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1 Chronicles 1:38-54 American Standard (ASV)

38 And the sons of Seir: Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan.

39 And the sons of Lotan: Hori, and Homam; and Timna was Lotan's sister.

40 The sons of Shobal: Alian, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. And the sons of Zibeon: Aiah, and Anah.

41 The sons of Anah: Dishon. And the sons of Dishon: Hamran, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.

42 The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, and Zaavan, Jaakan. The sons of Dishan: Uz, and Aran.

43 Now these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there resigned any king over the children of Israel: Bela the son of Beor; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

44 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.

45 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.

46 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Avith.

47 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.

48 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead.

49 And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.

50 And Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pai: and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

51 And Hadad died. And the chiefs of Edom were: chief Timna, chief Aliah, chief Jetheth,

52 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon,

53 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar,

54 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom.

Commentary on 1 Chronicles 1 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 1

1Ch 1:1-23. Adam's Line to Noah.

1. Adam, &c.—"Begat" must be understood. Only that one member of the family is mentioned, who came in the direct order of succession.

4-23. Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth—The three sons of this patriarch are enumerated, partly because they were the founders of the new world, and partly because the fulfilment of Noah's prophecy (Ge 9:25-27) could not otherwise appear to have been verified.

12. Casluhim (of whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim—a better rendering is, "and Casluhim, of whom came the Philistim and Caphtorim." They were brethren, the sons of Casluhim, and at first dwelt together, whence their names are used interchangeably. The Caphtorim are described as inhabiting Azzah, or Gaza, the seat of the Philistines.

14-17. the Jebusite, &c.—At 1Ch 1:14-17 the names are not those of individuals, but of people who all sprang from Canaan; and as several of them became extinct or were amalgamated with their brethren, their national appellations are given instead of the personal names of their ancestors.

17. Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech—or, "Mash"; these were the children of Aram, and grandsons of Shem (Ge 10:23).

18. Arphaxad begat Shelah—Cainan, the father's name, is omitted here. (See Lu 3:36).

19. Peleg—(See on Ge 10:25).

22. Ebal—or, "Obal" (Ge 10:28).

1Ch 1:24-28. Shem's Line to Abraham.

24-27. Shem, &c.—This comprises a list of ten, inclusive of Abraham.

1Ch 1:29-31. Sons of Ishmael.

29. These are their generations—the heads of his twelve tribes. The great northern desert of Arabia, including the entire neck, was colonized by these tribes; and if we can recover, in the modern geography of this part of the country, Arab tribes bearing the names of those patriarchs, that is, names corresponding with those preserved in the original catalogue of Scripture, we obtain at once so many evidences, not of mere similarity, but of absolute identification [Forster].

Nebaioth—gave rise to the Nabathæans of the classic, and the Beni Nabat of Oriental writers.

Kedar—the Arab tribe, El Khedeyre, on the coast of Hedgar.

Abdeel—Abdilla, the name of a tribe in Yemen.

30. Dumah—Dumah and Tema, the great Arab tribes of Beni Teman. Thus this writer [Historical Geography of Arabia] traces the names of all the heads of the twelve tribes of Ishmael as perpetuated in the clans or tribes of the Arabs in the present day.

1Ch 1:32, 33. Sons of Keturah.

32. sons of Keturah—These became founders of nomadic tribes in the north of Arabia and Syria, as Midian of the Midianites (Ge 36:35; Jud 6:2).

and Shuah—from whom Bildad sprang (Job 2:11).

1Ch 1:34-42. Posterity of Abraham by Esau.

36. sons of Eliphaz—the tribe Adites, in the center country of the Saracens, so called from his mother, Adah (Ge 36:10).

Teman—gave rise to the land of Teman, near the head of the Red Sea.

Omar—the tribe Beni-Amma, settled at the northern point of Djebel Shera (Mount Seir).

Zephi—the tribe Dzaf.

Gatam—Katam, inhabited by the tribe Al Saruat, or "people of Sarah."

Kenaz—the tribe Aenezes, a tribe whose settlement lies in the neighborhood of Syria.

Amalek—the Beni Malak of Zohran, and the Beni Maledj of the Shat el Arab.

37. Reuel—a powerful branch of the great Aeneze tribe, the Rowalla Arabs.

Shammah—the great tribe Beni Shammar. In the same way, the names of the other kings and dukes are traced in the modern tribes of Arabia. But it is unnecessary to mention any more of these obscure nomads, except to notice that Jobab (1Ch 1:44), one of the kings of Edom, is considered to be Job, and that his seat was in the royal city of Dinahab (Ge 36:32; 1Ch 1:43), identified with O'Daeb, a well-known town in the center of Al Dahna, a great northern desert in the direction of Chaldea and the Euphrates [Forster].