1 Chronicles 2

himself with that form of government which he found among. the Horites: which continued till Bela made himself king, (yer. 43.) The.difference between their kings and dukes was (as Esthius observes), that the former ruled absolutely, according to their pleasure: the power of the other was limited and bounded by certain prescribed laws. is plain this is not Caleb, whom Moses sent to search out the land of Canaan; for ho was the son of Jcphunneh, of whom he gives an account below, (iv. 15.) This man is called Chelubai, vcr. 9. of this chapter. O/Azubah his wife.] It is an ungrounded fancy of the Talmudists, in Sota, who say she was called Azubah (which signifies forsaken) because Caleb married her for the love of God, when nobody would have her. And of Jerioth.] This is understood by Conradus Pellicanus, as if he had said, that of his wife Azubah he begat Jerioth: for there is nothing in the Hebrew that answers to the word children. Iler sons are these; Jesher, andShobab, and Ardon.] That is, these were the sons of Jerioth.

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JL HESE are the sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, IssaChar, and Zebulun,

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Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. He reckons up his first four sons in the order whereiii they were born, (Gen. xxix. 32, &c.) and next to them their two brethren by the same tfiOther, Leah, (Gen. xxx. 18. 20.) Afterward, I can give no reason why Dan and Naphtali (the two sons of Bilhah) are not mentioned together, and Joseph and Benjamin, the two sons of Rachel, ahd Gad and Asher, the two sons of Zelpah.

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The sons of Judah; Er,and Onan, and Shelah. There is a plain reason why the genealogy of Judah is set down in the first place; because this tribe had obtained a superiority and pre-eminence among the rest, before the time of David; ever since, the prophecy of Jacob, in the blessifcg he pronounced upon him, (Gen. xlix. 10.) For Judah, when they came into the wilderness, was ordered to march first; (Numb. ii. 3.) and accordingly we find they did, when they removed from Mount Sinai, (Numb. x. 14.) And when the princes of the tribes, offered at the dedication of the altar, the prince of the tribe of Judah offered on the first day, (Numb. vii. 12.) When they came into Canaan, they obtained of Joshua a portion for Caleb without casting of any lot, as there was in the dividing of the land, (Josh. xiv. 6.) And when Joshua was dead, they were appointed by God to go up first against the Canaanites, to take from them what remained unconquered, (Judg.i. 2.) From David’s time, every one knows, till the captivity of Babylon, a kingly power continued in this tribe: and Zerubbabcl was of the same, who was their leader when they returned to their own land., Wldchwere born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess.] See an account of this in Gen. Xxxviii. 2. AndEr, the first-born of Judah, was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him.] See ver.’ 7* of the same chapter. Hia second son also, though he be not represented under so bad a character, yet displeased God so much, that he slew him also, (ver. 9, 10.)

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And Tamar his daughter-in-law bare him Pharez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. See there, ver. 29. 50.

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And the sons of Pharez; Hezron, and Ilamul. Who were born unto him before they went into Egypt, (Gen. xlvi. 12.) Ver. G. And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.] These were born after they came into Egypt; for there is no mention of them in the book of Genesis. And the Jews in Seder Olam Itabba, and in Jalkut, say, these men prophesied when they were in Egypt: for they suppose them to be the same with those mentioned 1 Kings iv. 31. If they were, then Zorah had two names, and was also called Mahol: but there is great reason to think they, were not the same, as I have shewn in my annotations there.

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The sons of Carnii. This man was the son of Zimri: who, in Josh. vii. 18. is called Zabdi; for by length of time his name might easily be thus altered. And, indeed, in copying proper names, one might easily mistake. Achar, the troubler of Israel, ivho transgressed in the, thing accursed.] He Who is there called Achan, is here elegantly called Achar; which signifies troubler: because he had brought Israel into great-danger, by the sin he committed in the accursed thing. The remembrance of thissome thought fit he should carry in his name: which in process of time was changed, by common use and custom, from Achan into Achar. Which is more likely, than that there should be an error here in the transcriber. (See Bochart, in his-Hierozoicon,par. i. lib. ii. cap. 31.)

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And the sons of Ethan; Azariah. Here is but one son mentioned: but it is usual in Scripture to speak of a singular person in the plural number, (Gen. xlvi. 23.) to, include all his descendants.

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Tlie sons of Hezron, that were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and ChelubaL. This Ram is mentioned in the genealogy of our Saviour, (Matt. i. 3, 4.) and caHed Aram. • • >

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And Ram begat Amminadab, and Amminadab begat Nahshon, the prince of the children of Judah. When they came out of Egypt, and pitched under their several, standards, (Numb. ii. 3.) *.

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And Nahshon begat Salma, and Sahna begat Boaz,

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And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse. - These three are the principal persons in all this genealogy, as Pellicanus observes; being put into the genealogy of our Saviour, who was descended from David by these three great ancestors..

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And Jesse begat his first-born Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, - - - ■

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Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,

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Ozem the sixth, David the seventh. It is mani? fest from 1 Sam. xvi. 10, 11. that Jesse had eight sons: but some think one of them was only an adopted son, and therefore not here mentioned: and they gather from 2 Sam. xxi. 2. that his name was Jonathan, by a mistake; for that Jonathan was David’s nephew by his brother Shamma. The truest account therefore is, that one of Jesse’s sons was dead, before David camo to the kingdom. So Ha si.

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Whose sisters were Zeruiah, and Abigail. Who were the sisters of David last mentioned. And the sons of Zeruiah; Abishai, andJoab, and Asahcl % three.] Who were all eminent commanders under David.

