1 Chronicleschapter 8
40 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Azel had six sons, and these were their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 1 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for a province made up mostly of Judah and Benjamin, and it belongs to Benjamin. Its compiler records the clans of the small tribe that gave Israel its first king. He lists towns near Jerusalem and on the road to the coast, and he closes on Saul's household at length. Listen for the names in Saul's family that carry the word for lord, and for the towns that reappear in the lists of returning exiles. The first hearers were hearing the register of their nearest neighbours.
Context
- Who
- Returned exiles of whom a large share were Benjamites living beside Judah
- What
- The clans of Benjamin, their towns, and the household of Saul traced for many generations.
- Where
- The land of Benjamin north of Jerusalem, Geba, Gibeon and Aijalon, and the towns of Ono and Lod near the coast.
- When
- From the settlement to the exile, roughly 1350 to 586 BC.
- Why
- To record Benjamin, the partner of Judah in the returned community, and the family of Israel's first king.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to Benjamin, the tribe that produced Israel's first king, and it ends at his household.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
Benjamin held a small piece of ground with an outsized value, the ridge road north of Jerusalem and the passes down to the coastal plain. Whoever held Benjamin controlled the approach to the capital, which is why the tribe appears in every war between north and south.
The Gibeon section names Jeiel as the founder of that town and lists his household. Gibeon was a real place with a remarkable water system, a rock-cut shaft and stepped tunnel down to the water table, so the town could drink under siege, and it kept its standing in Israel long after Joshua's day.
Saul's line is given at length, and two of the names raise a question worth stating plainly. Esh-baal and Merib-baal carry the word baal, which meant lord or master and was used freely in earlier centuries. By the time the books of Samuel were copied the word had been taken over by the Canaanite god who bore it, and the names stand there in altered form. Chronicles preserves the older spelling.
The towns of Ono and Lod, founded in this chapter, appear again in the rosters of Benjamites who came back from exile at Ezra 2:33 and Nehemiah 11:35.
Significance
Benjamin came home with Judah. When the lists in Ezra and Nehemiah name the province they name Judah, Benjamin and Levi, so this chapter is a register of the neighbours, the men in the next street.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The family that lost the throne is still written in at length and with honour. A man's descendants are recorded here because they existed, and the register keeps them on that ground alone.
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.
Its names are met in the study of the portions the corpus joins them to. Under the twenty-seventh verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 13:2 with Shemot Rabbah 40:4, and under the thirty-third Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 8:4 with Vayikra Rabbah 9:2. Ki Tisa and Tetzaveh are read in the winter weeks, and the house of Benjamin is met there rather than here.
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. The chapter starts Benjamin's line again although chapter 7 has already given it, and Rashi's first note says why. The writer wants to reach Saul, so he begins the tribe from the top. The names differ from the first telling because Ezra found various books, and Rashi sends a reader who wants the Levitical towns in full to Joshua (Rashi on I Chronicles 8:1:1).
The note at the twenty-ninth verse is the fullest account in the corpus of how the tradition thinks this book was made, and it will be new to most Christian readers. Ezra found scrolls that differed from one another. Rashi names three of them by their Hebrew titles and reports the rule that was followed. Where two scrolls agreed against one, the one was rejected and the two accepted. The same rule was used on the genealogical records, so that three or five witnesses settled a reading by their majority (Rashi on I Chronicles 8:29:1).
The doubled passages in this book are explained by the same rule. Where Ezra found an even number of records that differed, no majority could settle them, so the passage was written twice. Rashi names the section on Gibeon, which stands here and again in chapter 9. He names the list of the first settlers too, which stands in chapter 9 and again in Nehemiah 11 (Rashi on I Chronicles 8:29:1). He ends the note with a reason for the division of labour between the two books. The genealogy here reaches only to men who lived while the first Temple stood.
