1 Chronicleschapter 7
40 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son. Ezer and Elead were killed by the natives of Gath, because they went down to steal their livestock.
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 1 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for a southern remnant listening to the names of tribes that no longer stood as nations. Assyria had scattered the north long before, yet its compiler keeps every tribe in the register. Much of the chapter reads like a call to arms, clan heads and the number of fighting men each could raise. Listen for the two short stories set among the names, one of grief and one of building. The first hearers, few in number, heard how large their family had once been.
Context
- Who
- A southern remnant hearing the names of tribes that no longer stood as nations
- What
- The families and fighting strength of Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim and Asher.
- Where
- The hill country of Ephraim and Manasseh, the hills of Galilee and the coastal plain of Asher.
- When
- Musters from the time of the judges and the early kings, roughly 1350 to 1000 BC.
- Why
- To keep the northern tribes in Israel's register after their kingdom had fallen.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to six tribes and to the clan heads who could raise men, so most of it reads as a call-up list.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The repeated wording carries that sense, heads of families, mighty men of valour, recorded in their genealogies, so many thousand fit for battle. Israel in that period had clans that could be counted and summoned rather than a standing army.
The Ephraim section drops in a local story. Men of Ephraim went down to steal livestock at Gath and were killed by the men of that town, and their father mourned for many days. The land was contested at close range and cattle were the thing worth dying over.
Just after it stands a rarity, a woman credited with building three towns. Sheerah built Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah, and Beth-horon sat on the main ascent from the coastal plain into the hills, the road an invading army used, so she fortified the pass.
Asher's list closes the chapter on the coast north of Carmel, good farming and olive country, hemmed in by the Phoenician cities.
Significance
Assyria had ended the northern kingdom a century and a half before the returned exiles heard this, and the writer keeps the northern tribes in the register anyway, every name and every muster number.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For a community of a few tens of thousands the figures were enormous, and the point of them was pastoral. The family had been vast, and being small was a chapter of the story rather than its end.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This chapter has no place in the synagogue year. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for this book, and no festival reading.
The corpus joins it to two portions where a congregation does meet its material. Under the thirteenth verse, the sons of Naphtali, it carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayigash 36, and Vayigash is the portion that lists the household of Jacob going down to Egypt. Under the twentieth, the sons of Ephraim who were killed, it carries Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael at Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 1:5 and Tractate Shirah 9:13. Beshalach is the portion of the Exodus and the song at the sea, and the death of those men is read there as the reason Israel was led by the long road.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. One note here is the most useful thing in the corpus for a reader asking why these lists are uneven, and it is worth taking slowly. Rashi asks why the line of Naphtali stops after four names. His answer, which he takes from the Jerusalem Talmud at the end of Megillah, is that Ezra found three books, each carrying part of the genealogy, and wrote what he found. Of Naphtali he found no more. The gaps and the jumps in this book are the seams where Ezra joined one book to another. What he could not fit here he put in the book of Ezra (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:13:1).
The same note explains where the records went. Rashi reads the opening of chapter 9 as Ezra's own account of his sources. The annals of the ten tribes went into exile with them, to Halah and Habor and the river of Gozan. The records of Judah were found in Babylon (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:13:1). A Christian reader meets here a tradition that treats this book as edited from archives rather than composed, and that says so about its own gaps.
Two smaller notes turn on the same difficulty. Shuppim and Huppim and Hushim are listed apart because the writer did not know whether they belonged to Benjamin. Rashi says the doubt was raised by a marriage in the verses above (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:12:1). Jediael in the sixth verse is the man called Ashbel in Genesis 46:21, which Rashi names by its older title, the Book of the Just (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:6:1).
The tribe of Issachar opens the chapter, and Rashi reads a changed name as a reward. Genesis 46:13 calls the third son Job, and here he is Jashub. The tradition Rashi carries connects the new name to settling down to learn Torah. It points ahead to the men of Issachar in chapter 12 who had understanding of the times (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:1:1). The numbers that follow he keeps separate rather than adding. Tola's sons are twenty-two thousand six hundred, Uzzi's house thirty-six thousand, and all the families together eighty-seven thousand (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:2:1, 7:3:1 and 7:5:1).
