1 Chronicles 4:18
Ver. 18. And his wife Jehudijah,.... Another wife of Ezra; or, according to Kimchi, of Mered; a Jewess, as the word is by some rendered, to distinguish her from another wife, an Egyptian, in the latter part of the verse:
bare Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Socho, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah; who were princes, as Jarchi seems rightly to observe; of several cities of these names in the tribe of Judah, as of Gedor, see Jos 15:58, of Socoh, Jos 15:35, of Zanoah, Jos 15:34, the Targum interprets the names of all these men of Moses, whom Pharaoh's daughter brought up; and so other Jewish writers {a}, into which mistake they were led by what follows:
and these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took; that is, to wife; this Mered was one of the sons of Ezra, 1Ch 4:17 the Targum, and other Jewish writers {b}, say this was Caleb, called Mered, because he rebelled against the counsel of the spies; but this contradicts their other notion of Jehudijah, or Bithiah, Pharaoh's daughter, whom he married, the one who brought up Moses, since Moses was elder than Caleb; but Bithiah, whom Mered married, was not a daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt, but of an Israelite of this name; her sons are supposed to be those in the latter part of 1Ch 4:17.{a} T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 13. 1. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 146. 3. {b} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 19. 2. & Megillah, fol. 13. 1. 1 Chronicles 4:19Ver. 19. And the sons of his wife Hodiah,.... Another wife of Mered. Hillerus {c} takes her to be the same with Jehudijah, 1Ch 4:18, though some {d} take Hodiah to be the name of a man, and read the words, "and the sons of the wife of Hodiah"; which wife of Hodiah wasthe sister of Naham; or rather Achotnaham, we render the sister of Naham, is the name of the first son of Hodiah, as some think {e}:the father of Keilah the Garmite; prince of the city of Keilah, in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:44 who sprung from the family of Garmi:and Eshtemoa the Maachathite; the father or prince of the inhabitants of Eshtemoa, another city in the same tribe, see 1Ch 4:17 who sprung from Maachah, see 1Ch 2:48.{c} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 836. {d} Michaelis in loc. {e} Beckii Not. in Targ. 1 Chron. iv. 19. 1 Chronicles 4:20Ver. 20. And the sons of Shimon,.... Perhaps another son of Mered by his last wife, or the same with Shammai, 1Ch 4:17 wereAmnon, and Rinnah, Benhanan, and Tilon; nowhere else mentioned:and the sons of Ishi: who it may be was the brother of Shimon or Tilon: wereZoheth, and Benzoheth; of whom we know no more than their names. 1 Chronicles 4:21Ver. 21. The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah, were,.... The genealogy of the posterity of Judah, in the lines of Pharez and Zerah, being given, and very largely in that of the former, because of the honour of David, and his kingdom, which sprang from thence, as Jarchi observes, and also the King Messiah, the writer returns to give an account of his posterity by Shelah, a son he had by the daughter of Shuah, Ge 38:2 and the only one that had children: which were as follow,Er the father of Lecah: prince of a city of this name in the tribe of Judah; Shelah gave him the name of Er, in memory of his brother, Ge 38:3,and Laadah the father of Mareshah; prince of a city of this name in the same tribe, Jos 15:44and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea; which last clause explains what house these families were of, which sprang from Shelah, and were employed in making fine linen; the Targum adds, for the garments of kings and priests, or for the curtains of the tabernacle, as Jarchi; for not with the Egyptians and Greeks only fine linen was made, but among the Hebrews, as Pausanias {f} testifies.{f} Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p. 294. 