor of Hebron, might well be called in the genealogical language, which sometimes expresses geographical relations, the son of Hezron, along with Ram and Jerahmeel, as the names Ram and Jerahmeel certainly denote families in Judah, who, originally at least, dwelt in other domains than that of Caleb; and again, that the individual families as well as the towns and villages in these various domains may be conceived of as sons and descendants of those who represent the great families of the tribe, and the divisions of the tribal territory. But we must deny the geographical signification of the genealogies when pressed so far as this: for valid proofs are entirely wanting that towns are represented as sons and brothers of other towns; and the section 1Ch 2:42-49 does not treat merely, or principally, of the geographical relations of the families of Judah, but in the first place, and in the main, deals with the genealogical ramifications of the descendants and families of the sons of Judah. It by no means follows, because some of these descendants are brought forward as fathers of cities, that in 1Ch 2:42-49 towns and their mutual connection are spoken of; and the names Caleb, Ram, and Jerahmeel do not here denote families, but are the names of the fathers and chiefs of the families which descended from them, and dwelt in the towns just named. We accordingly distinguish Caleb, whose daughter was called Achsah, and whose father was Jephunneh (Jos 15:16.), from Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel and the son of Hezron. but we explain the mention of Achsah as daughter of Caleb, at the end of the genealogical lists of the persons and families descended by concubines from Caleb, by the supposition that the Caleb who lived in the time of Moses, the son of Jephunneh, was a descendant of an older Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel. But it is probable that the Caleb in 1Ch 2:49 is the same who is called in 1Ch 2:42 the brother of Jerahmeel, and whose descendants are specified 1Ch 2:42-49; and we take the word בּת, “daughter,” in its wider sense, as signifying a later female descendant, because the father of the Achsah so well known from Jos 15:16. is also called son of Jephunneh in the genealogy, 1Ch 4:15.

1Ch 2:50-51 The families descended from Caleb through his son Hur. - 1Ch 2:50. The superscription, “These are the sons (descendants) of Caleb,” is more accurately defined by the addition, “the son of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah;” and by this definition the following lists of Caleb’s descendants are limited to the families descended from his son Hur. That the words וגו בּן־חוּר are to be so understood, and not as apposition to כּלב, “Caleb the son of Hur,” is shown by 1Ch 2:19, according to which Hur is a son of Caleb and Ephrath. On that account, too, the relationship of Hur to Caleb is not given here; it is presupposed as known from 1Ch 2:19. A famous descendant of Hur has already been mentioned in 1Ch 2:20, viz., Bezaleel the son of Uri. Here, in 1Ch 2:50 and 1Ch 2:51, three sons of Hur are named, Shobal, Salma, and Hareph, with the families descended from the first two. All information is wanting as to whether these sons of Hur were brothers of Uri, or his cousins in nearer or remoter degree, as indeed is every means of a more accurate determination of the degrees of relationship. Both בּן and הוליד in genealogies mark only descent in a straight line, while intermediate members of a family are often omitted in the lists. Instead of בּן־חוּר, בּני־חוּר might have been expected, as two sons are mentioned. The singular בּן shows that the words are not to be fused with the following into one sentence, but, as the Masoretic punctuation also shows, are meant for a superscription, after which the names to be enumerated are ranged without any more intimate logical connection. For the three names are not connected by the w copul. They stand thus: “sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah; Shobal...Salma...Hareph.” Shobal is called father of Kirjath-jearim, now Kureyet el Enab (see on Jos 9:17). Salma, father of Bethlehem, the birth-place of David and Christ. This Salma is, however, not the same person as Salma mentioned in 1Ch 2:11 and Rth 4:20 among the ancestors of David; for the latter belonged to the family of Ram, the former to the family of Caleb. Hareph is called the father of Beth-Geder, which is certainly not the same place as Gedera, Jos 15:36, which lay in the Shephelah, but is probably identical with Gedor in the hill country, Jos 15:58, west of the road which leads from Hebron to Jerusalem (vide on 1Ch 12:4). Nothing further is told of Hareph, but in the following verses further descendants of both the other sons of Hur are enumerated.

