The kings

of Edom.

dead, Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. (50) And when Baal-hanan was dead, 1Hadad reigned

36. 39.

land of the Temanites reigned in his stead. (46) And when Husham was dead, Hadad the son of Bedad, which smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead and the name of his city was Avith. (47) And when Hadad was dead,

39.

duke Mibzar, (54) duke Magdiel, duke Iram. These are the dukes of

for Israel through his domains. As the older people, and as having been earlier established in its permanent home, Edom was naturally a stage beyond Israel in political development. Unhappily brief as it is, this notice is very appropriately inserted here in an introduction to the history of the kings of the house of David.

Bela the son of Beor.-Curiously like "Balaam the son of Beor," Num. xxii. 5. In Hebrew, Bela and Balaam are essentially similar words, the terminal m of the latter being possibly a mere formative. (Perhaps, however, Balaam-Heb. Bil'am "Bel is a kinsman") comp. Eliam. The prophet whose strange story is read in Num. xxii.-xxiv. may, like Isaiah, have been of royal extraction.

Dinhabah.-Doom-giving, that is, the place where the king gave judgment (1 Sam. viii. 5).

(44, 45) Bozrah.-" Fortress " (the Byrsa of Carthage); was one of the capitals of Edom, perhaps identical with Mibzar (fortress, verse 53). Eusebius mentions Mabsara as a large town in Gebalene. It is now represented by the ruins of Al-Bussireh in Jebal. See Amos i. 12, I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah;" and Isa. xxxiv. 6.

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(46) Hadad.-The name of a Syrian deity, a form of the sun-god. (Comp. the royal titles, Ben-hadad and Hadadezer, chap. xviii. 3, and the Note on 2 Kings v. 18.) Hadad is the same as Dadi, a Syrian title of Rimmon. Perhaps the classical Attis is equivalent to Dadis. The cry of the vintagers (hēdād) seems to show that Hadad, like Bacchus, was regarded as the giver of the grapes (Isa. xvi. 9, 10).

Which smote Midian.-A glimpse of the restless feuds which prevailed from time immemorial between these tribes and peoples of kindred origin. Like the judges of Israel, the kings of Edom seem to have been raised to their position owing to special emergencies.

The field of Moab.-That is, the open country. Avith.-Like Dinhabah, and Pai, and Masrekah, unknown beyond this passage. In the Hebrew of Chron. it is spelt, Ayuth; in Gen. xxxvi. Awith. The letters w and y have been transposed in our

text.

(47) Masrekah means place of Sorek vines.

(48) Shaul.-Saul, the name of the first king of Israel.

Rehoboth by the river.-Probably the same as Rehoboth Ir in Gen. x. 11, i.e., the suburbs of Nineveh. The river is Euphrates.

Edom.

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(49) Baal-hanan.-Baal bestowed. (Comp. "Johanan," Iahweh bestowed; and Hananiah," and Hannibal.") This name and that of Hadad indicate the polytheism of ancient Edom.

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(50) Baal-hanan.-Some MSS. have "ben Achbor," as in Gen. xxxvi. 39; so in verse 51. "Alvah," of Genesis, is more correct than our "Aliah." The Hebrew margin reads “ Alvah” (Alwah).

Pai.-Many MSS. have “Pau," the reading of Gen., which is right. Hadar (Gen. xxxvi. 39), on the other hand, is probably a mistake for Hadad.

Mehetabel.-El benefiteth. Perhaps Mehetabel was an Israelite, as no other queen of Edom is mentioned. But her name is Aramean.

(51) Hadad died also.-Rather, And Hadad died, and there were (or arose) chiliarchs of Edom, the chiliarch of Timnah, the chiliarch of Aliah, &c. This appears to state that Hadad was the last king of Edom, and that after his death the country was governed by the heads of the various clans or tribes, without any central authority. In Gen. xxxvi. 40, the sentence, 'And Hadad died," is wanting, and the transition from the kings to the chiliarchs is thus effected: "And these are the names of the chiliarchs of Esau, after their clans, after their places, by their names: the chiliarch of Timnah," &c. The chiliarchs ('allûphîm, from 'eleph, a thousand) were the heads of the thousands or clans (mishpehôth) of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 40). (See Note on chap. xiv. 1.) The names in these verses are not personal, but tribal and local, as the conclusion of the account in Gen. xxxvi. 43 indicates : "These are the chiliarchs of Edom, after their seats, in the land of their domain." Comp. the names of the sons of Esau and Seir (verses 35-42). This makes it clear that Timnah and Aholibamah were towns. The king of Edom is often mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. (See Num. xx. 14; Amos ii. 1—8th cent. B.C.; 2 Kings, iii. 9-9th cent.) According to Ewald (Hist. p. 46), the chieftains of Edom follow the list of kings, as if David had already vanquished the last king of Edom, and put it under merely tribal government, in subordination to himself. "The Hadad who fled very young to Egypt at David's conquest (1 Kings xi. 14-22) may have been grandson of Hadad, the last king."

