1 Chronicles4chapter 4

1 Chronicles 4:9

It is remarkable that Jabez should be introduced without description, or patronymic, as if a well-known personage. We can only suppose that he was known to those for whom Chronicles was written, either by tradition, or by writings which have perished. In 1Ch 4:10 Jabez alludes to his name, “sorrowful” (margin): “Grant that the grief implied in my name may not come upon me!”

1 Chronicles 4:10

“Called - When he was undertaking some great and dangerous service. Enlarge - Drive out these Canaanites, whom thou hast commanded us to root out. Grieve - That it may not oppress and overcome me: more is understood than is expressed.”

1 Chronicles 4:11

“It has been conjectured from the strangeness of all the names in this list, that we have here a fragment of Canaanite record, connected with the family of the “Shua,” whose daughter Judah took to wife 1Ch 2:3; Gen 38:2, and whose family thus became related to the tribe of Judah.”

1 Chronicles 4:12

“And Eshton begat Bethrapha,.... Or the family of Rapha: and Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Irnahash; or the city of Nahash; Tehinnah seems to have been the prince or governor of a city, so called: these are the men of Rechah; these sons of Eshton dwelt in a place called Rechah; the Targum, without any reason, says, these are the men of the great sanhedrim.”

1 Chronicles 4:13

“And the sons of Kenaz,.... Who was either the son of Chelub, or of Eshton: Othniel, and Seraiah; the first of these is he who is mentioned, Jos 15:17 and was the first judge in Israel: and the son of Othniel, Hathath; and the next mentioned.”

1 Chronicles 4:15

“And the sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh,.... Jephunneh is not the same with Hezron, as the Targum, but another son of Kenaz, hence called the Kenezite, Jos 14:6 and brother of Othniel; and Caleb his son is the same that was sent one of the spies of the land of Canaan by Moses, see Num 13:6. his sons were Iru, Elah, and Naam; of whom we nowhere else read: and the sons of Elah, even Kenaz; another Kenaz, or rather it should be read Uknaz; so Jarchi and Kimchi.”

1 Chronicles 4:16

“And the sons of Jehaleleel,.... Who probably was the son of Uknaz: Ziph, and Ziphah, Tiria, and Asareel; there were two cities in the tribe of Judah of the name of Ziph, Jos 15:24, which might be called from these men, or from Ziph in 1Ch 2:42.”

1 Chronicles 4:17

“She bare Miriam - Rather, “she conceived.” The mother is not mentioned, and it seems impossible to restore the original text with any certainty.”

1 Chronicles 4:18

“And his wife Jehudijah - The Targum considers the names in this verse as epithets of Moses: “And his wife Jehuditha educated Moses after she had drawn him out of the water: and she called his name Jered, because he caused the manna to descend upon Israel; and Prince Gedor, because he restored the desolations of Israel; Heber also, because he joined Israel to their heavenly Father; and Prince Socho, because he overshadowed Israel with his righteousness, and Jekuthiel, because the Israelites waited on the God of heaven in his time, forty years in the desert; and prince Zanoah, because God, on his account, had passed by the sins of Israel.”

1 Chronicles 4:19

“His wife Hodiah - Not as in the margin, but rather, “the sons of the wife of Hodiah.” Hodiah is elsewhere always a man’s name Neh 8:7; Neh 9:5; Neh 10:10, Neh 10:13, Neh 10:18.”

1 Chronicles 4:20

“And the sons of Shimon,.... Perhaps another son of Mered by his last wife, or the same with Shammai, 1Ch 4:17 were Amnon, and Rinnah, Benhanan, and Tilon; nowhere else mentioned: and the sons of Ishi: who it may be was the brother of Shimon or Tilon: were Zoheth, and Benzoheth; of whom we know no more than their names.”

1 Chronicles 4:21

“This Laadah is said to be the father of those that wrought fine linen, as before the flood Jubal is said to be the father of musicians and Jabal of shepherds, &c. His posterity inhabited the city of Mareshah, the manufacture or staple commodity of which place was linen-cloth, with which their kings and priests were clothed.”

1 Chronicles 4:22

“And Joash, and Saraph - “And the prophets and scribes which sprang from the seed of Joshua, and the Gibeonites, whose office it was to serve in the house of the sanctuary, because they had lied to the princes of Israel; also Joash, who is the same as Mahlon; and Saraph, who is the same as Chilion, who took wives of the daughters of Moab and Boaz, the chief of the wise men of the college of Bethlehem, and of those who existed in former days.” - T.”