The last notes are brief. The sons of Ephraim were killed by the men of Gath because they were strangers to the roads while the men of Gath knew the land (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:21:1). Sheerah, a daughter, built Beth Horon, and Rashi lets the plain sense stand (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:24:1). The mother of Asriel was Manasseh's wife, while Machir was born to his Aramean concubine (Rashi on I Chronicles 7:14:1).
The corpus carries thirteen further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. Eight stand cited and unquoted at Radak on I Chronicles 7:8:1, 7:15:1, 7:16:1, 7:17:1, 7:18:1, 7:19:1, 7:22:1 and 7:23:1. Four stand at Metzudat David on I Chronicles 7:4:1, 7:7:1, 7:9:1 and 7:11:1, and one at a further note of Rashi on I Chronicles 7:20:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries thirty-two rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the first verse it holds Sifrei Zuta 7:18:1, and on the ninth Jerusalem Talmud Moed Katan 1:7:3. On the thirteenth, the short line of Naphtali, it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayigash 36. On the fifteenth it holds Midrash Tehillim 25:15.
The sons of Ephraim killed at Gath draw the heaviest run in the chapter. On the twentieth verse the corpus holds Sanhedrin 92b:6, Shemot Rabbah 20:11, Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 13:16, and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael at Tractate Shirah 9:13 and Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 1:5. Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 15:14:3, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 13:17:5, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah at 227:3 and 251:9, and Ein Yaakov at Sanhedrin 11:15 with the Glick Edition at 11:16 stand with them. On the twenty-first it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 15:14:3.
Joshua's line and the western tribes carry the rest. On the twenty-seventh verse, where the list reaches Joshua, the corpus holds Megillah 14b:13, Pesachim 119b:6 and Eruvin 63b:1. Bereshit Rabbah 97:3, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah at 93:4 and 737:5, and Ein Yaakov at Pesakhim 10:35 with the Glick Edition at 10:24 stand with them. On the twenty-eighth it holds a passage of the Introductions to Amoraic Literature on Bava Batra, chapter three, at 176. On the thirtieth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 71:10, and on the thirty-first Tractate Soferim 7:4 with Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 30:13:2. On the fortieth, the count of Asher's fighting men, it holds Kiddushin 76b:14, Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 4:5:2, Bamidbar Rabbah 9:7 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Kiddushin 4:18. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on I Chronicles 7:1:1 to 7:25:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on I Chronicles 7:8:1, 7:15:1, 7:16:1, 7:17:1, 7:18:1, 7:19:1, 7:22:1 and 7:23:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on I Chronicles 7:4:1, 7:7:1, 7:9:1 and 7:11:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/1-chronicles/7.json, the 32 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion, no Haftarah and no festival reading for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Issachar's mighty men of valor
1 Chronicles 7:1-5
The sons of Issachar: Issachar's list runs four generations deep and closes at 87,000 mighty men of valor. Adam Clarke notes that Issachar, Benjamin and Asher are the only three tribes whose David-era musters survive. Gill traces the large numbers to polygamy, and verse 4 gives the cause: they had many wives and children.
1 Chronicles 7:1
“Now the sons of Issachar were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. The same number is given, Gen 46:13 with a small variation of two of their names, there called Phuvah and Job, from whence so many families sprang, mentioned Num 26:23, where the names are the same as here.”
The sons of Tola: Clarke notes that this chapter gives counts for Issachar, Benjamin and Asher alone, and that it is unknown whether they came from Joab's census. A later Tola son of Puah, of Issachar, judged Israel twenty-three years (Judges 10:1 to 2). He bore the clan founder's name.
1 Chronicles 7:2
“Whose number was in the days of David - Whether this was the number returned by Joab and his assistants, when they made that census of the people with which God was so much displeased, we know not. It is worthy of remark that we read here the sum of three tribes, Benjamin, Issachar, and Asher, under the reign of David, which is mentioned nowhere else; and yet we have no account here of the other tribes, probably because the author found no public registers in which such enumeration was recorded.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The son of Uzzi: Clarke notes that verse 4 speaks of five chiefs while naming four sons of Izrahiah. The Syriac and Arabic versions read four; if five is the true reading, Izrahiah is counted with his sons. The Berean text counts all five.