1 Chronicles 4:22Ver. 22. And Jokim,.... The Vulgate Latin version is,and he that made the sun to stand: as if Joshua was meant; and in the Talmud it is {g} said Jokim, this is Joshua, who confirmed the oath to the Gibeonites; and the Targum here is,"and the prophets of the scribes that sprang from the posterity of Joshua;''but Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim, and not of Judah; though some interpret it of Elimelech, as Lyra observes {h}, of whom the fable is, that the sun stood still at his prayers, as it did in Joshua's time, to convert the men of Bethlehem; but Jokim is no doubt the proper name of some famous man or family that descended from Shelah:and the men of Chozeba: which signifies a lie; and the Targum interprets it of the Gibeonites, who lied to Joshua; but those were Canaanites, and not of the posterity of Shelah, and tribe of Judah; Chezib, or Achzib, a city in the tribe of Judah, very probably is meant, as Kimchi, the very place where Shelah was born, Ge 38:5 and where dwelt some of his posterity:and Joash and Saraph, who had the dominion in Moab; some render the word, "which married in Moab"; and so the Targum interprets it of Mahlon and Chilion, who took wives of the daughters of Moab; but rather it is to be understood of some who were governors in Moab in the times of David, when Moab was subdued by him, 2Sa 8:2 or however were such, who, at one time or another, made war with Moab, and overcame them:and Jashubilehem: which the Targumist understands of Boaz, prince of the wise men of the school of Bethlehem, and the Talmudists {i} of Ruth, that dwelt in Bethlehem; and may be interpreted of some of the inhabitants of that place which sprang from Shelah; or rather is the name of a single man, famous in his time, though not now known:and these are ancient things; an account of persons that lived in ancient times, and which the writer of this book gives not on his own knowledge, but by tradition, or rather by inspiration.{g} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 2. {h} So Heb. in Hieron. Trad. Heb. in Paralip. fol. 81. M. {i} Ut supra. (T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 2.) 1 Chronicles 4:23Ver. 23. These were the potters,.... Or are the potters; the posterity of those men, who were so famous in their day, are now of mean employments: some of them made earthen pots; and some of themdwelt among plants and hedges; or were employed in planting gardens and orchards, and making fences for them; or, as others think, "dwelt in Netaim and Gadara", cities in the tribe of Judah:there they dwelt with the king for his work; to make pots, plant gardens, and set hedges for him; either for the king of Judah, or it may be for the king of Babylon, where they were carried captive, and now chose to remain, doing those servile works for the king, without the city, in the fields. 1 Chronicles 4:24Ver. 24. The sons of Simeon,.... The account of whom, next to the tribe of Judah, is given before Reuben, because its inheritance lay in the tribe of Judah, Jos 19:1 his sons were Nemuel, the same with Jemuel, Ge 46:10and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul; who, in the place referred to, is said to be the son of a Canaanitish woman; and Jarib and Zerah are the same with Jachin and Zohar there: and Obed is here omitted, it may be because he died without issue; see Nu 26:12. 1 Chronicles 4:25Ver. 25. Shallum his son,.... The son of Shaul, and Mibsam was the son of Shallum, and Mishma the son of Mibsam. 1 Chronicles 4:26Ver. 26. And the sons of Mishma,.... These were Hamuel, Zacchur, and Shimei. 1 Chronicles 4:27Ver. 27. And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters,.... None of which are mentioned by name:but his brethren had not many children: Hamuel and Zacchur:neither did all their family multiply like to the children of Judah: to show the fruitfulness and great increase of which tribe, the genealogical account of it, in this and the two preceding chapters, is given. 1 Chronicles 4:28Ver. 28. And they dwelt at Beersheba,.... posterity of Simeon; and this and the other places of their habitation are mentioned in the same order, and with very little variation of names to the end of 1Ch 4:31, as in Jos 19:2 and here, at 1Ch 4:31 it is added,these were their cities unto the reign of David; when, according to Kimchi, and other Jewish writers, he expelled them from thence, and restored them to the tribe of Judah. 1 Chronicles 4:29Ver. 29. See Gill on "1Ch 4:28" 1 Chronicles 4:30Ver. 30. See Gill on "1Ch 4:28" 1 Chronicles 4:31Ver. 31. See Gill on "1Ch 4:28" 1 Chronicles 4:32Ver. 32. And their villages were Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities. There are but four mentioned inJos 19:7 one might be added since, or new built, namely, Tochen; these, according to Kimchi, were all that remained for them to dwell in, in the times of David; and therefore they were obliged to seek out for new settlements for themselves and flocks, as in 1Ch 4:39, &c. 1 Chronicles 4:33Ver. 33. And all their villages that were round about the same cities, unto Baal,.... The same with Baalathbeer, Jos 19:8these were their habitations, and their genealogy; as before described, until the times of David. 