Chapter V

=1‒10.=
THE GENEALOGY OF REUBEN.

¹And the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was
the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s couch,
his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of
Israel; and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the
birthright.

=1.= _he defiled_] Genesis xxxv. 22, xlix. 4.

_his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph_] Compare Genesis xlviii. 5, “Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine,” words of Jacob which might be interpreted to mean that the rights of the firstborn were to pass from Reuben and Simeon to Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph.

_the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright_] i.e. though the birthright of Reuben has been given to Joseph, yet the genealogy of Joseph is not to be given before that of Reuben. Verse 2 intimates that, though Joseph possessed the birthright, Judah had a primacy as supplying the royal family. In this confusion of claims the natural order is followed and the genealogy of Reuben is given first.

²For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the
prince¹; but the birthright was Joseph’s:)

¹ Or, _leader_.

=2.= _Judah prevailed above his brethren_] Compare Genesis xlix. 8 (Jacob to Judah) “Thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.”

_the prince_] The Hebrew word is _nāgīd_. The immediate reference is to David (Saul being virtually ignored by the Chronicler).

³the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu,
Hezron, and Carmi.

=3.= _the sons of Reuben_] The same four names (with one unimportant variation in spelling in Authorized Version) appear Genesis xlvi. 9; Exodus vi. 14.

_Hanoch_] the correct spelling of the familiar name _Enoch_; compare i. 3.

_Hezron, and Carmi_] also given as sons of Judah: for Hezron, compare ii. 5 (note); for Carmi ii. 7, iv. 1.

⁴The sons of Joel; Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son;
⁵Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son;

=4.= _sons of Joel_] the connection, if any, with the preceding verse is not known.

⁶Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser² king of Assyria carried
away captive: he was prince of the Reubenites. ⁷And his brethren
by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was
reckoned; the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,

² In 2 Kings xv. 29, xvi. 7, _Tiglath-pileser_.

=6.= _Beerah ... captive_] The deportation of Beerah is recorded only here, but there is no reason why the tradition should not be historical. The information is of very slight importance in itself, but since there is absolutely no motive to make the Chronicler invent the statement, this is precisely the _kind_ of notice which implies that he had some sources oral or traditional at his command outside the canonical material (see Introduction. § 5).

_Tilgath-pilneser_] called _Tiglath-pileser_ (2 Kings xv. 29), and no doubt identical with _Pul_ (see below, verse 26).

⁸and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel,
who dwelt in Aroer, even unto Nebo and Baal-meon: ⁹and eastward
he dwelt even unto the entering in of the wilderness from the
river Euphrates: because their cattle were multiplied in the
land of Gilead.

=8.= _Aroer_] now _‘Ar‘āir_, a heap of ruins near the _wādy Mojib_, i.e. the _Arnon_ (Joshua xii. 2). According to Joshua xiii. 9‒16 it passed from Sihon king of the Amorites into the hands of the Reubenites. See Bädeker, _Palestine_⁵, p. 153.

_Nebo and Baal-meon_] A line drawn due north from Aroer (see last note) passes close first to _Ma‘in_ (which may be _Baal-meon_) and then to _Jebel Nebā_, which evidently preserves the name of Mount Nebo.

_Baal-meon_] called more correctly Beth-baal-meon Joshua xiii. 17.

¹⁰And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagrites, who
fell by their hand: and they dwelt in their tents throughout all
the _land_ east of Gilead.

=10.= _in the days of Saul_] Saul’s victory over the Ammonites (1 Samuel xi.) may have paved the way for the expansion of Israel east of Jordan, but see also the note on verse 19.

_the Hagrites_] compare Psalms lxxxiii. 6 (Revised Version margin). They were an Arab people. See further the note on verse 19.

_the_ land _east of Gilead_] i.e. the land between Gilead and the Euphrates (compare verse 9). On Gilead, see note, ii. 22.

=11‒17.=
THE GENEALOGY AND SETTLEMENTS OF GAD.

¹¹And the sons of Gad dwelt over against them, in the land of
Bashan unto Salecah:

=11.= _Bashan_] the wide district extending from the Jabbok on the south to Hermon in the north and from the Sea of Galilee on the west to the mountains of Hauran on the east (compare verse 23). Remark that in Numbers xxxii. 33; Deuteronomy iii. 12; Joshua xiii. 25, Gad is located in Gilead (south of Bashan) where the Chronicler has placed Reuben.

_Salecah_] is probably represented at the present day by the ruins of _Salkhad_ due south of the _Jebel Hauran_ and almost due east of Boṣra.

¹²Joel the chief, and Shapham the second, and Janai, and Shaphat
in Bashan: ¹³and their brethren of their fathers’ houses;
Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jacan, and
Zia, and Eber, seven. ¹⁴These were the sons of Abihail the son of
Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael,
the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz; ¹⁵Ahi
the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of their fathers’
houses.

=12.= _and Janai, and Shaphat_] LXX. “Janin the scribe”; Targum, “Janai the judge.”

_of their fathers’ houses_] This rather awkward phrase means clans or patriarchal families (πατριαί). Sometimes it is used to denote the whole tribe, compare Numbers xvii. 17.

¹⁶And they dwelt in Gilead in Bashan, and in her towns¹, and in
all the suburbs² of Sharon, as far as their borders³.

¹ Hebrew _daughters_.

² Or, _pasture lands_

³ Hebrew _goings forth_.

