1Ch 5:1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
His birthright was given - In particular, the right of the first-born to a double inheritance Deu_21:17 was conferred on Joseph, both by the expressed will of Jacob Gen_48:22 and in the actual partition of Canaan Josh. 16–17. But though the birthright, as respecting its material privileges, passed to Joseph, its other rights, those of dignity and pre-eminence, fell to Judah; of whom came the chief ruler, an allusion especially to David, though it may reach further, and include a glance at the Messiah, the true “Ruler” of Israel Mic_5:2.
his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph - his beloved son by his beloved wife Rachel and so had a double portion given him; his two sons being equally ranked with the other sons of Jacob, and became distinct tribes, and each had their lot in the land of Canaan .
The sons of Reuben the first-born - As Reuben was the eldest son of Jacob, why was not his genealogy reviewed first? This verse answers the question; he lost the birth-right because of the transgression mentioned Gen_35:22; Gen_49:4, and the precedency was given to Judah ; from him therefore came the chief ruler.
for he was the firstborn - of Jacob by his wife Leah.
he defiled his father's bed - by lying with Bilhah his concubine:
This chapter gives some account of the two tribes and a half seated on the east side of Jordan . They were made captives by the king of Assyria , because they had forsaken the Lord. Only two things are here recorded concerning these tribes. 1. They all shared in a victory. 2. They shared in captivity.
1Ch 5:2 For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:)
And of him came the chief ruler - This is understood of Christ: “From Judah the King Messiah shall proceed.” David and the kings of Judah , his successors; and above all, from him the Prince Messiah was to spring, and did, according to Gen_49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And the obedience of the peoples to him.
For Judah prevailed above his brethren - That is, the tribe of Judah prevailed above the rest in number, in valor, and courage, and in dignity; wherefore the genealogy is not reckoned according to birthright, but dignity and dominion; hence this genealogical account began with Judah :
1Ch 5:3 The sons, I say, of Reuben the firstborn of Israel were, Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
1Ch 5:4 The sons of Joel; Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,
The sons of Joel - The line of succession here given must be broken by one great gap or several smaller ones, since nine generations before Tiglath-pileser would carry us back no further than the reign of Rehoboam.
The sons of Joel - whose family is traced down through seven generations, to the time of the Assyrian deportation of the Israelites. But we are neither informed here, nor can we ascertain from any information elsewhere given in the Old Testament, from which of the four sons Joel was descended. For although many of the names in 1Ch_5:4-6 frequently occur, yet they are nowhere met with in connection with the family whose members are here registered.
1Ch 5:5 Micah his son, Reaia his son, Baal his son,
1Ch 5:6 Beerah his son, whom Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria carried away captive: he was prince of the Reubenites.
Beerah his son - After their separation from the house of David the ten tribes continued to have princes of the tribes; and this continued till the time that Tiglath-pileser carried them captives into Assyria . At that time Beerah was their prince or chief; and with him this species of dominion or precedency terminated. The last of Joel's posterity.
Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria - the same with Tiglathpileser by a transposition of letters, 2Ki_15:29 and is read the same here in the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic versions:
1Ch 5:7 And his brethren by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned, were the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,
And his brethren by their families - Either the brethren of Beerah, or the rest of the posterity of Reuben:
1Ch 5:8 And Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer, even unto Nebo and Baalmeon:
Who dwelt in Aroer - This town was situated on the river Arnon; and Nebo was both a city and a mountain in the same country. They both lay on the other side of Jordan . It belonged to the tribe of Gad, and was rebuilt by them, Num_32:34
And Bela the son of Azaz - The pedigree of Bela, another principal man in the tribe of Reuben, is traced up to Joel the father of Shema.
Nebo - Num_32:3; The city of Nebo was doubtless situated on or near the celebrated mountain of the same name, east of Jordan . Num_32:38; Deu_32:49, Deu_34:1; Isa_15:2
1Ch 5:9 And eastward he inhabited unto the entering in of the wilderness from the river Euphrates: because their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead.
unto the entering in of the wilderness - the wilderness of Kedemoth, which was near to Sihon king of Heshbon, whose land the Reubenites inhabited, Deu_2:26.
Eastward he inhabited --The settlement was on the east of Jordan , and the history of this tribe, which never took any part in the public affairs or movements of the nation, is comprised in "the multiplication of their cattle in the land of Gilead ," in their wars with the sons of Hagar, and in the simple labors of pastoral life. They had the right of pasture over an extensive mountain range--the great wilderness of Kedemoth (Deu_2:26) and the Euphrates being a security against their enemies.
Eastward he inhabited --Bela's family, descendents of Reuben, had spread themselves so far abroad, “for their herds were numerous in the land of Gilead,” i.e., Perea, the whole trans-Jordanic domain of the Israelites.
1Ch 5:10 And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites, who fell by their hand: and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the east land of Gilead.
