Chapter IV

=1‒23= (compare ii. 3 ff.)
GENEALOGIES OF THE TRIBES OF JUDAH.

The material contained in these verses gives rise to no little perplexity, not only in itself but also when considered along with the genealogies of Judah in ii. 3 ff. Whether the Chronicler himself could have thrown any light on the points which puzzle us may well be doubted: he was more concerned to preserve all available genealogical matter than to consider or attempt to reconcile conflicting elements. Both the date and relationship of these notices must be confessed to be as yet uncertain, opinion being divided even on the question whether the list represents pre-exilic or post-exilic conditions. Remark that the list is essentially a Calebite one.

¹The sons of Judah; Perez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and
Shobal.

=1.= As Hezron was the son of Perez (chapter ii. 5) and (if the LXX. be right) Shobal was the son of Hur (ii. 50, note), we have in this verse five, if not six, generations.

_Carmi_] for the name, compare ii. 7, and v. 3. Here, however, Carmi is certainly an error for =Caleb=: see ii. 4, 5, 9, 50 and also the structure of the present chapter. Thus in accord with the usual practice of the Chronicler the chief ancestors are first named (verse 1), and then, in _reverse_ order, their descendants――sons of Shobal and Hur (verses 2‒10), and sons of Chelub (= Caleb) (verses 11‒15).

²And Reaiah the son of Shobal begat Jahath; and Jahath begat
Ahumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites.

=2.= _Reaiah_] Compare note on ii. 52.

_the Zorathites_] Compare note on ii. 53.

³And these were _the sons of_ the father of Etam; Jezreel, and
Ishma, and Idbash: and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi:

=3.= _these were_ the sons of _the father of Etam_] The Hebrew has not got the words _the sons of_, and is certainly corrupt. The LXX. reads, _These were the sons of Etam._ Correction is difficult, largely owing to the obscurity of Etam. If Etam had been named as a son of Shobal in verse 2, we might follow the LXX. It is perhaps best to suppose that Etam begins the list of descendants of Hur, and to read “these were =the sons of Hur= the father of Etam.” Etam was a place, but whether near Bethlehem (the _Etam_ of 2 Chronicles xi. 6) or in southern Judah (the Simeonite _Etam_ of verse 32) is uncertain.

⁴and Penuel the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah.
These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the
father of Beth-lehem.

=4.= _Hur_] the first born of Ephrathah (= Ephrath) one of the wives of Caleb (ii. 19). Hur was _father of Bethlehem_ through his son Salma (ii. 50, 51, LXX.). For the name of the city compare Genesis xxxv. 19 (_Ephrath the same is Bethlehem_) and Micah v. 2 (Revised Version _Thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah_).

⁵And Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.
⁶And Naarah bare him Ahuzzam, and Hepher, and Temeni, and
Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. ⁷And the sons of
Helah were Zereth, Izhar¹, and Ethnan.

¹ Another reading is, _and Zohar_.

=5.= _Ashhur the father of Tekoa_] Ashhur is probably only a variant of Hur (see note ii. 24). Hur then is the exilic or post-exilic “father” (founder) of the Calebite population of Tekoa (5 miles from Bethlehem), and of Bethlehem, etc., through his sons (ii. 50‒52).

_Helah and Naarah_] Neither the names of the wives nor those of the children yield any certain information.

⁸And Hakkoz begat Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel
the son of Harum.

=8.= _And Hakkoz_] But Hebrew =Koz=. The absence of connection with the preceding verse is striking. Perhaps Koz was properly one of the sons of Helah (verse 7), and a motive for the severance of his name may be found in the wish to make less obvious his Calebite (i.e. non-Levitical) origin, in case he were identified with the priestly Hakkoz of xxiv. 10; Ezekiel ii. 61, a family who were unable to prove an untainted pedigree.

⁹And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother
called his name Jabez, saying. Because I bare him with sorrow.

=9.= The connection of this verse also does not appear. According to Targum (on verse 13) _Jabez_ = _Othniel_, the nephew or brother of Caleb.