1 Chronicles 7:3
“The sons of Izrahiah - five - There are, however, only four names in the text. Instead of five, the Syriac and Arabic read four. If five be the true reading, then Izrahiah must be reckoned with his four sons.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah: The verse credits the clan's 36,000 troops to its many wives and children. In the second wilderness census the whole tribe of Issachar had numbered 64,300 (Numbers 26:25). The tribe kept growing.
1 Chronicles 7:4
“And with them, by their generations, after the house of their fathers, were bands of soldiers for war,.... Companies of men of military courage and skill, who could and did go out to war upon occasion: six and thirty thousand men; besides the 22,600 Tolaites, 1Ch 7:2, for they had many wives and sons; having many wives, they had many sons; polygamy was the cause of their large numbers; and that they gave into for the sake of the multiplication of Abraham's seed, according to the divine promise.”
Their kinsmen belonging to all the families: Gill reads the 87,000 as the whole tribe, taking in the houses of Puah, Jashub and Shimron along with the men of Tola and Uzzi. 1 Chronicles 12:32 remembers the men of Issachar as those who understood the times. The tally closes the tribe's entry.
1 Chronicles 7:5
“And their brethren among all the families of Issachar,.... As those of Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, 1Ch 7:1. were men of might; valiant and courageous: reckoned in all, by their genealogies, fourscore and seven thousand; that is, including with these those of Tola and Uzzi before given.”
Benjamin's fighting houses
1 Chronicles 7:6-12
The three sons of Benjamin: Benjamin's three clans, Bela, Becher, and Jediael, muster nearly sixty thousand mighty men. Barnes reads the list as later descendants reckoned to their founders at the time of David's census. The Shuppites and Huppites stand outside the three clans, and the older commentators disagree over which son they belong to.
1 Chronicles 7:6
“The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher and Jediael - In Gen 46:21, ten sons of Benjamin are reckoned; viz., Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Eri, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. In Num 26:38, etc., five sons only of Benjamin are mentioned, Bela, Ashbel, Ahiram, Shupham, and Hupham: and Ard and Naaman are there said to be the sons of Bela; consequently grandsons of Benjamin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The sons of Bela: Bela's sons here differ from those in 1 Chronicles 8:3 to 5 and Numbers 26:40. Gill notes that some take them as grandsons, and Barnes reads them as later chief men of the clan at the time of David's census. 1 Chronicles 8:1 calls Bela the firstborn.
1 Chronicles 7:7
“And the sons of Bela; Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five,.... These are thought by some to be the grandsons of Bela, because of the different names in 1Ch 8:3, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour; principal men in their tribe and families, and of great courage: and were reckoned by their genealogies twenty and two thousand and thirty and four; who sprung from these men.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 7:7
“The lists here are remarkably different from those in marginal references Probably the persons here mentioned were not literally “sons,” but were among the later descendants of the founders, being the chief men of the family at the time of David’s census.”
The sons of Becher: Becher is named among Benjamin's sons in Genesis 46:21 but is absent from Benjamin's clans in Numbers 26:38 to 41. His house is recorded in full here, with its own count of fighting men. His sons are named in verse 9.
1 Chronicles 7:8
“And the sons of Becher,.... Another son of Benjamin, 1Ch 7:6, Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth; the two last of these, according to Kimchi, gave names to two cities in Benjamin, built by them; Anathoth, the native place of Jeremiah the prophet, and Alameth, the same with Bahurim, 2Sa 16:5. all these are the sons of Becher; before named.”
Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri: Gill reports Kimchi's view that Anathoth and Alemeth gave their names to two towns of Benjamin. Both towns appear among the priests' cities in 1 Chronicles 6:60, and Anathoth was Jeremiah's home. Becher's house mustered 20,200.
1 Chronicles 7:9
“And the number of them,.... Of the posterity of the sons of Becher: after their genealogy by their generations, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour; as they increased in succeeding ages, and at the time of David: was twenty thousand and two hundred.”
