1 Chronicles 2:42

Verses 42-49. - These verses are occupied with the resumption of descendants of Caleb - the Caleb apparently of vers. 9 and 18, though, this being so, the last clause in ver. 49, the daughter of Caleb, Achsa , will require accounting for. This statement would lead us to suppose that we were assuredly reading of Caleb the son of Jephunneh; but it cannot be so. The name of Caleb, with the questions gathering round it, will be best considered here. Of the nine times in which it occurs in this chapter, the mere duplicates (of vers. 20, 46, 48) may be at once counted off. The compound "Caleb-ephratah" of ver. 24 has been already dealt with. Nor need we for the present suppose ver. 50 to have any real meaning inconsistent with its apparent meaning, viz. that Caleb is the name of a grandson (son of Hut) as well as of the grandfather. There remain the occasions of the occurring of the word in vers. 9, 18, 42, 49. 1. The first appearance, then, of the name in this chapter (ver. 9) exhibits it in a form different from that in which it appears the other times in this chapter or elsewhere, viz. as כְלוּבַי , instead of כָלֵב (or once as a patronymic, 1 Samuel 25:3 , כּלִֹבִּי ). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew, but the Septuagint has at once substituted Caleb. The Syriac Version has Salchi, and the Arabic Sachli, both of them, no doubt, mere transcribers' errors through the mistake of a letter.

This form "Chelubai" is, then, an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον , and no different account has yet been given of the name appearing thus on this one occasion. It may be described, with Lange ('Comm. Old Testament,' in loc. ), as "adjectivus gentilis" to כְלוּב , which word, however, occur where it will, is never treated as a synonym with Caleb except by the Septuagint, and then but once ( 1 Chronicles 4:11 ), making Lange's further claim of three forms for the name of Caleb wrong. The name might be translated the "Cheluban" or "Chelubite." 2. The Caleb called here first "Chelubai," again" Caleb the son of Hezron," and now "Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel," some, and Keil among them, have endeavoured to identify with Caleb the son of Jephunneh. This latter is a well-known figure in history. He, together with Joshua, was among those who, departing from Egypt, were pursued of Pharaoh, and of all the host these two alone lived to enter into the promised land. This is enough to give him distinction and a prominent place before the eye. To this Caleb unmistakable reference is made in twenty-eight passages, in sixteen of which he is called "son of Jephunneh," and in three of those sixteen "son of Jephunneh the Kenazite." Now, he tells us himself ( Joshua 14:7 ) that he was forty years old in the seceded year after the Exodus.

42–49. The Descendants of Caleb 42 . Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel ] Called Chelubai ( 1 Chronicles 2:9 ) and Caleb the son of Hezron ( 1 Chronicles 2:18 ). There is nothing to shew what relationship existed between this Caleb and Caleb son of Jephunneh ( 1 Chronicles 4:15 and Numbers 13:6 ). Perhaps they are to be identified; cp. 1 Chronicles 2:49 , note. Both are assigned to the tribe of Judah. Several of the names, viz. Ziph ( Joshua 15:24 or 55), Mareshah ( 2 Chronicles 11:8 ), Hebron, Tappuah ( Joshua 15:34 ), Maon ( Joshua 15:55 ), and Beth-zur ( Joshua 15:58 ) are names of towns in the S. or S.W. of Judah, and consequently may represent here the respective populations of those towns, and not individual descendants of Caleb. Mesha ] The Moabite king whose deeds are recorded on the Moabite stone bore this name. It means Victory, enlargement . LXX. reads Mareshah ( Μαρεισά ) as in the latter part of the verse.