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(54) These are the dukes (chiliarchs) of Edom. -Eleven names only are given, whereas there were twelve (or thirteen) chiliarchs of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 15-19; see Note on verses 35-37). A name may have fallen out of the ancient text from which the chronicler derived the list.

(6) And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, fand Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and 3 Dara: five of them in all. (7) And the

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. (And Tamar his daughter

II.

7.1.

Dismissing the sons of Esau-Edom, the narrative proceeds with the sons of Israel, who are named in order, by way of introduction to their genealogies, which occupy chaps. ii.-viii.

The rest of chap. ii. treats of the leading tribe of Judah, and its sub-divisions, under the heads of Zerah and Perez (3-41), and Caleb (42-55); while chaps. iii. and iv. complete the account of this tribe, so far as the fragmentary materials at the writer's disposal permitted.

(1, 2) The sons of Israel. The list is apparently taken from Gen. xxxv. 23-26, where the heading is, "Now the sons of Jacob were twelve." The chronicler omits the mothers, and puts Dan before instead of after Joseph and Benjamin, as if to hint that Dan was considered Rachel's elder son. (See Gen. xxx. 6.) In the list at Gen. xlvi. 9-23, Gad and Asher follow Zebulun, and Dan follows Joseph and Benjamin. Of course accident may have caused the transposition of Dan with Joseph and Benjamin in our list, especially as it otherwise agrees with Gen. xxxv. 3, 4.

THE FIVE SONS OF JUDAH, FROM GEN. XXXVIII. (3) The daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. -Shua was the father of Judah's wife.

Er, the firstborn of Judah, was (became, proved) evil.-Word for word from Gen. xxxviii. 7. Suppressing other details relating to the sons of Judah, the chronicler copies this statement intact from Genesis, because it thoroughly harmonises with the moral he wishes to be drawn from the entire history of his people.

(4) Tamar.-Wife of Er. The story of her incest with Judah, the fruit of which was the twins Pharez (Heb., Perez) and Zerah (called Zarah, Gen. xxxviii. 30; and Zara, Matt. i. 3), is told in Gen. xxxviii. 8-30. (5) The sons of Pharez.-From Gen. xlvi. 12, which also names the five sons of Judah. Num. xxvi. 21 mentions the clans (mishpahath) of the Hezronites and Hamulites, as registered in a census held by Moses.

(6-9) The sons of Zerah.-From this point our narrative ceases to depend entirely upon the data of Genesis.

(6) Zimri. This name is probably a merely accidental variant of Zabdi. Both are genuine Hebrew names occurring elsewhere. But the fact that Zimri here, and Zabdi at Josh. vii. 1, are both called sons of Zerah, seems to prove their identity; especially as m is often confused with b, and d with r.

Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara. -It is stated (1 Kings iv. 31) that Solomon was "wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol." It will be

Israel, who transgressed in the thing 9 accursed. (8) And the sons of Ethan; Azariah.

(9) The sons also of Hezron, that were

seen that the first three names coincide with those of our text, and that Dara is only one letter different from Darda. Further, many MSS. of Chronicles, as well as the Syriac and Arabic versions and the Targum, actually have Darda. The Vatic. LXX. reads Darad. There is thus a virtual repetition of these four names in the passage of Kings, and it is difficult to suppose that the persons intended are not the same there and here. Ethan is called an Ezrahite in Kings, but Ezrah and Zerah are equivalent forms in Hebrew; and the Vatic. LXX. actually calls Ethan a Zarhite-i.e., a descendant of Zerah (Num. xxvi. 13). The designation of the four as sons of Mahol " presents no difficulty. Mahol is a usual word for the sacred dance (Pss. cxlix. 3, cl. 4), and the four Zarhites are thus described as sons of dancing"that is, sacred musicians. It is likely, therefore, that these famous minstrels of Judah were adopted into the Levitical clans in which sacred music was the hereditary profession. (See Pss. lxxxviii. and lxxxix., titles.) Whether Ethan and Heman are the persons mentioned in chaps. vi. 33, 44, and xv. 17, 19 as the recognised heads of two of the great guilds of temple musicians is not clear. The Levitical ancestry ascribed to them in chap. vi. would not be opposed to this assumption, as adoption would involve it.

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(7) The sons of Carmi.-See Note on chap. i. 41. Achar, the troubler of Israel.-See Josh. vii. 1, where the man is called "Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.' The family of Carmi, therefore, were Zarhites. Josh. vii. 27 calls him " Achan, the son of Zerah,' an expression which shows, if other proof were wanting, that we must be cautious of interpreting such phrases literally in all instances.

Achar... troubler of Israel.-There is a play on the man's name in the Hebrew, which is, "Achar 'ocher Yisrael." So in Josh. vii. 25 Joshua asks, “Why hast thou troubled us?" (achartânu), and in verse 26 the place of Achar's doom is called the valley of Achor" (trouble). Probably Achan is an old error for Achar.

(8) The sons of Ethan.-Nothing is known of this Ethanite Azariah. It seems plain that the writer wished to name only the historically famous members of the Zarhite branch of Judah-in verse 6, the four proverbial sages; in verse 7, Achar who brought woe upon Israel by taking of the devoted spoils of Jericho.

