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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Chronicles 7:14 - 7:40
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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.