_And Jabez_, etc.] Render, =And Jabez came to be honoured above his brethren, but his mother had called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with pain.= _Jabez_ suggests a somewhat similar word spelt with the same consonants but in a different order, and meaning “he giveth pain.” The stylistic similarity between this verse and many passages in Genesis (e.g. Genesis xxx.) cannot fail to be noticed, and it is important to observe that a tradition of this popular character was current in the style of the patriarchal narratives of Genesis in the Chronicler’s time. Compare also vii. 23. The man with the ill-omened name staved off ill-fortune by his prayer which is given in the following verse.

¹⁰And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou
wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that thine
hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil,
that it be not to my sorrow! And God granted him that which he
requested.

=10.= _that thou wouldest keep me from evil_] Literally _that thou wouldest make ... from evil_. The Hebrew is therefore strange, though not indefensible. Perhaps some words have fallen out, and it may originally have read somewhat as follows, that _thou wouldest make_ [_room_ (merḥābh) _for me, and wouldest redeem_ (phādīthā) _me_] _from evil_.

_that it be not to my sorrow_] or =so that no pain befell me=.

=11‒15= for _Chelub_ (verse 11) = Caleb (see on ii. 9, 42)
SONS OF CALEB.

¹¹And Chelub the brother of Shuhah begat Mehir, which was the
father of Eshton. ¹²And Eshton begat Beth-rapha, and Paseah, and
Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash¹. These are the men of Recah.

¹ Or, _the city of Nahash_.

=12.= _These are the men of Recah_] Recah is unknown. Perhaps the true reading is that of the LXX. (B), _the men of Rechab_, i.e. Rechabite families; compare ii. 55, note.

¹³And the sons of Kenaz; Othniel, and Seraiah: and the sons of
Othniel; Hathath.

=13.= _Othniel_] Eponym of a Kenizzite clan, closely connected with the Calebites. Compare note on i. 36, and Judges i. 13 and iii. 9‒11.

¹⁴And Meonothai begat Ophrah: and Seraiah begat Joab the father
of Ge-harashim¹; for they were craftsmen.

¹ Or, _the valley of craftsmen_.

=14.= _Meonothai_] perhaps a son of Othniel.

_Ge-harashim_] or, as margin, =the valley of craftsmen=. It is mentioned Nehemiah xi. 35 along with _Lod_ (the _Lydda_ of Acts ix. 32) and therefore was probably near Lydda.

¹⁵And the sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh; Iru, Elah, and
Naam: and the sons of Elah; and Kenaz.

=15.= _Caleb the son of Jephunneh_] Compare ii. 42, note.

_the sons of Elah; and Kenaz_] The _sons of Elah_ and _Kenaz_ seem to be co-ordinated, as each represented a family descended from Caleb; but perhaps the text is faulty.

¹⁶And the sons of Jehallelel; Ziph, and Ziphah, Tiria, and
Asarel.

=16‒20.= The connection of these names with Judah does not appear. In accordance with the structure of this section (see note on Carmi, verse 1) we might expect here to find “the sons of Hezron or Perez”; and, since the relationship between Jehallelel (16) and Ezrah (17) is not indicated, it has been suggested that we should insert in verse 16 “And the sons of Perez and Jehallelel and Ezrah.” No certainty can be felt in the matter.

_Ziph_] in south Judah, 1 Samuel xxiii. 15. Ziphah, a feminine form of the same name.

¹⁷And the sons of Ezrah; Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon:
and she bare Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishbah the father of
Eshtemoa.

=17.= _and Jalon: and she bare Miriam_] As the text stands _she_ has no antecedent. It has therefore been proposed to transfer from verse 18 the words _And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took_, and put them after _Jalon_. Bithiah then appears as the mother of _Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah_, and the difficulty of the absence of her sons’ names from verse 18 disappears. For _father of Eshtemoa_ see ii. 24 note, and for _Eshtemoa_ see Joshua xxi. 14.

¹⁸And his wife the Jewess¹ bare Jered the father of Gedor, and
Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.
And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which
Mered took.

