Bible Commentaries

The Line of Issachar, Benjamin, and Naphtali

v. 1. Now, the sons, and descendants, of Issachar were Tola, and Puah (or Phuvah), Jashub (or Job), and Shimrom, four. Cf Num 16:23 if.

v. 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, chiefs of these subdivisions of the tribe, the father-houses; they were valiant men of might in their generations, as they were registered in the mustering-lists; whose number was in the days of David, perhaps at the time of his unfortunate census, two and twenty thousand and six hundred.

v. 3. And the sons of Uzzi: Izrahiah; and the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five; all of them chief men, both the father and each of his four sons at the head of a numerous and influential division of their tribe.

v. 4. And with them, by their generations, as they were enrolled in the mustering-lists, after the house of their fathers, were bands of soldiers for war, six and thirty thousand men; for they had many wives and sons, this note being included to explain the extraordinary increase in numbers.

v. 5. And their brethren among all the families of Issachar, all the other members of the tribe, were valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourscore and seven thousand.

v. 6. The sons of Benjamin, this being a preliminary list, a more detailed one following in the next chapter: Bela, and Becher, and Jediael (or Ashbel), three, these being apparently the chiefs of the most illustrious families.

v. 7. And the sons of Bela, some of those mentioned being sons in the wider sense, that is, descendants: Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of the house of their fathers, chiefs of these divisions in the tribe, the father-houses, mighty men of valor; and were reckoned by their genealogies twenty and two thousand and thirty and four.

v. 8. And the sons of Becher: Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alemeth, the last two names also being found as applied to cities in the tribe of Benjamin. All these are the sons of Becher.

v. 9. And the number of them, after their genealogy by their generations, as the mustering-lists showed, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valor, was twenty thousand and two hundred.

v. 10. The sons also of Jediael: Bilhan; and the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar.

v. 11. All these the sons, the descendants, of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, as registered, mighty men of valor, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.

v. 12. Shuppim also and Huppim, the children of Ir, and Hushim, the sons of Aher. The reference seems to be to the descendants of the only son of Dan, Gen 46:23, who is otherwise not mentioned in this list. V. 13. The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah, Naphtali and Dan being the sons of this handmaid, and the descendants here named continued the tribe. The growth and the power of all these tribes agreed exactly with the promises of God.

The Line of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher

v. 14. The sons of Manasseh: Ashriel, whom she bare; (but his concubine, the Aramitess, bare Machir, the father of Gilead; the construction is somewhat involved, the intention of the writer evidently being to say that Ashriel was the son of the Syrian concubine and Machir that of his first wife;

v. 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, a descendant of Machir; and Zelophehad had daughters, Num 27:1; Num 28:1.

v. 16. And Maachah, the wife of Machir, bare a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.

v. 17. And the sons of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons, that is, the descendants, of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. It should be noted here that not every link of a chain of descendants in mentioned, but only such as were prominent and notable for the one or the other reason.

v. 18. And his, Machir's, sister Hammoleketh bare Ishod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah.

v. 19. And the sons of Shemidah, a grandson of Manasseh and son of Gilead, were Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.

v. 20. And the sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered, his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah, his son, and Tahath, his son, Cf Num 26:25,

v. 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, or when, they came down to take away their cattle. This incident happened during the sojourn in Egypt. It seems that a band of Philistines made a raid on the settlement of the children of Jacob in Egypt for the purpose of stealing cattle, at which time they slew these two sons of Ephraim.

v. 22. And Ephraim, their father, mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him, after the custom of the Orient.

v. 23. And when he went in to his wife, after this Philistine raid, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah ("calamity"), because it went evil with his house.

v. 24. (And his daughter was Sherah, who built Bethhoron, the nether and the upper, and Uzzen-sherah, towns on the south border of Ephraim, between the tribes of Benjamin and Dan. )

v. 25. And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, and Telah, his son, and Tahan, his son,

v. 26. Laadan, his son, Ammihud, his son, Elishama, his son,

v. 27. Non (or Nun), his son, Jehoshua, his son. So there were nine generations in the line of. Joshua during the sojourn in Egypt.

v. 28. And their possessions and habitations were Bethel and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof.

v. 29. And by the borders of the children of Manasseh, on the boundary, and within their possession, Beth-shean and her towns, Taanach and her towns, Megiddo and her towns, Dor and her towns. In these dwelt the children of Joseph, the son of Israel. It seems clear from this section that a part of the tribe of Ephraim, some time during the sojourn in Egypt, left the country, probably as a reprisal for the Philistine raid, and occupied some towns on the Philistine border.

v. 30. The sons of Asher: Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah, and Serah, their sister. Cf Gen 46:17; Num 26:44 ff.

v. 31. And the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel, who is the father of Birzavith.

v. 32. And Heber begat Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua, their sister.

v. 33. And the sons of Japhlet: Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the children of Japhlet.

v. 34. And the sons of Shamer, the Shomer just mentioned: Ahi, and Rogah, Jehubbah, and Aram.

v. 35. And the sons of his brother Helem: Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal.

v. 36. The sons of Zophah: Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah,

v. 37. Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera.

v. 38. And the sons of Jether: Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.

v. 39. And the sons of Ulla: Arab, and Haniel, and Rezia.

v. 40. All these were the children of Asher, heads of their father's house, the most influential men at the head of these divisions, choice and mighty men of valor, chief of the princes. And the number throughout the genealogy of them that were apt to the war and to battle, their register for the service in war, the reference apparently being to the mighty family of Heber alone, was twenty and six thousand men. This great increase was a proof of the Lord's bountiful blessing.