1Ch 2:52

Shobal had sons, המּנחות חצי הראה. These words, which are translated in the Vulgate, qui videbat dimidium requietionum, give, so interpreted, no fitting sense, but must contain proper names. The lxx have made from them three names, Ἀραὰ καὶ Αἰσὶ καὶ Ἀμμανίθ, on mere conjecture. Most commentators take הראה for the name of the man who, in 1Ch 4:2, is called under the name Reaiah, ראיה, the son of Shobal. This is doubtless correct; but we must not take הראה for another name of Reaiah, but, with Bertheau, must hold it to be a corruption of ראיה, or a conjecture arising from a false interpretation of המּנחות חצי by a transcriber or reader, who did not take Hazi-Hammenuhoth for a proper name, but understood it appellatively, and attempted to bring some sense out of the words by changing ראיה into the participle ראה. The המּנחתּי חצי ה in 1Ch 2:54 corresponds to our המּנחות חצי, as one half of a race or district corresponds to the other, for the connection between the substantive המּנחות and the adjective המּנחתּי cannot but be acknowledged. Now, although מנוּחה signifies resting-place (Num 10:33; Jdg 20:43), and the words “the half of the resting-place,” or “of the resting-places,” point in the first instance to a district, yet not only does the context require that Hazi-Hammenuhoth should signify a family sprung from Shobal, but it is demanded also by a comparison of our phrase with hmnchty chtsy in 1Ch 2:54, which unquestionably denotes a family. It does not, however, seem necessary to alter the המּנחות into המּנחתּי; for as in 1Ch 2:54 Bethlehem stands for the family in Bethlehem descended from Salma, so the district Hazi-Hammenuhoth may be used in 1Ch 2:52 to denote the family residing there. As to the geographical position of this district, see on 1Ch 2:54.

1Ch 2:53

Besides the families mentioned in 1Ch 2:52, the families of Kirjath-jearim, which in 1Ch 2:53 are enumerated by name, came of Shobal also. וּמשׁפּחות ק is simply a continuation of the families already mentioned, and the remark of Berth., that “the families of Kirjath-jearim are moreover distinguished from the sons of Shobal,” is as incorrect as the supplying of ו cop. before הם הצי in 1Ch 2:52 is unnecessary. The meaning is simply this: Shobal had sons Reaiah, Hazi-Hammenuhoth, and the families of Kirjath-jearim, viz., the family of Jether, etc. David’s heroes, Ira and Gareb, 1Ch 11:40; 2Sa 23:38, belonged to the family of Jether (היּתרי). The other three families are not met with elsewhere. מאלּה, of these, the four families of Kirjath-jearim just mentioned, came the Zoreathites and the Eshtaulites, the inhabitants of the town of Zoreah, the home of Samson, now the ruin Sura, and of Eshtaol, which perhaps may be identified with Um Eshteyeh (see in Jos 15:33).

1Ch 2:54

The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, i.e., the family of Bethlehem (see on 1Ch 2:52), the Netophathites, i.e., the inhabitants of the town of Netophah, which, according to our verse and Ezr 2:22, and especially Neh 7:26, is to be looked for in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem (cf. 1Ch 9:16); a family which produced at various times renowned men (cf. 2Sa 23:28.; 2Ki 25:23; Ezr 2:22). The following words, י עטחרות ב, i.e., “crowns of the house of Joab,” can only be the name of a place which is mentioned instead of its inhabitants; for עטרות occurs elsewhere, sometimes alone, and sometimes in conjunction with a proper name, as the name of places: cf. Num 32:34.; Jos 16:2, Jos 16:5,Jos 16:7; Jos 18:13. Hazi-Hammanahath is certainly to be sought in the neighbourhood of Manahath, 1Ch 8:6, whose position has, however, not yet been ascertained. הצּרעי is only another form of הצּרעתי, and is derived from the masculine of the word. The Zorites here spoken of formed a second division of the inhabitants of Zoreah and the neighbourhood, along with the Zoreathites descended from Shobal, 1Ch 2:53.

