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1 Chronicles 23:17

in 1 Chronicles 23

The descendants of Eliezer: Rehabiah was the first. Eliezer did not have any other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And the sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

KJV

And the sons of Eliezer were, Rehabiah the chief. And Eliezer had none other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

This verse in 1 Chronicles 23

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
And the sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah the chief,.... The first and only begotten, as it follows: and Eliezer had none other sons; before nor after him: but the sons of Rehabiah were very many; or greatly multiplied; not, as the Targum says, above 600,000; the number of Israel, as the Jewish writers (m) fancy; which they gather from Exo 1:7, and that though Moses deprecated the multiplication of his seed, God fulfilled it. (m) T. Bab Beracot, fol. 7. 1, 2, Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 16. fol. 220. 4.

This site's exposition

Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel

on 1 Chronicles 23:12-17

Kohath's family carries the chapter's one narrative turn. Aaron is separated to sanctify the most holy things for ever, while his brother Moses is named only to record that Moses' own sons were counted as common Levites, no priesthood and no standing rank attached to the lawgiver's name. Chronicles states the contrast without comment, the same restraint Numbers already keeps toward Moses' family. Matthew Henry reads it as a mark of Moses' own self denial, the man who refused a nation built from his own line at Exodus 32:10 and is here counted level with the tribe he led.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

When God proposed to him that, if he would let fall his intercession for Israel, he would make of him a great nation, he generously refused it, in recompence for which his family is here greatly increased, and makes up in number what it wants in figure, in the tribe of Levi. The levelling of Moses' family with the rest is an evidence of his self-denial.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

But the sons of Rehabiah were very many - The Targum says, “On account of the merits of Moses, the posterity of Rehabiah were multiplied to more than sixty myriads.”

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּֽהְי֥וּand they were

    vaiyihyuH19613559 times

  • בְנֵי־[the] sons of

    venei-H11214930 times

  • אֱלִיעֶ֖זֶרEliezer

    ʾeliezerH46114 times

  • רְחַבְיָ֣הRehabiah

    rechavyahH73455 times

  • הָרֹ֑אשׁthe chief

    haroshH7218599 times

  • וְלֹא־and not

    velo'-H38085168 times

  • הָיָ֤הit belonged

    hayahH19613559 times

  • לֶאֱלִיעֶ֙זֶר֙to Eliezer

    leeliezerH46114 times

  • בָּנִ֣יםsons

    banimH11214930 times

  • אֲחֵרִ֔יםother

    ʾacherimH312166 times

  • וּבְנֵ֥יand [the] sons of

    uveneiH11214930 times

  • רְחַבְיָ֖הRehabiah

    rechavyahH73455 times

  • רָב֥וּthey were numerous

    ravuH7235227 times

  • לְמָֽעְלָה׃<to> upwards <towards>

    lemaelahH4605140 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

3 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Chronicles 26:25

    His relatives through Eliezer included Rehabiah his son, Jeshaiah his son, Joram his son, Zichri his son, and Shelomith his son.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 23:17–18

      The descendants of Eliezer: Rehabiah was the first. Eliezer did not have any other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.

    • 1 Chronicles 23:15

      The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.

    • Exodus 18:4

      The other son was named Eliezer, for Moses had said, “The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

About 1 Chronicles

Cedars Are Cut Down for the Jerusalem Temple, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Cedars Are Cut Down for the Jerusalem Temple, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.