1 Chronicles 7

1 Chronicles 7:1-19

In this chapter we have some account of the genealogies. 1. Of Ifachar, ver. 1—5. 2. Of Benjamin, ver. 6—12. 3. Of Naphtali, ver. 13. 4. Of Manaffeh, ver. 14—19. 5. Of Ephraim, ver. 20—29. 6. Of After, ver. 30—40.

1. NOW the sons of Ifachar were Tola, and Push, Jathub, and Shimron, four. 2. And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jerel, and Jahmai, and Jibian, 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; Izraiah: and the sons of Izraiah; Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ithiah, for 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

had many wives and sons. 5. And their brethren among all the families of Ilfschar were valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourfone and seven thousand. 6. ¶ The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becker, and Jedizel, three. 7. And the sons of Bela; Eabon, 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 Becker; Zemira, and Joath, and Eliezer, and Elizenei, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth. All these are the sons of Becker. 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 Jedizel; Bilhan; and the sons of Bilhan; Jeuth, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenamah, and Zethan, and Tharhish, and Ahihshar. 11. All these the sons of Jedizel, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go for war and battle. 12. ¶ Shuppim also, and Huppim, the children of Sir, and Hulhim, the sons of Aher. 13. ¶ The sons of Maphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum the sons of Bilhah. 14. ¶ The sons of Manafish; Aftrel, whom the bare; their his concubine the Aramirefs bare Machir the father of Gilead: 15. And Machir took to wife the fifer of Huppim, and Shuppim, whose fifer’s name was Maachah) and the name of the fecond was Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters. 16. And Maachah the wife of Machir bare a son, and the called his name Pereth; and the name of his brother was Shereth; 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 Manafish. 18. And his fifer Hammabketh bare Ifhod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah. 19. And the sons of Shemida were, Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.

We have a short account of three tribes and a half. 1. Of Ilfschar. They were very numerous, owing to the polygamy then allowed, v. 4. and very waltike, amounting, in the time of David, to 87,000 fighting men. 2. Of Benjamin. They were fewer, 50,430, if all of them were numbered, as they seem not to have been. 3. Of Naphtali. The fathers of the families only are mentioned. 4. Of the half tribe of Manafish. The marriage of his son Aftrel with a Syrian is noted; and of his son Gilead, who more widely chose a partner of the daughters of his brother Benjamin. Had examples, though of our parents, should not be imitated. Bedan, one of the judges, probably the time as Jair, was of this tribe, v. 17.

20. ¶ And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Elelah 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 flew, 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, the 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 Uzzem-sherah.) 25. And Rephah was his son, also Refheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son, 26. Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elifhama his son, 27. ¶ Non his son, Jehohua his son. 28. ¶ And their possessions and habitations were Beth-el, and the towns thereof, and eastward ¶ Naaman, 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 Manafish, Beth-Bnan and her towns, Taamach and her towns, Megiddo and her towns, Dor and her towns. In these dwell the children of Joseph the son of Israel.

1 Chronicles 7:30-40

Ephraim the most distinguished of the tribes next to Judah, suffers more than any of them at first. We have here.

1. The breach made in his family. The men of Gath, who had gone up from Egypt to settle there, now made an irruption upon that part of Gatham when Zabad (who began to be a second son of Ephraim after Shuthelah) and his sons fed their cat-

the, in defending which they left their lives. Note. (1.) Prostitutions seem often to contradict promises; (See Gen. 1st, 19.) but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. (2.) We are nowhere safe from danger; as those therefore who are in jeopardy every hour, let us be always ready for the stroke of death. (3.) A good cause is not always successful. God now often permits the wicked to prosper; but a day is coming, when all God’s dispositions will be cleared up to us.

2. Ephraim beheld with anguish the losers of his family, and was ready to lay down his grey hairs with forrow in the grave; but his brethren poor the friendly hairs of confidation unto his wounded heart, and encourage him to trust still in God. Note. (1.) They who live long, only live to the their forrows multiplied, and to bury the chouchs of their worldly comforts. (2.) To sooth the griefs of the afflicted, is to act the part of a brother: an unfeeling heart cannot be in a true Israelite.

3. God gave him another son in his old age, whom, in remembrance of the evils which had happened to his family, he called Beriah, in evil; a fit name for every miserable babe born in sin, exposed to an evil world, and liable to eternal suffering.

4. Sherah, a distant descendant of Beriah, not his immediate daughter, was famous in attendance for her buildings in Canaan, v. 24.

5. The genealogy closes with Jothua, so famed in the book of God, who was the peculiar glory of this tribe. Note. A great good man reflects honour on all who are related to him.

6. ¶ The sons of Aher; Imaah, and Ifuah, and Ifhusi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister. 31. And the sons of Beriah; Ifeber, and Mahihel, 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; Patach, and Bimhal, and Athuath; these are the children of Japhlet. 34. And the sons of Shamer; Ahi, and Rohgali, Jehubbah, and Aram. 35. And the sons of his brother Helem, Zophah, and Imna, and Sheleth, and Amal. 36. The sons of Zophah; Suah, and Harnepher, and Shuai, and Beri, and Imrah, 37. Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shifha, and Ithran, and Beera. 38. And the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pilpah, and Ara. 39. And the sons of Ulla; Arah, and Haniel, and Rezia. 40. All these were the children of Aher, 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.

The tribe of Aher is the last mentioned, Dan and Zebulun being wholly omitted. The heads of the chief families are taken notice of, and their select militia, amounting to 26,000 in the time of David; perhaps fewer of them might be trained to war, than of the other tribes, their borders not being so much exposed.