The Hagarites - or “Hagarenes” are generally regarded as descendants of Hagar, and a distinct branch of the Ishmaelites 1Ch_27:30-31; Psa_83:6. They appear to have been one of the most wealthy 1Ch_5:21 and widely-spread tribes of the Syrian Desert, being found on the side of the Euphrates in contact with the Assyrians, and also in the Hauran, in the neighborhood of Palestine, in contact with the Moabites and Israelites. A full account of the war is given in 1Ch_5:18-22.
And they dwelt in their tents - The Hagarites were people who lived in tents, without any fixed dwellings, and whose property consisted in cattle. The descendants of Reuben extirpated these Hagarites, seized on their property and their tents, and dwelt in their place.
throughout all the east land of Gilead - or rather throughout all the land of the Hagarites, which lay to the east of Gilead, as the Vulgate Latin version indicates; or otherwise the land of Gilead itself was their original possession.
They made war - Thus God did for his people, as he promised them. He cast out the enemy from before them by little and little, and gave them their land as they had occasion for it.
1Ch 5:11 And the children of Gad dwelt over against them, in the land of Bashan unto Salchah:
the children of Gad dwelt over against them - From this passage and from the subsequent account of the Manassites 1Ch_5:23-24, the Gadites extended themselves to the north at the expense of their brethren, gradually occupying a considerable portion of the tract originally allotted to the “half tribe.”
the children of Gad dwelt over against them - Or by them, the Reubenites; and one part of Gilead was given them between them, and the other to the half tribe of Manasseh:
in the land of Bashan, unto Salcah - for though all Bashan is said to be given to the half tribe of Manasseh, Deu_3:13 yet that is to be understood of the greater part of it; all of that which belonged to Og, but what did not, the Gadites, either from the first, or in later times, inhabited even as far as Salcah, which was one of the cities of Og, Deu_3:10.
the children of Gad - The genealogy of the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh (1Ch_5:24) is given along with that of the Reubenites, as these three inhabited the same country, and formed a sort of separate colony east of Jordan.
1Ch 5:12 Joel the chief, and Shapham the next, and Jaanai, and Shaphat in Bashan.
Joel the chief - In this and the following verse are reckoned up the principal men in the tribe of Gad, and the chief of all was Joel, another from him in the tribe of Reuben, 1Ch_5:4. Nothing more was known of those four people.
Shaphat in Bashan - not Shaphat the father of Elisha.
1Ch 5:13 And their brethren of the house of their fathers were, Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jachan, and Zia, and Heber, seven.
1Ch 5:14 These are the children 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;
These are the children of Abihail the son of Huri - That is, the seven before mentioned; they were the posterity of Abihail, whose pedigree is traced from his father Huri to Buz, the intermediate progenitors being Jaroah, Gilead, Michael, Jeshishai, Jahdo.
1Ch 5:15 Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of the house of their fathers.
Ahi the son of Abdiel - Ahi was a principal man in the families the seven above men belonged to.
The head of their fathers'-houses - as Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, who is conjectured to have lived in the time of King Jotham of Judah, or of Jeroboam II of Israel, when, according to 1Ch_5:17, genealogical registers of the Gadites were made up.
1Ch 5:16 And they dwelt in Gilead in Bashan, and in her towns, and in all the suburbs of Sharon, upon their borders.
And they dwelt in Gilead - In that part of it which belonged to the tribe of Gad:
And they dwelt in Gilead - The families descended from Buz “dwelt in Gilead,” in the part of that district lying to the south of the Jabbok, which Moses had given to the Gadites and Reubenites (Deu_3:12);
The suburbs of Sharon - The term " Sharon " was applied as descriptive of any place of extraordinary beauty and productiveness. There were three places of this name: that mentioned here was a district in the country of Bashan beyond Jordan , (see Jos_12:18); there was another that lay between Caesarea of Palestine and Joppa Act_9:35; and there was a third between Mount Tabor and the Sea of Tiberias .
The suburbs of Sharon – In contrast to the above, another scholar believes that Sharon, lay not in Perea, but is a great plain on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from Carmel to near Joppa, famed for its great fertility and its rich growth of flowers (Son_2:1; Isa_33:9; Isa_35:2; Isa_55:10). The scholar believes it is this plain which is here meant, and the supposition of the older commentators that there was a second Sharon in the east-Jordan land is without foundation. For it is not said that the Gadites possessed cities in Sharon, but only pastures of Sharon are spoken of, which the Gadites may have sought out for their herds even on the coast of the Mediterranean; more especially as the domain of the cis-Jordanic half-tribe of Manasseh stretched into the plain of Sharon, and it is probable that at all times there was intercourse between the cis-and trans-Jordanic Manassites, in which the Gadites may also have taken part.
1Ch 5:17 All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.
The writer refers here to two registrations, one made under the authority of Jeroboam II when he was king and Israel flourishing, the other made under the authority of Jotham, king of Judah , during the troublous time which followed on the great invasion of Tiglath-pileser. There is nothing surprising in a king of Judah having exercised a species of lordship over the trans-Jordanic territory at this period. It is not meant that those two kings reigned at the same time.