¹ Or, _Hajehudijah_.

=18.= _his wife_] the wife of Mered, if the transposition mentioned in the last note be accepted.

_his wife the Jewess_] so called in contrast to his Egyptian wife.

_Gedor_] compare verse 4, where a different person is perhaps by a different tradition called father of Gedor. _Gedor_ is to be identified with the ruins of Jedur on the road between Jerusalem and Hebron, compare verse 39.

_Soco ... Zanoah_] The Soco (Joshua xv. 48) and Zanoah (Joshua xv. 56) here mentioned were situated to the south-west of Hebron. They are to be distinguished from a Soco near the valley of Elah (Joshua xv. 35, 2 Chronicles xi. 7, xxviii. 18) and Zanoah near Beth-shemesh (Joshua xv. 34).

_these are the sons of Bithiah_] See note on verse 17. A “daughter of Pharaoh” is somewhat strange in such surroundings. For an interesting emendation and interpretation, see Macalister, _Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement_, 1905, p. 252.

¹⁹And the sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were
the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.
²⁰And the sons of Shimon; Amnon, and Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and
Tilon. And the sons of Ishi; Zoheth, and Ben-zoheth.

=19.= _Keilah_] a town of the Shephelah (Joshua xv. 44), the scene of one of David’s exploits (1 Samuel xxiii. 1‒5).

_Eshtemoa the Maacathite_] The epithet distinguishes this Eshtemoa from that of verse 17. _The Maacathite_ may mean the descendant of Maacah (ii. 48), the concubine of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel.

=21‒23.= These verses purport to give some fragmentary information of the descendants of _Shelah_. It must be owned that they are most obscure, and much more difficult than they appear at first. In the _Palestine Exploration Fund Statement_, 1905, pp. 243 ff., 328 ff., R. A. S. Macalister gives a highly ingenious reinterpretation of this passage in the light of certain jar handles inscribed with names similar to those mentioned here and in certain other passages of the Chronicler’s genealogies; and conjectures that throughout the chapter we have a (mutilated) genealogy of a family of craftsmen, tracing descent from two individuals, a Jerahmeel and a Caleb. In a text so obscure it is no objection that the theory involves several textual emendations, and is too intricate for further treatment here. It is rejected by Driver, _Modern Research_, p. 77.

²¹The sons of Shelah the son of Judah; Er the father of Lecah,
and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house
of them that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea;

=21.= _Shelah_] mentioned in ii. 3 as a son of Judah. As there is no reference to him in iv. 1, perhaps these difficult verses are an addition. For other references to his descendants, see ix. 5, Nehemiah xi. 5.

_Mareshah_] ii. 42; 2 Chronicles xi. 8; Joshua xv. 44 (mentioned with Keilah). A town in the south of Judah.

_the house of Ashbea_] Nothing is known of such a family. Render perhaps _Beth-Ashbea_, but the place is otherwise unknown.

²²and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who
had dominion in Moab, and Jashubi-lehem. And the records¹ are
ancient.

¹ Hebrew _words_.

=22.= _and Joash, and Saraph, who_, etc.] We find no other trace of these two as rulers of Moab. The Targum fancifully identified them with Mahlon and Chilion of Ruth i. 2, 4. For a conjecture as to the cause of their presence in Moab, see Macalister, _Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement_, 1905, p. 340.

_and Jashubi-lehem_] render, with _Vulgate_, =who returned to Bethlehem=, a translation which requires only an easy emendation of the present Hebrew text.

²³These were the potters, and the inhabitants¹ of Netaim and
Gederah: there they dwelt with the king for his work.

¹ Or, _those that dwelt among plantations and hedges_.

=23.= _there they dwelt with the king for his work_] In the days of the kingdom the families were clients of the king and did his work; compare 1 Kings vii. 46. The simplicity of this statement seems to have been a stumbling-block to the early translators who paraphrase; LXX., _They were strong in his kingdom and dwelt there_; Targum, _They made their dwelling there with the Shekinah of the King of the World for the practice of the Law._

=24‒27.=
THE GENEALOGY OF SIMEON.

