1 Chronicles 2:34–55

Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife--The adoption and marriage of a foreign slave in the family where he is serving, is far from being a rare or extraordinary occurrence in Eastern countries. It is thought, however, by some to have been a connection not sanctioned by the law of Moses [MICHAELIS]. But this is not a well-founded objection, as the history of the Jews furnishes not a few examples of foreign proselytes in the same manner obtaining an inheritance in Israel; and doubtless Jarha had previously embraced the Jewish faith in place of the grovelling idolatries of his native Egypt. In such a case, therefore, there could be no legal difficulty. Being a foreign slave, he had no inheritance in a different tribe to injure by this connection; while his marriage with Sheshan's daughter led to his adoption into the tribe of Judah, as well as his becoming heir of the family property.

the families of the scribes--either civil or ecclesiastical officers of the Kenite origin, who are here classed with the tribe of Judah, not as being descended from it, but as dwelling within its territory, and in a measure incorporated with its people. Jabez--a place in Judah (Ch1 4:9). Kenites that came of Hemath--who settled in Judah, and were thus distinguished from another division of the Kenite clan which dwelt in Manasseh (Jdg 4:11). Next: 1 Chronicles Chapter 3

And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife,.... Having first given him his freedom, as the Targum premises; this daughter seems to be Ahlai, 1 Chronicles 2:31 which receives confirmation from Zabad, one of the descendants of this man, 1 Chronicles 2:36, being said to be the son of Ahlai, 1 Chronicles 11:41, that is, great-grandson: and she bare him Attai; the genealogy of whose descendants is given to the end of 1 Chronicles 2:41, of whom no mention is made elsewhere, but of Zabad, as before observed; and, according to the Jews, it is given for the sake of Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, the last person mentioned in this genealogy; which Ishmael slew Gedaliah governor of Jerusalem, and is said to be of the seed royal, Jeremiah 41:1.

Now the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel,.... Called Chelubai, 1 Chronicles 2:9 and is the same Caleb spoken of in 1 Chronicles 2:18 and his sons next reckoned were by a third wife, Azubah, Ephrath being dead, 1 Chronicles 2:19 and these sons were Mesha his firstborn, which was the father of Ziph; who gave name to the city of Ziph; there were two of this name in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:24 or this is the title of Mesha, governor of the city of Ziph; so the Targum calls him, prince of the Ziphites: and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron; according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, the words are to be supplied thus, "and the sons of Ziph were Mareshah the father of Hebron"; which, though sometimes the name of a city in the tribe of Judah, is here the name of a man, from whom, perhaps, the city had its name, since Hebron is said to have sons in the next verse; Jarchi makes Mesha to be the prince of Ziph, and prince of the children of Mareshah, and prince of Hebron.

And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema. One of these, Tappuah, is the name of a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:34 and there is also Bethtappuah in the same tribe, 1 Chronicles 2:53 which one, or both, might have their name from this man; and Shema also, 1 Chronicles 2:26.

And Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkoam,.... Which Hillerus (s) takes to be the name of a city in the tribe of Judah; and Jarchi's note is, that wherever the word "father" is here used, it is to be understood of the prince of a city that follows: and Rekem begat Shammai; there is a descendant of Jerahmeel, the brother of Caleb, of this name, 1 Chronicles 2:28. (s) Onomast. Sacr. p. 329.

And the son of Shammai was Maon,.... Who gave name to a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:55 see 1 Samuel 23:24. and Maon was the father of Bethzur; prince of a very strong fortified city of this name in the same tribe, Joshua 15:58, unless this was a son of Maon's, from whom the city had its name.

And Ephah Caleb's concubine bare Haran, and Moza, and Gazez,.... An half-wife, or secondary wife; for though this man seems not to have had more wives than one at a time, yet he had concubines with them; we read of another after this, if not a third: and Haran begat Gazez; whom he so named after his brother.

