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F I R S T C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. VII.
In this chapter we have some account of the genealogies,
I. Of Issachar,
II. Of Benjamin,
III. Of Naphtali,
IV. Of Manasseh,
V. Of Ephraim,
VI. Of Asher,
Here is no account either of Zebulun or Dan. Why they only should be
omitted we can assign no reason; only it is the disgrace of the tribe
of Dan that idolatry began in that colony of the Danites which fixed in
Laish, and called Dan, and there one of the golden calves was set up by
Jeroboam. Dan is omitted,
| Genealogies. | B. C. 1689. |
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1 Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and
Shimron, four.
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.
3 And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons of Izrahiah;
Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five: all of them chief
men.
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.
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.
6 The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.
7 And the sons of Bela; Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and
Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of the house of their fathers,
mighty men of valour; and were reckoned by their genealogies
twenty and two thousand and thirty and four.
8 And the sons of Becher; Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and
Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and
Alameth. All these are the sons of Becher.
9 And the number of them, after their genealogy by their
generations, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of
valour, was twenty thousand and two hundred.
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.
11 All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their
fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two
hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.
12 Shuppim also, and Huppim, the children of Ir, and Hushim,
the sons of Aher.
13 The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and
Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.
14 The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his
concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead:
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.
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.
17 And the sons of Ulam; Bedan. These were the sons of
Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.
18 And his sister Hammoleketh bare Ishod, and Abiezer, and
Mahalah.
19 And the sons of Shemida were, Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi,
and Aniam.
We have here a short view given us,
I. Of the tribe of Issachar, whom Jacob had compared to a strong
ass, couching between two burdens
an industrious tribe, that minded their country business very closely
and rejoiced in their tents,
Deut. xxxiii. 18.
And here it appears,
1. That they were a numerous tribe; for they had many wives. So
fruitful their country was that they saw no danger of over-stocking the
pasture, and so ingenious the people were that they could find work for
all hands. Let no people complain of their numbers, provided they
suffer none to be idle.
2. That they were a valiant tribe, men of might
(v. 2, 5),
chief men,
v. 3.
Those that were inured to labour and business were of all men the
fittest to serve their country when there was occasion, The number of
the respective families, as taken in the days of David, is here set
down, amounting in the whole to above 145,000 men fit for war. The
account, some think, was taken when Joab numbered the people,
But I rather think it refers to some other computation that was made,
perhaps among themselves, because it is said
that that account was not inserted in the chronicles of king David, it
having offended God.
II. Of the tribe of Benjamin. Some account is here given of this tribe,
but much larger in the next chapter. The militia of this tribe scarcely
reached to 60,000; but they are said to be mighty men of valour,
v. 7, 9, 11.
Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf,
Gen. xlix. 27.
It was the honour of this tribe that it produced Saul the first king,
and more its honour that it adhered to the rightful kings of the house
of David when the other tribes revolted. Here is mention
(v. 12)
of Hushim the sons of Aher. The sons of Dan are said to be
Hushim
and therefore some read Aher appellatively, Hushim–the sons
of another (that is, another of Jacob’s sons) or the sons of a
stranger, which Israelites should not be, but such the Danites were
when they set up Micah’s graven and molten image among them.
III. Of the tribe of Naphtali,
The first fathers only of that tribe are named, the very same that we
shall find,
only that Shillem there is Shallum here. None of their
descendents are named, perhaps because their genealogies were lost.
IV. Of the tribe of Manasseh, that part of it which was seated within
Jordan; for of the other part we had some account before,
&c. Of this tribe observe,
1. That one of them married an Aramitess, that is, a Syrian,
This was during their bondage in Egypt, so early did they begin to
mingle with the nations.
2. That, though the father married a Syrian, Machir, the son of that
marriage, perhaps seeing the inconvenience of it in his father’s house,
took to wife a daughter of Benjamin,
It is good for the children to take warning by their father’s mistakes
and not stumble at the same stone.
3. Here is mention of Bedan
(v. 17),
who perhaps is the same with that Bedan who is mentioned as one of
Israel’s deliverers,
Jair perhaps, who was of Manasseh
(Judg. x. 3),
was the man.
| Genealogies. | B. C. 1630. |
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20 And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and
Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,
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.
22 And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren
came to comfort him.
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.
24 (And his daughter was Sherah, who built Beth-horon the
nether, and the upper, and Uzzen-sherah.)
25 And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, and Telah his son,
and Tahan his son,
26 Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
27 Non his son, Jehoshua his son.
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:
29 And by the borders of the children of Manasseh, 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.
30 The sons of Asher; Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah,
and Serah their sister.
31 And the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel, who is the
father of Birzavith.
32 And Heber begat Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua
their sister.
33 And the sons of Japhlet; Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath.
These are the children of Japhlet.
34 And the sons of Shamer; Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram.
35 And the sons of his brother Helem; Zophah, and Imna, and
Shelesh, and Amal.
