The First Book of the Chronicles
1 Chronicles 8
Chapter VIII · Vol. II, pp. 817–818
1 The sons and chief men of Benjamin. 33 The stock of Saul and Jonathan.
1 Now Benjamin1 begat aBela his first-born, Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third,
B.C. 1714.
1 The tribe of Benjamin adhered to Judah in the division of the kingdom, and returned with the Jews from Babylon; and as the history is about to open with the translation of the kingdom from Saul of that tribe to David of Judah, we have here a more copious account given of it than of several other tribes. But either some of the sons of Benjamin had several names, or those called his sons were his more remote descendants. Gera, called his son in Genesis, is here mentioned as his grandson by Bela, and the whole subsequent genealogy is very obscure.—I.
a Ge.46.21. Nu.26.38-41. ch.7.6.
2 Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth.
4 And Abishua, and Naaman, and Ahoah,
5 And Gera, and cShephuphan,2 and Huram.
c Or, Shupham, Nu.26.39. ch.7.12.
2 Not an error for Hupham, as some suppose, but another name for the same person.—C.
6 And these are the sons of Ehud: these are the heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Geba,3 and they removed them to dManahath:
3 The Benjamites have their genealogy and location most largely given, because they gave birth to the royal house of Saul, and because they adhered most firmly to the house of David, and affectionately and patriotically returned with them from Babylon. C.——As Gibeah and Geba are only the masculine and feminine form of the same word (meaning 'hill'), some think them the same; but that they were two distinct places is evident from Jos.18.24; comp.5.28; 1 Sa.13.2; comp.5.3.—I.
d ch.2.52,54
7 And Naaman, and Ahiah, and Gera, he eremoved them, and begat Uzza, and Ahihud.
e Settled out of the family, ver.6. Ge.25.6.
8 And Shaharaim begat children in fthe country of Moab, after he had sent them away; Hushim and Baara were his wives.
f Ru.1.1. Perhaps a famine obliged him to sojourn there.
9 And he begat of Hodesh his wife, Jobab, and Zibia, and Mesha, and Malcham,
10 And Jeuz, and Shachia, and Mirma. These were his sons, heads of the fathers.
11 And of Hushim he begat Abitub, and Elpaal.
12 The sons of Elpaal; Eber, and Misham, and Shamed, who built gOno and Lod, with the towns thereof:
13 Beriah also, and Shema, who were heads of the fathers of the hinhabitants of Aijalon,4 who drove away the inhabitants of Gath:5
h Jos.10.12; 19.42; 21.24. ch.7.21.
4 Aijalon, or Ajalon, was the name of an ancient city and a valley, allotted to the tribe of Dan; but the Danites never obtained possession of it from the Amorites. It lay on the frontier of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and is consequently sometimes spoken of as in Ephraim (i.e. under the dominion of the ruler of Ephraim, 1 Ch.6.69), and sometimes in Judah and Benjamin (i.e. under the dominion of the king of Jerusalem, 2 Ch.11.10). Ajalon is best known in connection with the celebrated victory of Joshua, 10.12. The ancient town is now represented by the village of Yalo, a corruption of the old name; and the valley is called Merj ibn Omeir. It is about 14 miles west of Jerusalem, at the foot of the mountain range. There was another Ajalon in the tribe of Zebulon; it is mentioned as the burial-place of Elon, one of the judges, Ju.12.12.—P.
5 Perhaps 1630, ch.7.21, or 1300, Ju.3.31.
14 And Ahio, Shashak, and Jeremoth,
15 And Zebadiah, and Arad, and Ader,
16 And Michael, and Ispah, and Joha, the sons of Beriah;
17 And Zebadiah, and Meshullam, and Hezeki, and Heber,
18 Ishmerai also, and Jezliah, and Jobab, the sons of Elpaal;
19 And Jakim, and Zichri, and Zabdi,
20 And Elienai, and Zilthai, and Eliel,
22 And Ishpan, and Heber, and Eliel,
23 And Abdon, and Zichri, and Hanan,
24 And Hananiah, and Elam, and Antothijah,
25 And Iphedeiah, and Penuel, the sons of Shashak;
26 And Shamsherai, and Shehariah, and Athaliah,
27 And Jaresiah, and Eliah, and Zichri, the sons of Jeroham.
28 These were heads of the fathers, by their generations, chief men. These kdwelt6 in Jerusalem.7
6 B.C. 1444.
7 The celebrated capital of Judea, and alike dear to the recollections of the Jew and the Christian. It is situated in lon. 35° 20′ E.; lat. 31° 47′ 47″ N.; 136 miles S.W. of Damascus, 35 miles E. of Jaffa, 34 miles S. of Shechem, and 17 miles N. of Hebron. It lay partly in the tribe of Judah and partly in that of Benjamin, but for religious, commercial, civil, and military purposes, was, to a certain extent, a common centre and residence for all the tribes, ch.9.4. Ps.122.4. C.——The ancient city of Jebus, taken by David from the Jebusites, was not large, and stood on a mountain south of that on which the temple was erected. Between lay the valley of Millo, filled up by David and Solomon. The Maccabees considerably enlarged Jerusalem on the north, inclosing a third hill; and Josephus mentions a fourth hill, called Bezetha, which Agrippa joined to the former. This new city lay north of the temple, along the brook Kidron.—I.
29 And lat Gibeon dwelt the mfather of Gibeon; (whose wife's name was Maachah;)
l ch.9.35-44.
m Called Jehiel, ch.9.35.
30 And his first-born son Abdon, and Zur, and Kish, and Baal, and Nadab,
32 And Mikloth begat oShimeah. And these also dwelt with their brethren in Jerusalem over against them.
o Or, Shimeam, ch.9.38.
33 And pNer begat Kish,8 and Kish begat Saul, and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchi-shuah, and Abinadab, and qEsh-baal.
36 And Ahaz begat tJehoadah; and Jehoadah begat Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begat Moza;
t Jarah, ch.9.42.
38 And Azel had six sons, whose names are these, Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan.9 All these were the sons of Azel.
A.M. about 3564. B.C. about 440.
9 About 440.
39 And the sons of Eshek his brother were, Ulam his first-born, Jehush the second, and Eliphelet the third.
Notes
Reflections.—The more closely we adhere to God and his people the greater will be our honour at last. How little great kings and warriors appear before God! Not one king of Israel, after the division of the kingdom, is marked in these registers of heaven; but the family of Jonathan the saint is marked with distinguished honour.