1 Chronicles 5

Chapter context

What is happening in 1 Chronicles 5?

memoryworshipgenealogyDavid

1 Chronicles 5 belongs to the early movement of the book, especially the section often described as genealogies from Adam onward. First Chronicles surveys Israel through genealogies and then retells David’s reign with special attention to worship, Levites, and preparations for the temple. Read this chapter with the wider themes of memory, worship, and genealogy in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. ² For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s:) ³ The sons, I say, of Reuben the firstborn of Israel were, Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ⁴ The sons of Joel; Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son, ⁵ Micah his son, Reaia his son, Baal his son, ⁶ Beerah his son, whom Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria carried away captive: he was prince of the Reubenites. ⁷ And his brethren by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned, were the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah, ⁸ And Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer, even unto Nebo and Baalmeon: ⁹ And eastward he inhabited unto the entering in of the wilderness from the river Euphrates: because their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead. ¹⁰ And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites, who fell by their hand: and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the east land of Gilead. ¹¹ And the children of Gad dwelt over against them, in the land of Bashan unto Salcah: ¹² Joel the chief, and Shapham the next, and Jaanai, and Shaphat in Bashan. ¹³ And their brethren of the house of their fathers were, Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jachan, and Zia, and Heber, seven. ¹⁴ These are the children 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; ¹⁵ Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of the house of their fathers. ¹⁶ And they dwelt in Gilead in Bashan, and in her towns, and in all the suburbs of Sharon, upon their borders. ¹⁷ All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel. ¹⁸ The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, were four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war. ¹⁹ And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab. ²⁰ And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites 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. ²¹ And 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 men an hundred thousand. ²² For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity. ²³ And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan unto Baalhermon and Senir, and unto mount Hermon. ²⁴ And these were the heads of the house of their fathers, even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers. ²⁵ And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. ²⁶ And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser 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 Gozan, unto this day.