1 Chronicles 4:34Ver. 34-37. And Meshobab, and Jamlech,.... These, with those that follow to the end of 1Ch 4:37 were famous men in the tribe of Simeon, of rank and dignity, and eminent for courage and valour, as the latter part of the chapter testifies, though they are nowhere else taken notice of. Jamlech, as Fabritius {k} observes, is not very different from Jamblichus, the name of a famous Platonic philosopher.{k} Bibliothec. Gr. l. 4. c. 28. p. 294. 1 Chronicles 4:35Ver. 35. See Gill on "1Ch 4:34". 1 Chronicles 4:36Ver. 36. See Gill on "1Ch 4:34". 1 Chronicles 4:37Ver. 37. See Gill on "1Ch 4:34". 1 Chronicles 4:38Ver. 38. These mentioned by [their] names [were] princes in their families,.... The principal men of them, heads of their fathers' houses:and the house of their fathers increased greatly; by them, so that they were obliged to seek out for new habitations, as follows. 1 Chronicles 4:39Ver. 39. And they went to the entrance of Gedor,.... There was a city of this name in the tribe of Judah, 1Ch 4:18 but this seems to be further off, and perhaps is the same with Gedaris, mentioned by Strabo {l} along with Azotus and Askelon, cities that belonged to the Philistines; since it was inhabited by the posterity of Ham, of whom the Philistines were, as in the following verse:even unto the east side of the valley; which was near to Gedor, and a suitable place:to seek pasture for their flocks; their sheep and goats.{l} Geograph. l. 16. p. 522. 1 Chronicles 4:40Ver. 40. And they found fat pasture and good,.... In or near the valley of Gedor:and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable; there was room enough for them and their flocks, and they had no enemies on either side to disturb them:for [they] of Ham had dwelt there of old; either the Canaanites who descended from Canaan the son of Ham, and had never been expelled from thence; or the Philistines, who were a colony of the Egyptians, the posterity of Ham; and these inhabitants being of this cursed race, the Simeonites scrupled not to dispossess them. 1 Chronicles 4:41Ver. 41. And these written by name,.... Before in 1Ch 4:34,came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; as Dr. Lightfoot {m} thinks, not within the first fourteen years of his reign, when the Syrian army was abroad, and none dost peep out, but in his last fifteen years, when the army was destroyed and gone:and smote their tents; the tents of those who dwelt there for the sake of feeding their flocks, and whose pasturage the Simeonites wanted:and the habitations that were found there; or the Meunaim or Maonites, which the Septuagint Version here calls Mineans, a people sometimes mentioned along with the Philistines, and others: seeJud 10:11and destroyed them utterly unto this day: to the writing of this book; they had not then recovered their possessions:and dwelt in their room, because there was pasture there for their flocks; which was the thing they were in search of.{m} Works, vol. 1. p. 111. 1 Chronicles 4:42Ver. 42. And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men went to Mount Seir,.... In the land of Edom:having for their captains Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi; these four captains are said, by the ancient Rabbins, to be of the tribe of Manasseh, as Kimchi observes; see 1Ch 5:24 but as the five hundred they were at the head of were of the sons of Simeon, the captains, no doubt, were of the same race. 1 Chronicles 4:43Ver. 43. And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped,.... That escaped the sword of Saul; though, according to the Jews {n}, 100,000 of them were slain by him in one day; and of the sword of David, though he is said not to leave man or woman alive, 1Sa 27:8and dwelt there unto this day; in the cities of the Amalekites, even of the posterity of the above; who were some of the remnant of Israel, that were not carried away by the king of Assyria, and who dwelt here after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, even in the times of Ezra, the writer of this book; see 2Ch 34:9.{n} Midrash Esther, fol. 93. 4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.