The smaller notes are exactly what a list of this kind needs. The exile in the sixth verse was carried out by the three men named in the verse after it (Rashi on I Chronicles 8:6:1). Shaharaim was one of those exiles, and the sons named were born after he was sent away (Rashi on I Chronicles 8:8:1). Hushim in the eleventh verse is the wife named earlier, picked up again after the verse turned aside to Hodesh (Rashi on I Chronicles 8:11:1). At the fourteenth Rashi gives two divisions of a long run of names and marks the second as the better one. It splits the sons of Beriah, of Elpaal and of Shimei (Rashi on I Chronicles 8:14:1).
The corpus carries eighteen further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. Ten stand cited and unquoted at Metzudat David on I Chronicles 8:7:1, 8:9:1, 8:12:1, 8:13:1, 8:16:1, 8:18:1, 8:21:1, 8:37:1, 8:39:1 and 8:40:1. Seven stand at Radak on I Chronicles 8:27:1, 8:28:1, 8:30:1, 8:32:1, 8:33:1, 8:34:1 and 8:38:1, and one at Malbim on I Chronicles 8:3:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries twenty-two rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the eighth verse, Shaharaim and the wives he sent away, it holds Ruth Rabbah 4:1 and Ruth Rabbah (Lerner) 4:1:1. On the eleventh it holds Jerusalem Talmud Yevamot 8:3:3. On the twelfth, the building of Ono and Lod, it holds Megillah 4a:2 and Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 1:1:8. On the thirteenth it holds Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 1:2:16 and Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 1:2:1.
The settlement at Gibeon carries the next run. On the twenty-seventh verse the corpus holds Bereshit Rabbah 71:9, Shemot Rabbah 40:4 and Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 13:2. Midrash Aggadah, Deuteronomy 12:13:1 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 128:1 stand with them.
The house of Saul carries the rest. On the thirty-third verse, where Saul and his sons are named, it holds Vayikra Rabbah 9:2, Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 8:4 and Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 3:7:4. On the thirty-fourth, Merib-baal, it holds Shabbat 56b:2 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 5:8. On the thirty-eighth, the sons of Azel, it holds Pesachim 62b:16 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Pesakhim 5:1. On the fortieth, the archers of Benjamin, it holds Niddah 31a:25, Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 4:5:2 and Ein Yaakov, Niddah 3:9. 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 8:1:1 to 8:29:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on I Chronicles 8:7:1, 8:9:1, 8:12:1, 8:13:1, 8:16:1, 8:18:1, 8:21:1, 8:37:1, 8:39:1 and 8:40:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on I Chronicles 8:27:1, 8:28:1, 8:30:1, 8:32:1, 8:33:1, 8:34:1 and 8:38:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on I Chronicles 8:3:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/1-chronicles/8.json, the 22 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.
Benjamin's chiefs and the fathers who dwelt in Jerusalem
1 Chronicles 8:1-7
Bela, his firstborn: Benjamin's genealogy resumes here, and the return signals what the chapter is building toward: a full record of the tribe that produced Saul. Barnes reads the return to Benjamin as the compiler bridging the genealogical section into the historical narrative that opens with Saul at the chapter's end.
1 Chronicles 8:1
“The reason of this return to the genealogy of the Benjamites seems to be the desire to connect the genealogical introduction with the historical body of the work. As the history is to begin with Saul, the genealogical portion is made to end with an account of the family of this Benjamite monarch.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Chronicles 8:1
“The names of many of the persons mentioned are different from those given by Moses--a diversity which may be accounted for in part on grounds formerly stated, namely, either that the persons had more than one name, or that the word "sons" is used in a loose sense for grandsons or descendants.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Nohah the fourth, and Rapha: Nohah and Rapha appear in no other list of Benjamin's sons. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown account for such differences from the lists of Moses by men bearing two names, or by sons standing for later descendants. Aharah of verse 1 may be Ahiram of Numbers 26:38.
