1 Chronicles 7

1 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 7

Other Tribes of Israel (7:1-8:40)

        • NLT Illustrated Study Bible writes, “In this chapter [7], the genealogies of the remaining tribes of Israel are given. The sections on the tribes of Issachar, Benjamin, and Asher might have been derived from a military census; the lists are of nearly equal length, emphasize military terminology, record the father’s houses, and provide no information on settlements. The tribes of Zebulun and Dan are omitted entirely, and Naphtali has a very brief record.”

The Descendants of Issachar

      • Issachar’s sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron- 4 in all.

      • The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Samuel- the heads of their ancestral families. During the time of David, 22,600 descendants of Tola were listed as warriors in their genealogical records.

        • The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah.

        • The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Ishiah. All 5 were leaders.

        • According to the genealogical records of their families, they had 36,000 warriors available for battle, because they had many wives and sons. Altogether the genealogical records of the families of Issachar listed a total of 87,000 warriors.

The Descendants of Benjamin

        • ESV Study Bible notes, “These details of Benjamin differ from other lists (Gen 46:21; Num 26:38-39; 1 Chron 8:1-3) and originate mainly in military registers (7:7, 9, 11), probably the same as for Issachar. A second Benjaminite genealogy is given in ch. 8, though for a different purpose.”

        • Benjamin’s sons: Bela, Beker, and Jediael- 3 in all.

        • The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri- 5 in all. They were the warriors and heads of their ancestral families. There were 22,034 warriors listed in their genealogical records.

        • The sons of Beker: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All of these were Beker’s sons. Their genealogical records listed the heads of families and 20,200 warriors.

        • The son of Jediael: Bilhan.

        • The sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Kenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. All these sons of Jediael were heads of ancestral families. There were 17,200 warriors able to go to war.

        • The Shuppites and Huppites were descendants of Ir, and the Hushites were the descendants of Aher.

        • The text of v. 12 is problematic resulting in a multiplicity of theories. The interested reader can refer to the reconciliation attempts of several different commentaries via Biblehub. NLT Illustrated Study Bible just notes, “The Hebrew text of this verse appears to have been disrupted (something was apparently lost during scribal copying) because no introduction is given for either Ir or Hushim. The names Shuppim and Huppim have parallels in the tribe of Benjamin (8:8, 11; Gen 46:21; Num 26:39)…”

The Descendants of Naphtali

        • The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum- the descendants of Bilhah.

          • NET Bible’s text critical notes point out, “The name ‘Jahziel’ appears as ‘Jahzeel’ in Gen 46:24.” And, “Most Hebrew mss read ‘Shallum’; some Hebrew mss and some LXX mss read ‘Shillem,’ the form of the name that appears in Gen 46:24 and Num 26:49.”

          • ESV Study Bible writes, “Drawn from Gen 46:24 and Num 26:48-49. The extreme brevity may reflect the limitations in the Chronicler’s sources. Details for Dan and Zebulun are also missing, probably because of the fragmentary nature of records from the early monarchy.”

        • HCSB notes, “Gen 30:5-8 lists Dan and Naphtali as Bilhah’s sons, but Dan was omitted here. See also Gen 46:23-45.”

The Descendants of Manasseh

          • HCSB writes, “Manasseh in the Transjordan (east of the Jordan River) was dealt with in 5:23-26; the Manasseh in the Cisjordan (west of the Jordan River) was the one written of here in verses 14-19.”

      • The sons of Manasseh from his Aramean concubine: Asriel and Makir. Makir was Gilead’s father. Makir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. His sister’s name was Maakah. Manasseh’s second son, Zelophehad, only had daughters.

        • Again, there are lots of issues with the text. NET Bible’s text critical notes say, “Some translations treat the terms …(shuppim) and …(khuppim) as proper names of individuals (‘Huppim’ and ‘Shuppim’), but others consider these forms to be plurals and refer to tribal or clan names.” This results in very different renderings. The Bible hub compilation of the various commentaries reflect the confusion.

        • Guzik mentions, “Zelophehad is one mentioned in Numbers 26:33, 27:1-11 and 36:1-12 when the question came to Moses about female inheritance rights.”

      • Makir’s wife Maakah gave birth to a son and named him Peresh. His brother was named Sheresh, and Sheresh’s sons were Ulam and Rakem.

        • The son of Ulam: Bedan.

        • These were the sons of Gilead. Gilead was Makir’s son, and Makir was Manasseh’s son. Makir’s sister Hammoleketh gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah.