The son of Jediael: Jediael is absent from the sons of Benjamin listed in Genesis 46:21 and from the clans of Numbers 26:38 to 39. Gill counts Bilhan and all his sons in verse 11 as Jediael's line. Chronicles alone preserves this house.
1 Chronicles 7:10
“The sons also of Jediael,.... The third son of Benjamin before mentioned, 1Ch 7:6. Bilhan, including his posterity, as follows: and the sons of Bilhan; Jeush, and Benjamin; called so after his great grandfather: and Ehud; who was the second judge in Israel, Jdg 3:15. and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar; of whom we nowhere else read.”
Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan: Gill takes this Ehud as the judge who delivered Israel from Moab (Judges 3:15), and this Benjamin as named after the tribe's father. The three counts of Benjamin in verses 7, 9 and 11 come to 59,434. Joab left Benjamin out of his census (1 Chronicles 21:6).
1 Chronicles 7:11
“All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle. Which, with the above sums put together, make of the tribe of Benjamin, besides what follow, 59,430; who, if numbered by Joab, the account was not given in by him, 1Ch 21:6.”
The Shuppites and Huppites: carry the names of Muppim and Huppim, sons of Benjamin in Genesis 46:21, called Shupham and Hupham in Numbers 26:39. Ir may be Iri, Bela's son in verse 7. Genesis 46:23 gives the name Hushim to a son of Dan.
Naphtali and the clans of Manasseh
1 Chronicles 7:13-19
The sons of Naphtali: Naphtali's entry is four sons, the descendants of Bilhah, and Henry notes that no later generations follow. Manasseh's entry names his Aramean concubine, a sister, Hammolecheth, and Zelophehad, who had only daughters. Numbers 27 and 36 had already made Zelophehad's daughters a test case for inheritance through women.
1 Chronicles 7:13
“The first fathers only of that tribe are named, the very same that we shall find, Gen. xlvi. 24 , only that Shillem there is Shallum here. None of their descendents are named, perhaps because their genealogies were lost.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Asriel, as well as Machir: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call this passage so confused that its thread is hard to trace. Numbers 26:29 to 31 counts the Asrielites among the clans of Gilead, and Gill reports the Targum's reading that the concubine bore Asriel and Machir. Machir's house took Gilead (Numbers 32:39 to 40).
1 Chronicles 7:14
“The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare,.... The wife of Manasseh, as distinguished from his concubine in the next clause; though the Targum reads, in connection with that,"whom his Aramitess (or Syrian) concubine bare;'' and then adds: who also bare Machir the father of Gilead; so that Ashriel and Machir were brethren; from which Ashriel sprung the family of the Ashrielites, Num 26:29 as from Machir the Machirites, Num 26:29.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 7:14
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Machir took a wife from among: Gill reads the Huppites and Shuppites as the Benjamite family of verse 12, so Machir married into Benjamin. Verse 15 calls Maacah his sister and verse 16 his wife, one of the difficulties this text carries. Zelophehad's daughters won the right to inherit (Numbers 27:1 to 7).
1 Chronicles 7:15
“And Machir took to wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister's name was Maachah,.... He married into the tribe of Benjamin, a sister of the persons mentioned, 1Ch 7:12 whose name was Maachah: and the name of the second was Zelophehad; the second son of Manasseh, or of his posterity mentioned; for he was not his immediate son; for he was the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, Num 27:1. and Zelophehad had daughters; but no sons, the names of his daughters are given, Num 26:33.”
Machir’s wife Maacah gave birth: The name Maacah belongs here to Machir's wife, the same name verse 15 gives his sister. Gill says Ulam and Rekem were sons of a brother of Gilead, yet verse 17 still counts them to Gilead's family. Ulam's son follows in verse 17.
1 Chronicles 7:16
“And Maachah the wife of Machir bare a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh,.... He had both these sons by her: and his sons were Ulam and Rakem, that is, either the sons of Peresh or Sheresh, the nearest, as Kimchi observes.”
The son of Ulam: Gill links this Bedan to 1 Samuel 12:11, where the Hebrew names a Bedan among the deliverers of Israel. Barnes explains the closing heading: these men were reckoned to Gilead, a name that came almost to replace Manasseh in this line. The name Gilead prevailed.