(9-41) The Hezronites, who were sons of Pharez (verse 5), and their three lines of descent, Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai.

(9) Jerahmeel.-God pitieth.

Ram.-Called Aram in our Lord's genealogy (Matt. i.) The two names are synonyms, both meaning

the clan of the Machirites, and adds that "Machir

begat Gilead," which perhaps means to say that

the Israelite settlers in Gilead were of the clan Machir.

Whom he married when he was threescore. -It is possible to see here a metaphorical statement of the fact that a branch of Hezronites amalgamated with the Machirites of Gilead. The "daughter of Machir" would then mean the clan so named. Comp. the expressions, "daughter of Zion" (Isa. xxxvii. 22), "daughter of Judah" (Lam. i. 15), "daughter of Babylon" (Isa. xlvii. 1).

(22) And Segub begat Jair . . .-The Havothjair (tent-villages of Jair) are several times mentioned in the Pentateuch. In the passage Num. xxxii. 39-42 it is related-(1) That the Manassite clan of the sons of Machir took Gilead from the Amorites; (2) That Moses then formally assigned Gilead" to Machir son of Manasseh," and the clan accordingly settled there; (3) That Jair son of Manasseh had taken their (i.e., the Amorite) tent-villages, and called them Havoth-jair. Comp. Deut. iii. 14, 15: "Jair son of Manasseh had taken all the region of Argob unto the bounds of the Geshurite and the Maachathite; and he called them (that is, Bashan) after his own name, Havoth-jair, unto this day. And to Machir I gave Gilead.”

(23) And he took.. of Gilead.-Rather, And Geshur and Aram took the Havoth-jair from them— Kenath and her daughters, sixty cities: all these (were) sons of Machir, chief of Gilead.

Geshur, and Aram.-That is, the Aramean state of Geshur, north-west of Bashan, near Hermon and the Jordan, which was an independent kingdom in the age of David (2 Sam. iii. 3). The Geshurites "took the tent-villages of Jair from them"-i.e., from the sons of Jair, or the Jairites, at what date is unknown. Comp. Deut. iii. 14, 15, above cited.

With Kenath.-The Hebrew particle before "Kenath" may be either the sign of the object of the verb, or the preposition" with." In the latter case, the statement of the verse will be that the twenty-three villages of Jair, together with the (thirty-seven) places called Kenath and her daughters, amounting in all to sixty towns, were taken by the Geshurites. See Num. xxxii. 41, 42, where it is said that Jair occupied the Havothjair, and "Nobah went and took Kenath and her daugh.

(25) And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were, Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and

ters, and called it Nobah after his own name." Kenath is the modern Kanwat, on the western slope of Jebel Hauran.

It is difficult to reconcile all the different statements about the Havoth-jair. Judges x. 3, 4, for example, speaks of Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twentytwo years, and "had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts," and, moreover, possessed "thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day." Josh. xiii. 30 seems to make the Havoth-jair sixty towns. Comp. 1 Kings iv. 13; also verse 21, where Hezron is sixty when he marries the Gileadite daughter of Machir.

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:

(24) And after that Hezron was dead . . .Or, "And after the death of Hezron in Caleb-ephratah— and the wife of Hezron was Abiah-and she bare him Ashur. The text is evidently corrupt. The best suggestion is based on the reading of the LXX. Kal μετὰ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν Ἐσρὼν ἦλθεν Χαλέβ εἰς Εφραθά; And after Hezron's death Caleb went to Ephrath." Some very slight changes in the Hebrew, affecting only three letters of the entire sentence, will give the sense," And after Hezron's death Caleb went in to Ephrath, the wife of his father Hezron (verse 19); and she bare him Ash-hur, father (founder, or chief) of Tekoa." (Comp. Gen. xxxv. 22.)

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Ashur (Heb., Ash-hur) means man of Hur "that is, the chief of the clan of the Hurites, settled at Ephrath or Bethlehem (verse 19). Comp. Ashbel“ man of Bel." (Ash is the elder form of Ish "man ; as appears from the Phenician inscriptions.)

That Caleb" in this verse means the house of Caleb is evident if we consider that the genealogy makes him great grandson of Judah, whereas the individual Caleb son of Jephunneh took part in the conquest of Canaan, more than four centuries after Judah went down to Egypt.

III. The Jerahmeelites (verses 25-41). Comp. 1 Sam. xxvii. 10, "the south (land) of the Jerahmeelites," in the territory of Judah.

(25) Ram the firstborn.-Not the same as the Ram, brother of Jerahmeel, of verse 9. (See Note at end of section.)

And Ahijah.-This is probably a mistake, as The the conjunction is wanting in the Hebrew. LXX. has, "his brother" the Hebrew for which might easily be misread Ahijah. So the Syriac and Arabic read, "and Ozem their sister." But the statement of verse 26, "Jerahmeel had also another wife," &c., makes it likely that the first wife was mentioned here; and, therefore, it is conjectured that | Ahijah-usually a man's name-is the former wife,