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And Abigail bare Arnasa. Another valiant man, who was mtirdered by Joab. ■ And the father ofAmasa was Jether the Ishmeelite.] He was an Ishmeelite by birth, but by religion an Israelite: or, as others will have it, he was born an Israelite, but bred so long among the Ishmeelites, that many called him by that name. (See 2 Sam. xvii. 25.) The father of Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, is no where mentioned;• being not eminent, it seems, as this Jether was; but their glpry was by their mother’s side.

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-4.nd Caleb the son of Hezron begat children. It

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And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur. This was a very continent man, who had but one wife at a time; and lovcel Azubah* so well, that he married no other while she lived. His second wife also was of such note, that gave name to a place in the country of Judah,(ver. 24.)

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And Hur begat Uri, und Uri begat BezaleeL

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And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter ofMachir. 7. After the death of Ephrath, I suppose, he married another woman of an eminent family. The father of Gilead.].Thc prince of the country of Gilead; as the word father often signifies., Whom he married when he was sixty years old, and she bare him Segub.

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And Segub begat Jair. Who is called the son ofManasseh in Numb, xxxii. 41. because,his grandmother was of that tribe, the daughter of Machir, the son of Manassch, (Numb. xx. 29.) Who had three-and-twenty cities in the land ofGilead.] In the right of his wife, as the common opinion of the Jewish doctors is: who observe in Scripture two instances of husbands that inherited the estate of their wives, though in another tribe. The first is in Josh. xxiv. 33. and the other in this place; where Kimchi notes, that this Jair, " the son’ of Segub, tool» a wife in the land of Gilead, \unto whom he succeeded as her heir in her possessions, when she was dead: these twenty-three cities being her inheritance." (See Scldcn, de Successionibus ad Leges Hebr. cap. 18.) Vcr. 23. And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them.] They were afterward called by his name, who conquered them, and took them from the neighbouring Geshurites and Syrians. With Kenath and the toiuns thereof, even.threescore cities.] The metropolis of which was Kenath: in the taking of which he employed a great commander, called Nobah, Numb, xxxii. 42. who, I suppose, was of the same. tribe and family. All these belonged to the sons of Machir,. the father of’Gilead.] His posterity possessed these towns.

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And after that Hezron was dead in Caleb-Ephratah. This city was called after the name of both husband and wife, (ver. 19.) they being both famous persons. And it was also called Beth-lehcm, from the fruitfulncss of the place/ ♦ Tlien Abiah, Ilezroiis wife, bare him Ashur.] He married her when he was very old, (for he was threescore when he took his former wife, vor. 21.) and died before the child was born, whom ho begat of *>cr. The Jews look upon his marrying when he was so old, as proceeding from a great desiro of posterity in the family of Pharcz, from whom the Messiah was to descend. The same we sec in Boaz, who married Ruth when he was old. The father of Tekoa.] Who gave name to a famous town, in this country, (2 Sam. xiv. 2. Jer. iii. 6.)

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And the sons of Jerahmeel, the first-born of Hezron, were Ram the first-born, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah. Ver. 2G. Jerahmeel had also another wife, whose name ivasAtarah: she was the mother of Onam.] There being (according to our translation of the foregoing verse) mention of his former wife, it seems not to be unreasonable to take Ahijah to have been the mother of Ram, and the rest, which he had by Ahijah. So the words maybe understood, supposing the particle mem to be wanting before Ahijah.

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And the sons of Ram, thefirst-born of Jerahmeel, were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker.

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And the sons of Onam were Shammai, and Jada. And the sons ofShammai, Nadab, andAbishnr. He sets not down the names of the children of Jerahmccrs eldest son, by his first wife; but of both those he had by his second. The rest, perhaps, had no children, as is noted afterward of one of his grandsons, ver; 30.

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And the name of the wife ofAbishur was Abihail, and she bare him Ahban, and Molid. This, though the second son, it seems married first; and therefore his children are mentioned before the other.

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And the sonsof Nadab; Seled/andAppaim; but Seled died without children.

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And the sons ofAppaim; Ishi. The plural number is often used when one son or daughter only is spoken of, (as I observed ver. 8.) for in that one all the posterity are comprehended. The next words are another example of this. And the sons of Ishi; Sheshan. And the children ofSheshan; Ahlai.] It is plain from vcr. 34, 35. that this Ahlai was not a son, but a daughter.

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And tlie sons of Jada, the brother of Sliammai. Mentioned in ver. 28. Jether, and Jonathan: and Jether died zvithout children.] He had neither son nor daughter.

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And the sons of Jonathan; Peleth, and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. Whose male line he carries no farther; because, perhaps, it failed in these last named.

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Now Sheshan had yio.sons, but daughters,. We read of no more than one daughter that he had; but he speaks in the plural number, as before, ver. 31. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name wasJarha.] Who being a proselyte, it is probable,- to the Jewish religion, and a faithful servant to his master, he gave him his freedom, and married his daughter to him. ■ Vcr. 35. And Sheshan gave his daughter toJarha his servant to wife, and she bare him Altai.] This servant was very dear to him, and perhaps ruler of his house, as Eliczer of Damascus Mas to Abraham; who, if he had not had a son, he looked upon as his heir to all his estate, (Gen. xv. 23.) •

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And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad.. \Ver. 37. And Zabadbegat Ephlal, and Ephlal begat Obed.