And the sons of Jahdai,.... Who is not mentioned by this name before; perhaps the same with Moza, who might have two names, though, according to Hillerus (t), he was the son of Moza; some take it to be the name of another of Caleb's concubines, by whom he had the six following sons: Regem, and Jotham, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph; one of these, Pelet perhaps, gave name to Bethpalet in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:27. (t) Onomast. Sacr. p. 841.

Maachah, Caleb's concubine,.... Another concubine of his: bare Sheber, and Tirhanah; or of whom Caleb begot those two; for the verb is masculine; so Kimchi.

She bare also Shaaph the father of Madmannah,.... Prince of a place so called, in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:31. Sheva the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibeah; prince of two cities of those names in the same tribe; of the latter see Joshua 15:57, and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah; Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, had a daughter of this name, but neither he nor she are here meant, Joshua 15:16 but by whom Caleb, the son of Hezron, had this daughter, is not said; perhaps by Maachah his concubine last mentioned.

These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah,.... This is another Caleb, the grandson of Caleb the son of Hezron, called after his name; he was the son of Hur, the firstborn of his wife Ephratah, 1 Chronicles 2:19. Shobal the father of Kirjathjearim: of the inhabitants of that place; they sprung from him; or, as the Targum, he was prince of Kirjathjearim, a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:60.

Salma the father of Bethlehem,.... Or prince of Bethlehem, as the Targum; not the same as in 1 Chronicles 2:11 he was the son of Nahshon, this of the younger Caleb: Hareph, the father of Bethgader; prince of a place of that name called Gedor, 1 Chronicles 4:4, and where this man's name is Penuel; Gedor was in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:58.

And Shobal, the father of Kirjathjearim had sons,.... Which shows that Kirjathjearim is not the name of a man, or of any of Shobal's sons, who are next mentioned, but of a place of which he was prince: the first is Haroeh, who is called Reaiah, 1 Chronicles 4:2 a word of the same signification: and half of the Manahethites; which Kimchi takes to be the proper name of a man called Chatzihamanaheth, another son of Shobal's; but Jarchi interprets it of the name of a place or province called Manahath, 1 Chronicles 8:6 over half of which Haroeh was governor.

And the families of Kirjathjearim,.... That dwelt there, of which Shobal was prince, and who sprung from him, are as follow: the Ithrite, and the Puhites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; who had their names from Jether, Putha, Shumath, and Mishra, descendants of Shobal: of them came the Zareathites, and the Eshtaulites; that is, from the Mishraites sprung the inhabitants of Zeroth and Eshtaol, places in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:33.

The sons of Salma,.... Another son of the younger Caleb, 1 Chronicles 2:50 whose sons were Bethlehem, the inhabitants of the place, at least many of them, of which he was prince, 1 Chronicles 2:51 and the Netophathite; the inhabitants of Netophah, a place in the tribe of Judah, mentioned along with Bethlehem, Nehemiah 7:26 these sprung from Salma: Ataroth, the house of Joab; Ataroth seems to be the name of a place in the tribe of Judah, where the family of Joab lived, the inhabitants of which were the descendants of Salma: and half of the Manahethites; the other half of the inhabitants of Manahath, see 1 Chronicles 2:52, the Zorites; part also of them, called Zareathites, 1 Chronicles 2:53.

And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez,.... A city in Judah, the founder of which, perhaps, was Jabez, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:9 in which learned men dwelt: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites; who sprung from men whose names were Tira, Shimea, and Sucha; and if they were not the posterity of Salma, yet dwelt among his, and so are reckoned with them; perhaps the latter might have their name from dwelling in tents; the former clause may be rendered, "that dwelt with Jabez", who was their master, and they his scholars; in the Vulgate Latin version the words are rendered as appellatives, "singing and resounding, and dwelling in tents": Conrad Pellican, on the place, goes a middle way, and interprets these families as dwelling with Jabez their master, and they his scholars, and that they were called by their progenitors Tirathites, because learned and ingenious, and praecentors of the divine oracles; Shimeathites, because they diligently hearkened to the sacred songs, and the doctrines of the law of God; and Suchathites, because they dwelt not in cities, but in tents, despisers of all worldly things, that they might freely attend to learn: these are the Kenites; that is, the Suchathites are the Kenites, who, it is well known, dwelt in tents, and not in cities; though Jarchi takes these Kenites to be the inhabitants of Cain, a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:57 but they seem rather to be the Kenites that sprung from Jethro, here made mention of, because some of them dwelt in the tribe of Judah, and among the posterity of Salma, see Judges 1:16. that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab; the prince of that family, and who from Rechab were called Rechabites, Jeremiah 35:2.