1 Chronicles 8:2
“Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth. Nohah is supposed by some to be the same with Becher, 1Ch 7:6 and by others with Naaman, Gen 46:21, as Rapha, the same with Rosh there.”
The sons of Bela: Numbers 26:40 names two sons of Bela, Ard and Naaman, and Addar here may be Ard. Barnes explains why Benjamin is traced a second time: the history that follows begins with Saul, so the genealogies end with his family. The chapter builds toward him.
1 Chronicles 8:3
“The sons of Bela were Addar, and Gera, and Abihud. The first of these is thought to be the same with Ard, mentioned among the sons of Benjamin, Gen 46:21 but was one of his grandsons, see Num 26:40 as Gera also was.”
Addar, Gera, Abihud, Abishua, Naaman: Gill notes that Naaman, listed among Benjamin's sons in Genesis 46:21, gave his name to the Naamite clan of Numbers 26:40 as Bela's son. He reports that some take Ahoah as Ehi of Genesis 46:21. Names cross between generations in these lists.
1 Chronicles 8:4
“And Abishua, and Naaman, and Ahoah, and Gera, and Shephuphan, and Huram. These were all the sons of Bela; one of the name of Naaman is reckoned among the sons of Benjamin, Gen 46:21 and from this grandson the family of the Naamanites are named, Num 26:40, and Ahoah is by some thought to be the same with Ehi, mentioned in Gen 46:21 as one of Benjamin's sons. Some take the three last to be the sons of Ehud, spoken of in the next verse; but Shephuphan and Huram seem to be the same with Shupham and Hupham, Num 26:39.”
Gera, Shephuphan, and Huram: Gill takes Shephuphan and Huram as Shupham and Hupham, counted among Benjamin's clans in Numbers 26:39. A second Gera appears here after the one in verse 4. Ehud the judge was a son of a Gera (Judges 3:15).
These were the descendants of Ehud: Barnes suspects damage to the text here, for the Hebrew names no one who carried out the exile. He reads a move of the descendants of Ehud, heads of the families living in Geba, to Manahath under Gera. Geba lay in Benjamin (Joshua 18:24).
1 Chronicles 8:6
“And they removed them to Manahath - “They” has no antecedent; and it is difficult to supply one. Almost all commentators suppose that there has been some corruption here, from which, however, we may gather that the “sons of Ehud” (or, perhaps, of Ahoah, 1Ch 8:4) were originally settled at Geba (Jos 18:24 note), but afterward removed to a place called Manahath, probably a town in the vicinity. Gera 1Ch 8:7 directed the movement.”
Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera: Barnes takes Gera as the man who directed the move from Geba to Manahath. The verse names him again as the father of Uzza and Ahihud. The Ehud of verse 6 is left unidentified.
1 Chronicles 8:7
“And Naaman, and Ahiah, and Gera,.... Or, to wit, Naaman, &c. so the words are to be connected with these are the sons or Ehud, in the preceding verse: he removed them; to the above place, that is, either Gera, or rather Ehud, he advised them, directed and enjoined them to go thither, as being most convenient for them: and he begat Uzza and Ahihud; after he had removed his other sons.”
1 Chronicles 8:8-12
in the country of Moab: Shaharaim had sons in the country of Moab after he divorced his wives Hushim and Baara. A line through Elpaal reaches Ono and Lod, towns that reappear in Ezra 2:33 and Nehemiah 11:35. Gill and Clarke differ on whether Hodesh names the same wife called Baara or a separate woman.
His sons by his wife Hodesh: Hodesh is named here though verse 8 names only Hushim and Baara as Shaharaim's wives. Clarke follows the Targum in taking Hodesh as Baara, a name meaning new because he married her again. Gill judges that reading wrong.
