Bible Commentaries

1 Chronicles 7:1 Now the sons of Issachar [were], Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four.

Ver. 1. Jashub.] Alias Job; [Genesis 46:13] but not Job the patient, as some would have it.

1 Chronicles 7:2 And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father’s house, [to wit], of Tola: [they were] valiant men of might in their generations; whose number [was] in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred.

Ver. 2. They were valiant men of might.] And yet this tribe, for the generality, were asinus osseus [Genesis 49:14] dull, and desirous of peace.

In the days of David.] See 1 Chronicles 12:32; 1 Chronicles 27:18.

1 Chronicles 7:3 And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons of Izrahiah; Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five: all of them chief men.

Ver. 3. And the sons of Uzzi,] i.e., The son; for it is likely that Uzzi had more sons, but nothing so famous as was Izrahiah.

1 Chronicles 7:4 And with them, by their generations, after the house of their fathers, [were] bands of soldiers for war, six and thirty thousand [men]: for they had many wives and sons.

Ver. 4. Were bands of soldiers for war.] Though they affected peace, as 1 Chronicles 7:2, yet they were apti et parati ad bellum, ready pressed for war.

For they had many wives and sons.] Polygamy passed for current in the Church, because Abraham used it; though directly against the institution, and that plain law, [Leviticus 18:18] neither was it cast out of the Church till the captivity of Babylon.

1 Chronicles 7:5 And their brethren among all the families of Issachar [were] valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourscore and seven thousand.

Ver. 5. Reckoned in all.] Omnes Iscariotae, saith Vatablus.

1 Chronicles 7:6 [The sons] of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.

Ver. 6. The sons of Benjamin.] The genealogies of Dan and Zebulon are left out, for causes unknown; haply, because at their return out of Babylon their genealogies were not found. Dan is also - for their apostasy, likely, and idolatry - not reckoned among the rest that were sealed. [Revelation 7:5-8] That Antichrist should be one of this tribe, is a fiction rightly exploded. We read of Hushim, [1 Chronicles 7:12] the sons of Aher, which signifieth Another - and so some render it - by Another, understanding Dan, {compare Genesis 46:23} whom the penman of this book held not worth the naming. The Hebrews, when they would show their detestation of any person or thing, they call it acher; a sow they call dabshar acher, that is, another thing; so leaven at the passover, &c. ^(a)

1 Chronicles 7:12 Shuppim also, and Huppim, the children of Ir, [and] Hushim, the sons of Aher.

Ver. 12. Shuppim also, and Huppim.] Alias Shupham and Hupham [Numbers 26:39]

The sons of Aher.] See on 1 Chronicles 7:6.

1 Chronicles 7:13 The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.

Ver. 13. The sons of Bilhah,] i.e., Her grandsons.

1 Chronicles 7:14 The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: ([but] his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead:

Ver. 14. Whom she bare,] i.e., The wife of Gilead bare.

1 Chronicles 7:15 And Machir took to wife [the sister] of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister’s name [was] Maachah;) and the name of the second [was] Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters.

Ver. 15. And Zelophehad had daughters,] i.e., Daughters only, whose case, brought before the Lord, occasioned those two judicial laws in Numbers 27:1-11; Numbers 36:2-12.

1 Chronicles 7:17 And the sons of Ulam; Bedan. These [were] the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.

Ver. 17. Bedan.] Whom some suppose to be the same with Judge Jair, the Gileadite. [ 10:3 1 Samuel 12:11]

1 Chronicles 7:18 And his sister Hammoleketh bare Ishod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah.

Ver. 18. And his sister,] i.e., Gilead’s sister.

1 Chronicles 7:19 And the sons of Shemida were, Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.

Ver. 19. Likhi.] Alias Helek, [Numbers 26:30] by transposition of letters.

1 Chronicles 7:20 And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,

Ver. 20. And the sons of Ephraim,] The Ephraimites were famous for their wealth, power, and prowess; but withal they are noted for insolent, proud, and quarrelsome. See 8:1; 12:1.

1 Chronicles 7:21 And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath [that were] born in [that] land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.

Ver. 21. Whom the men of Gath … slew.] And no marvel; because, belike, being weary of the Egyptian servitude, and remembering that Palestina was promised to their forefathers for an inheritance, they would needs take possession thereof before the time, which rash adventure of these sons of Ephraim cost them their lives, and perhaps occasioned that cruel decree of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, against the Israelites. [Exodus 1:9-11] See to this purpose, Psalms 78:9. This happened about the birth of Aaron. It is not safe to break God’s prison.

1 Chronicles 7:22 And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.

Ver. 22. And Ephraim their father.] Who must needs be now a very old man.

Mourned many days.] His grief was the greater, if they went against the Gittites without his consent, as many young men are headlong and headstrong, &c.

And his brethren came to comfort him.] The Benjamites also set upon the men of Gath, and took their city from them. [1 Chronicles 8:13] Atque sic ulti sunt fratres suos Ephraemitas.

1 Chronicles 7:23 And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.

Ver. 23. And when he went in to his wife.] A modest expression of the marriage duty. The apostle forbiddeth filthy speaking; [Ephesians 4:25; Ephesians 4:29; Ephesians 5:4] so doth Cicero, in his "Offices," inveighing against the Cynics for their obscene language.

She conceived, and bare a son.] Of whom came a large offspring. This was a great mercy to the good old man.

And he called his name Beriah.] ^(a) That is, In affliction. Hereby he would immind himself and his posterity of the evil which had befallen his house, that they might hear, and fear, and do no more so. ^(b)

1 Chronicles 7:24 (And his daughter [was] Sherah, who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper, and Uzzensherah.)

Ver. 24. And his daughter was Sherah.] A gallant woman, famous in her generation for beautifying and fortifying of sundry cities. Thus also God made up Ephraim’s loss.

1 Chronicles 7:30 The sons of Asher; Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.

Ver. 30. And Serah their sister.] The Vulgate calleth her Sarah; as likewise that other eminent woman. [1 Chronicles 7:23]

1 Chronicles 7:35 And the sons of his brother Helem; Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal.

Ver. 35. Helem.] Thought to be the same with Hotham. [1 Chronicles 7:32]

1 Chronicles 7:38 And the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.

Ver. 38. Jether.] Called Ithran. [1 Chronicles 7:37]

1 Chronicles 7:40 All these [were] the children of Asher, heads of [their] father’s house, choice [and] mighty men of valour, chief of the princes. And the number throughout the genealogy of them that were apt to the war [and] to battle [was] twenty and six thousand men.

Ver. 40. Chief of the princes.] Duces ducum, to whom the princes were to give an account. See Daniel 6:1-2.

Was twenty and six thousand.] So happy was Asher, according to Moses’s blessing left with him. [Deuteronomy 33:24-25]