36 The sons of Zophah; Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and
Beri, and Imrah,
37 Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and
Beera.
38 And the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.
39 And the sons of Ulla; Arah, and Haniel, and Rezia.
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.
We have here an account,
I. Of the tribe of Ephraim. Great things we read of that tribe when it
came to maturity. Here we have an account of the disasters of its
infancy, while it was in Egypt as it should seem; for Ephraim himself
was alive when those things were done, which yet is hard to imagine if
it were, as is here computed, seven generations off. Therefore I am apt
to think that either it was another Ephraim or that those who were
slain were the immediate sons of that Ephraim that was the son of
Joseph. In this passage, which is related here only, we have,
1. The great breach that was made upon the family of Ephraim. The men
of Gath, Philistines, giants, slew many of the sons of that family,
because they came down to take away their cattle,
v. 21.
It is uncertain who were the aggressors here. Some make the men of Gath
the aggressors, men born in the land of Egypt, but now resident
in Gath, supposing that they came down into the land of Goshen, to
drive away the Ephraimites’ cattle, and slew the owners, because they
stood up in the defence of them. Many a man’s life has been exposed and
betrayed by his wealth; so far is it from being a strong city. Others
think that the Ephraimites made a descent upon the men of Gath to
plunder them, presuming that the time had come when they should be put
in possession of Canaan; but they paid dearly for their rashness and
precipitation. Those that will not wait God’s time cannot expect God’s
blessing. I rather think that the men of Gath came down upon the
Ephraimites, because the Israelites in Egypt were shepherds, not
soldiers, abounded in cattle of their own, and therefore were not
likely to venture their lives for their neighbours’ cattle: and the
words may be read, The men of Gath slew them, for they came down to
take away their cattle. Zabad the son of Ephraim, and Shuthelah,
and Ezer, and Elead (his grandchildren), were, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks,
the men that were slain. Jacob had foretold that the seed of Ephraim
should become a multitude of nations
and yet that plant is thus nipped in the bud. God’s providences often
seem to contradict his promises; but, when they do so, they really
magnify the promise, and make the performance of it, notwithstanding,
so much more illustrious. The Ephraimites were the posterity of
Joseph, and yet his power could not protect them, though some think he
was yet living. The sword devours one as well as another.
2. The great grief which oppressed the father of the family hereupon:
Ephraim mourned many days. Nothing brings the aged to the grave
with more sorrow than their following the young that descend from them
to the grave first, especially if in blood. It is often the burden of
those that live to be old that they see those go before them of whom
they said, These same shall comfort us. It was a brotherly
friendly office which his brethren did, when they came to comfort
him under this great affliction, to express their sympathy with him
and concern for him, and to suggest that to him which would support and
quiet him under this sad providence. Probably they reminded him of the
promise of increase which Jacob had blessed him when he laid his right
hand upon his head. Although his house was not so with God as he
hoped, but a house of mourning, a shattered family, yet that promise
was sure,
3. The repair of this breach, in some measure, by addition of another
son to his family in his old age
(v. 23),
like Seth, another seed instead of that of Abel whom Cain slew,
Gen. iv. 25.
When God thus restores comfort to his mourners, makes glad according
to the days wherein he afflicted, setting the mercies over against
the crosses, we ought therein to take notice of the kindness and
tenderness of divine Providence; it is as if it repented God
concerning his servants,
Ps. xc. 13, 15.
Yet joy that a man was born into his family could not make him forget
his grief; for he gives a melancholy name to his son, Beriah–in
trouble, for he was born when the family was in mourning, when
it went evil with his house. It is good to have in remembrance
the affliction and the misery, the wormwood and the gall, that our
souls may be humbled within us,
Lam. iii. 19, 20.
What name more proper for man that is born of a woman than
Beriah, because born into a troublesome world? It is added, as a
further honour to the house of Ephraim,
(1.) That a daughter of that tribe, Sherah by name, at the time
of Israel’s setting in Canaan, built some cities, either at her own
charge or by her own care; one of them bore her name,
Uzzen-sherah,
v. 24.
A virtuous woman may be as great an honour and blessing to a family as
a mighty man.
(2.) That a son of that tribe was employed in the conquest of Canaan,
Joshua the son of Nun,
v. 27.
In this also the breach made on Ephraim’s family was further repaired;
and perhaps the resentment of this injury formerly done by the
Canaanites to the Ephraimites might make him more vigorous in the
war.
II. Of the tribe of Asher. Some men of note of that tribe are here
named. Their militia was not numerous in comparison with some other
tribes, only 26,000 men in all; but their princes were choice and
mighty men of valour, chief of the princes
(v. 40),
and perhaps it was their wisdom that they coveted not to make their
trained bands numerous, but rather to have a few, and those apt to the
war and serviceable men.
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