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Matthew
Henry's
Commentary
on the Whole Bible
I
C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. II.
We
have now come to what was principally intended, the register of the children
of Israel, that distinguished people, that were to
"dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations." Here we have, I.
The names of the twelve sons of Israel, ver. 1, 2. II. An account of the tribe of
Judah, which has the precedency, not so much for the sake of David as for the
sake of the Son of David, our Lord, who sprang out of Judah, Heb. vii. 14. 1.
The first descendants from Judah, down to Jesse, ver. 3-12. 2. The children of Jesse, ver. 13-17. 3. The
posterity of Hezron, not only through Ram, from whom David came, but through
Caleb (ver. 18-20), Segub (ver. 21-24), Jerahmeel (v. 25-33, and so to v. 41),
and more by Caleb (ver. 42-49), with the family of Caleb the son of Hur, ver.
50-55. The best exposition we can have of this and the following chapters, and
which will give the clearest view of them, is found in those genealogical
tables which were published with some of the first impressions of the last
English Bible about 100 years ago, and continued for some time; and it is a
pity but they were revived in some of our later editions, for they are of
great use to those who diligently search the scriptures. They are said to be
drawn up by that great master in scripture-learning, Mr. Hugh Broughton. We
meet with them sometimes in old Bibles.
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Genealogies.
B.
C. 1751
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1 These are the sons of
Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar,
and Zebulun, 2 Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and
Asher. 3 The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which
three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the
firstborn of
Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD;
and he slew him. 4 And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez
and Zerah. All the sons of
Judah were five. 5 The sons of
Pharez; Hezron, and Hamul. 6 And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and
Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all. 7 And
the sons of Carmi; Achar, the troubler of
Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed.
8 And the sons of Ethan; Azariah. 9 The sons also of Hezron, that
were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. 10 And Ram
begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of
Judah; 11 And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz,
12 And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, 13 And Jesse begat
his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third,
14 Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, 15 Ozem the sixth,
David the seventh: 16 Whose sisters were Zeruiah, and
Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah; Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.
17 And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa was Jether the
Ishmeelite.
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, v. 3. His next brother, Onan, was no better, and fared no
better. Here is Tamar, with whom Judah, her father-in-law, committed incest, v.
4. And here is Achan, called Achar--a troubler, that troubled
Israel
by taking of the accursed thing, v. 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, 1 Kings iv. 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, v. 10,
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. xi. 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 And Caleb the son of Hezron begat children
of Azubah his wife, and of Jerioth: her sons are these; Jesher,
and Shobab, and Ardon. 19 And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took
unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur. 20 And Hur begat Uri, and
Uri begat Bezaleel. 21 And afterward Hezron went in to the
daughter of Machir the father of
Gilead
, whom he married when he was threescore
years old; and she bare him Segub. 22 And Segub begat Jair, who
had three and twenty cities in the
land
of
Gilead
. 23 And he took Geshur, and
Aram
, with the towns of Jair, from them, with
Kenath, and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged
to the sons of Machir the father of
Gilead
. 24 And after that Hezron was dead
in Calebephratah, then Abiah Hezron's wife bare him Ashur the father of Tekoa.
25 And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were, Ram the firstborn,
and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah. 26 Jerahmeel had
also another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of
Onam. 27 And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were, Maaz,
and Jamin, and Eker. 28 And the sons of Onam were, Shammai, and
Jada. And the sons of Shammai; Nadab, and Abishur. 29 And the name
of the wife of Abishur was Abihail, and she bare him Ahban, and Molid.
30 And the sons of Nadab; Seled, and Appaim: but Seled died without
children. 31 And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi;
Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan; Ahlai. 32 And the sons of
Jada the brother of Shammai; Jether, and Jonathan: and Jether died without
children. 33 And the sons of Jonathan; Peleth, and Zaza. These
were the sons of Jerahmeel. 34 Now Sheshan had no sons, but
daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.
35 And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife; and she bare
him Attai. 36 And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad,
37 And Zabad begat Ephlal, and Ephlal begat Obed, 38 And Obed
begat Jehu, and Jehu begat Azariah, 39 And Azariah begat Helez,
and Helez begat Eleasah, 40 And Eleasah begat Sisamai, and Sisamai
begat Shallum, 41 And Shallum begat Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begat
Elishama. 42 Now the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were,
Mesha his firstborn, which was the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah
the father of Hebron. 43 And the sons of Hebron; Korah, and
Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema. 44 And Shema begat Raham, the
father of Jorkoam: and Rekem begat Shammai. 45 And the son of
Shammai was Maon: and Maon was the father of Bethzur.
46 And Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bare Haran, and Moza, and Gazez: and Haran
begat Gazez. 47 And the sons of Jahdai; Regem, and Jotham, and
Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph. 48 Maachah, Caleb's
concubine, bare Sheber, and Tirhanah. 49 She bare also Shaaph the
father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea:
and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. 50 These were the
sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah; Shobal the father of
Kirjath-jearim, 51 Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the
father of Bethgader. 52 And Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim
had sons; Haroeh, and half of the Manahethites. 53 And the
families of Kirjath-jearim; the Ithrites, and the Puhites, and the Shumathites,
and the Mishraites; of them came the Zareathites, and the Eshtaulites.
54 The sons of Salma; Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, Ataroth, the house of
Joab, and half of the Manahethites, the Zorites. 55 And the
families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites,
and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the
father of the house of Rechab.
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. xxxi. 2. 2. Hezron, who was the son of Pharez (v.
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, v. 24. This Hezron was one of the seventy
that went down with Jacob into
Egypt
, Gen. xlvi. 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
, v. 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 (v. 22, 23), we had an account of
in Num. xxxii. 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 (v.
21), and another afterwards (v. 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 (v. 30), and
another (v. 32), and of one that had no sons, but daughters, v.
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, v.
34, 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 (v. 50), another of
Bethlehem
(v. 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 (v. 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!
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