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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Chronicles 9:4 - 9:4
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In the same place there dwelt, of the sons of Judah, three chiefs of the three most important families of Judah, that of Pharez, that of Shelah, and that of Zerah; cf. 1Ch 2:3-4. Of the family of Pharez was Uthai, whose descent is traced back in 1Ch 9:4 to Bani, of the children of Pharez. The Kethibh בֶן־בנימן־בְּנֵי is clearly to be read according to the Keri מִן־בְּנֵי בֶן־בָּנִי. The name Bani occurs, 1Ch 6:31, among the Merarites; while in the genealogies of Judah, 1 Chron 2-4, neither Bani nor Uthai, nor any one of his ancestors who are here named, is mentioned. In Neh 11:4, on the contrary, there is named of the sons of Pharez, Athaiah (עֲתָיָה, perhaps only another form of עוּתַי), with quite other ancestors; while not a single one of the five names of the persons through whom his race is traced back to Mahalaleel, of the sons of Pharez, coincides with the ancestors of Uthai.
1Ch 9:5
Of the family of Shelah, Asaiah the first-born, and his other) sons. בָּנָין, after הַבְּכֹור, can only be understood of the other sons or descendants. But the epithet give to Asaiah, הַשִּׁילֹנִי, is surprising, for it is a formation from שִׁילֹה or שִׁילֹן, and appears to denote a native of Shiloh, a well-known city of Ephraim. This derivation, however, is not suitable, since here the sons (descendants) of Judah are enumerated; and no connection between the inhabitants of Judah and the Ephraimite city Shiloh can either be proved or is at all likely. The older commentators, therefore, have suggested the reading הַשֵּׁלָנִי, as in Num 26:20, where the family of Shelah, the third sons of Judah, is so called. This suggestion is doubtless correct, and the erroneous punctuation הַשִּׁילֹנִי has probably arisen only from the scriptio plena of the word שֵׁילָה instead of שֵׁלָה. This supposition is confirmed by the fact that the form הַשֵּׁלָנִי is found in Neh 11:5, although it also is pointed הַשִּׁלֹנִי. In Neh. loc. cit., instead of Asaiah, Maaseiah is introduced as בֶּן־הַשִּׁלֹנִי in the seventh generation, while no ancestors whatever of our Asaiah are mentioned. The name עֲשָׂיָה, moreover, is not unfrequent, and occurs in 1Ch 4:36 among the Simeonites; in 1Ch 6:15; 1Ch 15:6, 1Ch 15:11, among the Levites; in 2Ki 22:12, 2Ki 22:14 and 2Ch 34:20, as עֶבֶד of the King Josiah. מַעֲשֵׁיָה is the name of many persons, e.g., in 1Ch 15:18, 1Ch 15:20, and likewise in 2Ch 23:1; Jer 21:1; Jer 29:21; Jer 35:4; and elsewhere it is used of men of other tribes: so that even should Maaseiah have been written instead of Asaiah merely by an error of transcription, we are not warranted in identifying our Asaiah with the Maaseiah of Nehemiah.
1Ch 9:6
“Of the sons of Zerah, Jeuel;” also the name of various persons; cf. 1Ch 5:7; 2Ch 26:11 : the register in Neh 11 notices no descendants of Zerah. “And their brethren, 690 (men).” The plural suffix in אֲחֵיהֶם cannot be referred, as Bertheau thinks, to Jeuel, for that name, as being that of the head of a father's-house, cannot be a collective. The suffix most consequently refer to the three heads mentioned in 1Ch 9:4-6, Uthai, Asaiah, and Jeuel, whose brethren are the other heads of fathers'-houses of the three families descended from Judah; cf. 1Ch 9:9, where the number of the אַחִים mentioned refers to all the heads who had formerly been spoken of.