1Ch 5:18 The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, were four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war.
The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh - These all joined together, living together on the one side of Jordan :
The number 44,760 must be founded upon an accurate reckoning says one scholar; but in comparison with the number of men capable of bearing arms in those tribes in the time of Moses, it is somewhat inconsiderable: for at the first numbering under him Reuben alone had 46,500 and Gad 45,650, and at the second numbering Reuben had 43,730 and Gad 40,500 men; see on Num 1-4 (1:2, S. 192).
1Ch 5:19 And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab.
Jetur no doubt gave his name to the important tribe of the Ituraeans who inhabited the region southwest of the Damascene plain, between Gaulonitis (Jaulan) and the Ledjah. This tribe was noted for its thievish habits, and was regarded as savage and warlike.
They made war with the Hagarites – One scholar believes this is the same war that is mentioned 1Ch_5:10. Another believes it is not the same war, but one that came later.
They made war with the Hagarites – So early as the time of Saul the Reubenites had victoriously made war upon the Hagarites (see 1Ch_5:10); but the war here mentioned was certainly at a later time, and has no further connection with that in 1Ch_5:10 except that both arose from similar causes. The time of the second is not given, and all we know from 1Ch_5:22 is that it had broken out before the trans-Jordanic Israelites were led captive by the Assyrians.
with Jetur, and Nephish - with the descendents of these men, who were sons of Ishmael, Gen_25:15 and so was Nodab; perhaps the same with Kedemah, mentioned along with the other two there.
Nodab - mentioned only here.
1Ch 5:20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites 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.
they were helped against them - The Israelites were helped against the Ishmaelites, to fight with them, and overcome them; by the Lord, to whom they cried and entreated.
the Hagarites were delivered into their hand - they and their confederates and auxiliaries, the Ituraeans etc.
because they put their trust in him - in his power and providence, and not in their own strength, courage, and military skill.
1Ch 5:21 And 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 men an hundred thousand.
They took away their cattle - it need not be supposed that these creatures, and those that follow, were in such large numbers with the Hagarites in the battle, but were afterwards found, partly in their camp, and partly in the places inhabited by them:
of men one hundred thousand - so that they took them captive.
1Ch 5:22 For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity.
The war was of God - he stirred up the Israelites to it, directed, assisted, and succeeded them, that vengeance might be taken on this wicked and idolatrous people: Undertaken in his fear, and carried on in a dependence on him. Then we may expect to prosper in any enterprize, and then only, when we take God along with us.
they dwelt in their stead until the captivity – captivity by Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria , 1Ch_5:26
1Ch 5:23 And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan unto Baalhermon and Senir, and unto mount Hermon.
the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt -Not in the land of the Hagarites, but in the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond Jordan , given them by Moses. The writer, having reckoned the genealogies of some of the principal men of Reuben and Gad, proceeds to give a short account of some principal men in this half tribe:
1Ch 5:24 And these were the heads of the house of their fathers, even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers.
these were the heads of the house of their fathers - Some of the principal men of this half tribe:
even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel - but of none of these we read elsewhere, excepting Hepher and Azriel, Num_26:31.
mighty men of valour - men that obtained a name for their strength, courage, and valour, and military exploits, and were the chiefs of the families in this half tribe, and by whom they were denominated; so from Hepher were the family of the Hepherites, and from Azriel the family of the Azrielites, as in Num_26:31.
1Ch 5:25 And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them.
The gods of the people of the land - We see the reason why God delivered the Hagarites into the hands of these tribes; they were abominable idolaters, and therefore God destroyed them.
they transgressed against the God their fathers - Against his law, will, word, and ordinances, not only the half tribe of Manasseh, hut the Reubenites and Gadites also.
went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land - that is, committed idolatry, which is spiritual fornication or whoredom; worshipped the idols either of the Amorites, who were destroyed by the Lord to make way for their first settlement; or of the Ishmaelites, whom they conquered, and whose land they dwelt in to the captivity.
1Ch_5:25 and 1Ch_5:26 form the conclusion of the register of the two and a half trans-Jordanic tribes.
1Ch 5:26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser 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 Gozan, unto this day.
stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria - in the times of Menahem king of Israel :
and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser - in the times of Pekah king of Israel , to invade the land, and make war in it:
and he carried them away - not Pul, but Tilgathpilneser
and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan - to the very same places where afterwards Salmaneser carried the ten tribes, or what remained of them, 2Ki_17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria. And he placed them in Halah, and in Habor by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
unto this day - the times of Ezra, the writer of this book, after the tribe of Judah returned from the captivity of Babylon ; but the ten tribes remained where they were carried, and have not returned even to this day.
the spirit of Tilgathpilneser--the son of the former. By them the trans-jordanic tribes, including the other half of Manasseh, settled in Galilee , were removed to Upper Media . This was the first captivity (2Ki_15:29).
