Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
1 Chronicles 2:55

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 1 Chronicles 2:55. The families — "The families of the Rechabites, the sons of Eliezer the son of Misco, the disciple of Jabez; he was Othniel, the son of Kenaz. And he was called Jabez, because in his council he instituted a school of disciples; they were called Tirathim, because in their hymns their voice was like trumpets; and Shimathim, because in hearing they lifted up their faces, i.e., in prayer; and Suchathim, because they were overshadowed by the Spirit of prophecy. These Salmaei were the children of Zipporah, who were numbered among the Levites who came from the stock of Moses, the master of Israel, whose righteousness profited them more than chariots and horses." - T. See on 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.

Is the above explanation of Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Suchathites, the Targumist refers to the import of the Hebrew roots, whence these names are derived. See 1 Chronicles 4:10. In this chapter many names of cities are given as the names of men.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Descendants of Judah and Simeon (2:1-4:43)

Having listed the children of Jacob (Israel) starting with the eldest son Reuben, the writer immediately turns his attention to the tribe of Judah, the tribe that produced the dynasty of David (2:1-17). He traces the line of David first, then goes back to deal with a number of other important people in Judah and lists their descendants (18-55). On completing this, he returns to list the family of David (3:1-9), the descendants of David who reigned after him to the captivity (10-16), and further descendants who lived during the time of the captivity and later (17-24). The section concludes with a collection of miscellaneous branches from Judah’s family tree (4:1-23).

The tribe of Simeon had no tribal territory of its own, but dwelt within the territory of Judah (Joshua 19:1,Joshua 19:9). It is therefore dealt with here, immediately after the listings for Judah. Some of the Simeonites’ conquests, which are not mentioned elsewhere, are also recorded (24-43).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. “The sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah; which three were born unto him of Shua’s daughter the Canaanitess. And Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah; and he slew him. And Tamar his daughter-in-law bare him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. “The sons of Perez: Hezron, and Hamul. And the sons of Zerah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara; five of them in all. And the sons of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who committed a trespass in the devoted thing. And the sons of Ethan: Azariah. “The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him: Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. And Ram begat Amminadab, and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah; and Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat his first-born Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimea the third, Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh; and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three. And Abigail bare Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite. “And Caleb the son of Hezron begat children of Azubah his wife, and of Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon. And Azubah died, and Caleb took unto him Ephrath, who bare him Hur. And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezalel. “And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he took to wife when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub. And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead. And Geshur and Aram took the towns of Jair from them, with Kenath, and the villages thereof, even threescore cities. All these were the sons of Machir the father of Gilead. And after that Hezron was dead in Caleb-ephrathah, then Abijah Hezron’s wife bare him Ashhur the father of Tekoa. “And the sons of Jerahmeel the first-born of Hezron were Ram the first-born, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, Ahijah. And Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. And the sons of Ram the first-born of Jerahmeel were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker. And the sons of Onam were Shammai, and Jada. And the sons of Shammai: Nadab, and Abishur. And the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail; and she bare him Ahban, and Molid. And the sons of Nadab: Seled, and Appaim; but Seled died without children. And the sons of Appaim: Ishi. And the sons of Ishi: Sheshan. And the sons of Sheshan: Ahlai. And the sons of Jada the brother of Shammai: Jether, and Jonathan; and Jether died without children. And the sons of Jonathan: Peleth, and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife; and she bare him Attai. And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad, and Zabad begat Ephlal, and Ephlal begat Obed, and Obed begat Jehu, and Jehu begat Azariah, and Azariah begat Helez, and Helez begat Eleasah, and Eleasah begat Sismai, and Sismai begat Shallum, and Shallum begat Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begat Elishama. “And the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were Mesha his first-born, who was the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron. And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema. And Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkeam; and Rekem begat Shammai. And the son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur. And Ephah, Caleb’s concubine, bare Haran, and Moza, and Gazez; and Haran begat Gazez. And the sons of Jahdai: Regem, and Jothan, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph. Maacah, Caleb’s concubine, bare Sheber and Tirhanah. She bare also Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbena, and the father of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. “These were the sons of Caleb, the son of Hur, the first-born of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, Salma the father of Beth-lehem, Hareph the father of Beth-gader. And Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had sons: Haroeh, half of the Menuhoth. And the families of Kiriath-jearim: The Ithrites, and the Puthites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; of them came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites. The sons of Salma: Beth-lehem, and the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites. And the families of scribes that dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.”

Although there is a great deal of new material in this chapter (1 Chronicles 2:25-41), other scriptures parallel much of it:

“1 Chronicles 2:1-2 are parallel with Genesis 35:22 b-26 and Exodus 1:1-6. 1 Chronicles 2:3-4 are in Gen. 38:2-7,29f; 46:12a, and Numbers 26:18 f. 1 Chronicles 2:5 appears in Genesis 46:12 b; Numbers 26:21; Ruth 4:18. 1 Chronicles 2:6-8 are related to Joshua 7:1; 1 Kings 5:11. 1 Chronicles 2:9-17 is parallel with Ruth 4:19-22; 1 Samuel 16:8-9; 2 Sam. 2:18; 17:35.”International Critical Commentary, Chronicles, p. 17.