1 Chronicles 8:9
“And he begat of Hodesh his wife,.... That is, he, I say, begat, namely, Shaharaim; the Targum makes this Hodesh to be the same with Baara, called so because she was newly espoused; but wrongly: the sons begotten of her were the seven following; Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcham, Jeuz, Shachia, and Mirma. These were his sons; the sons of Shaharaim by his wife Hodesh: heads of the fathers; of the houses or families of their father.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 8:9
“He begat of Hodesh his wife - In the preceding verse it is said that Hushim and Baara were his wives; and here it is said he begat of Hodesh his wife, etc. And then his children by Hushim are mentioned, but not a word of Baara! It is likely therefore that Hodesh was another name for Baara, and this is asserted by the Targum: And he begot of Baara, that is Chodesh, his wife; so called because he espoused her anew. It is supposed that he had put her away before, and now remarried her.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam, Jeuz: Hodesh bore seven sons, and by verse 8 they were born in Moab. Mesha shares his name with the king of Moab in 2 Kings 3:4, a fitting name for a family born there. Their line is left untraced.
1 Chronicles 8:10
“And of Hushim he begat Abitub, and Elpaal. Before he sent her away, or divorced her, 1Ch 8:8.”
He also had sons by Hushim: Hushim bore Abitub and Elpaal before the divorce of verse 8. Elpaal's line fills verses 12 to 18 and includes the builder of Ono and Lod. The family Shaharaim sent away is the one that endured.
The sons of Elpaal: Elpaal's sons fill verses 13 to 18. Clarke reports the Targum's addition that Ono and Lod were burned when Israel made war on Benjamin at Gibeah (Judges 20). Both towns were settled again after the exile (Nehemiah 11:35).
1 Chronicles 8:12
Who built Ono, and Lod - The Targum adds, “Which the children of Israel ravaged and burnt with fire, when they made war on the tribe of Benjamin in Gibeah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 8:13-27
who drove out the inhabitants of Gath): Beriah and Shema were the heads of families of the inhabitants of Aijalon, and they drove out the inhabitants of Gath. Gill links this to the killing of Ephraim's sons by the natives of Gath in 1 Chronicles 7:21. The roll runs through the sons of Elpaal, Shimei and Shashak.
1 Chronicles 8:13
“Beriah also, and Shema,.... These were sons of Elpaal: who were heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Aijalon; which, though in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:42 might afterwards come into the possession of Benjamin; or this may be another place of the same name in Benjamin; or, however, might be inhabited by Benjaminites, upon the return from captivity, who descended from those men: who drove away the inhabitants of Gath; dispossessed them of their city, in revenge for what they had done to the Ephraimites, 1Ch 7:21.”
Ahio, Shashak, Jeremoth: In the Berean text these three names open the list of Beriah's sons that ends in verse 16. Shashak's own sons follow in verses 22 to 25, and Gill takes Jeroham of verse 27 as this Jeremoth. Beriah led Aijalon (verse 13).
1 Chronicles 8:14
“And Ahio, Shashak, and Jerimoth. These were also sons of Elpaal.”
Zebadiah, Arad, Eder: These are further sons of Beriah, the chief of Aijalon who drove out the men of Gath in verse 13. Arad and Eder share their names with towns of the Negev (Numbers 21:1; Joshua 15:21). Another Zebadiah follows in verse 17.
Michael, Ishpah, and Joha: The closing words mark verses 14 to 16 as the sons of Beriah, Elpaal's son and a chief of Aijalon. Nine sons are named. A Joha also appears among David's mighty men (1 Chronicles 11:45).
Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Heber: Verses 17 and 18 give a further list of Elpaal's sons, beside Eber, Misham and Shemed in verse 13. Gill counts everyone from verse 14 to verse 27 as Elpaal's sons and their sons. Meshullam recurs after the exile (1 Chronicles 9:7 to 8).
1 Chronicles 8:17
“And Zebadiah, and Meshullam,.... These, with those that follow: Hezeki, Heber, Ishmerai, Jezliah, and Jobab, were the sons of Elpaal.”
