The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 56

sur~ly in error), that there were others of and their registrntion was correot to them." the same nn,me (and certainly gfren as llertheau, however, to.kes the meaning to brothers), viz. the sons of Ishmael (Gen. be, "And thero was their family register XH. 13; eh. i. 29). Ver. 26 adds apparently to them," i.e. " They had their own family another three descents, viz. from Mishma.. regieter. 1 ' Of the first-Dflmed of these, Hamuel, it may Vera. 3!-41.-Thcse verses record an be noted that the name appenrs in m1tny organized and determined movement in Hebrew manuscripts as Chammuel; of the quest of new o.nd rich territory ou the part second-no.med, Za.ochur, that six others of the of some of the h·ibe of Simeon. They were same name (though the Authorized Version thirteen prinoes of the tl'ibe of Simeon who gives them Zaccur) are found in Numbers, led the movement, possibly representing the First Book of Chronicles, and Nehe- respectively the "thirteen cities". given miah; while on the third, Shimei ( of which above. The movement took place in the name the Old Testament contains fifteen days of Hezekiah king of Jud~ (B.c. others), our attention is especially detained 726-698). That the house of their fathers as father of sixteen sons and six daughters, had inoreased greatly is probably men- though it is observed that his brethren tioned as some explanation of the ea.use (query Hammuel and Zacchur) had not of the movement. 'fhough in one name large families. The smallness of the whole out of the thirteen (\'er. 35) the ancestors tribe relatively t-0 Judah, was only saved are traced to the third generation, and iu from being smaller by him. With this another (ver. 37) to the fifth, no name agrees the census of Numb. i_ 23, 27; ii. is reached of the sons of Simeon enu- 4, 13; nvi. 14. It is possible that this merated in vern. 24-27. These men- Shimei is the same with Shemaiah of tioned by names is to be translated strictly ver. 37_ these coming by names; and it is open to Vers. 28-33.-These "thirteen cities question whether the word of ver. 41, with their villaaes" and "five cities" c•:11n:ai~, be not omitted after D'N:ai~ ; so are found, with s~me slight differen<',es, in th~t the passage would read, "Th~;e that Josh. rix. 1-9 (comp. xv. 26-32, 42). ea.me, written by names, were princes in They were carved out of the "portion of their families." Of the names, twenty-two Judah," which had been found dispropor- in all, found in these verses,just so much is tioned during the interval that elapsed known as is here written. between the first settlements. viz. of Judah Ver. 39.-The place Oedor cannot ho and the sons of Joseph, and the completion identified in this connection. There is a of the settlements westward of Jordan town of the name situatetl in the moun- (Josh. xviii. 1-6; comp. Judg. i 3, 17). tainous district of J udo.h between Hallrnl From the second of these groups, Tochen and Deth-zur, to the north of Hebron (see suggestion in' Speaker's Co=entary,' (Josh. xv. 58). It is evitlent that this can- in Zoe.) is omitted in Josh. xix. 7, where not be the place we require here. There only "four cities" are summed. The is another town of tho name ( eh. xii. 7), allusion (ver. 31) to the reign of David is probably belonging to Benjamin, an<l which sufficiently explained by the fact that during as little admits of being fitted in here. his persecuted wanderings he was often in J:oth the Alexan<lrine and the Vo.tican the portion of Simeon, to three of the cities Codex of the Septuagint, however, evidently of which he sent presents from tbe spoils of read iil for ill, Now, Gero.r of the the Amalekites (l Sam. xxx. 26-31) ; and Philistin'es would' suit well for position and Ziklag became his own (l Sam. xxvii. 6), description, and o.lso (Gen. x. 14) for tho special mention being made of how it allusion found here (ver. 40) to the dwelling passed into the tribe of Judah. The fuller there " of oltl" of the people of Hom. name of Ba.al ('rer. 33) is given as Baalath- The Hebrew word, however, generally ap- beer in Josh. xix. 8, whne it is followed plied to the valley of Gemr 6r:i~, wo.dy) by the addition "Ramath [height] of the is not the word used here of Gedor south." It may be noted that this descrip- (11;~;:i, ravine). See Stanley's 'Syria and tion of the allotment of Simeon begins with Beer-sheba and ends with Daalath-beer. Palestine,' p. 159, o.nd note. Not only The expression (ver. 33), and their gene- are references frequent to the fertility alogy"-c~i;;~i;,~ infinitive Hithp., used as a of Gorar, but the significanco of that in 2 Chron. xiv. 14 speake for itself. This noun-will be more properly translated, alteration of reading, however, with nocept- their taule of genrology, or their regis• ance of the Septuo.gint manusrripts, cannot tratwn. The: following c~~ may then be regarde<l as o.ltogetber sati~fnctory, and refer to "their habitations;~• rather than Keil (' Comm.,' in loc.) offers somo sugges- tbemsel ves, so that tbe clause, as a whole, tions of weight against thos6 of Ewo.ltl, would mean, "These were their dwellings, Dortheau, antl other.;.  en. rv. 1-13.] THE FIRST TIOOK OF 'l'HE CHilONICLES. 47