Our purpose in this commentary does not require any extensive comment on these genealogies. In the first place, they are not completely understood as to their exact meaning by anyone living millenniums after the generations enumerated. “It is impossible now to unravel these genealogies with any certainty.”New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 371. The duplication of many names, the appearance of many names that cannot be distinguished as applicable whether to persons or places, and other uncertainties greatly complicate the problem of any complete understanding of these chapters. It is also true that textual corruptions in a few places add to the problem.

Nevertheless, the great purpose of the sacred author is fully achieved in these opening nine chapters, which are, in reality, the introduction to the entire Chronicles. The very existence of such extensive records among the Jews is overwhelming evidence that the New Testament genealogies (Matthew 1 and Luke 3) were unanimously received by that whole first-century generation as absolutely accurate; nor were those records ever challenged by the enemies of Christianity. The importance of this in the proper identification of the Messiah is indeed significant.

The “Caleb” of 1 Chronicles 2:18 was identified by Francisco as “the Caleb of the exodus,”Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 310. but Payne declared: “The Caleb of the exodus came three hundred years later.”Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 371. This is typical of scholarly disagreement on many such problems in this chapter. The simple truth is that many such questions cannot be dogmatically answered at the present time.

Jacob M. Meyers, writing in The Anchor Bible stated: “Such technical details need not detain us.”The Anchor Bible, Chronicles, p. 12.

In the verses which are parallel with other scriptures, see my comments under the parallel passages.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Kenites - It is remarkable that Kenites - people of a race quite distinct from the Israelites Genesis 15:19 - should be attached to, and, as it were, included in the descendants of Judah. It seems, however, that the friendly feeling between the two tribes - based on the conduct of the Kenites at the time of the Exodus Exodus 18:10-19; Numbers 10:29-32; 1 Samuel 15:6 - led to their intermixture and almost amalgamation with the Israelites, Kenite families not only dwelling among them but being actually regarded as of one blood with them.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

Now these are the sons of Israel ( 1 Chronicles 2:1 );

And the twelve sons of Jacob. And then we follow for a little bit the sons of Judah, and then we are now zeroing in. As I tell you, we keep coming back zeroing in on the line of Christ. And as we get to Judah, because the Messiah was to come out of Judah, we find the descendants from Judah to Jesse. He was to be a root out of the stem of Jesse. And so that's the family we're interested, and then from Jesse, of course, we want David, who was the seventh son of Jesse. His brothers are all named in verses thirteen through fifteen.

Now, you remember, as we were going through Kings that David had a general who gave him problems. He was a mighty man; his name was Joab. And yet Joab did create problems for David, along with his brother Abishai. And they actually were David's nephews. They were the sons of David's sister. Now we jump way back from David, we've come out to David, but we have left a lot of unnamed people. And so we go to another family in the tribe of Judah, the family of Caleb. He was the one who was a spy with Joshua that brought back the good report and the rest of the chapter deals with the descendants of Caleb. You're dealing still with the family of Judah. "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez,.... A city in Judah, the founder of which, perhaps, was Jabez, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:9 in which learned men dwelt:

the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites; who sprung from men whose names were Tira, Shimea, and Sucha; and if they were not the posterity of Salma, yet dwelt among his, and so are reckoned with them; perhaps the latter might have their name from dwelling in tents; the former clause may be rendered, "that dwelt with Jabez", who was their master, and they his scholars; in the Vulgate Latin version the words are rendered as appellatives, "singing and resounding, and dwelling in tents": Conrad Pellican, on the place, goes a middle way, and interprets these families as dwelling with Jabez their master, and they his scholars, and that they were called by their progenitors Tirathites, because learned and ingenious, and praecentors of the divine oracles; Shimeathites, because they diligently hearkened to the sacred songs, and the doctrines of the law of God; and Suchathites, because they dwelt not in cities, but in tents, despisers of all worldly things, that they might freely attend to learn:

these are the Kenites; that is, the Suchathites are the Kenites, who, it is well known, dwelt in tents, and not in cities; though Jarchi takes these Kenites to be the inhabitants of Cain, a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:57 but they seem rather to be the Kenites that sprung from Jethro, here made mention of, because some of them dwelt in the tribe of Judah, and among the posterity of Salma, see Judges 1:16