1Ch 2:55 “And the families of the writers (scribes) who inhabited Jabez.” The position of the town Jabez, which is mentioned only here, and which derived its name from a descendant of Judah, has not yet been discovered, but is to be sought somewhere in the neighbourhood of Zoreah. This may be inferred from the fact that of the six שׂלמא בּני, two are always more closely connected with each other by ו cop.: (1) Bethlehem and Netophathite, (2) Ataroth-beth-Joab and Hazi-Hammanahath, (3) the Zoreites and the families of the Sopherim inhabiting Jabez. These last were divided into three branches, תּרעתים, שׁמעתים, שׂוּכתים, i.e., those descended from Tira, Shimea, and Suchah. The Vulgate has taken these words in an appellative sense of the occupations of these three classes, and translates canentes et resonantes et in tabernaculis commemorantes. But this interpretation is not made even probable by all that Bertheau has brought forward in support of it. Even if שׂוּכתים might perhaps be connected with סכּה, and interpreted “dwellers in tabernacles,” yet no tenable reason can be found for translating תּרעתים and שׁמעתים by canentes et resonantes. שׁמעתי, from שׁמעה, “that which is heard,” cannot signify those who repeat in words and song that which has been heard; and תּרעתי no more means canentes than it is connected (as Bertheau tries to show) with שׁערים htiw , “doorkeepers” (the Chaldee תּרע being equivalent to the Hebrew שׁער); and the addition, “These are the Kenites who came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab” (מן בּוא, to issue from any one, to be descended from any one), gives no proof of this, for the phrase itself is to us so very obscure. קינים are not inhabitants of the city Kain (Jos 15:57) in the tribal domain of Judah (Kimchi), but, judging from the succeeding relative sentence, were descendants of Keni the father-in-law of Moses (Jdg 1:16), who had come with Israel to Canaan, and dwelt there among the Israelites (Jdg 4:11, Jdg 4:17; Jdg 5:24; 1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 27:10; 1Sa 30:29); and Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab, i.e., of the Rechabites (Jer 35:6), is probably the grandfather of Jonadab the son of Rechab, with whom Jehu entered into alliance (2Ki 10:15, 2Ki 10:23). But how can the families of Sopherim inhabiting Jabez, which are here enumerated, be called descendants of Salma, who is descended from Hur the son of Caleb, a man of Judah, if they were Kenites, who issued from or were descendant of the grandfather of the family of the Rechabites? From lack of information, this question cannot be answered with certainty. In general, however, we may explain the incorporation of the Kenites in the Judaean family of the Calebite Salma, on the supposition that one of these Kenites of the family of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, married an heiress of the race of Caleb. On this account the children and descendants sprung of this marriage would be incorporated in the family of Caleb, although they were on their father’s side Kenites, and where they followed the manner of life of their fathers, might continue to be regarded as such, and to bear the name.  The sons and descendants of David. - After the enumeration of the chief families of the two sons of Hezron, Caleb and Jerahmeel, in 1 Chron 2:18-55, the genealogy of Ram the second son of Hezron, which in 1Ch 2:10-17 was only traced down to Jesse, the father of the royal race of David, is in 1 Chron 3 again taken up and further followed out. In 1Ch 3:1-9 all the sons of David are enumerated; in 1Ch 3:10-16, the line of kings of the house of David from Solomon to Jeconiah and Zedekiah; in 1Ch 3:17-21, the descendants of Jeconiah to the grandsons of Zerubbabel; and finally, in 1Ch 3:22-24, other descendants of Shechaniah to the fourth generation.

