1These, the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 2Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 3The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by the daughter of Shua, the Canaanitess. Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, so He killed him. 4And Tamar, his daughter-in-law, bore him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah: five. 5The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. 6The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara; five. 7The son of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who had transgressed in the devoted thing. 8The son of Ethan: Azariah. 9The sons of Hezron who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai. 10Ram begot Amminadab, and Amminadab begot Nahshon, chief of the sons of Judah; 11Nahshon begot Salma, and Salma begot Boaz; 12Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse; 13Jesse begot Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, 14Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, 15Ozem the sixth, and David the seventh. 16Their sisters: Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel; three. 17Abigail bore Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite. 18Caleb the son of Hezron had sons by Azubah, his wife, and by Jerioth. Now these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. 19When Azubah died, Caleb took Ephrath as his wife, who bore him Hur. 20And Hur begot Uri, and Uri begot Bezalel. 21And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he had taken when he was sixty years old; and she bore him Segub. 22Segub begot Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. 23(Geshur and Syria took from them the towns of Jair, with Kenath and its daughter-villages; sixty cities.) All these belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead. 24After Hezron died in Caleb Ephrathah, Hezron's wife Abiah bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa. 25The sons of Jerahmeel, the firstborn of Hezron: Ram, the firstborn, and Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. 26Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. 27The sons of Ram, the firstborn of Jerahmeel: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker. 28The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur. 29The name of the wife of Abishur: Abihail; and she bore him Ahban and Molid. 30The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim; Seled died without children. 31The son of Appaim: Ishi. The son of Ishi: Sheshan; and Sheshan's son: Ahlai. 32The sons of Jada, the brother of Shammai: Jether and Jonathan; Jether died without children. 33The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These, the sons of Jerahmeel. 34Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters. And Sheshan had an Egyptian servant whose name was Jarha. 35Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant as wife, and she bore him Attai. 36Attai begot Nathan, and Nathan begot Zabad; 37Zabad begot Ephlal, and Ephlal begot Obed; 38Obed begot Jehu, and Jehu begot Azariah; 39Azariah begot Helez, and Helez begot Eleasah; 40Eleasah begot Sismai, and Sismai begot Shallum; 41Shallum begot Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begot Elishama. 42The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha, his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph; and his son: Mareshah, the father of Hebron. 43The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema. 44Shema begot Raham the father of Jorkoam, and Rekem begot Shammai. 45And the son of Shammai: Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth Zur. 46Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez; and Haran begot Gazez. 47The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph. 48Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah. 49She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah and the father of Gibea. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. 50These, the sons of Caleb the son of Hur; the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kirjath Jearim, 51Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth Gader. 52And Shobal the father of Kirjath Jearim had sons: Haroeh, and half of the Manahethites. 53The families of Kirjath Jearim were the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites. From these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites. 54The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth Beth Joab, half of the Manahethites, and the Zorites. 55The families of the scribes who dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Suchathites. These, the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 Here is, I. The family of Jacob. His twelve sons are here named, that illustrious number so often celebrated almost throughout the whole Bible, from the first to the last book of it. At every turn we meet with the twelve tribes that descended from these twelve patriarchs. The personal character of several of them was none of the best (the first four were much blemished), and yet the covenant was entailed on their seed; for it was of grace, free grace, that it was said,
Jacob have I loved -
not of works, lest any man should boast. II. The family of Judah. That tribe was most praised, most increased, and most dignified, of any of the tribes, and therefore the genealogy of it is the first and largest of them all. In the account here given of the first branches of that illustrious tree, of which Christ was to be the top branch, we meet, 1. With some that were very bad. Here is Er, Judah's eldest son, that was
evil in the sight of the Lord, and was cut off, in the beginning of his days, by a stroke of divine vengeance: The
Lord slew him, 1Chr 2:3. His next brother, Onan, was no better, and fared no better. Here is Tamar, with whom Judah, her father-in-law, committed incest,
1Chr 2:4. And here is Achan, called
Achar -
a troubler, that troubled Israel by taking of the accursed thing,
1Chr 2:7. Note, The best and most honourable families may have those belonging to them that are blemishes. 2. With some that were very wise and good, as Heman and Ethan, Calcol and Dara, who were not perhaps the immediate sons of Zerah, but descendants from him, and are named because they were the glory of their father's house; for, when the Holy Ghost would magnify the wisdom of Solomon, he declares him wiser than these four men, who, though the sons of Mahol, are called Ezrahites, from Zerah,
1Kgs 4:31. That four brothers should be eminent for wisdom and grace was a rare thing. 3. With some that were very great, as Nahshon, who was prince of the tribe of Judah when the camp of Israel was formed in the wilderness, and so led the van in that glorious march, and Salman, or Salmon, who was in that post of honour when they entered into Canaan,
1Chr 2:10,
1Chr 2:11.