that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab; the prince of that family, and who from Rechab were called Rechabites, Jeremiah 35:2.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      18 And Caleb the son of Hezron begat children of Azubah his wife, and of Jerioth: her sons are these; Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.   19 And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur.   20 And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezaleel.   21 And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub.   22 And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead.   23 And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead.   24 And after that Hezron was dead in Calebephratah, then Abiah Hezron's wife bare him Ashur the father of Tekoa.   25 And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were, Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah.   26 Jerahmeel had also another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.   27 And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were, Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker.   28 And the sons of Onam were, Shammai, and Jada. And the sons of Shammai; Nadab, and Abishur.   29 And the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail, and she bare him Ahban, and Molid.   30 And the sons of Nadab; Seled, and Appaim: but Seled died without children.   31 And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi; Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan; Ahlai.   32 And the sons of Jada the brother of Shammai; Jether, and Jonathan: and Jether died without children.   33 And the sons of Jonathan; Peleth, and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel.   34 Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.   35 And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife; and she bare him Attai.   36 And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad,   37 And Zabad begat Ephlal, and Ephlal begat Obed,   38 And Obed begat Jehu, and Jehu begat Azariah,   39 And Azariah begat Helez, and Helez begat Eleasah,   40 And Eleasah begat Sisamai, and Sisamai begat Shallum,   41 And Shallum begat Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begat Elishama.   42 Now the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were, Mesha his firstborn, which was the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron.   43 And the sons of Hebron; Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema.   44 And Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkoam: and Rekem begat Shammai.   45 And the son of Shammai was Maon: and Maon was the father of Bethzur.   46 And Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bare Haran, and Moza, and Gazez: and Haran begat Gazez.   47 And the sons of Jahdai; Regem, and Jotham, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph.   48 Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bare Sheber, and Tirhanah.   49 She bare also Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea: and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.   50 These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah; Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim,   51 Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Bethgader.   52 And Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim had sons; Haroeh, and half of the Manahethites.   53 And the families of Kirjath-jearim; the Ithrites, and the Puhites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; of them came the Zareathites, and the Eshtaulites.   54 The sons of Salma; Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, Ataroth, the house of Joab, and half of the Manahethites, the Zorites.   55 And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.

      The persons mentioned in the former paragraph are most of them such as we read of, and most of them such as we read much of, in other scriptures; but very few of those to whom this paragraph relates are mentioned any where else. It should seem, the tribe of Judah were more full and exact in their genealogies than any other of the tribes, in which we must acknowledge a special providence, for the clearing of the genealogy of Christ. 1. Here we find Bezaleel, who was head-workman in building the tabernacle, Exodus 31:2. 2. Hezron, who was the son of Pharez (1 Chronicles 2:5; 1 Chronicles 2:5), was the father of all this progeny, his sons, Caleb and Jerahmeel, being very fruitful, and he himself likewise, even in his old age, for he left his wife pregnant when he died, 1 Chronicles 2:24; 1 Chronicles 2:24. This Hezron was one of the seventy that went down with Jacob into Egypt, Genesis 46:12. There his family thus increased, as other oppressed families there did. We cannot but suppose that he died during the Israelites' bondage in Egypt; and yet it is here said he died in Caleb-Ephratah (that is, Bethlehem), in the land of Canaan, 1 Chronicles 2:24; 1 Chronicles 2:24. Perhaps, though the body of the people continued in Egypt, yet some that were more active than the rest, at least before their bondage came to be extreme, visited Canaan sometimes and got footing there, though afterwards they lost it. The achievements of Jair, here mentioned (1 Chronicles 2:22; 1 Chronicles 2:23), we had an account of in Numbers 32:41; and, it is supposed, they were long after the conquest of Canaan. The Jews say, Hezron married his third wife when he was sixty years old (1 Chronicles 2:21; 1 Chronicles 2:21), and another afterwards (1 Chronicles 2:24; 1 Chronicles 2:24), because he had a great desire of posterity in the family of Pharez, from whom the Messiah was to descend. 3. Here is mention of one that died without children (1 Chronicles 2:30; 1 Chronicles 2:30), and another (1 Chronicles 2:32; 1 Chronicles 2:32), and of one that had no sons, but daughters,1 Chronicles 2:34; 1 Chronicles 2:34. Let those that are in any of these ways afflicted not think their case new or singular. Providence orders these affairs of families by an incontestable sovereignty, as pleaseth him, giving children, or withholding them, or giving all of one sex. He is not bound to please us, but we are bound to acquiesce in his good pleasure. To those that love him he will himself be better than ten sons, and give them in his house a place and a name better than of sons and daughters. Let not those therefore that are written childless envy the families that are built up and replenished. Shall our eye be evil because God's is good? 4. Here is mention of one who had an only daughter, and married her to his servant an Egyptian, 1 Chronicles 2:34; 1 Chronicles 2:35. If it be mentioned to his praise, we must suppose that this Egyptian was proselyted to the Jewish religion and that he was very eminent for wisdom and virtue, otherwise it would not have become a true-born Israelite to match a daughter to him, especially an only daughter. If Egyptians become converts, and servants do worthily, neither their parentage nor their servitude should be a bar to their preferment. Such a one this Egyptian servant might be that she who married him might live as happily with him as if she had married one of the rulers of her tribe. 5. The pedigree of several of these terminates, not in a person, but in a place or country, as one is said to be the father of Kirjath-jearim (1 Chronicles 2:50; 1 Chronicles 2:50), another of Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 2:51; 1 Chronicles 2:51), which was afterwards David's city, because these places fell to their lot in the division of the land. 6. Here are some that are said to be families of scribes (1 Chronicles 2:55; 1 Chronicles 2:55), such as kept up learning in their family, especially scripture-learning, and taught the people the good knowledge of God. Among all these great families we are glad to find some that were families of scribes. Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets--all the families of Israel families of scribes, well instructed to the kingdom of heaven, and able to bring out of their treasury things new and old!