And Saul died, and Baal–hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
and Saul dieth, and reign in his stead doth Baal-hanan son of Achbor;
And Saul died; and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.
Voices3
And Saul died,.... About A. M. 2325: and Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead: whose name, inverted, is observed by Grotius to be the same with Hannibal; it signifies a gracious lord or king.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
These are the names - Observe here, 1. That only the names of Esau's sons and grand-sons are recorded: not their history, for it is the church that Moses preserves the records of, not of those that were without. The elders only that lived by faith obtained a good report.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical
Little more is recorded than their names, because the history of those that were out of the church (though perhaps it might have been serviceable in politics) would have been of little use in divinity. It is in the church that the memorable instances are found of special grace, and special providence; for that is the enclosure, the rest is common.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