(42-55) These verses revert to the Calebite stocks. Interpreted as merely bearing upon the extraction of individuals about whom, for the most part, nothing whatever is known beyond what these brief notices reveal, the section presents great difficulties. The key to it appears to be the assumption that it is an ancient record of the relations between certain great branches of the tribe of Judah, and their various settlements; in other words, these lists are tribal and topographical, rather than genealogical. I.—1Chronicles 2:42-45 : Caleb brother of Jerahmeel = Caleb son of Hezron (1Chronicles 2:18) = Chelubai (1Chronicles 2:9). (42) Mesha.—The name of a king of Moab (2Kings 3:4), whose monument of victory, the famous Moabite stone, was found in 1868 at Dibou. Here the name is probably that of a principal Calebite clan, settled at Ziph, near Hebron (Joshua 15:54-55; 1Samuel 23:14). Father of Ziph.—Comp. 1Chronicles 2:21, “father of Gilead,” and 24. And the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron.—The statement of the verse is, “the sons of Mareshah were sons of Caleb,” that is, the Mareshathites, or people of Mareshah (Joshua 15:44), a town in the Shephelah, were a Calebite clan. This branch of Caleb is called “father of Hebron,” because it had the chief part in colonising that old Canaanite city. (43) Korah.—Elsewhere the name of a subdivision of the Kohathite Levites; in 1Chronicles 1:35 it was a tribe of Edomites. In this place, therefore, it may be a clan of Hebronites.

Tappuah.—A town in the Shephelah (Joshua 15:34; Joshua 16:8). Rekem.—A Benjamite city (Joshua 18:27); in 1Chronicles 7:16, a Machirite chieftain or clan. Shema.—Occurs several times in the chronicle. In 1Chronicles 5:8; 1Chronicles 8:13 it appears to be the name of a clan; in 1Chronicles 11:44 and Nehemiah 8:4 a person is meant. (44) Jorkoam.—Occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. The LXX. (Alex.) has Ἰεκλάν, Jeklan. Probably, therefore, the correct reading is Jokdeam. (For the change of Hebrew d to Greek l see 1Kings 5:11, where Hebrew Darda is represented by Δαραλά.) Jokdeam was a town in the hill-country of Judah (Joshua 15:56). The chief or clan Raham is here called its father or founder. Rekem.—The LXX. (Alex.) again has Jeklan (Jokdeam), which is as likely to be right as Rekem. Shammai.—See 1Chronicles 2:28. (45) Maon . . . Beth-zur.—Towns in the hill-country of Judah (Joshua 15:55; Joshua 15:58). Maon, now Main, south of Hebron. Beth-zur (2Chronicles 11:7), now Beit-sûr. In Judges 10:12 Midianites, not Maonites, is the better reading.

The sons of Caleb, to wit, of that Caleb mentioned 1 Chronicles 2:18 , as appears by comparing that verse with 1 Chronicles 2:21 . And these are his sons by another and his third wife. See Poole "1 Chronicles 2:18" . Ziph; the name either of a man, or of a place, of which see Joshua 15:24,55 ; and then father is to be understood here, as 1 Chronicles 2:23,24 . The father of Hebron; not the place so called, but a man, as is evident, because his sons here follow.

A third line of descent from Caleb, the son of Hezron, the issue probably of a different mother, perhaps Jerioth 1 Chronicles 2:18 . The supposed omissions in this verse have been supplied as follows: (1) "Mesha, the father of Ziph; and the sons of Ziph, Mareshah, the father of Hebron;" or (2) "Mareshah, the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah, the father of Ziph, Hebron." Ziph, like Jorkoam 1 Chronicles 2:44 and Beth-zur 1 Chronicles 2:45, is the name of a place where the respective chiefs ("fathers") settled. Similarly Madmannah, Machbenah, and Gibea 1 Chronicles 2:49, Kirjath-jearim (Joshua 9:17 note), Bethlehem and Beth-gader (Jedur, 1 Chronicles 2:51) are unmistakeable names of places in the list, names which it is not probable were ever borne by persons.

Now the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were, Mesha his firstborn, which was the {l} father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron. (l) That is, the chief governor or prince of the Ziphims, because the prince should have a fatherly care and affection for his people.