III. The family of Jesse, of which a particularly account is kept for the sake of David, and the Son of David, who is
a rod out of the stem of Jesse, Isa 11:1. Hence it appears that David was a seventh son, and that his three great commanders, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, were the sons of one of his sisters, and Amasa of another. Three of the four went down slain to the pit, though they were the terror of the mighty.
18 The persons mentioned in the former paragraph are most of them such as we read of, and most of them such as we read much of, in other scriptures; but very few of those to whom this paragraph relates are mentioned any where else. It should seem, the tribe of Judah were more full and exact in their genealogies than any other of the tribes, in which we must acknowledge a special providence, for the clearing of the genealogy of Christ. 1. Here we find Bezaleel, who was head-workman in building the tabernacle,
Exod 31:2. 2. Hezron, who was the son of Pharez (
1Chr 2:5), was the father of all this progeny, his sons, Caleb and Jerahmeel, being very fruitful, and he himself likewise, even in his old age, for he left his wife pregnant when he died,
1Chr 2:24. This Hezron was one of the seventy that went down with Jacob into Egypt,
Gen 46:12. There his family thus increased, as other oppressed families there did. We cannot but suppose that he died during the Israelites' bondage in Egypt; and yet it is here said he died in Caleb-Ephratah (that is, Bethlehem), in the land of Canaan,
1Chr 2:24. Perhaps, though the body of the people continued in Egypt, yet some that were more active than the rest, at least before their bondage came to be extreme, visited Canaan sometimes and got footing there, though afterwards they lost it. The achievements of Jair, here mentioned (
1Chr 2:22,
1Chr 2:23), we had an account of in
Num 32:41; and, it is supposed, they were long after the conquest of Canaan. The Jews say, Hezron married his third wife when he was sixty years old (
1Chr 2:21), and another afterwards (
1Chr 2:24), because he had a great desire of posterity in the family of Pharez, from whom the Messiah was to descend. 3. Here is mention of one that
died without children (
1Chr 2:30), and another (
1Chr 2:32), and of one that
had no sons, but daughters, 1Chr 2:34. Let those that are in any of these ways afflicted not think their case new or singular. Providence orders these affairs of families by an incontestable sovereignty, as pleaseth him, giving children, or withholding them, or giving all of one sex. He is not bound to please us, but we are bound to acquiesce in his good pleasure. To those that love him he will himself be better than ten sons, and give them in his house a place and a name better than of sons and daughters. Let not those therefore that are written childless envy the families that are built up and replenished. Shall our eye be evil because God's is good? 4. Here is mention of one who had an only daughter, and married her to his servant an Egyptian,
1Chr 2:34,
1Chr 2:35. If it be mentioned to his praise, we must suppose that this Egyptian was proselyted to the Jewish religion and that he was very eminent for wisdom and virtue, otherwise it would not have become a true-born Israelite to match a daughter to him, especially an only daughter. If Egyptians become converts, and servants do worthily, neither their parentage nor their servitude should be a bar to their preferment. Such a one this Egyptian servant might be that she who married him might live as happily with him as if she had married one of the rulers of her tribe. 5. The pedigree of several of these terminates, not in a person, but in a place or country, as one is said to be
the father of Kirjath-jearim (
1Chr 2:50), another of Bethlehem (
1Chr 2:51), which was afterwards David's city, because these places fell to their lot in the division of the land. 6. here are some that are said to be
families of scribes (
1Chr 2:55), such as kept up learning in their family, especially scripture-learning, and taught the people the good knowledge of God. Among all these great families we are glad to find some that were
families of scribes. Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets - all the families of Israel families of scribes, well instructed to the kingdom of heaven, and able to bring out of their treasury things new and old!