1 Chronicles 4:23

“Among plants and hedges - Rather, “in Netaim and Gederah” Jos 15:36. With the king - Or, probably, “on the king’s property.” Both David and several of the later kings had large territorial possessions in various parts of Judaea 1Ch 27:25, 1Ch 27:31; 2Ch 26:10; 2Ch 27:4; 2Ch 32:28-29.”

1 Chronicles 4:24

“The sons of Simeon - This genealogy is very different from that given in Gen 46:10, and Num 26:12. This may be occasioned by the same person having several names, one list taking one name, another list some other, and so on: to reconcile is impossible; to attempt it, useless.”

1 Chronicles 4:26

“And the sons of Mishma,.... These were Hamuel, Zacchur, and Shimei.”

1 Chronicles 4:27

“Neither did all their family multiply - In Num 1:23 the number of all the families of Simeon was fifty-nine thousand three hundred; and that of Judah was, Num 1:27, not less than seventy-four thousand six hundred. When the next census was made, Num. 26, the tribe of Judah amounted to seventy-six thousand five hundred, an increase of one thousand nine hundred; while the tribe of Simeon amounted only to twenty-two thousand two hundred, a decrease of thirty-seven thousand one hundred. It was at that time the smallest tribe in Israel.”

1 Chronicles 4:28

“And they dwelt at Beersheba,.... posterity of Simeon; and this and the other places of their habitation are mentioned in the same order, and with very little variation of names to the end of 1Ch 4:31, as in Jos 19:2 and here, at 1Ch 4:31 it is added: these were their cities unto the reign of David; when, according to Kimchi, and other Jewish writers, he expelled them from thence, and restored them to the tribe of Judah.”

1 Chronicles 4:31

“For it is evident concerning Ziklag, one of them, that it was in the Philistines hands in David's time, and by them given to him, and by him annexed to the tribe of Judah, 1 Sam. xxvii, 6.”

1 Chronicles 4:32

“And their villages were Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities. There are but four mentioned in Jos 19:7 one might be added since, or new built, namely, Tochen; these, according to Kimchi, were all that remained for them to dwell in, in the times of David; and therefore they were obliged to seek out for new settlements for themselves and flocks, as in 1Ch 4:39, &c.”

1 Chronicles 4:33

“And all their villages that were round about the same cities, unto Baal,.... The same with Baalathbeer, Jos 19:8. these were their habitations, and their genealogy; as before described, until the times of David.”

1 Chronicles 4:34

“And Meshobab, and Jamlech,.... These, with those that follow to the end of 1Ch 4:37 were famous men in the tribe of Simeon, of rank and dignity, and eminent for courage and valour, as the latter part of the chapter testifies, though they are nowhere else taken notice of. Jamlech, as Fabritius (k) observes, is not very different from Jamblichus, the name of a famous Platonic philosopher. (k) Bibliothec. Gr. l. 4. c. 28. p. 294.”

1 Chronicles 4:38

“These mentioned by their names were princes - The registered chiefs of the cities in the first list 1Ch 4:28-31, in the time of Hezekiah 1Ch 4:41.”

1 Chronicles 4:39

“And they went to the entrance of Gedor,.... There was a city of this name in the tribe of Judah, 1Ch 4:18 but this seems to be further off, and perhaps is the same with Gedaris, mentioned by Strabo (l) along with Azotus and Askelon, cities that belonged to the Philistines; since it was inhabited by the posterity of Ham, of whom the Philistines were, as in the following verse: even unto the east side of the valley; which was near to Gedor, and a suitable place: to seek pasture for their flocks; their sheep and goats. (l) Geograph. l.”

1 Chronicles 4:40

“And they found fat pasture and good,.... In or near the valley of Gedor: and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable; there was room enough for them and their flocks, and they had no enemies on either side to disturb them: for they of Ham had dwelt there of old; either the Canaanites who descended from Canaan the son of Ham, and had never been expelled from thence; or the Philistines, who were a colony of the Egyptians, the posterity of Ham; and these inhabitants being of this cursed race, the Simeonites scrupled not to dispossess them.”

1 Chronicles 4:41

“And these written by name,....”

1 Chronicles 4:42

“And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men went to Mount Seir,.... In the land of Edom: having for their captains Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi; these four captains are said, by the ancient Rabbins, to be of the tribe of Manasseh, as Kimchi observes; see 1Ch 5:24 but as the five hundred they were at the head of were of the sons of Simeon, the captains, no doubt, were of the same race.”

1 Chronicles 4:43

“Unto this day - These words are probably taken from the record which the writer of Chronicles had before him, and do not imply that the Simeonites remained undisturbed in their conquests until after the return from the captivity. So 1Ch 4:41.”