1 Chronicleschapter 8
40 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Key verse
And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valour, archers, and had many sons, and sons’ sons, an hundred and fifty. All these are of the sons of Benjamin.
It stands in The house of Saul traced through Jonathan, verses 29 to 40.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Benjamin is taken up again in full, tracing the clans of Geba and Aijalon and the heads of fathers' houses who dwelt in Jerusalem. The list is built toward one household: the family that dwelt at Gibeon, Ner and Kish and 'Kish begat Saul, and Saul begat Jonathan.' Jonathan's son Merib-baal is named, and Micah after him, and generations of Benjamite archers beyond. The Chronicler is quietly setting the stage. Israel's first king and his line are documented honestly and completely, so that the next narrative chapter can show why the kingdom passed out of that house and into David's.
Context
History · Ezra · 1 Chronicles overview
The world behind this chapter
1 Chronicles 8The history
The chapter belongs to Benjamin, the tribe that produced Israel's first king, and it ends at his household.
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 rest of the history, and what it meant to them
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.
What it meant to them
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.
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.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
Where the chapter sits
1 Chronicles 8 falls in Genealogies from Adam to Saul (chapters 1–9). The longest single genealogical block in Scripture; the Davidic-line focus; the Levitical emphasis; the post-exilic returnee list (ch. 9).
After it: David's reign: temple-framed, chapters 10–29.
The whole shape of 1 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
People1
Places1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Benjamin's chiefs and the fathers who dwelt in Jerusalem
1. (vv. 1-7)
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
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
Bela his firstborn: Benjamin's genealogy resumes here after the roll in chapter 7, and the return signals what the chapter is building toward: a full record of the tribe that produced Saul. Bela's line runs to grandsons already settled at Geba and then moved to Manahath, the ordinary drift of families across generations. 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.
2. (vv. 8-12)
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
1 Chronicles 8:10
“And of Hushim he begat Abitub, and Elpaal. Before he sent her away, or divorced her, 1Ch 8:8.”
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
in the country of Moab: A rare narrative fragment breaks the name list: Shaharaim, having sent away his first household, fathers children in Moab by two more wives, and a line through his son Elpaal reaches two towns, Ono and Lod. Both towns reappear centuries later in the rosters of Benjamites who returned from exile, at Ezra 2:33 and Nehemiah 11:35, so a family founded here by a man who left the land for Moab is remembered again in the list of those who came back to it. Gill and Clarke both treat the record as genuine family history rather than scribal confusion, differing only on whether Hodesh names the same wife elsewhere called Baara or a separate woman.
3. (vv. 13-27)
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.”
1 Chronicles 8:14
“And Ahio, Shashak, and Jerimoth. These were also sons of Elpaal.”
1 Chronicles 8:17
“And Zebadiah, and Meshullam,.... These, with those that follow: Hezeki, Heber, Ishmerai, Jezliah, and Jobab, were the sons of Elpaal.”
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.”
who drove away the inhabitants of Gath: Beriah and Shema, heads of Aijalon, carry the list's one act of war: they drove the inhabitants out of Gath, which Gill reads as payment for what Gath's neighbors had done to Ephraim at 7:21. The roll then runs the sons of Elpaal, Shimhi and Shashak through many verses of names with no further narrative, though Gill passes on a late tradition, traced to Kimchi, identifying one Eliah among them with Elijah the prophet, of the seed of Rachel. Fourteen verses carry the tribe's spread across Aijalon and its towns on the strength of one remembered clash and little else.
4. (v. 28)
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.”
2 more voices on this verse
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
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
by their generations, chief men: The long roll closes with one summary verse: these were heads of the fathers, chief men, and these dwelt in Jerusalem. Wesley reads the preserved list as a small figure of a larger truth, that mighty nations of that age left no name behind while the ordinary households of Israel are written down in careful order, a shadow he draws directly to the Lamb's book of life. JFB adds that these Benjamite chiefs were among those who resettled in Jerusalem after the captivity, alongside families of Judah and the Levites.
B. The house of Saul traced through Jonathan
1. (vv. 29-32)
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
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.”
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
the father of Gibeon: A second short genealogy opens at Gibeon, tracing Jehiel's line through Abdon, Zur, Kish and Baal to Mikloth and Shimeah, the household that produced Ner and so runs straight into Saul's own line two verses later. The same family appears again at 9:35-44 with small differences in the names, and Clarke passes on the old account that Ezra, finding two source documents that agreed in substance but not in every name, kept both rather than choose between them. The list sets Saul's ancestry among the settled families of Gibeon, the city bound to Israel by Joshua's treaty in Joshua 9.
2. (vv. 33-34)
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
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
and Saul begat Jonathan: Saul's sons stand named in full here: Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab and Esh-baal, and Jonathan's own son is named Merib-baal. Both carry baal, the word for lord, where the parallel record in Samuel gives Ish-bosheth and Mephibosheth, substituting bosheth, shame, for the offending element; Clarke and Gill both read the Chronicles forms as the earlier names, the substitution a matter of later transmission rather than a different family. Saul's line is not erased from the record for its end at Gilboa; a genealogy generations deep follows from here, running alongside the line that took the throne from it.
3. (vv. 35-40)
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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
the sons of Micah were: Micah's line runs six generations past him, Jehoadah to Azel, and Azel's own six sons are named individually rather than folded into a summary, an unusual density this late in a Benjamite roll. The record does not stop at Saul's death on Gilboa or at David's dynasty replacing his house; it keeps counting fathers and sons long after the kingdom left this family, evidence the compiler still held records for a line whose claim to the throne was long over. The chapter closes on Ulam's sons, archers and mighty men of valour a hundred and fifty strong, and Henry reads the note as praise for service rather than for rank, a family remembered for usefulness once the crown was gone from it.
This page carries no textual note on 1 Chronicles 8. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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 exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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