1 Chronicles 8:37

8:1-40 Genealogies. - Here is a larger list of Benjamin's tribe. We may suppose that many things in these genealogies, which to us seem difficult, abrupt, and perplexed, were plain and easy at that time, and fully answered the intention for which they were published. Many great and mighty nations then were in being upon earth, and many illustrious men, whose names are now wholly forgotten; while the names of multitudes of the Israel of God are here kept in everlasting remembrance. The memory of the just is blessed.

And his firstborn son Abdon,.... That is, Jehiel's, the father or prince of Gibeon; other sons follow: Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab, Gedor, Ahio, and Zacher; called Zechariah, 1 Chronicles 9:37 and between Baal and Nadab, Ner is placed, 1 Chronicles 9:36 and another son is added at the end of 1 Chronicles 9:37, Mikloth next mentioned.

This verse combined with 1 Chronicles 9:35-39 , seems to show that the genealogy of Saul was: Abiel ( equals Jehiel?) Ner Kish Abner Saul Rather than that to be inferred from 1 Samuel 9:1; 1 Samuel 14:50-51. In 1 Samuel 14:49 note, it is concluded that Saul's second son bore the two names of "Ishui" and "Abinadab." But the order of the names here: (1) Jonathan; (2) Malchi-shua; and (3) Abinadab - suggests another explanation, namely, that Ishui, the second son, died young, and that Abinadab was really the fourth son. Esh-baal - Previous to the introduction of the Phoenician Baal-worship into Israel by Ahab, the word "Baal" בעל ba‛al had no bad sense in Hebrew, but was simply an equivalent of the more ordinary אל 'êl, "God" (1 Chronicles 3:1 note). Hence, there is nothing strange in the use at this time of the names, "Esh-baal" ("man of God"), "Baal," "Beel-iada," "Merib-baal," etc. Later on such names became offensive to pious ears, and were changed for the better, or for the worse, "Beel-iada" becoming "El-iada" ("let God aid") - "Esh-baal," "Ish-bo-sheth" ("man of shame") - "Merib-baal," "Mephi-bosheth;" and the like.

Jonathan's sons and grandsons. His son is called here and in 1 Chronicles 9:40 Meribbaal, while in 2 Samuel 4:4 ; 2 Samuel 9:6 ; 2 Samuel 16:1 ., 2 Samuel 19:25 , he is called Mephibosheth, because the name "striver with Baal" has been changed into מפיבשׁת, exterminans idolum. This Meribbaal, who was lame in his feet (cf. 2 Samuel 4:4 ), had a son Micha (מיכה, in 2 Samuel 9:12 written מיכא), of whom came a numerous race. He had four sons ( 1 Chronicles 8:35 ), and the family of the last-named of these (Ahaz) is traced down, in 1 Chronicles 8:36-40 , through ten generations to the great-grandson of Eshek. First it is traced from Ahaz to Alemeth ( 1 Chronicles 8:36 ); then through Zimri, brother of this latter, to Binea, by הוליד; then further by בּנו (hisson) to Azel, of whom in 1 Chronicles 8:38 six sons are enumerated; and finally, in 1 Chronicles 8:39 , the sons of his brother Eshek are named, and the sons and grandsons of the first-born of this latter are then enumerated. The last two verses are wanting after 1 Chronicles 9:44 . The names in the two registers correspond, except at one point, where we cannot get rid of the discrepancy that for יחועדּה ( 1 Chronicles 8:36 ) there stands in 1 Chronicles 9:42 יערה both times, probably through an error of transcription, by which out of the shortened form יעדּה there arose יערה, ד and ר being interchanged.

Besides this, instead of the תּארע of 1 Chronicles 8:35 , we have in 1 Chronicles 9:41 , according to the harder pronunciation of the gutturals, תּחרע; and for רפה, 1 Chronicles 8:37 , we have in 1 Chronicles 9:41 the longer original form רפיה. Now since Ahaz, whose posterity is traced down to the tenth generation, was descended from Jonathan in the third generation, and his grandfather Mephibosheth was a boy of five years of age at the death of Saul and Jonathan ( 2 Samuel 4:4 ), the grandsons of Ulam, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 8:40 , will be the thirteenth generation of Jonathan's descendants. Now Jonathan fell along with Saul in the year 1055 b.c., and consequently this thirteenth generation of Jonathan's descendants lived probably about 700 b.c., i.e., about 100 years before the Babylonian exile; for, according to the analogy of the royal race of David, we cannot reckon more than twenty-five years on an average for each generation. (Note: Bertheau holds a contrary opinion to that given in the text, and thinks that by the numerous sons and grandsons of Ulam the son of Eshek we are brought down to post-exilic times, seeing that if Saul lived about 1080 b.c., and thirty years are reckoned to each one of the thirteen generations (Eshek being a descendant of Saul in the thirteenth generation), Azel and Eshek must have lived about 690 b.c.