²⁴The sons of Simeon; Nemuel¹, and Jamin, Jarib², Zerah³,
Shaul: ²⁵Shallum his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son. ²⁶And
the sons of Mishma; Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his
son. ²⁷And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his
brethren had not many children, neither did all their family
multiply, like to the children of Judah.

¹ In Genesis xlvi. 10, Exodus vi. 15, _Jemuel_.

² In Genesis xlvi. 10, _Jachin_.

³ Genesis xlvi. 10, _Zohar_.

=24‒27.= _The sons of Simeon_] With unimportant variations in the names, the five sons of Simeon are mentioned also in Genesis xlvi. 10, Exodus vi. 15, and Numbers xxvi. 12, 13. A sixth son, Ohad, is given by the list in Genesis. As the mother of one, Shaul, was a Canaanitess (Genesis xlvi. 10) and Mibsam and Mishma are also reckoned Ishmaelites (i. 29, 30), the tribe of Simeon contained marked non-Israelite elements. This is the more natural by reason of its location in the extreme south of Palestine.

=27.= _six daughters_] LXX. _three daughters_.

=28‒33= (= Joshua xix. 2‒8).
THE TERRITORY OF SIMEON.

²⁸And they dwelt at Beer-sheba, and Moladah, and Hazar-shual;

=28.= _Beer-sheba_] at the southern extremity of Palestine, as Dan was at the northern (1 Samuel iii. 20).

²⁹and at Bilhah, and at Ezem, and at Tolad;

=29.= _Tolad_] In Joshua xix. 4 _Eltolad_.

³⁰and at Bethuel, and at Hormah, and at Ziklag;

=30.= _Bethuel_] compare Genesis xxii. 22. In Joshua xix. 4 _Bethul_. In 1 Samuel xxx. 27 _Bethel_ (not the famous Bethel near Jerusalem).

_Hormah_] Numbers xiv. 45, xxi. 3; Judges i. 17.

_Ziklag_] 1 Samuel xxvii. 6. The site is not certainly identified.

³¹and at Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susim, and at Beth-biri, and
at Shaaraim. These were their cities unto the reign of David.

=31.= _Beth-marcaboth ... Hazar-susim_] perhaps royal chariot-cities, 1 Kings ix. 19. The names mean _House of chariots_ and _Court of horses_.

_Shaaraim_] 1 Samuel xvii. 52.

_These were their cities unto the reign of David_] either a reference to David’s census; or else it is implied that these cities ceased to belong to Simeon after David’s day. The clause breaks the connection of verses 31, 32; and is perhaps a late gloss.

³²And their villages were Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and
Ashan, five cities:

=32.= _And their villages were Etam_] more probably =and their villages= (end of verse 31). =Etam=, etc. (continuing the list of cities as in verse 31). By _villages_ (_Ḥăṣērīm_) are meant small hamlets dependent on larger towns and generally unwalled (Leviticus xxv. 31).

_Ain, Rimmon_] so also in the parallel passage, Joshua xix. 7; but certainly only one place is meant, _Ain-Rimmon_ (see the commentaries on Joshua xv. 42 and xix. 7). The number of the cities here ought therefore to be reckoned four, not five.

³³and all their villages that were round about the same cities,
unto Baal. These were their habitations, and they have their
genealogy.

=33.= _unto Baal_] _Baal_ (“lord”) standing by itself is an unlikely name for a town. Read _Baalath-beer, Ramah of the South_ (“the mistress of the well, the high place of the South”), as in Joshua xix. 8.

=34‒43.=
THE HEROES OF SIMEON AND THEIR EXPLOITS.