Ishmerai, Izliah, and Jobab: The verse closes the list of Elpaal's sons begun in verse 17. A Jobab also appears among the sons of Shaharaim by Hodesh in verse 9, so the name recurs in the family. Gill counts these men among the chiefs who lived in Jerusalem.
Jakim, Zichri, Zabdi: These names begin the sons of Shimei, which run to verse 21. Nine sons are named. The list gives no count of fighting men, unlike the musters of chapter 7.
Elienai, Zillethai, Eliel: These sons of Shimei are among the heads of families who lived in Jerusalem, according to verse 28. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown date that settlement after the return from captivity. An Eliel also appears in Shashak's list at verse 22.
Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath: The closing words name these men as the sons of Shimei. He may be the Shema of verse 13, a chief of Aijalon and Beriah's partner in driving out the men of Gath. The spellings differ.
Ishpan, Eber, Eliel: Ishpan, Eber and Eliel open the sons of Shashak, who were heads of families living in Jerusalem (verse 28). Shashak was a son of Beriah in verse 14. His eleven sons end with Penuel in verse 25.
1 Chronicles 8:22
“And Ishpan, and Heber,.... And all that follow to the end of these verses: Eliel, Abdon, Zichri, Hanan, Hananiah, Elam, Antothijah, Iphedeiah, and Penuel, were the sons of Shashak, another son of Elpaal, 1Ch 8:14.”
Abdon, Zichri, Hanan: Abdon shares his name with the judge from Pirathon in Ephraim (Judges 12:13 to 15) and with the firstborn of Jeiel in verse 30. Zichri appears three times in the chapter, in verses 19, 23 and 27. These families reused a small store of names.
Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah: Anthothijah recalls Anathoth, the Benjamite town of the priests in 1 Chronicles 6:60 and the home of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1). Hananiah and Elam were sons of Shashak and heads of families in Jerusalem. Elam's descendants came back from exile (Ezra 2:7).
Iphdeiah, and Penuel: The closing words mark verses 22 to 25 as the sons of Shashak, eleven in all. Another Penuel stands in the line of Judah as the father of Gedor (1 Chronicles 4:4). Shashak's house ends here.
Shamsherai, Shehariah, Athaliah: Gill suggests that Jeroham, whose sons these are, is the Jeremoth of verse 14. Athaliah here is a man's name, the name also borne by the queen who seized the throne of Judah (2 Kings 11:1). His sons end in verse 27.
Jaareshiah, Elijah, and Zichri: Gill reports a Jewish tradition that this Elijah, a son of Jeroham, was Elijah the prophet, a descendant of Rachel. Scripture calls the prophet Elijah the Tishbite (1 Kings 17:1). The six sons of Jeroham close the list of heads of families in Jerusalem.
All these were heads of families: The long roll closes with one summary: these were heads of families, the chiefs according to their genealogies, and they lived in Jerusalem. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown place these Benjamite chiefs among those who resettled in Jerusalem after the captivity, alongside families of Judah and the Levites.
1 Chronicles 8:28
“These dwelt in Jerusalem--The ordinary and stated inhabitants of Jerusalem were Judahites, Benjamites, and Levites. But at the time referred to here, the chiefs or heads of the principal families who are enumerated (1Ch 8:14-27) established themselves in the city after their return from the captivity.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 8:28
“These were heads of the fathers, by their generations, chief men,.... All from 1Ch 8:14, the sons of Elpaal and their sons: these dwelt in Jerusalem; part of which always belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, see Jos 15:63.”
1 Chronicles 8:28
“Many great and mighty nations were then upon earth, and many illustrious men in them, whose names are buried in perpetual oblivion, while the names of multitudes of the Israel of God, are here carefully preserved in everlasting remembrance: a figure of God's writing the names of his spiritual Israel, in the Lamb's book of life.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The house of Saul traced through Jonathan
1 Chronicles 8:29-32
the father of Gibeon: A second genealogy opens at Gibeon and traces Jeiel's line through Abdon, Zur, Kish and Baal to Mikloth, who was the father of Shimeah. The same family appears at 1 Chronicles 9:35 to 44, and Clarke passes on the account that Ezra found two source documents and kept both.
