1 Chronicles: A Commentary

7 1/ 6/ 10/ 13/ 14/ Translation The sons of1 lssachar: Tola, Puah,2 Jashub,3 and Shimron, four. 2/ The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai,4 lbsam, and Shemuel,5 heads of their ancestral houses, namely of Tola, mighty warriors of their generations, their number in the days of David were twenty-two thousand six hundred. 3/ The son of6 Uzzi: lzrahiah. And the sons of lzrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and7 lsshiah, five,8 all of them chiefs; 4/ and alongside them, by their generations, according to their ancestral houses, were troops9 of the war force, thirty-six thousand, for they had more wives and sons than 5/ their kindred.1°For all the families of lssachar there were altogether eighty-seven thousand mighty warriors, enrolled by genealogy. The sons of11 Benjamin:12 Bela,13 Becher, and Jediael,14 three. 7/ The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and lri, five, heads of ancestral houses, mighty warriors ; and their enrollment by genealogies was twenty-two thousand thirty-four. 8/ The sons of Becher: Zemirah,15 Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher; 9/ and their enrollment by genealogies, according to their generations, as heads of their ancestral houses, mighty warriors, was twenty thousand two hundred. The son16 of Jediael:17 Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush,18 Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar . 11 I All these were the sons of Jediael, the heads19 of their ancestral houses, mighty warriors, seventeen thousand two hundred, ready for service in war. 12/ And Shuppim and Huppim20 were the sons of lr, Hushim21 the son22 of Aher.23 The descendants of Naphtali: Jahziel,24 Guni, Jezer, and Shallum.25 These were26 the descendants of Bilhah. The sons of Manasseh: Asrie1,27 whom his Aramean concubine bore;28 she bore Machir the father of Gilead. 15/ And Machir29 took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim.30 The name of his sister31 was Maacah.32 And the name of the second33 was Zelophehad; and Zelophehad had only daughters. 16/ Maacah the wife of Machir34 bore a son, and she named him Peresh; the name of his brother was 214 7:1 -40 Genealogies from lssachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher 'J:J'?1; cf. 1 Chr 6:47, 56, 62 (62, 71, 77). LXXA•1, Syr, Vg: 'l:l1. See the commentary for a discussion of the syntax. 2 01K1El1, also at Gen 46:13 SP, Syr; cf.Judg 10:1. Gen 46:13 MT; Num 26:23, 011El1 "Puvah." The spelling in Chronicles andJudg 10:1 may be a combination of 011El and K1El. 3 :ni!i• with Q, LXX, Vg, Num 26:24; cf. Syr, K: :J'i!i' "Jashib." Chronicles Tg, Gen 46:13: :::11' lob (haplography of the sin). 4 •an•1; LXXAa111:ln'1 "Jahmou." 5 The spelling in Hebrew is the same as the man traditionally called "Samuel" in the Bible. 6 p1 Sebir, MT 'l::l1 "sons of." 7 Cor~junction lacking in MT. 8 Syr, Arab.: "four." This is a harmonistic change because of the apparent contradiction between the number of names given and this total. See the commentary . 9 'l1il; LXX, Syr, Vg, Arab.: '11::ll "mighty men." 10 ClOl'nKI:l and connect with v. 4. See Curtis and Madsen , 145; BHS. MT on·nK1. 11 'j:J with some Hebrew MSS, LXXL, Syr, Tg, Vg, Arab.; lost by haplography (homoioarchton) in MT. 12 LXX; reads "The sons of Zebulun." Curtis and Madsen , 147-49, proposed that this was indeed originally a genealogy of Zebulun. For discussion see the commentary. 13 Omitted accidentally by LXX. 14 Syr adds "and Ashbel." This is a harmonization here and in v. 10 with Gen 46:21. 15 Oll'l:lr; LXXL•1 , Rudolph, 66: Ol'll:ll "Zemariah," thus adding a theophoric element to the name and eliminating a name with a feminine ending. 16 p Sebir, MT 'l::l1 "The sons of." 17 Syr adds 'ski "and Ashkel" for "and Ashbel." Cf. textual note 14. 18 i!iur with Q, many Hebrew MSS, and the versions; cf. 1 Chr 1:35. K i!i'.!l' 'Jeish." 19 'i!iKI with LXX, Vg; MT 'i!iKI'?. The lamed arose by dittography of the last letter on the previous word. 20 c:Jm D:Ji!i1; Num 26:39 omm DEJ1Eli!i1 "Shephupham and Hupham." Gen 46:21 D'Eln1 Cl'Ell...