1 Chronicles 7:17
“And the sons of Ulam: Bedan,.... See 1Sa 12:11. these were the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh; that is, were of his posterity, or belonged to his family; for Ulam and Rakem were sons of a brother of Gilead, 1Ch 7:16.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 7:17
These were the sons of Gilead - i. e. these descendants of Machir were reckoned to the family of Gilead. The name “Gilead” prevailed above all others in the line of Manasseh, the term “Gileadite” almost taking the place of “Manassite.”
His sister Hammolecheth gave birth: Gill notes that the Targum and the Vulgate read Hammolecheth as a title, the woman who reigned. Her son Abiezer founded the clan Gill calls Jeezer in Numbers 26:30, the family of Gideon (Judges 6:11). Mahlah shares her name with a daughter of Zelophehad (Numbers 26:33).
1 Chronicles 7:18
“And his sister Hammoleketh,.... The sister of Gilead so named; though the Targum renders it "that reigned"; and so Kimchi, that reigned in some part of Gilead; and the Vulgate Latin version translates it, "a queen bare Ishod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah"; Abiezer is the same with Jeezer, from whom a family sprung of that name, Num 26:30, of which Gideon was, Jdg 6:11.”
the sons of Shemida: Shemida heads a clan of Manasseh in Numbers 26:32, and Joshua 17:2 lists his family among those given land west of the Jordan. Shechem here is a man's name, and Numbers 26:31 lists the Shechemites as a clan. Manasseh's record ends here.
1 Chronicles 7:19
“And the sons of Shemida,.... Another son of Gilead's sister, unless the same with Ishod; from him sprung the family of the Shemidaites, Num 26:30. were, Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam; from Shechem came the family of the Shethemites, as from Likhi, if he is the same with Helek, as probably he may be, was the family of the Helekites, Num 26:30.”
Ephraim's grief and the towns his sons held
1 Chronicles 7:20-27
The descendants of Ephraim: Ezer and Elead were killed by the natives of Gath, because they went to steal their livestock. Ephraim mourned for many days and named the next son Beriah. Wesley notes Hebrew writers outside Scripture preserved the event, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the natives of Gath as the raiders.
1 Chronicles 7:20
“The sons of Ephraim - The genealogy is difficult. It is perhaps best to consider Ezer and Elead 1Ch 7:21 as not sons of Zabad and brothers of the second Shuthelah, but natural sons of Ephraim. The passage would then run thusly: “And the sons of Ephraim, Shuthelah (and Bered was his son, and Tahath his son and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son, and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son) and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath slew” (i. e. the settled inhabitants, as contrasted with the nomadic Hebrews, Amalekites, etc.).”
Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath: Barnes takes Ezer and Elead as Ephraim's own sons, and Ephraim mourns them in verse 22. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the raid the other way, with the natives of Gath coming down on Ephraim's flocks and killing the herdsmen. Wesley notes the story is recorded nowhere else in Scripture.
1 Chronicles 7:21
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 7:21
“Slew - This history is not recorded else where in scripture, but it is in the ancient Hebrew writers. The Philistines (one of whose cities Gath was) and the Egyptians were next neighbours; and in those ancient times it was usual for such to make inroads one into another's country, and to carry thence what prey they could take.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Their father Ephraim mourned for many days: Gill holds that this happened in Egypt while Ephraim himself was alive, with no need to suppose a later man of the same name. The scene recalls Jacob mourning Joseph many days while his family tried to comfort him (Genesis 37:34 to 35). The family was then in Egypt.
1 Chronicles 7:22
“And Ephraim their father mourned many days,.... For the loss of his son and grandchildren for the above fact was done while the Israelites were in Egypt, and Ephraim the patriarch yet alive; nor is there any need to suppose another Ephraim, different from him: and his brethren came to comfort him; some of the heads of the other tribes of Israel, particularly Manasseh, with some of his family.”
So he named him Beriah: Gill explains the name Beriah as in evil, a son born at a time of calamity. Like Rachel naming Ben-oni in Genesis 35:18, Ephraim gives the child a name that keeps the loss in view. The line to Joshua runs through Beriah.