1 Chronicles 8:29
“And at Gibeon dwelt the father of Gibeon,.... The builder of the city, and prince of the inhabitants of it, which was in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:25 whose name was Jehiel, 1Ch 9:35, (whose wife's name was Maachah;) of which name were many, see 1Ch 2:48.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 8:29
“And at Gibeon - This passage to the end of the 38th verse is found with a little variety in the names, 1Ch 9:35-44. The rabbins say that Ezra, having found two books that had these passages with a variety in the names, as they agreed in general, he thought best to insert them both, not being able to discern which was the best.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Abdon was his firstborn son: Gill compares the double of this list in 1 Chronicles 9:36 to 37, which places Ner between Baal and Nadab. Clarke notes that verses 29 to 38 recur in 9:35 to 44 with small differences in the names. This Kish is Ner's brother.
1 Chronicles 8:30
“And his firstborn son Abdon,.... That is, Jehiel's, the father or prince of Gibeon; other sons follow: Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab, Gedor, Ahio, and Zacher; called Zechariah, 1Ch 9:37 and between Baal and Nadab, Ner is placed, 1Ch 9:36 and another son is added at the end of 1Ch 9:37, Mikloth next mentioned.”
Gedor, Ahio, Zecher: Gill identifies Zecher with Zechariah in the double of this list at 1 Chronicles 9:37. Gedor is also the name of a town in Judah's hill country (Joshua 15:58). Mikloth follows in verse 32.
and Mikloth, who was the father: Mikloth's son is Shimeah here and Shimeam in 1 Chronicles 9:38. The family lived in Jerusalem alongside their relatives, though Jeiel's seat was Gibeon (verse 29). Henry observes that these genealogies never trace the families of the northern kings, whom he calls idolaters.
1 Chronicles 8:32
“All these are of the sons of Benjamin. It is observable that among all the genealogies of the tribes there is no mention of any of the kings of Israel after the defection from the house of David, much less of their families; not a word of Jeroboam's house or Baasha's, of Umri's or Jehu's; for they were all idolaters.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 8:33-34
Ner was the father of Kish: Saul's sons are named: Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal, and Jonathan's son is Merib-baal. Both names carry baal, the word for lord, where the books of Samuel give Ish-bosheth and Mephibosheth, with bosheth, shame, in its place. Clarke and Gill both read the Chronicles forms as the earlier names.
1 Chronicles 8:33
“This verse combined with 1Ch 9:35-39, seems to show that the genealogy of Saul was: Abiel (= Jehiel?) Ner Kish Abner Saul Rather than that to be inferred from 1Sa 9:1; 1Sa 14:50-51. In 1Sa 14:49 note, it is concluded that Saul’s second son bore the two names of “Ishui” and “Abinadab.” But the order of the names here: (1) Jonathan; (2) Malchi-shua; and (3) Abinadab - suggests another explanation, namely, that Ishui, the second son, died young, and that Abinadab was really the fourth son.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 8:33
“It is common in all languages to put sons for grandsons and other descendents, much more in the scanty language of the Hebrews. After Saul, divers of his sons are named, but the posterity of none of them, save Jonathan only, who was blessed with numerous issue and those honoured with a place in the sacred genealogies for the sake of his sincere kindness to David.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The son of Jonathan: Merib-baal the son of Jonathan is Mephibosheth, whom David brought to his table (2 Samuel 4:4; 9:6 to 13). Merib-baal was the father of Micah, the young son named in 2 Samuel 9:12. The line of Saul continued through Jonathan.
