I CHRONICLES - CHAPTER 7
The Tribe of Issachar – 1 Chronicles 7:1-5
v1 Issachar had 4 sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron. v2 Tola’s sons were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Samuel. They were leaders of their clans. In the family of Tola there were 22,600 brave soldiers when David was king. v3 Uzzi’s son was Izrahiah. Izrahiah’s sons were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah. All 5 of them were leaders. v4 Their family history shows that they had many wives and children. So, they had 36,000 men ready to serve in the army. v5 The records of the clans of Issachar show that they had 87,000 soldiers.
COMMENTARY
VERSES 1-5
King David sent Joab to count the Israelites (2 Samuel chapter 24). It may be that the numbers in this chapter came from that count. At that time there were 22,600 soldiers from the family of Tola. Izrahiah and his 4 sons had many wives and children.
The clans of these 5 men had 36,000 men ready to serve as soldiers. These men were in addition to the 22,600 who seem to be from the other sons of Tola. The whole tribe of Issachar had 87,000 soldiers.
The Tribe of Benjamin – 1 Chronicles 7:6-12
v6 Benjamin had three sons Bela, Beker, and Jediael. v7 Bela had 5 sons: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri. They were leaders of their clans. Their family history shows that they had 22,034 soldiers. v8 Beker’s sons were Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. They all were Beker’s sons. v9 Their family history shows these clan leaders and 22,00 soldiers. v10 Jediael’s son was Bilhan. Bilhan’s sons were Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Kenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. v11 All these sons of Jediael were leaders of their clans. They had 17,200 men ready to serve in the army. v12 Shuppim and Huppim were descendants of Ir. The Hushim were descendants of Aher.
COMMENTARY
VERSES 6-12
Benjamin had more sons than these 3 sons. There are 10 sons in the list in Genesis chapter 46. It seems that by the time of David there were clans from just these 3 sons. The clans of the 5 sons of Bela had 22,034 soldiers, the clans of the sons of Beker had 22,200 soldiers, and the clans of the family of Jediael had 17,200 soldiers.
Ir could be a short form for the name of Bela’s son Iri. Aher could be a short form of the name of Bela’s younger brother Aharah.
The Tribe of Naphtali – 1 Chronicles 7:13
v13 Naphtali’s sons were Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. They were Bilhah’s grandsons.
Bilhah was Naphtali’s mother. So his sons were grandsons to Bilhah.
The Western Half Tribe of Manasseh – 1 Chronicles 7:14-19
v14 These are Manasseh’s descendants. Manasseh had a slave woman from the country called Aram, who was the mother of Asriel and Makir. Makir was Gilead’s father. v15 Makir took a wife from among the family of Huppim and Shuppim. His sister’s name was Maacah. Zelophehad was a descendant of Manasseh. Zelophehad had only daughters. v16 Makir’s wife Maacah had a son whom she named Peresh. Peresh’s brother was Sheresh. Sheresh’s sons were Ulam and Rakem. v17 Ulam’s son was Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead, who was the son of Makir. Makir was Manasseh’s son. v18 Makir’s sister Hammoleketh gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. v19 The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.
COMMENTARY
VERSES 14-19
The text is not clear. Makir was the first son of Manasseh and the father of Gilead. The slave woman was the mother of Asriel, but Asriel was a son of Gilead (Numbers 26:30). So it seems that there were two men with the name Asriel. One of them was a son of Manasseh, and the other was a son of Gilead.
Zelophehad was the son of Hepher. Hepher was a son of Gilead. Zelophehad had 5 daughters and no sons. Their father died. So, the daughters asked that they could have his property. Because of this, Moses asked the LORD about it. The LORD told Moses to change the law. Where there are no sons the property can pass to the daughters (Numbers 27:1-11).
The Tribe of Ephraim – 1 Chronicles 7:20-29
v20 These are the names of Ephraim’s descendants. Ephraim’s son was Shuthelah. Shuthelah’s son was Bered. Bered’s son was Tahath. Tahath’s son was Eleadah. Eleadah’s son was Tahath. v21 Tahath’s son was Zabad. Zabad’s son was Shuthelah. Ezer and Elead were also sons of Ephraim. They went to Gath to steal cows and sheep. But some men who grew up in that city killed them. v22 Their father Ephraim cried many days for them. And his family came to comfort him. v23 Then he and his wife had another son. Ephraim gave him the name Beriah because of the disaster that had happened in his family. v24 Beriah’s daughter was Sheerah. She built Lower and Upper Beth Horon as well as Uzzen Sheerah. v25 Rephah was Beriah’s son. Resheph was Rephah’s son. Telah was Resheph’s son. Tahan was Telah’s son. v26 Ladan was Tahan’s son. Ammihud was Ladan’s son. Elishama was Ammihud’s son. v27 Nun was Elishama’s son, and Joshua was the son of Nun.
v28 Ephraim’s descendants lived in Bethel and the villages near it. They lived in Naaran to the east. And they lived in Gezer and the villages near it to the west. Also, they lived in Shechem and the villages near it. These villages went all the way to Ayyah and its villages. v29 Along the borders of Manasseh’s land were 4 towns. These towns were Beth Shan, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, and the villages near them. The descendants of Joseph son of Israel lived in these towns.
COMMENTARY
VERSES 20-29
Ezer and Elead went to Gath. They were sons of Ephraim. They went to steal cows and sheep. But the local men caught them and they killed Ezer and Elead.
Ephraim was very sad because of the loss of these two sons. He and his wife had another son. They called him Beriah. That name means ‘in evil’. They gave him this name because of the evil things that had happened in the family.
In verse 24, Sheerah builds the cities. If she built the cities, then ‘daughter’ here means a descendant. If she was the actual daughter of Beriah, her descendants built the cities.
There were about 400 years between the time of Joseph and the time of Joshua. Joshua was the son of Nun. Joshua became the leader of the Israelites after Moses’ death.
The Tribe of Asher – 1 Chronicles 7:30-40
v30 Asher’s sons were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Their sister was Serah. v31 Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malkiel. Malkiel was Birzaith’s father. v32 Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua. v33 Japhlet’s sons were Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. They were Japhlet’s children. v34 Japhlet’s brother was Shomer. Shomer’s sons were Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram. v35 Shomer’s brother was Hotham. Hotham’s sons were Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. v36-37 Zophah’s sons were Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. v38 Jether’s sons were Jephunneh, Pispah, and Ara. v39 Ulla’s sons were Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.
v40 All these men were descendants of Asher. They were leaders of their families. They were powerful soldiers and great leaders. Their family records show that they had 26,000 men ready to serve in the army.
COMMENTARY
VERSES 30-40
The sons and grandsons of Asher were born before the Israelites went to Egypt. This list of the family of Asher ends with Ulla’s sons. The list only shows the clans that came from Beriah (verse 31).
In the time of David, this tribe had 26,000 soldiers ready to serve in the army.
The writer ends the family lists of the tribes with Asher. He does not tell us about the families of Dan and Zebulun.
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