Genealogies. (b. c. 1751.)

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 unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the Lord ; and he slew him. 4 And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. 5 The sons of Pharez; 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 thing accursed. 8 And the sons of Ethan; Azariah.   9 The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. 10 And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah; 11 And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz, 12 And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, 13 And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, 14 Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, 15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh: 16 Whose sisters were Zeruiah, and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah; Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three. 17 And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite.

Here is, I. The family of Jacob. His twelve sons are here named, that illustrious number so often celebrated almost throughout the whole Bible, from the first to the last book of it. At every turn we meet with the twelve tribes that descended from these twelve patriarchs. The personal character of several of them was none of the best (the first four were much blemished), and yet the covenant was entailed on their seed; for it was of grace, free grace, that it was said, Jacob have I loved—not of works, lest any man should boast.

II. The family of Judah. That tribe was most praised, most increased, and most dignified, of any of the tribes, and therefore the genealogy of it is the first and largest of them all. In the account here given of the first branches of that illustrious tree, of which Christ was to be the top branch, we meet, 1. With some that were very bad. Here is Er, Judah's eldest son, that was evil in the sight of the Lord, and was cut off, in the beginning of his days, by a stroke of divine vengeance: The Lord slew him, v. 3. His next brother, Onan, was no better, and fared no better. Here is Tamar, with whom Judah, her father-in-law, committed incest, v. 4. And here is Achan, called Achar—a troubler, that troubled Israel by taking of the accursed thing, v. 7. Note, The best and most honourable families may have those belonging to them that are blemishes. 2. With some that were very wise and good, as Heman and Ethan, Calcol and Dara, who were not perhaps the immediate sons of Zerah, but descendants from him, and are named because they were the glory of their father's house; for, when the Holy Ghost would magnify the wisdom of Solomon, he declares him wiser than these four men, who, though the sons of Mahol, are called Ezrahites, from Zerah, 1 Kings iv. 31. That four brothers should be eminent for wisdom and grace was a rare thing. 3. With some that were very great, as Nahshon, who was prince of the tribe of Judah when the camp of Israel was formed in the wilderness, and so led the van in that glorious march, and Salman, or Salmon, who was in that post of honour when they entered into Canaan, v. 10, 11.

III. The family of Jesse, of which a particularly account is kept for the sake of David, and the Son of David, who is a rod out of the stem of Jesse, Isa. xi. 1. Hence it appears that David was a seventh son, and that his three great commanders, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, were the sons of one of his sisters, and Amasa of another. Three of the four went down slain to the pit, though they were the terror of the mighty.

Genealogies. (b. c. 1450.)

18 And Caleb the son of Hezron begat children of Azubah his wife, and of Jerioth: her sons are these; Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon. 19 And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur. 20 And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezaleel. 21 And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub. 22 And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead. 23 And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead. 24 And after that Hezron was dead in Calebephratah, then Abiah Hezron's wife bare him Ashur the father of Tekoa. 25 And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were, Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah. 26 Jerahmeel had also 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 bare him Ahban, and Molid. 30 And the sons of Nadab; Seled, and Appaim: but Seled died without children. 31 And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi; Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan; Ahlai. 32 And the sons of Jada the brother of Shammai; Jether, and Jonathan: and Jether died without children. 33 And the sons of Jonathan; Peleth, and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. 34 Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. 35 And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife; and she bare him Attai. 36 And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad, 37 And Zabad begat Ephlal, and Ephlal begat Obed, 38 And Obed begat Jehu, and Jehu begat Azariah, 39 And Azariah begat Helez, and Helez begat Eleasah, 40 And Eleasah begat Sisamai, and Sisamai begat Shallum, 41 And Shallum begat Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begat Elishama. 42 Now the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were, Mesha his firstborn, which 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 begat Raham, the father of Jorkoam: and Rekem begat Shammai. 45 And the son of Shammai was Maon: and Maon was the father of Bethzur. 46 And Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bare Haran, and Moza, and Gazez: and Haran begat Gazez. 47 And the sons of Jahdai; Regem, and Jotham, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph. 48 Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bare Sheber, and Tirhanah. 49 She bare also Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea: and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. 50 These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah; Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim, 51 Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Bethgader. 52 And Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim had sons; Haroeh, and half of the Manahethites. 53 And the families of Kirjath-jearim; the Ithrites, and the Puhites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; of them came the Zareathites, and the Eshtaulites. 54 The sons of Salma; Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, Ataroth, the house of Joab, and half of the Manahethites, the Zorites. 55 And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.