1 Chronicles 8:34
“And the son of Jonathan was Meribbaal,.... The same with Mephibosheth, 2Sa 4:4 so Jerubbaal is called Jerubbesheth, Jdg 6:32. and Meribbaal begat Micah; called his young son in David's time, 2Sa 9:12.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 8:34
“Merib-baal - The same as Mephibosheth, for, as the Israelites detested Baal, which signifies lord, they changed it into bosheth, which signifies shame or reproach.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 8:35-40
The sons of Micah: Micah's line runs through Jehoaddah to Azel, and Azel's six sons are named. The record keeps counting fathers and sons long after the kingdom left Saul's family. The chapter closes on the sons of Ulam, who were mighty men of valor, archers, with 150 sons and grandsons in all.
1 Chronicles 8:35
“And the sons of Micah were, Pithon, and Melech, and Tarea, and Ahaz. The last but one is called Tahrea, 1Ch 9:41, where Ahaz is left out, though supplied in our version.”
Ahaz was the father of Jehoaddah: 1 Chronicles 9:42 gives Jarah where this verse has Jehoaddah. Alemeth and Azmaveth name places of Benjamin: men of Azmaveth came home from exile (Ezra 2:24), and Alemeth was a priests' town (1 Chronicles 6:60). Saul's line runs on after his death.
1 Chronicles 8:36
“And Ahaz begat Jehoadah,.... Called Jarah, 1Ch 9:42. and Jehoadah begat Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begat Moza; the same account is given, 1Ch 9:42.”
Moza was the father of Binea: The double at 1 Chronicles 9:43 names Raphah as Rephaiah and Eleasah as Elasah. Counting from Jonathan, Azel stands in the tenth generation. Saul's house survived his fall.
1 Chronicles 8:37
“And Moza begat Binea; Rapha was his son,.... Called Rephaiah, 1Ch 9:43. Elasah his son; whose name is Eleasah, 1Ch 9:43. Azel his son.”
Azel had six sons: The six sons of Azel recur by the same names in 1 Chronicles 9:44, where the record of Saul's descendants ends. Clarke reports a rabbinic tale that praised their learning. Ishmael here is a Benjamite of Saul's line.
1 Chronicles 8:38
“And Azel had six sons, whose names are these, Azrikam, Bochim, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan,.... Which make the said number: all these were the sons of Azel; his family was large.”
The sons of his brother Eshek: Eshek is Azel's brother, and his line is absent from the double in 1 Chronicles 9:35 to 44. His descendants close the chapter's record of Benjamin. Saul's family runs on through two branches.
1 Chronicles 8:39
“And the sons of Eshek his brother,.... The brother of Azel; who he was is not known, unless he is the same with Elasah, as is conjectured: were Ulam his firstborn, Jehush the second, and Eliphelet the third.”
Ulam was his firstborn, Jeush second: Wesley explains the Hebrew for archers as men who tread the bow, bending it with the feet. Ulam's sons were Benjamite archers, like the kinsmen of Saul who joined David (1 Chronicles 12:1 to 2). Their sons and grandsons numbered 150.
