Chapter V.
1–10.
The Genealogy of Reuben.
¹And the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
1. he defiled] Genesis xxxv. 22, xlix. 4.
his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph] Compare Genesis xlviii. 5, “Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine,” words of Jacob which might be interpreted to mean that the rights of the firstborn were to pass from Reuben and Simeon to Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph.
the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright] i.e. though the birthright of Reuben has been given to Joseph, yet the genealogy of Joseph is not to be given before that of Reuben. Verse 2 intimates that, though Joseph possessed the birthright, Judah had a primacy as supplying the royal family. In this confusion of claims the natural order is followed and the genealogy of Reuben is given first.
²For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the prince¹; but the birthright was Joseph’s:)
2. Judah prevailed above his brethren] Compare Genesis xlix. 8 (Jacob to Judah) “Thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.”
the prince] The Hebrew word is nāgīd. The immediate reference is to David (Saul being virtually ignored by the Chronicler).
³the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
3. the sons of Reuben] The same four names (with one unimportant variation in spelling in Authorized Version) appear Genesis xlvi. 9; Exodus vi. 14.
Hanoch] the correct spelling of the familiar name Enoch; compare i. 3.
Hezron, and Carmi] also given as sons of Judah: for Hezron, compare ii. 5 (note); for Carmi ii. 7, iv. 1.
⁴The sons of Joel; Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son; ⁵Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son;
4. sons of Joel] the connection, if any, with the preceding verse is not known.
⁶Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser² king of Assyria carried away captive: he was prince of the Reubenites. ⁷And his brethren by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned; the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,
6. Beerah ... captive] The deportation of Beerah is recorded only here, but there is no reason why the tradition should not be historical. The information is of very slight importance in itself, but since there is absolutely no motive to make the Chronicler invent the statement, this is precisely the kind of notice which implies that he had some sources oral or traditional at his command outside the canonical material (see Introduction. § 5).
Tilgath-pilneser] called Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings xv. 29), and no doubt identical with Pul (see below, verse 26).
⁸and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer, even unto Nebo and Baal-meon: ⁹and eastward he dwelt even unto the entering in of the wilderness from the river Euphrates: because their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead.
8. Aroer] now ‘Ar‘āir, a heap of ruins near the wādy Mojib, i.e. the Arnon (Joshua xii. 2). According to Joshua xiii. 9–16 it passed from Sihon king of the Amorites into the hands of the Reubenites. See Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 153.
Nebo and Baal-meon] A line drawn due north from Aroer (see last note) passes close first to Ma‘in (which may be Baal-meon) and then to Jebel Nebā, which evidently preserves the name of Mount Nebo.
Baal-meon] called more correctly Beth-baal-meon Joshua xiii. 17.
¹⁰And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hand: and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the land east of Gilead.
10. in the days of Saul] Saul’s victory over the Ammonites (1 Samuel xi.) may have paved the way for the expansion of Israel east of Jordan, but see also the note on verse 19.
the Hagrites] compare Psalms lxxxiii. 6 (Revised Version margin). They were an Arab people. See further the note on verse 19.
the land east of Gilead] i.e. the land between Gilead and the Euphrates (compare verse 9). On Gilead, see note, ii. 22.
11–17.
The Genealogy and Settlements
of Gad.
¹¹And the sons of Gad dwelt over against them, in the land of Bashan unto Salecah:
11. Bashan] the wide district extending from the Jabbok on the south to Hermon in the north and from the Sea of Galilee on the west to the mountains of Hauran on the east (compare verse 23). Remark that in Numbers xxxii. 33; Deuteronomy iii. 12; Joshua xiii. 25, Gad is located in Gilead (south of Bashan) where the Chronicler has placed Reuben.
Salecah] is probably represented at the present day by the ruins of Salkhad due south of the Jebel Hauran and almost due east of Boṣra.
¹²Joel the chief, and Shapham the second, and Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan: ¹³and their brethren of their fathers’ houses; Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jacan, and Zia, and Eber, seven. ¹⁴These were the sons of Abihail the son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz; ¹⁵Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of their fathers’ houses.
12. and Janai, and Shaphat] LXX. “Janin the scribe”; Targum, “Janai the judge.”
of their fathers’ houses] This rather awkward phrase means clans or patriarchal families (πατριαί). Sometimes it is used to denote the whole tribe, compare Numbers xvii. 17.
¹⁶And they dwelt in Gilead in Bashan, and in her towns¹, and in all the suburbs² of Sharon, as far as their borders³.
