1 Chronicles 1

1Ch 1:1-23.

ADAM'S

LINE TO

NOAH.

1. Adam, &c.--"Begat" must be understood. Only that one member of

the family is mentioned, who came in the direct order of succession.

4-23. Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth--The three sons of this patriarch

are enumerated, partly because they were the founders of the new world,

and partly because the fulfilment of Noah's prophecy

(Ge 9:25-27)

could not otherwise appear to have been verified.

12. Casluhim (of whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim--a better

rendering is, "and Casluhim, of whom came the Philistim and Caphtorim."

They were brethren, the sons of Casluhim, and at first dwelt together,

whence their names are used interchangeably. The Caphtorim are

described as inhabiting Azzah, or Gaza, the seat of the Philistines.

14-17. the Jebusite, &c.--At

1Ch 1:14-17

the names are not those of individuals, but of people who all sprang

from Canaan; and as several of them became extinct or were amalgamated

with their brethren, their national appellations are given instead of

the personal names of their ancestors.

17. Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech--or, "Mash"; these were

the children of Aram, and grandsons of Shem

(Ge 10:23).

18. Arphaxad begat Shelah--Cainan, the father's name, is omitted

here. (See

Lu 3:36).

19. Peleg--(See on

Ge 10:25).

22. Ebal--or, "Obal"

(Ge 10:28).

1Ch 1:24-28.

SHEM'S

LINE TO

ABRAHAM.

24-27. Shem, &c.--This comprises a list of ten, inclusive of

Abraham.

1Ch 1:29-31.

SONS OF

ISHMAEL.

29. These are their generations--the heads of his twelve tribes.

The great northern desert of Arabia, including the entire neck, was

colonized by these tribes; and if we can recover, in the modern

geography of this part of the country, Arab tribes bearing the names of

those patriarchs, that is, names corresponding with those preserved in

the original catalogue of Scripture, we obtain at once so many

evidences, not of mere similarity, but of absolute identification

[FORSTER].

Nebaioth--gave rise to the Nabathæans of the classic, and the

Beni Nabat of Oriental writers.

Kedar--the Arab tribe, El Khedeyre, on the coast of Hedgar.

Abdeel--Abdilla, the name of a tribe in Yemen.

30. Dumah--Dumah and Tema, the great Arab tribes of Beni Teman. Thus

this writer [Historical Geography of Arabia] traces the names of all

the heads of the twelve tribes of Ishmael as perpetuated in the clans

or tribes of the Arabs in the present day.

1Ch 1:32, 33.

SONS OF

KETURAH.

32. sons of Keturah--These became founders of nomadic tribes in the

north of Arabia and Syria, as Midian of the Midianites

(Ge 36:35;

Jud 6:2).

and Shuah--from whom Bildad sprang

(Job 2:11).

1Ch 1:34-42.

POSTERITY OF

ABRAHAM BY

ESAU.

36. sons of Eliphaz--the tribe Adites, in the center country

of the Saracens, so called from his mother, Adah

(Ge 36:10).

Teman--gave rise to the land of Teman, near the head of the Red

Sea.

Omar--the tribe Beni-Amma, settled at the northern point of Djebel

Shera (Mount Seir).

Zephi--the tribe Dzaf.

Gatam--Katam, inhabited by the tribe Al Saruat, or "people of Sarah."

Kenaz--the tribe Aenezes, a tribe whose settlement lies in the

neighborhood of Syria.

Amalek--the Beni Malak of Zohran, and the Beni Maledj of the Shat el

Arab.

37. Reuel--a powerful branch of the great Aeneze tribe, the

Rowalla Arabs.

Shammah--the great tribe Beni Shammar. In the same way, the names of

the other kings and dukes are traced in the modern tribes of Arabia.

But it is unnecessary to mention any more of these obscure nomads,

except to notice that Jobab

(1Ch 1:44),

one of the kings of Edom, is considered to be Job, and that his seat

was in the royal city of Dinahab

(Ge 36:32;

1Ch 1:43),

identified with O'Daeb, a well-known town in the center of Al Dahna, a

great northern desert in the direction of Chaldea and the Euphrates

[FORSTER].