1 Chronicles 8:40
“The sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor - The Targum speaks honourably of them: “The sons of Ulam were mighty and strong men, subduing by wisdom their evil concupiscence, as men bend a bow; therefore they had many sons and grandsons.” Of the six sons of Azel, mentioned 1Ch 8:38, R. S. Jarchi says that their allegorical expositions were sufficient to load thirteen thousand camels! No doubt these were reputed to be deeply learned men. There was a time when the allegorizers and metaphor-men ranked very high among theologians, even in our own enlightened and critical country.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Genealogy, a second and fuller pass over Benjamin that ends at Saul's line, as Barnes classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Benjamin registered a second time | Chapter 7 gave Benjamin three clans and three musters in seven verses. This chapter gives the tribe forty. Albert Barnes reads the return as the compiler bridging the genealogical section into the narrative that opens with Saul at chapter 10, which is why the fuller treatment falls on the tribe that held the first throne.Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on 1 Chronicles 8:1-7. | 1 Chronicles 7:6, 1 Chronicles 8:1, 1 Chronicles 8:40 |
| They lived in Jerusalem | The chapter closes two of its runs with the same note. Verse 28 says of the heads of families that they lived in Jerusalem, and verse 32 says of Mikloth's household that they also lived alongside their relatives in Jerusalem. The phrase stands twice in this chapter, counted in the Berean text in the store, and three times more in chapter 9 at verses 3, 34 and 38. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the Benjamite chiefs as among the families who resettled the city after the captivity.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on 1 Chronicles 8:28. | 1 Chronicles 8:28, 1 Chronicles 8:32 |
| Baal in the names the Chronicler kept | Verses 33 and 34 name Saul's fourth son Esh-baal and Jonathan's son Merib-baal, where the parallel record in Samuel gives Ish-bosheth and Mephibosheth. The element baal means lord, and the later form substitutes bosheth, shame. Adam Clarke and John Gill both read the Chronicles spellings as the earlier names and the substitution as a matter of later transmission. The page carries the philology and settles nothing beyond it.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 1 Chronicles 8:33-34. | 1 Chronicles 8:33, 1 Chronicles 8:34 |
| The one act of war | Fourteen verses of names carry a single deed. At verse 13 Beriah and Shema, heads of the families of Aijalon, drove out the inhabitants of Gath, and John Gill reads the act as an answer to what the men of Gath had done to Ephraim's sons at 7:21. The same verse credits Shemed with building Ono and Lod, two towns that reappear in the rosters of Benjamites who came back from exile at Ezra 2:33 and Nehemiah 11:35.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Chronicles 8:13-27. | 1 Chronicles 8:8, 1 Chronicles 8:12, 1 Chronicles 8:13 |
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 its form line names this chapter as a second, complete pass over Benjamin. Its body line reads that Benjamin is given the fuller treatment because it carries Saul's line, setting up the pivot into narrative at chapter 10.
The historical value
Ono and Lod at verse 13 are towns founded here by a family whose head had left the land for Moab, and both appear again in the returning rosters at Ezra 2:33 and Nehemiah 11:35. The register therefore carries a settlement forward across the whole span from before the monarchy to after the exile.
Gibeon at verse 29 is the city bound to Israel by the treaty of Joshua 9, and Saul's ancestry is placed among its settled families. Aijalon and Beth-horon guard the same pass, and the Benjamite families named here held the ground that controlled the road into the hill country.
The debated concept
The Gibeon list of verses 29 to 38 stands again at 9:35 to 44 with small differences in the names. Adam Clarke passes on the old account that the compiler, finding two documents that agreed in substance and differed in detail, kept both rather than choosing between them. Gary Knoppers reads the same kind of case across chapters 1 to 9 as independent traditions preserved side by side. The page reports the doublet and states no verdict.
The baal and bosheth spellings of verses 33 and 34 are the second question. The form here carries the element meaning lord, and Samuel carries the element meaning shame. Clarke and Gill both read the Chronicles form as the earlier name. That is a philological reading and the page carries it as one.
John Gill also passes on a late tradition traced to Kimchi that identifies one Eliah in this chapter with Elijah the prophet. He reports it as tradition rather than as a reading of the text.
The divine connection
The chapter keeps counting Saul's descendants long after the throne left his house. Micah's line runs six generations to Azel, Azel's six sons are named one by one, and Ulam's sons close the chapter as archers and mighty men of valour. Matthew Henry reads that closing note as praise for usefulness rather than for rank. A record built around David's line keeps the rival house on its books in full.
Keep studying
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 8:29-32; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on 1 Chronicles 8:1-7 and H. G. M. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles, New Century Bible Commentary, 1982, on 1 Chronicles 8:1-40.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Berean Standard 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.