The persons mentioned in the former paragraph are most of them such as we read of, and most of them such as we read much of, in other scriptures; but very few of those to whom this paragraph relates are mentioned any where else. It should seem, the tribe of Judah were more full and exact in their genealogies than any other of the tribes, in which we must acknowledge a special providence, for the clearing of the genealogy of Christ. 1. Here we find Bezaleel, who was head-workman in building the tabernacle, Exod. xxxi. 2. 2. Hezron, who was the son of Pharez (v. 5), was the father of all this progeny, his sons, Caleb and Jerahmeel, being very fruitful, and he himself likewise, even in his old age, for he left his wife pregnant when he died, v. 24. This Hezron was one of the seventy that went down with Jacob into Egypt, Gen. xlvi. 12. There his family thus increased, as other oppressed families there did. We cannot but suppose that he died during the Israelites' bondage in Egypt; and yet it is here said he died in Caleb-Ephratah (that is, Bethlehem), in the land of Canaan, v. 24. Perhaps, though the body of the people continued in Egypt, yet some that were more active than the rest, at least before their bondage came to be extreme, visited Canaan sometimes and got footing there, though afterwards they lost it. The achievements of Jair, here mentioned (v. 22, 23), we had an account of in Num. xxxii. 41; and, it is supposed, they were long after the conquest of Canaan. The Jews say, Hezron married his third wife when he was sixty years old (v. 21), and another afterwards (v. 24), because he had a great desire of posterity in the family of Pharez, from whom the Messiah was to descend. 3. Here is mention of one that died without children (v. 30), and another (v. 32), and of one that had no sons, but daughters, v. 34. Let those that are in any of these ways afflicted not think their case new or singular. Providence orders these affairs of families by an incontestable sovereignty, as pleaseth him, giving children, or withholding them, or giving all of one sex. He is not bound to please us, but we are bound to acquiesce in his good pleasure. To those that love him he will himself be better than ten sons, and give them in his house a place and a name better than of sons and daughters. Let not those therefore that are written childless envy the families that are built up and replenished. Shall our eye be evil because God's is good? 4. Here is mention of one who had an only daughter, and married her to his servant an Egyptian, v. 34, 35. If it be mentioned to his praise, we must suppose that this Egyptian was proselyted to the Jewish religion and that he was very eminent for wisdom and virtue, otherwise it would not have become a true-born Israelite to match a daughter to him, especially an only daughter. If Egyptians become converts, and servants do worthily, neither their parentage nor their servitude should be a bar to their preferment. Such a one this Egyptian servant might be that she who married him might live as happily with him as if she had married one of the rulers of her tribe. 5. The pedigree of several of these terminates, not in a person, but in a place or country, as one is said to be the father of Kirjath-jearim (v. 50), another of Bethlehem (v. 51), which was afterwards David's city, because these places fell to their lot in the division of the land. 6. Here are some that are said to be families of scribes (v. 55), such as kept up learning in their family, especially scripture-learning, and taught the people the good knowledge of God. Among all these great families we are glad to find some that were families of scribes. Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets—all the families of Israel families of scribes, well instructed to the kingdom of heaven, and able to bring out of their treasury things new and old!