1 Chronicles 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).