1 Chronicles: A Commentary

5 1/ 3/ 11/ Translation The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. (He was the firstborn, but because he defiled1 the bed of his father his birthright2 was given3 to the sons of Joseph4 the son of Israel, but not so that he5 is enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. 2/ It is true that Judah was preeminent among his brothers and a ruler came from him, but the birthright6 belonged to Joseph.) The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 4/ The sons of Joel:7 Shemaiah8 his son, Gog9 his son, Shimei his son, 5/ Micah his son, Reaiah his son, BaaP0 his son, 6/ Beerah his son, whom Tillegath11-pilneser, king of Assyria, took into exile. He was a prince of the Reubenites. 7/ And his relatives,12 according to their clans13 when the genealogy of their generations was constructed: Jeiel,14 the chief, and Zechariah, 8/ and Bela son of Azaz, son of Shema,15 son of Joel-who settled in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon. 9/ And they16 also settled in the east by the edge of the desert that reaches to the Euphrates River, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead. 10/ And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagrites,17 who fell by their hand;18 and they lived in their tents throughout19 the entire region east of Gilead. The sons of Gad lived beside them20 in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah: 12/ Joel the chief, and Shapham21 the second, Janai, and Shaphat22 in Bashan. 13/ Their kindred according to their fathers' houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber,23 seven.24 14/ These were the sons of25 Abihail son of Huri, son of Jaroah,26 son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz.27 15/ Ahi son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was chief in their fathers' house, 16/ and they lived in Gilead/8 in Jabesh29 and in its towns, and in all the pasturelands of Sharon up30 to its limits. 17/ All these were enrolled in their genealogies in the days of Jotham31 king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam32 king of Israel. 18/ Reuben, Gad,33 and the half-tribe of Manasseh had mighty men, people carrying shield and sword and drawing the bow, skilled in warfare, forty-four thousand seven hundred sixty, ready to go to battle. 19/ They made war on the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab; 20/ and they were given help34 against them, and the Hagrites and all who were with them35 were given into their hands, for they cried to God in the battle, and he granted their entreaty because they trusted in him. 21/ They took captive36 their livestock: fifty37 thousand camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep, 5:1-26 Genealogy from Reuben, Gad, and Half-Tribe of Manasseh LXX Ell r(il alla{3fJilm "ascended," a harmonization with Gen 48:15; 49:4. P.J. Williams, "The LXX of 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 as an Exposition of Genesis 48-49," TynBu/49 (1998) 369-71, shows that the LXX variants in textual notes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 depend on the translator's meditation on "blessing" and the "right of the firstborn" described in Genesis 48-49. 2 1Iil::l:::l; LXX EVAO)'t' "J oash"; LXX•2 'J oab." 32 LXXLadds "[the son] ofJoash." 33 i J with LXX8 L, Syr, Tg, Vg; MT ''1J1 "and Gadite," perhaps under the influence of the following word that ends in a yod. 34 1'1lll'1; LXXL"and they cried out" (1plll'1). 35 C!i1t:illili '?:n. LXX nraKryVwJ.I.a.Ta. = Lli1''?i1K '?:n "their tents." 36 1::Jili'1; Rothstein, 102, and Rudolph, 48, 1'?ili'1 "They plundered." 37 LXX "five." 38 jili::lt:i r '1K::J; Syr, Arab. (cf. BHS): jili::li1 r '1K::l "in the land of Bashan." Japhet, 129, adds a third possibility : "in the land X from Bashan." 39 LXX adds "and in Lebanon." 40 '1Elll; MT '1Elll1 "and Epher." Delete conjunction with the versions. 41 Or "namely." For this use of the conjunction see Deut 9:8, 22. Moshe Anbar, "Pout roi d'Assyrie et Tilgath-Pilm!ser roi d'Assyrie," BN 48 (1989) 7, suggests that a later scribe inserted the word nn ("the spirit of') before...