1 Chronicles 7:23
“And when he went in to his wife,.... After his grief and sorrow in part at least had subsided: she conceived and bare a son; which in some measure made up for the loss he had sustained: and he called his name Beriah; which signifies being "in evil" or calamity, he being born in an evil time: because it went evil with his house; or evil was in his house, as Noldius (m), in his family; a great calamity had befallen it. (m) Ebr. Concord. Part. No. 750. p. 165.”
His daughter was Sheerah: Gill takes Sheerah as a later descendant of Beriah who rebuilt Lower and Upper Beth-horon on Ephraim's border (Joshua 16:3, 5). Clarke reports the Targum's reading of her name as remnant, the one who escaped the slaughter. A town kept her name.
1 Chronicles 7:24
“And his daughter was Sherah,.... That is, the daughter of Beriah; not an immediate daughter, but a descendant of his, otherwise she could not have reached the times of Joshua, as she did by what follows: who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper; which were cities on the border of the tribe of Ephraim; which the Israelites having taken from the Canaanites, and destroyed, she rebuilt, see Jos 16:3. and Uzzensherah; which was called after her own name, and to distinguish it from another place called Uzzen; though of neither of them do we read elsewhere.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 7:24
His daughter was Sherah - That is, remnant; “called so,” says the Targum, “because she was the remnant that escaped from the slaughter mentioned above.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Rephah was his son, Resheph: Gill traces this line from Beriah down to Joshua across verses 25 to 27. It is the fullest ancestry of Joshua in Scripture, which elsewhere names him as the son of Nun. The line spans the years in Egypt.
1 Chronicles 7:25
“And Rephah was his son,.... The son of Beriah, whose genealogy from him is traced down to Joshua in this and the two following verses, and stands thus: after Rephah, Resheph, Telah, Tahan, Laadan, Ammihud, Elishama, who was prince of the tribe of Ephraim in the wilderness, Num 1:10, then Non or Nun, whose son was Jehoshua or Joshua.”
Ladan his son, Ammihud his son: Gill identifies Elishama as the leader of Ephraim in the wilderness census, named with his father Ammihud in Numbers 1:10. Joshua's grandfather thus headed the tribe at Sinai. Nun follows in verse 27.
Nun his son, and Joshua: The line ends with Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant and successor, who led Israel into Canaan (Joshua 1:1 to 2). Numbers 13:8 lists him among the spies as Hoshea of Ephraim, and Moses renamed him Joshua (Numbers 13:16). Ephraim's family produced the conqueror.
1 Chronicles 7:27
“In this also the breach made on Ephraim's family was further repaired; and perhaps the resentment of this injury formerly done by the Canaanites to the Ephraimites might make him more vigorous in the war. Some men of note of that tribe are here named.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 7:28-29
Their holdings and settlements included Bethel: The land list fixes Ephraim's towns from Bethel to Gezer and Shechem, then Manasseh's at Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor. It closes by saying that the descendants of Joseph lived in these towns. Gill and Keil both match the two half-lists to the fuller borders already drawn in Joshua 17.
along the borders of Manasseh: Gill points to Joshua 17:11, where these four towns lie within Issachar and Asher yet belong to Manasseh. Judges 1:27 records that Manasseh failed to drive out their Canaanites. Saul's body hung on the wall of Beth-shean (1 Samuel 31:10).
1 Chronicles 7:29
“And by the borders of the children of Manasseh,.... Of the half tribe of Manasseh on this side Jordan: near to them the Ephraimites dwelt, even near to Bethshean and her towns, Taanach and her towns, Megiddo and her towns, Dor and her towns; of all which places see Jos 17:11, in these dwelt the children of Joseph the son of Israel; the Ephraimites, in those mentioned in 1Ch 7:28, and the Manassites, in those that are here mentioned; who were both the children or posterity of Joseph, the beloved son of Israel.”
Asher's choice men, chiefs of the princes
1 Chronicles 7:30-40
The children of Asher: Asher's record runs three generations after Beriah and closes with 26,000 men fit for battle. Verse 40 calls them choice and mighty men of valor, and chiefs among the leaders. Gill points out that Dan and Zebulun get no entry anywhere in this chapter.
