HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  The Half-Tribe of Manasseh

  23The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land; they were very numerous from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon. 24These were the heads of their clans: Epher,a Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty warriors, famous men, heads of their clans. 25But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors, and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. 26So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of King Pul of Assyria, the spirit of King Tilgath-pilneser of Assyria, and he carried them away, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.

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  a Gk Vg: Heb and Epher

  5.1–10 Ch. 5 deals with the two and a half tribes living east of the Jordan (Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh).

  5.1 Reuben had sexual relations with Bilhah, his father’s concubine (Gen 35.22; 49.4). The Chronicler uses this incident to explain why Judah, the fourth oldest son, is listed first in the genealogies.

  5.2 Ruler, David and his dynasty. The transfer of the birthright to Joseph is unknown elsewhere. Both the Northern tribes (Joseph) and the Southern (Judah) have prominence in this verse.

  5.3 Cf. Gen 46.9; Ex 6.14; Num 26.5–6.

  5.4 Joel’s connection to the Reubenite genealogy is not stated (cf. v. 8).

  5.6 Tilgath-pilneser. The Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III conquered Gilead in 733 BCE.

  5.8 Aroer, Nebo, Baal-meon. Since these cities were lost to Moab in the late ninth century BCE, according to the Mesha Inscription, the materials in these verses must antedate this time.

  5.10 Saul fought with the Hagrites (cf. vv. 19–20), an enemy from Transjordan (cf. 11.38; 27.30; Ps 83.6), at the end of the eleventh century BCE. The relationship of the Hagrites to Hagar, the concubine of Abraham, is unclear.

  5.11–22 Gad was north of Reuben in Transjordan.

  5.16 The Mesha Inscription mentions a people of Sharon.

  5.17 This enrollment, from about 750 BCE, presupposes that Jotham and Jeroboam II were contemporaries.

  5.18–22 The war against the Hagrites and others is described in terms of holy war (cf. esp. vv. 20, 22).

  5.21 The enormous number of animals and captives demonstrates the size of the God-given victory.

  5.23–26 The half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the northernmost part of Transjordan.

  5.23 Senir. Cf. Deut 3.8–9. Mount Hermon (9,230 feet) marked the northernmost limit of Joshua’s conquest (Josh 11.3).

  5.25–26 A summary of the fate of the two and a half tribes, based in part on 2 Kings 17.

  5.26 Pul, the Babylonian throne name of Tiglath-pileser III. The Assyrian locales at the end of the verse are derived from 2 Kings 17.6; 18.11.

  1 CHRONICLES 6a

  Descendants of Levi

  1The sons of Levi: Gershom,b Kohath, and Merari. 2The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 3The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 4Eleazar became the father of Phinehas, Phinehas of Abishua, 5Abishua of Bukki, Bukki of Uzzi, 6Uzzi of Zerahiah, Zerahiah of Meraioth, 7Meraioth of Amariah, Amariah of Ahitub, 8Ahitub of Zadok, Zadok of Ahimaaz, 9Ahimaaz of Azariah, Azariah of Johanan, 10and Johanan of Azariah (it was he who served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem). 11Azariah became the father of Amariah, Amariah of Ahitub, 12Ahitub of Zadok, Zadok of Shallum, 13Shallum of Hilkiah, Hilkiah of Azariah, 14Azariah of Seraiah, Seraiah of Jehozadak; 15and Jehozadak went into exile when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

  16c The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari. 17These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei. 18The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 19The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their ancestry. 20Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son, 21Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son. 22The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, 23Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son, 24Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son. 25The sons of Elkanah: Amasai and Ahimoth, 26Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son, 27Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son. 28The sons of Samuel: Joeld his firstborn, the second Abijah.e 29The sons of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son, 30Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, and Asaiah his son.