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Glossary

Reuben Person v. 1, 3, 18: Behold a son!, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah ( Gen. 29:32 ). His sinful conduct, referred to in Gen. 35:22 , brought down upon him his dying father’s malediction (48:4).
Carmi Person v. 3: Vine-dresser. (1. ) The last named of the four sons of Reuben ( Gen. 46:9 ). (2. ) A descendant of Judah ( 1 Chr. 4:1 ). He is elsewhere (2:18) called Caleb (q. v. ). (3. ) The son of Zimri, and the father of Achan.
Pallu Person v. 3: Separated, the second son of Reuben ( 1 Chr. 5:3 ); called Phallu, Gen. 46:9 . He was the father of the Phalluites ( Ex. 6:14 ; Num. 26:5 , 8).
Joel Person v. 4, 8, 12: Jehovah is his God. (1. ) The oldest of Samuel’s two sons appointed by him as judges in Beersheba ( 1 Sam. 8:2 ). (See VASHNI. ) (2. ) A descendant of Reuben ( 1 Chr. 5:4 , 8). (3. ) One of David’s famous warriors.
Shemaiah Person v. 4: Whom Jehovah heard. (1. ) A prophet in the reign of Rehoboam ( 1 Kings 12:22-24 ). (2. ) Neh. 3:29 . (3. ) A Simeonite ( 1 Chr. 4:37 ). (4. ) A priest ( Neh. 12:42 ). (5. ) A Levite ( 1 Chr. 9:16 ). (6. ) 1 Chr. 9:14 ; Neh. 11:15 .
Shimei Person v. 4: Famous. (1. ) A son of Gershon, and grandson of Levi ( Num. 3:18 ; 1 Chr. 6:17 , 29); called Shimi in Ex. 6:17 .
Micah Person v. 5: A shortened form of Micaiah, who is like Jehovah? (1. ) A man of Mount Ephraim, whose history so far is introduced in Judg.
Assyria Place v. 6, 26: Biblical region. Modern identification: Nineveh.
Zechariah Person v. 7: Jehovah is renowned or remembered. (1. ) A prophet of Judah, the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets. Like Ezekiel, he was of priestly extraction. He describes himself (1:1) as.
Aroer Place v. 8: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Arair.
Baal-meon Place v. 8: Lord of dwelling, a town of Reuben ( Num. 32:38 ), called also Beth-meon ( Jer. 48:23 ) and Beth-baal-meon ( Josh. 13:17 ). It is supposed to have been the birth-place of Elisha. Modern identification: Ma‘in.
Nebo Place v. 8: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Khirbet al Mukhayyat.
Euphrates Place v. 9: Biblical river. Modern identification: Euphrates River.
Gilead Place v. 9-10, 16: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tell edh Dhahab esh Sherqiyeh.
Saul Person v. 10: Asked for. (1. ) A king of Edom ( Gen. 36:37 , 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48 .
Bashan Place v. 11-12, 16, 23: Biblical region. Modern identification: Saham al Jawlan.
Gad Person v. 11: Fortune; luck. (1. ) Jacob’s seventh son, by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and the brother of Asher ( Gen. 30:11-13 ; 46:16 , 18). In the Authorized Version of 30:11 the words, “A troop cometh: and she called,” etc.
Salecah Place v. 11: Wandering, a city of Bashan assigned to the half tribe of Manasseh ( Deut. 3:10 ; Josh. 12:5 ; 13:11 ), identified with Salkhad, about 56 miles east of Jordan.
Shaphat Tribe v. 12: Judge. (1. ) One of the spies. He represented the tribe of Simeon ( Num. 13:5 ). (2. ) The father of Elisha ( 1 Kings 19:16-19 ). (3. ) One of David’s chief herdsmen ( 1 Chr. 27:29 ).
Heber Person v. 13: Passing over. (1. ) Son of Beriah and grandson of Asher ( Gen. 46:17 ; 1 Chr. 7:31 , 32). (2. ) The Kenite ( Judg. 4:11 , 17; 5:24), a descendant of Hobab. His wife Jael received Sisera.
Meshullam Person v. 13: Befriended. (1. ) One of the chief Gadites in Bashan in the time of Jotham ( 1 Chr. 5:13 ). (2. ) Grandfather of Shaphan, “the scribe,” in the reign of Josiah ( 2 Kings 22:3 ). (3. ) A priest, father of Hilkiah.
Zia Person v. 13: Fear, a Gadite ( 1 Chr. 5:13 ).
Abihail Person v. 14: Father of might. (1. ) Num. 3:35 . (2. ) 1 Chr. 2:29 . (3. ) 1 Chr. 5:14 . (4. ) The second wife of King Rehoboam ( 2 Chr. 11:18 ), a descendant of Eliab, David’s eldest brother.
Abdiel Person v. 15: Servant of God, ( 1 Chr. 5:15 ), a Gadite chief.
Sharon Place v. 16: A plain, a level tract extending from the Mediterranean to the hill country to the west of Jerusalem, about 30 miles long and from 8 to 15 miles broad. Modern identification: Transjordan.
Jeroboam Person v. 17: Increase of the people. (1. ) The son of Nebat ( 1 Kings 11:26-39 ), “an Ephrathite,” the first king of the ten tribes, over whom he reigned twenty-two years (B. C. 976-945).
Bow Tribe v. 18: The bow was in use in early times both in war and in the chase ( Gen. 21:20 ; 27:3 ; 48:22 ). The tribe of Benjamin were famous for the use of the bow ( 1 Chr. 8:40 ; 12:2 ; 2 Chr. 14:8 ; 17:17 ); so also were the Elamites.
Nodab Tribe v. 19: Noble, probably a tribe descended from one of the sons of Ishmael, with whom the trans-Jordanic tribes made war ( 1 Chr. 5:19 ).
Baal-hermon Place v. 23: Lord of Hermon. (1. ) A city near Mount Hermon inhabited by the Ephraimites ( 1 Chr. 5:23 ). Probably identical with Baal-gad ( Josh. 11:17 ). (2. ) A mountain east of Lebanon ( Judg. 3:3 ).
Mount Hermon Place v. 23: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Mount Hermon.
Senir Place v. 23: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Mount Hermon.
Eliel Person v. 24: To whom God is might. (1. ) A chief of Manasseh, on the east of Jordan ( 1 Chr. 5:24 ). (2. ) A Gadite who joined David in the hold at Ziklag ( 1 Chr. 12:11 ).
Jeremiah Person v. 24: Raised up or appointed by Jehovah. (1. ) A Gadite who joined David in the wilderness ( 1 Chr. 12:10 ). (2. ) A Gadite warrior ( 1 Chr. 12:13 ). (3. ) A Benjamite slinger who joined David at Ziklag ( 1 Chr. 12:4 ).
Gozan Place v. 26: A region in Central Asia to which the Israelites were carried away captive ( 2 Kings 17:6 ; 1 Chr. 5:26 ; 2 Kings 19:12 ; Isa. 37:12 ). Modern identification: Tell Halaf.
Habor Place v. 26: The united stream, or, according to others, with beautiful banks, the name of a river in Assyria, and also of the district through which it flowed ( 1 Chr. 5:26 ). Modern identification: Khabur River.
Halah Place v. 26: A district of Media to which captive Israelites were transported by the Assyrian kings ( 2 Kings 17:6 ; 18:11 ; 1 Chr. 5:26 ). It lay along the banks of the upper Khabur, from its source to its junction with the Jerujer. Modern identification: Al Abbasiyah.
Hara Place v. 26: Mountainous land, a province of Assyria ( 1 Chr. 5:26 ), between the Tigris and the Euphrates, along the banks of the Khabur, to which some of the Israelite captives were carried. It has not been identified. Modern identification: Tell Halaf.