Matthew Poole and continuators on 1 Chronicles 4:40

40 And they [illegible: 1+ letters]ound [illegible: 1+ letters]at pasture and good, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable: for they of Ham had dwelt there of old .

i. e. The Posterity of that cursed Ham, either the Arabians: or the Canaanites, or Philistins, who descended from Ham, Gen. 10. 6. And accordingly these words contain a Reason, either 1. to prove that the land was good; because the Arabians, who being wholly given to Pasturage, used to find out the Choicest Grounds, had formerly pitched their Tents there. Or, 2. Why they went and possessed this Place, because it was not in the Hands of their Brethren of Iudah, but in the Possession of that People which they had Authority and Command to expel.

i. e. Had possessed it of old and hitherto. Or, dwelt there before, i. e. before they came and cast them out of their Possessions.