=16.= _in Gilead in Bashan_] a contradictory phrase, since _Gilead_ means the southern and _Bashan_ the northern part of Israel’s trans-Jordanic territory. Perhaps _in Bashan_ is here an addition made by the Chronicler or a later hand to harmonise _in Gilead_ (the territory usually assigned to Gad――see note on verse 11 above) with verses 11 and 23. The emendation “in Gilead in Jabesh” has been suggested.

_Sharon_] some place, unidentified, to the east of Jordan. LXX. (B) has _Sirion_. (The well-known _Sharon_ lay in the maritime plain between Joppa and Caesarea.)

¹⁷All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham
king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.

=17.= _reckoned by genealogies ... and in the days of Jeroboam_] “Reckoning by genealogy” is a phrase used only in the writings of the Chronicler (Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah), but the practice probably resembled what is called in other books “numbering the people”: see the example in Nehemiah vii. 5‒65. The object however was different and corresponded with the circumstances of the returned exiles, who found themselves in the midst of a Gentile population in Judea. The people were “reckoned by genealogy” not so much to take a census of them, as to inquire into the purity of their Israelite descent. The ancient term “numbering” would be a more suitable description of a transaction belonging to the days of Jotham. For _Jotham_ see 2 Chronicles xxvii. and for _Jeroboam_ 2 Kings xiv. 23‒29. The last years of the reign of Jeroboam II probably synchronized with part of the reign of Jotham.

=18‒22.=
THE WAR OF THE TRANS-JORDANIC TRIBES AGAINST ARABIAN TRIBES.

¹⁸The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of
Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword,
and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, were forty and four
thousand seven hundred and threescore, that were able to go
forth to war.

=18.= _skilful in war_] compare xii. 8, 21.

_forty and four thousand_] According to Joshua iv. 13 “about forty thousand” from these tribes crossed the Jordan with Joshua.

¹⁹And they made war with the Hagrites, with Jetur, and Naphish,
and Nodab.

=19.= _made war with the Hagrites..._] Possibly this war described in verses 18‒22 is only a midrashic variation of the war briefly noted in verse 10; possibly we have traditions of separate conflicts. That fighting against Arabian tribes took place in the time of Saul (verse 10) is quite probable, and perhaps there is here a definite recollection of the fact. Yet conflicts on the eastern borders were no doubt frequent, and the ancient fights may have been overlaid with the memories and details of more recent struggles, and especially the names assigned may be those of later foes. Though the Hagrites are mentioned in inscriptions of Sennacherib, they seem to have grown more prominent and powerful in later days (compare Psalms lxxxiii. 7), and their name in the Chronicler’s time may have been somewhat loosely and generally applied to the Arabian tribes near Palestine.

_Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab_] Other Bedouin tribes, _Jetur_, _Naphish_, _Kedemah_ are given as sons of Ishmael in i. 31.

²⁰And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were
delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for
they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them;
because they put their trust in him. ²¹And they took away their
cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred
and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of men¹ an
hundred thousand.

¹ Hebrew _souls of men_.

=20.= _they were helped_] with Divine assistance; compare xv. 26.

²²For there fell many slain, because the war was of God. And
they dwelt in their stead until the captivity.

=22.= _was of God_] i.e. was prompted by God; compare 1 Samuel xv. 2, 3.

=23, 24.=
THE HALF TRIBE OF MANASSEH.

²³And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in
the land: they increased from Bashan unto Baal-hermon and
Senir and mount Hermon. ²⁴And these were the heads of their
fathers’ houses; even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel,
and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour,
famous men, heads of their fathers’ houses.

=23.= For the genealogy of Manasseh, see vii. 14 ff.

_Baal-hermon_] In Judges iii. 3 a mount Baal-hermon is mentioned. Here probably a city is meant, possibly _Banias_, on the eastern slope of Hermon.

_Senir_] an Amorite name for Mt Hermon or a peak of the range (Deuteronomy iii. 9).

=25, 26.=
THE CAPTIVITY OF THE TRANS-JORDANIC TRIBES.

²⁵And they trespassed against the God of their fathers, and
went a whoring after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom
God destroyed before them.

=25.= _they trespassed_] The Hebrew verb has a special reference to unlawful or idolatrous worship and also to the violation of a consecrated thing; compare Joshua xxii. 16, 20, 31.

²⁶And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of
Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and
he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and
the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and
Habor, and Hara, and to the river of Gozan, unto this day.

=26.= _stirred up the spirit_] Compare 2 Chronicles xxi. 16, where see note; xxxvi. 22.

_Pul ... and ... Tilgath-pilneser_] Both here and in 2 Kings xv. 19, 29 (_Pul ... Tiglath-pileser_) the two names are used as though two different persons were meant, but there is no doubt that _Pul_ is the earlier and _Tiglath-pileser_ the royal name of the same king; compare verse 6.

_unto Halah_, etc.] In 2 Kings xv. 29 it is said only, _to Assyria_; in 2 Kings xvii. 6 it is said that the _Western_ tribes (“Samaria”) were carried away and placed _in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes_.

_Halah_] probably a district of Mesopotamia, but it has not yet been convincingly identified.

_Habor_] a river flowing into the Euphrates from the east, known to the Greeks as Χαβώρας or Ἀβόρρας.

_and Hara_] No place of this name is known and the word is omitted in LXX. The reading may be corrupt for _and in the cities of the Medes_ (2 Kings xvii. 6, compare LXX.; xviii. 11).

_the river of Gozan_] Gozan was a district of Mesopotamia.