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1 Chronicles 7

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The Descendants of Issachar 1–5

1
Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four.
2
And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father's house, to wit, of Tola: they were valiant men of might in their generations; whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred. ​
3
And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons of Izrahiah; Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five: all of them chief men.
4
And with them, by their generations, after the house of their fathers, were bands of soldiers for war, six and thirty thousand men: for they had many wives and sons. ​
5
And their brethren among all the families of Issachar were valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourscore and seven thousand.

The Lines of Benjamin and Naphtali 6–13

6
The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three. ​
7
And the sons of Bela; Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour; and were reckoned by their genealogies twenty and two thousand and thirty and four.
8
And the sons of Becher; Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth. All these are the sons of Becher.
9
And the number of them, after their genealogy by their generations, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour, was twenty thousand and two hundred.
10
The sons also of Jediael; Bilhan: and the sons of Bilhan; Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar.
11
All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.
12
Shuppim also, and Huppim, the children of Ir, and Hushim, the sons of Aher. ​
13
The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah. ​

The Families of Manasseh 14–19

14
The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead: ​
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: and Zelophehad had daughters.
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.
17
And the sons of Ulam; Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.
18
And his sister Hammoleketh bare Ishod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah.
19
And the sons of Shemida were, Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.

The Genealogy of Ephraim 20–29

20
And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,
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 they came down to take away their cattle. ​
22
And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.
23
And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house. ​
24
(And his daughter was Sherah, who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper, and Uzzensherah.) ​
25
And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son,
26
Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
27
Non his son, Jehoshua his son. ​
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: ​
29
And by the borders of the children of Manasseh, Bethshean 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.

The Clans of Asher 30–40

30
The sons of Asher; Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.
31
And the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel, who is the father of Birzavith.
32
And Heber begat Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua their sister.
33
And the sons of Japhlet; Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the children of Japhlet.
34
And the sons of Shamer; Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram.
35
And the sons of his brother Helem; Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal.
36
The sons of Zophah; Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah,
37
Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera.
38
And the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.
39
And the sons of Ulla; Arah, and Haniel, and Rezia.
40
All these were the children of Asher, heads of their father's house, choice and mighty men of valour, chief of the princes. And the number throughout the genealogy of them that were apt to the war and to battle was twenty and six thousand men. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Chronicles 7

Verse 2

valiant men of might — The number, 22,600, is for Tola’s house alone; v.5 puts all the families of Issachar at ‘fourscore and seven thousand’. ‘Valiant men of might’ is gibbor chayil, the phrase the angel used to Gideon (Judg 6:12). Issachar’s men at David’s side were those ‘that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do’ (1 Chr 12:32).

Verse 4

bands of soldiers for war — Gedud is a troop, the word translated ‘bands’ in 2 Kgs 24:2. The 36,000 belong to the heads of Tola’s house, and the verse gives its reason: ‘for they had many wives and sons’. At the second census in the wilderness all Issachar numbered 64,300 (Num 26:25); v.5 gives 87,000 for all its families.

Verse 6

Bela, and Becher, and Jediael — Three sons are named here. Gen 46:21 lists ten sons of Benjamin, including Belah and Becher, among those who ‘came into Egypt’ with Jacob (Gen 46:8). Num 26:38 gives the families at the second census, and 1 Chr 8:1 begins Benjamin again with Bela, Ashbel and Aharah. Each list names the sons that serve its own record.

Verse 12

Shuppim also, and Huppim — These names stand in Benjamin’s other lists: Muppim and Huppim in Gen 46:21, and Shupham and Hupham in Num 26:39. Hushim is the name of Dan’s son in Gen 46:23, and no list of Dan’s sons is given in chapters 1–9. Verse 15 tells that ‘Machir took to wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim’.

Verse 13

the sons of Bilhah — Bilhah was Rachel’s maid (Gen 30:3), and Rachel named her second son Naphtali: ‘With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed’ (Gen 30:8). The four sons are those of Gen 46:24 and Num 26:48–49 (Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem), here spelled Jahziel and Shallum.

Verse 14

Machir the father of Gilead — Machir’s mother was Manasseh’s concubine, an Aramitess. ‘Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein’ (Num 32:40). Zelophehad (v.15) ‘had daughters’, who came before Moses and asked, ‘Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father’ (Num 27:1–4).

Verse 21

the men of Gath that were born in that land — ‘Ephraim their father mourned many days’ (v.22), and if Ezer and Elead are Joseph’s son Ephraim’s own sons, the raid for cattle falls in his lifetime. ‘Born in that land’ marks the men of Gath as natives; Abraham had ‘sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days’ (Gen 21:34). Ezer and Elead ‘came down to take away their cattle’.

Verse 23

Beriah, because it went evil with his house — Beriah is formed from the word for evil with a prefix, ‘in trouble’ or ‘in evil’, the circumstance the verse names. The name is given from the event of the birth, as with Jabez (1 Chr 4:9) and Ichabod, ‘The glory is departed from Israel’ (1 Sam 4:21). It follows the loss of Ezer and Elead in v.21.

Verse 24

Sherah, who built Bethhoron — Her building is in the land of Ephraim: Beth-horon the nether and the upper stand on its border (Josh 16:3, 5). Joshua’s army chased the five kings ‘along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron’ (Josh 10:10), and Solomon later built both as ‘fenced cities’ (2 Chr 8:5). ‘Uzzensherah’ means Sherah’s plot.

Verse 27

Non his son, Jehoshua his son — Jehoshua is Joshua: ‘Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua’ (Num 13:16), and Non is Nun. His grandfather Elishama (v.26) was ‘prince of the children of Ephraim’ in the wilderness (Num 7:48), the son of Ammihud (Num 1:10), so Joshua’s grandfather was a leader of Ephraim.

Verse 28

Bethel and the towns thereof — Bethel was Luz at first (Gen 28:19) and lay on the border of Ephraim (Josh 16:2). Shechem, ‘in mount Ephraim’, was a city of refuge (Josh 20:7). Gezer is on the border too (Josh 16:3), but Ephraim ‘drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer’ (Josh 16:10). ‘Unto Gaza’ is the western limit this verse gives.

Verse 40

choice and mighty men of valour — ‘Choice’ is from barar, to select, so they were picked men. The 26,000 ‘apt to the war’ are fewer than the 41,500 of Asher’s first census (Num 1:41) and the 53,400 of the second (Num 26:47). With this verse the list of tribes by their families closes, and chapter 8 returns to Benjamin.