1 Chronicles 7:30
“Here is no account either of Zebulun or Dan. Why they only should be omitted we can assign no reason; only it is the disgrace of the tribe of Dan that idolatry began in that colony of the Danites which fixed in Laish, and called Dan, and there one of the golden calves was set up by Jeroboam.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel are Asher's grandsons in Genesis 46:17 and head clans in Numbers 26:45. This Beriah of Asher is a different man from Ephraim's son in verse 23. Birzaith is named only here.
Heber was the father of Japhlet: Clarke notes that women seldom appear in these genealogies and are named only for a reason, as Shua is here and Serah in verse 30. Verse 34 spells Shomer as Shemer. Helem in verse 35 may be Hotham.
1 Chronicles 7:32
“And Shua their sister - It is very rarely that women are found in the Jewish genealogies, and they are never inserted but for especial reasons.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The sons of Japhlet: Japhlet's three sons close the first branch of Heber's family. The closing line of the verse marks the end of his branch before the sons of Shemer begin in verse 34.
The sons of Shemer: Shemer is the Shomer of verse 32, Heber's second son. His four sons, Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah and Aram, are listed without descendants. Asher's record gives more space to the line of Helem that follows.
1 Chronicles 7:34
“And the sons of Shamer,.... Or Shomer, the brother of Japhlet, 1Ch 7:32. Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram; of whom nothing is known but their names.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 7:34
Shamer; Ahi, and Rohgah - Translate as: “The sons of Shamer 1Ch 7:32, his brother, Rohgah, etc.”
The sons of his brother Helem: Helem is called the brother of Shemer, and he stands where verse 32 lists Hotham, Heber's third son; the two may be one man. His son Zophah heads the largest branch of Asher in verses 36 and 37. Imna recalls Imnah of verse 30.
1 Chronicles 7:35
“And the sons of his brother Helem,.... Or Helem his brother, that is, the brother of Shomer, who, according to Hillerus (n), is Hotham, 1Ch 7:32. Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Aram; nowhere else mentioned. (n) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 551.”
The sons of Zophah: Zophah's line is the fullest in Asher's record, with eleven sons named in verse 37. Gill identifies the Jether of verse 38 with Ithran, one of those sons. This branch carries the tribe's genealogy furthest.
1 Chronicles 7:36
“And the sons of Zophah,.... The eldest of the sons of Helem: Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah, Bezer; and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera; in all eleven.”
Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah: Eleven sons of Zophah are named here, and Gill takes Ithran, the next to last, as the Jether whose sons follow in verse 38. The list gives names only; the count comes in verse 40.
The sons of Jether: Gill identifies Jether with Ithran of verse 37. He also notes that this Jephunneh is an Asherite, a different man from Jephunneh the father of Caleb, who was of Judah (Numbers 13:6). Pispa and Ara close the branch.
1 Chronicles 7:38
“And the sons of Jether,.... The same with Ithran, the last of Zophah's sons but one, 1Ch 7:37, Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara; not Jephunneh the father of Caleb; he was not of the tribe of Asher, but of Judah.”
The sons of Ulla: Ulla appears here without a father, and the text leaves his place in Asher's family unstated. His sons Arah, Hanniel and Rizia end the named lines of Asher. The count follows in verse 40.
1 Chronicles 7:39
“And the sons of Ulla,.... Who either was the son of Ara, last mentioned, or another son of Jether: Arah, and Haniel, and Rezia; here ends the genealogy of Asher; the last of the tribes; Dan and Zebulun not being reckoned at all.”
Asher's 26,000 fighting men compare with 53,400 in the second wilderness census (Numbers 26:47). 1 Chronicles 12:36 later numbers 40,000 men of Asher who came to make David king. This count is the smaller figure.