16. in Gilead in Bashan] a contradictory phrase, since Gilead means the southern and Bashan the northern part of Israel’s trans-Jordanic territory. Perhaps in Bashan is here an addition made by the Chronicler or a later hand to harmonise in Gilead (the territory usually assigned to Gad—see note on verse 11 above) with verses 11 and 23. The emendation “in Gilead in Jabesh” has been suggested.
Sharon] some place, unidentified, to the east of Jordan. LXX. (B) has Sirion. (The well-known Sharon lay in the maritime plain between Joppa and Caesarea.)
¹⁷All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.
17. reckoned by genealogies ... and in the days of Jeroboam] “Reckoning by genealogy” is a phrase used only in the writings of the Chronicler (Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah), but the practice probably resembled what is called in other books “numbering the people”: see the example in Nehemiah vii. 5–65. The object however was different and corresponded with the circumstances of the returned exiles, who found themselves in the midst of a Gentile population in Judea. The people were “reckoned by genealogy” not so much to take a census of them, as to inquire into the purity of their Israelite descent. The ancient term “numbering” would be a more suitable description of a transaction belonging to the days of Jotham. For Jotham see 2 Chronicles xxvii. and for Jeroboam 2 Kings xiv. 23–29. The last years of the reign of Jeroboam II probably synchronized with part of the reign of Jotham.
18–22.
The War of the Trans-Jordanic Tribes
against Arabian Tribes.
¹⁸The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, were forty and four thousand seven hundred and threescore, that were able to go forth to war.
18. skilful in war] compare xii. 8, 21.
forty and four thousand] According to Joshua iv. 13 “about forty thousand” from these tribes crossed the Jordan with Joshua.
¹⁹And they made war with the Hagrites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab.
19. made war with the Hagrites...] Possibly this war described in verses 18–22 is only a midrashic variation of the war briefly noted in verse 10; possibly we have traditions of separate conflicts. That fighting against Arabian tribes took place in the time of Saul (verse 10) is quite probable, and perhaps there is here a definite recollection of the fact. Yet conflicts on the eastern borders were no doubt frequent, and the ancient fights may have been overlaid with the memories and details of more recent struggles, and especially the names assigned may be those of later foes. Though the Hagrites are mentioned in inscriptions of Sennacherib, they seem to have grown more prominent and powerful in later days (compare Psalms lxxxiii. 7), and their name in the Chronicler’s time may have been somewhat loosely and generally applied to the Arabian tribes near Palestine.
Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab] Other Bedouin tribes, Jetur, Naphish, Kedemah are given as sons of Ishmael in i. 31.
²⁰And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him. ²¹And they took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of men¹ an hundred thousand.
20. they were helped] with Divine assistance; compare xv. 26.
²²For there fell many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their stead until the captivity.
22. was of God] i.e. was prompted by God; compare 1 Samuel xv. 2, 3.
23, 24.
The Half Tribe of Manasseh.
²³And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan unto Baal-hermon and Senir and mount Hermon. ²⁴And these were the heads of their fathers’ houses; even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, heads of their fathers’ houses.
23. For the genealogy of Manasseh, see vii. 14 ff.
Baal-hermon] In Judges iii. 3 a mount Baal-hermon is mentioned. Here probably a city is meant, possibly Banias, on the eastern slope of Hermon.
Senir] an Amorite name for Mt Hermon or a peak of the range (Deuteronomy iii. 9).
25, 26.
The Captivity of the Trans-Jordanic
Tribes.
²⁵And they trespassed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God destroyed before them.
25. they trespassed] The Hebrew verb has a special reference to unlawful or idolatrous worship and also to the violation of a consecrated thing; compare Joshua xxii. 16, 20, 31.
²⁶And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river of Gozan, unto this day.
26. stirred up the spirit] Compare 2 Chronicles xxi. 16, where see note; xxxvi. 22.
Pul ... and ... Tilgath-pilneser] Both here and in 2 Kings xv. 19, 29 (Pul ... Tiglath-pileser) the two names are used as though two different persons were meant, but there is no doubt that Pul is the earlier and Tiglath-pileser the royal name of the same king; compare verse 6.
unto Halah, etc.] In 2 Kings xv. 29 it is said only, to Assyria; in 2 Kings xvii. 6 it is said that the Western tribes (“Samaria”) were carried away and placed in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes.
Halah] probably a district of Mesopotamia, but it has not yet been convincingly identified.
Habor] a river flowing into the Euphrates from the east, known to the Greeks as Χαβώρας or Ἀβόρρας.
and Hara] No place of this name is known and the word is omitted in LXX. The reading may be corrupt for and in the cities of the Medes (2 Kings xvii. 6, compare LXX.; xviii. 11).
the river of Gozan] Gozan was a district of Mesopotamia.