The persons mentioned in the former paragraph are most of them such as we read of, and most of them such as we read much of, in other scriptures; but very few of those to whom this paragraph relates are mentioned any where else. It should seem, the tribe of Judah were more full and exact in their genealogies than any other of the tribes, in which we must acknowledge a special providence, for the clearing of the genealogy of Christ. 1. Here we find Bezaleel, who was head-workman in building the tabernacle, Exo 31:2. 2. Hezron, who was the son of Pharez (Ch1 2:5), was the father of all this progeny, his sons, Caleb and Jerahmeel, being very fruitful, and he himself likewise, even in his old age, for he left his wife pregnant when he died, Ch1 2:24. This Hezron was one of the seventy that went down with Jacob into Egypt, Gen 46:12. There his family thus increased, as other oppressed families there did. We cannot but suppose that he died during the Israelites' bondage in Egypt; and yet it is here said he died in Caleb-Ephratah (that is, Bethlehem), in the land of Canaan, Ch1 2:24. Perhaps, though the body of the people continued in Egypt, yet some that were more active than the rest, at least before their bondage came to be extreme, visited Canaan sometimes and got footing there, though afterwards they lost it. The achievements of Jair, here mentioned (Ch1 2:22, Ch1 2:23), we had an account of in Num 32:41; and, it is supposed, they were long after the conquest of Canaan. The Jews say, Hezron married his third wife when he was sixty years old (Ch1 2:21), and another afterwards (Ch1 2:24), because he had a great desire of posterity in the family of Pharez, from whom the Messiah was to descend. 3. Here is mention of one that died without children (Ch1 2:30), and another (Ch1 2:32), and of one that had no sons, but daughters, Ch1 2:34. Let those that are in any of these ways afflicted not think their case new or singular. Providence orders these affairs of families by an incontestable sovereignty, as pleaseth him, giving children, or withholding them, or giving all of one sex. He is not bound to please us, but we are bound to acquiesce in his good pleasure. To those that love him he will himself be better than ten sons, and give them in his house a place and a name better than of sons and daughters. Let not those therefore that are written childless envy the families that are built up and replenished. Shall our eye be evil because God's is good? 4. Here is mention of one who had an only daughter, and married her to his servant an Egyptian, Ch1 2:34, Ch1 2:35. If it be mentioned to his praise, we must suppose that this Egyptian was proselyted to the Jewish religion and that he was very eminent for wisdom and virtue, otherwise it would not have become a true-born Israelite to match a daughter to him, especially an only daughter. If Egyptians become converts, and servants do worthily, neither their parentage nor their servitude should be a bar to their preferment. Such a one this Egyptian servant might be that she who married him might live as happily with him as if she had married one of the rulers of her tribe. 5. The pedigree of several of these terminates, not in a person, but in a place or country, as one is said to be the father of Kirjath-jearim (Ch1 2:50), another of Bethlehem (Ch1 2:51), which was afterwards David's city, because these places fell to their lot in the division of the land. 6. here are some that are said to be families of scribes (Ch1 2:55), such as kept up learning in their family, especially scripture-learning, and taught the people the good knowledge of God. Among all these great families we are glad to find some that were families of scribes. Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets - all the families of Israel families of scribes, well instructed to the kingdom of heaven, and able to bring out of their treasury things new and old!

the sons of Caleb--(compare Ch1 2:18, Ch1 2:25). The sons here noticed were the fruit of his union with a third wife.