SHUTHALHITES (Numbers 26:35). Ancestor of Joshua (1 Chronicles 7:20-27). Lord A. C. Hervey, viewing 1 Chronicles 7 as corrupt, restores the line of Shuthelah thus:
(1) Joseph;
(2) Ephraim;
(3) Shuthelah;
(4) Eran or Laadan;
(5) Ammihud;
(6) Elishama, captain of Ephraim (Numbers 1:10);
(7) Nun;
(8) Joshua. The affair with the men of Gath (Joshua 7:20-27; Joshua 8:13) was probably after Israel's settlement in Canaan; and Ephraim and Shuthelah mean the individuals of their descendants who represented them as heads of the tribe or family. The Ephraimite settlements in the mountain district containing Bethhoron, Gezer, and Timnath Serah, were suited for a descent on the Philistine plain containing Gath. Benjamin helped Ephraim against the men of Gath. The Ephraim who mourned for his sons Ezer and Elead was not the patriarch son of Joseph, but a descendant who bore Ephraim's name.