_A.M. 2704. B.C. 1300._ The posterity of Shobal, 1 Chronicles 4:1. Of Ashur, 1 Chronicles 4:5. The character and prayer of Jabez, 1 Chronicles 4:9; 1 Chronicles 4:10. The posterity of Chelub and others, 1 Chronicles 4:11. Of Shelah, 1 Chronicles 4:21. The posterity, cities, and victories of Simeon,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sons of Judah_ The posterity: for only Pharez was his immediate son. But they are all mentioned here only to show Shobal's descent from Judah.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The families of the Zorathites_ So denominated, not from a man, but a place named Zoreah, (1 Chronicles 2:53, and Joshua 15:33,) situated in the tribe of Judah. Here several families of that tribe settled; who were descended from _Jahath, Ahumai_, and _Lahad_, the sons and grandsons of Shobal. _Of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Penuel the father of Gedor_ In 1 Chronicles 4:18, Jered is said to be the father, that is, the founder or lord of Gedor. It is probable they were both concerned in building or governing it. _The sons of Hur_ By some other wife than her by whom he had the children, mentioned 1 Chronicles 2:20. _The... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jabez was more honourable_, &c. For courage and fervent piety. _His mother called his name Jabez_ That is, _sorrowful; saying, Because I bare him with sorrow_ She had hard labour when she was in travail with him. She records this, that it might be a memorandum to herself, to be thankful to God as l... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jabez called on the God of Israel_ The living and true God, who alone can hear and answer prayer: and in prayer he had an eye to him as the God of Israel, a God in covenant with his people, the God with whom Jacob wrestled and prevailed, and was thence called Israel. _Saying, O that thou wouldest b... [ Continue Reading ]
_These are the men of Rechah_ From these sprung the inhabitants of Rechah, a town not mentioned elsewhere. _The sons of Kenaz_ Who was the son, either of Chelub, (1 Chronicles 4:11,) or of his son Eshton, (1 Chronicles 4:12,) and the father of Jephunneh, and consequently Caleb's grandfather, (1 Chro... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took_ That is, married. But it is not likely that he married the daughter of the king of Egypt, unless some natural daughter; but rather of some other person called by that name, who might either be an Israelite, or one brought by force out of Egypt by w... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sons of Shelah_ Having spoken of the posterity of Judah by Pharez, and by Zarah, he now comes to his progeny by Shelah. _The families of them, that wrought fine linen_ From him came all those families that were famous for weaving and working in fine linen; wherewith their kings and priests were... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who had the dominion in Moab_ Which they ruled in the name and for the use of the kings of Judah, to whom Moab was subject from David's time. _Ancient things_ The sense is, those blessed times are long since past. Our ancestors had the dominion over the heathen, but their degenerate posterity are s... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sons of Simeon were Nemuel_, &c. These are here joined with Judah, because their possession was taken out of Judah's portion, Joshua 19:1. This account seems to differ from that in Genesis 46:10, both in the number and names of the persons; which is not strange, considering how customary it was... [ Continue Reading ]
_Neither did their family multiply like the children of Judah_ The tribe of Simeon did not increase proportionably to the tribe of Judah in which they dwelt, as appears by those two catalogues, Numbers 1:22; Numbers 26:14; which is to be ascribed to God's curse upon them, delivered by the month of h... [ Continue Reading ]
_These were their cities_ Several of these cities, though given to Simeon by Joshua, yet, through the sloth or cowardice of that tribe, were not taken from the Philistines until David's time, who took some of them, and, the Simeonites having justly forfeited their right to them by their neglect, gav... [ Continue Reading ]
_They found fat pasture_, &c. Those who thus dwelt (as we do) in a fruitful country, and whose land is wide, and quiet, and peaceable, have reason to own themselves indebted to that God, who _appoints the bounds o four habitation. Of Ham_ The Canaanites, who descended from Ham. And, accordingly, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_These came in the days of Hezekiah_ But a little before their captivity, which was in the sixth year of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 17. So their joy in their new, pleasant, and fruitful possessions, lasted but for a very little while. _And smote their tents_ The people dwelling in tents; in which, it seems,... [ Continue Reading ]
_They smote the rest of the Amalekites_ Not destroyed by Saul, or David, or his successors. _That dwelt there unto this day_ Until the Babylonish captivity, or the time next after it, when these books were written. For, although the main body of the tribe of Simeon, dwelling in Canaan, were carried... [ Continue Reading ]