1 Chronicles 7:40
“The children of Asher - The rabbins say that the daughters of Asher were very beautiful, and were all matched with kings or priests. Several things relative to the subjects in this chapter may be found explained in the parallel places marked in the margin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Genealogy with military musters, covering Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim and Asher, as Clarke classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The musters, tribe by tribe | Three tribes carry fighting numbers from David's day and the Chronicler alone preserves them. Issachar gives 22,600 at verse 2, 36,000 at verse 4 and 87,000 at verse 5. Benjamin gives 22,034 at verse 7, 20,200 at verse 9 and 17,200 at verse 11. Asher closes the chapter at 26,000 at verse 40. Adam Clarke notes that these three are the only tribes whose musters of that period survive in the record.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 1 Chronicles 7:1-5. | 1 Chronicles 7:2, 1 Chronicles 7:5, 1 Chronicles 7:7, 1 Chronicles 7:11, 1 Chronicles 7:40 |
| Beriah, the name given for the trouble | Verses 21 to 23 carry the chapter's one full scene. Ezer and Elead were killed by the natives of Gath because they went down to steal their livestock, their father Ephraim mourned for many days, and when another son was born the Berean text says he named him Beriah, because tragedy had come upon his house. The name states the reason it was given, and the event is recorded nowhere else in Scripture.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on 1 Chronicles 7:20-27. | 1 Chronicles 7:21, 1 Chronicles 7:22, 1 Chronicles 7:23 |
| The women named in Manasseh's line | Manasseh's entry names more women than the rest of the nine chapters put together. Maacah the sister of Machir stands at verse 15 beside Zelophehad, who had only daughters, Hammolecheth bears three children at verse 18, and Sheerah builds Lower and Upper Beth-horon and a town named for herself at verse 24. Numbers 27 and 36 had already made Zelophehad's daughters the test case for inheritance through women, and the register keeps them.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 1 Chronicles 7:13-19. | 1 Chronicles 7:15, 1 Chronicles 7:18, 1 Chronicles 7:24 |
| Joshua at the end of a list | Ephraim's line runs on past Beriah to Rephah, Resheph, Telah, Tahan, Ladan, Ammihud, Elishama, Nun and Joshua at verse 27, so the ancestry of the man who led Israel into the land stands inside a genealogy chapter with no comment attached. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the placement as the Chronicler's ordinary method, a name of the first rank set down in its own family order.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on 1 Chronicles 7:20-27. | 1 Chronicles 7:25, 1 Chronicles 7:26, 1 Chronicles 7:27 |
Where the chapter stands in the book
10 more paragraphs on the patterns
The book guide runs its band The Remaining Tribes, and Saul's Line from 7:1 to 8:40, and this chapter is the first half of it. The guide's heading for the band names six tribes here and then Benjamin again in full in chapter 8.
The historical value
The musters at verses 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 40 are dated to David's own period, and Adam Clarke notes that Issachar, Benjamin and Asher are the only tribes whose records of that kind survive. Verses 28 and 29 fix the holdings of the sons of Joseph by town, Bethel, Naaran, Gezer, Shechem, Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo and Dor, and Gill and Keil both read the list as answering to the fuller borders of Joshua 17.
Verse 24 credits Sheerah with building Lower and Upper Beth-horon, two towns that stand on the main pass from the coastal plain into the hill country and appear repeatedly in Israel's battle records.
The debated concept
The chapter names six tribes. John Gill records that Dan and Zebulun have no entry anywhere in it, and the book guide carries the same gap as long noted, with textual loss and deliberate omission both left open. Matthew Henry offers a reading for Dan's absence drawn from the calf set up in the Danite colony, and he offers it as his own rather than as something the text states.
Benjamin's numbers are a second question. Albert Barnes reads the clans as later descendants reckoned back to their founders, which would make the totals a summary of a wider period than one census. The chapter gives the figures without stating the method.
A third sits at verse 12, where Shuppim, Huppim and Hushim stand outside the three named clans, and the older commentators differ over which son of Benjamin they belong to.
The divine connection
Ephraim's tragedy at verses 21 to 23 is the only place in the nine chapters where a man is shown grieving. The record keeps his mourning, the comfort his relatives brought, and the name he gave the son born afterward. A register built to prove descent keeps room for a father's loss, which is the same habit that keeps Jabez, the potters and the craftsmen of Ge-harashim.
Keep studying
Studies1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 1 Chronicles 7:1-5; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on 1 Chronicles 7:6-12 and H. G. M. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles, New Century Bible Commentary, 1982, on 1 Chronicles 7:1-40.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Berean Standard Bible; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.