1 Chronicles 5:20
Ver. 20. And they were helped against them,.... The Israelites were helped against the Ishmaelites, to fight with them, and overcome them; either by their brethren of the house of Israel, as the Targum, those on this side Jordan; or rather by the Lord, to whom they cried, and who was entreated by them as follows:
and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that [were] with them; they and their confederates and auxiliaries, the Ituraeans, &c.
for they cried to God in the battle; which at first seems to have gone against them; and they prayed to God, as the Targum, while they were fighting, that he would appear for them, and give them victory:
and he was entreated of them; he received their prayer, as the same paraphrase; he heard them, and answered them:because they put their trust in him; in his power and providence, and not in their own strength, courage, and military skill; the Targum is,"because they trusted in his word.'' 1 Chronicles 5:21Ver. 21. And they took away their cattle,.... Which they brought with them, and they found in their camp when they fled, or in their fields:of their camels fifty thousand; with which Arabia abounded, and were fit to travel with in those hot and desert countries, being strong to carry burdens, and able to bear much thirst. The Arabians, as Diodorus Siculus {a} reports, brought up camels, for almost all the uses of life; as for the sake of their milk and flesh to feed upon, as well as for carrying burdens in common; and which in time of war they loaded with provisions for the army, and fought upon, one of them carrying two archers with their backs to each other, the one to meet the enemy in front, the other to annoy those that pursued them; and so the Parthians made use of camels both to fight on, and to carry provisions for their soldiers {b}:and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand; which these Hagarites kept both for food and clothing, and some of them might be now taken with them to supply their army; the Spartans carried sheep with them in their expeditions, as sacrifices to their gods {c}; but 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:and of asses two thousand; used to ride on, and carry loads, and also to plough with; and in all these lay the wealth of men in those times and countries, see Job 1:1and of men one hundred thousand; so that they took captive above as many more as their army consisted of.{a} Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 137. & l. 3. p. 178. Vid. Plin. l. 8. c. l8. {b} Tacit. Annal. l. 15. c. 12. Herodian. l. 4. c. 28, 30. {c} Pausan. Boeotica, sive, l. 9. p. 561. 1 Chronicles 5:22Ver. 22. For there fell down many slain,.... Many were killed in the battle, besides the great number of prisoners made, so that the army the Ishmaelites brought into the field was very great:because the war was of God; or from the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; he stirred up the Israelites to it, directed, assisted, and succeeded them, that vengeance might be taken on this wicked and idolatrous people:and they dwelt in their stead until the captivity; the Targum adds, of Sennacherib king of Assyria; but this captivity of the tribes referred to was not by him, but by Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, 1Ch 5:26 and they dwelt not in the country of the Arab-hagarites, or Ishmaelites in their stead there, but in Gilead, as in 1Ch 5:10 which belonged to the Gadites and Reubenites originally, but had been dispossessed of it, or however distressed in it by these Hagarites, which they now drove out, and dwelt in their stead; for as for the Scenite-arabs or Ishmaelites, they never were conquered and brought into subjection by any people, but always maintained their independency {d}; and lived upon the plunder of their neighbours, pitching their tents here and there for their convenience, which in these parts were at this time spoiled.{d} See the notes on Gen. xvi. 12. and Dan. xi. 41. and a dissertation upon the independency of the Arabs, at the end of the Universal History, vol. 20. See Gill on "Ge 16:12".See Gill on "Da 11:41". 1 Chronicles 5:23Ver. 23. And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land,.... 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:they increased from Bashan; where they first settled, and extended their possessions:unto Baalhermon and Senir, and unto Mount Hermon; mountains which lay to the north of the land of Canaan, and are what geographers call Antilibanus. 1 Chronicles 5:24Ver. 24. And 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, Nu 26:31mighty men of valour, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers; 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 the place before quoted. 1 Chronicles 5:25Ver. 25. And 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:and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them; 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. 1 Chronicles 5:26Ver. 26. And the God of Israel,.... The Targum is,"the word of the God of Israel:''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 the former, but the latter:even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh; these entirely together, with some other parts of the land, see2Ki 15:29and 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, see 2Ki 17:6unto 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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.