INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 1

This chapter gives us the genealogy of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah, 1 Chronicles 1:1 of the sons of Noah, and their posterity, to Abraham, 1 Chronicles 1:5 of the sons of Abraham and their posterity, 1 Chronicles 1:28 and of the sons of Esau, 1 Chronicles 1:35 and of the kings and dukes that reigned in Edom, 1 Chronicles 1:43.

Adam, Seth,.... These first four verses exactly agree with the account of the antediluvian patriarchs in Genesis 5:1, the first letter in Adam is larger than usual, as a memorial, as Buxtorf^F13 observes, of the first and only man, from whence mankind had their beginning, and whose history the author had undertaken to write.

The sons of Japheth, Gomer,.... Here begins the genealogy of the sons of Noah after the flood; of the sons of Japheth the elder, in this and the two following verses; next of the sons of Ham, the younger brother, 1 Chronicles 1:8, then of Shem, whose posterity are mentioned last, because from him, in the line of Heber, sprang Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish nation, of whom the Messiah was to come, for whose sake this genealogy is given, 1 Chronicles 1:17. The whole is the same with the account in Genesis 10:1

The sons of Abraham,.... The famous and well known ancestor of the Jews; of Ishmael his firstborn, and his posterity; of his sons by Keturah; and of Isaac and his sons, an account is given from hence to the end of 1 Chronicles 1:34 entirely agreeing with that in Genesis 25:1.

The sons of Esau,.... The firstborn of Isaac; his posterity are named in this and the two following verses, as in Genesis 36:1 only it should be observed, that Timna, 1 Chronicles 1:36 is not the name of a man, but was the concubine of Eliphaz, the eldest son of Esau, and the mother of Amalek, Genesis 36:12, and so in the Arabic version it is read,"and Timna, which was the concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, bare him Amalek;'and so the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint.

And the sons of Seir,.... This man and his posterity were not of the race of Esau, but are mentioned because they were a family into which Esau, and a son of his, married, and whose possessions he and his obtained. The account from hence, to the end of 1 Chronicles 1:42 is the same with Genesis 36:20, with some little variation of names.

Now these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom,.... Which had its name from Esau, who was so called, Genesis 25:30. From hence, to the end of the chapter, an account is given of the kings and dukes of Edom, in the same order as in Genesis 30:31.