        • The sons of Shemida: Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

        • Of this section (vv. 14-19) NLT Illustrated Study Bible remarks, “Several difficulties in these verses might indicate that the Hebrew text was damaged: (1) Maacah is listed as the sister of Makir as well as his wife (7:15-16). (2) Huppim and Shuppim were listed earlier with Benjamin (7:12), not Manasseh. (3) Those considered Gileadites (7:16-17) are rather ambiguously linked to Gilead, whose direct descendants are not listed (cp Num 26:30-33). (4) The sons of Shemida are not connected to the genealogy (1 Chr 7:19); Shemida was one of Gilead’s descendants (Num 26:32).”

The Descendants of Ephraim

        • ESV Study Bible writes, “The vertical genealogy of Joshua, the most famous Ephraimite, is given in vv. 20-27 (from Num 26:35). Into this list a historical note (1 Chron 7:21b-24) has been inserted that probably refers to the postconquest period: the building of Lower and Upper Beth-horon fits better with the time of tribal settlement. In this case, Ephraim (v. 22) would refer not to the patriarch but to a later descendant of the same name. Gath may be Gittaim, on the Ephraimite border. Verses 28-29 draw on Joshua 16-17 for details of the settlements of Ephraim and Manasseh, since both tribes descended from Joseph.”

      • The descendants of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Shuthelah’s son Bered, Bered’s son Tahath, Tahath’s son Eleadah, Eleadah’s son Tahath, Tahath’s son Zabad, and Zabad’s son Shuthelah, (Ezer and Elead were killed by the native-born men of Gath when they went down to steal their cattle. Their father Ephraim mourned for them a long time, and his relatives came to comfort him. Then he slept with his wife again; she conceived and gave birth to a son. Ephraim named him Beriah because tragedy had befallen his family. His daughter was Sheerah, and she had built both Lower and Upper Beth Horon as well as Uzzen Sheerah) Shuthelah’s son Rephah, Rephah’s son Resheph, Resheph’s son Telah, Telah’s son Tahan, Tahan’s son Ladan, Ladan’s son Ammihud, Ammihud’s son Elishama, Elishama’s son Nun, and Nun’s son Joshua.

        • There is debate over the appropriate understanding of the relationship between the names in v. 21. The interested reader may refer to Biblehub’s collection of commentaries on the topic.

        • NLT Illustrated Study Bible says, “The father of Ezer and Elad is recorded as Ephraim, but Ephraim the son of Joseph could not have settled in Canaan after the Exodus. The traditional solution was to imagine an early exodus for the family of Ephraim. Other possibilities are that the name Ephraim is a scribal mistake or that Ephraim referred to the tribe rather than the son of Joseph who bore the same name.” (ESV Study Bible offers another possibility in the citation above at the opening of the section on Ephraim.)

        • NET Bible takes an interesting approach (which I have followed) that also seems to make sense of the arbitrary beginning of additional names in the genealogy in v. 25, “The antecedent of the pronoun ‘his’ is not clear. The translation assumes that v. 25 resumes the list of Ephraim’s descendants (see vv. 20-21a) after a lengthy parenthesis (vv. 21b-24).”

      • Their land and settlements included Bethel and its surrounding towns, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its towns to the west, Shechem and its surrounding towns as far as Ayyah and its surrounding towns. On the border of Manasseh’s territory were Beth Shan, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, together with their surrounding towns. The descendants of Israel’s son Joseph lived in these towns.

The Descendants of Asher

          • ESV Study Bible writes, “Gen 46:17, Num 26:44-46, and details from a military register (1 Chron 7:40) provide the information for Asher. The total of fighting men for Asher (26,000, v. 40) is significantly less than that in Moses’ day (Num 26:47).”

      • Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Serah was their sister.

      • The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel. Malkiel was Birzaith’s father.

        • Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua.

        • The sons of Japhlet: Pasak, Bimhal, and Ashvath.

        • The sons of Japhlet’s brother Shomer: Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram.

          • I have sided with the NET Bible rendering of v. 34, “The Hebrew text has …(ʾakhi, ‘the brother of’), but this should probably be emended…(ʾakhiv, ‘his brother’). Cf. v. 35. Most English versions treat this Hebrew word as a proper name (‘Ahi’) and list it before ‘Rohgah.’”

        • The sons of Japhlet’s brother Hotham: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amai.

        • The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera.

        • The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispah, and Ara.

        • The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.

        • Ulla is apparently a mystery. Pulpit Commentary writes, “Whether in this verse we get to the eighth generation depends on who may be meant by Ulla. It is impossible to answer the question. The suggestion has been made that the name may, by some great error of copyists, stand for either Zophah’s last son Beera, or, by happier conjecture, Jether’s last son, Ara. But neither professes to be anything better than mere conjecture.”

        • All these were the descendants of Asher- heads of ancestral families, choice men, brave warriors, and outstanding leaders. There were 26,000 warriors, ready for battle, listed in their genealogical records.

Click here to go to chapter 8