It seems probable that the exploits mentioned in these verses are derived from some old, though obscure, tradition, and are therefore of historical value for the movements of the tribe of Simeon. Apparently we are to understand that in the time of Hezekiah a band of the wild semi-nomadic tribe of Simeon made a successful raid upon a fertile valley near Gerar (a correction for _Gedor_, see verse 39), a township on the Philistine border, taking by surprise its peaceful population who were partly Canaanites, partly settlers who had come originally from a place _Maon_ (see verse 41). _Gedor_, the reading of the Hebrew text, was a town just north of Hebron. A raid by Simeonites on such a town is a startling, but not incredible, episode in Hezekiah’s time; but see also note on verse 40. Finally verses 42, 43 record a further assault by Simeonites, this time against Edomite territory. For full discussion see Hogg in _Encyclopedia Biblia_ iv. 4527 ff.; also Macalister, _Palestine Exploration Fund Statement_, 1905, 335 ff.

³⁴And Meshobab, and Jamlech, and Joshah the son of Amaziah;
³⁵and Joel, and Jehu the son of Joshibiah, the son of Seraiah,
the son of Asiel; ³⁶and Elioenai, and Jaakobah, and Jeshohaiah,
and Asaiah, and Adiel, and Jesimiel, and Benaiah; ³⁷and Ziza
the son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son
of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah; ³⁸these mentioned by name were
princes in their families: and their fathers’ houses increased
greatly.

=38.= _their fathers’ houses_] See note on chapter v. 13.

³⁹And they went to the entering in of Gedor, even unto the east
side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks.

=39.= _the entering in of Gedor_] Compare verse 18. The Gedor of Joshua xv. 58 is identified with _Jedur_, _Ijdur_ (north of Hebron, Bädeker, _Palestine_⁵, p. 112). See Macalister, _Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement_, 1905, 335. LXX. has _Gerar_ (compare Genesis xx. 1; xxvi. 1), on the Philistine border.

⁴⁰And they found fat pasture and good, and the land was wide,
and quiet, and peaceable; for they that dwelt there aforetime
were of Ham.

=40.= _they ... of Ham_] i.e. Canaanites, who had long been settled in the district (compare the security felt by the people of Laish, Judges xviii. 27). Their presence would seem natural in _Gerar_ on the Philistine border but strange in _Gedor_ near Hebron. If therefore the reading _Gedor_ be preferred above, there is something to be said for the suggestion of Macalister (p. 335) that we should here read “of Menahem” (a change of one letter in Hebrew), some unwarlike Hebrew family, perhaps potters.

⁴¹And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king
of Judah, and smote their tents, and the Meunim that were found
there, and destroyed¹ them utterly, unto this day, and dwelt in
their stead: because there was pasture there for their flocks.
⁴²And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred
men, went to mount Seir, having for their captains Pelatiah, and
Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.

¹ Hebrew _devoted them_.

=41.= _written by name_] Apparently those mentioned in verses 34‒37; but the names there are of a late character, and have perhaps been artificially connected with the old tradition of the raiders in verses 41 ff.

_in the days of Hezekiah_] The Hebrew is ambiguous, but the clause should probably be connected with the verb “came,” not with “written”: the raid, not the record, was made in the days of Hezekiah.

_and the Meunim_] Here, and in 2 Chronicles xx. 1 (see note), xxvi. 7, the LXX. has Minaeans, an Arabian people who from the 8th or 9th century B.C. or perhaps much earlier exercised great authority in South Arabia (see _Encyclopedia Britannica_¹¹ II. 264). The Meunim of _the present_ passage are to be connected with an Edomitic city or tribe not far from Petra, south of the Dead Sea; or (so Macalister, p. 336) are simply the people of Maon, a township near Hebron in Judah. 2 Chronicles xx. 1 (note) and xxvi. 7, Revised Version.

_destroyed them utterly_] or, as margin, =devoted them= (compare Joshua vi. 18, 21, Revised Version). See note 2 Chronicles xx. 23.

⁴³And they smote the remnant of the Amalekites that escaped, and
dwelt there, unto this day.

=43.= _the remnant of the Amalekites_] i.e. the descendants of those who had escaped the attacks of Saul and David (1 Samuel xiv. 48, xv. 3 ff.). They had apparently found refuge in some part of the Edomite territory, for _mount Seir_ is a synonym for _the land of Edom_.