  Musicians Appointed by David

  31These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD, after the ark came to rest there. 32They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem; and they performed their service in due order. 33These are the men who served; and their sons were: Of the Kohathites: Heman, the singer, son of Joel, son of Samuel, 34son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah, 35son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai, 36son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah, 37son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, 38son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, son of Israel; 39and his brother Asaph, who stood on his right, namely, Asaph son of Berechiah, son of Shimea, 40son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malchijah, 41son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah, 42son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei, 43son of Jahath, son of Gershom, son of Levi. 44On the left were their kindred the sons of Merari: Ethan son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch, 45son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah, 46son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shemer, 47son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi; 48and their kindred the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

  49But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, doing all the work of the most holy place, to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. 50These are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, 51Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, 52Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, 53Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.

  Settlements of the Levites

  54These are their dwelling places according to their settlements within their borders: to the sons of Aaron of the families of Kohathites—for the lot fell to them first—55to them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasture lands, 56but the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh. 57To the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron, Libnah with its pasture lands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands, 58Hilenf with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands, 59Ashan with its pasture lands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands. 60From the tribe of Benjamin, Geba with its pasture lands, Alemeth with its pasture lands, and Anathoth with its pasture lands. All their towns throughout their families were thirteen.

  61To the rest of the Kohathites were given by lot out of the family of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh, ten towns. 62To the Gershomites according to their families were allotted thirteen towns out of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh in Bashan. 63To the Merarites according to their families were allotted twelve towns out of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. 64So the people of Israel gave the Levites the towns with their pasture lands. 65They also gave them by lot out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin these towns that are mentioned by name.

  66And some of the families of the sons of Kohath had towns of their territory out of the tribe of Ephraim. 67They were given the cities of refuge: Shechem with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasture lands, 68Jokmeam with its pasture lands, Beth-horon with its pasture lands, 69Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands; 70and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its pasture lands,
and Bileam with its pasture lands, for the rest of the families of the Kohathites.

  71To the Gershomites: out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands and Ashtaroth with its pasture lands; 72and out of the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasture lands, Daberathg with its pasture lands, 73Ramoth with its pasture lands, and Anem with its pasture lands; 74out of the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands, 75Hukok with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands; 76and out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, Hammon with its pasture lands, and Kiriathaim with its pasture lands. 77To the rest of the Merarites out of the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono with its pasture lands, Tabor with its pasture lands, 78and across the Jordan from Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the steppe with its pasture lands, Jahzah with its pasture lands, 79Kedemoth with its pasture lands, and Mephaath with its pasture lands; 80and out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, Mahanaim with its pasture lands, 81Heshbon with its pasture lands, and Jazer with its pasture lands.

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  a Ch 5.27 in Heb

  b Heb Gershon, variant of Gershom; See 6.16

  c Ch 6.1 in Heb

  d Gk Syr Compare verse 33 and 1 Sam 8.2: Heb lacks Joel

  e Heb reads Vashni, and Abijah for the second Abijah, taking the second as a proper name

  f Other readings Hilez, Holon; See Josh 21.15

  g Or Dobrath

  6.1–30 For other genealogies of Levites, see Gen 46.11; Ex 6.16–25; Num 3.1–4, 17; 26.57–58.

  6.2–15 The descendants of Aaron comprise the high priests. Cf. 6.50–53; 9.11; Ezra 7.1–5; Neh 11.10–11.

  6.8 Zadok is made a descendant of Aaron through his father Ahitub (2 Sam 8.17). Another Ahitub is the grandfather of Abiathar, a high priest at the time of David (1 Sam 14.3; 22.9, 20). Ahimaaz. Cf. 2 Sam 15.27.

  6.9–10 Azariah. Cf. 1 Kings 4.2.

  6.10 The parenthesis, dating this priest to Solomon, should probably be transferred to Azariah in v. 9.

  6.11–12 The sequence Amariah…Ahitub…Zadok is duplicated from vv. 7–8.

  6.13 Hilkiah. Cf. 2 Chr 34–35.

  6.14 Azariah…Seraiah. Seraiah is missing in 9.11, and Azariah in Neh 11.10–11. Seraiah was killed at the beginning of the Babylonian exile (2 Kings 25.18–21).

  6.16–30 The genealogy of three sons of Levi.

  6.17, 20–21 The genealogy of Gershom through Libni, his oldest son.

  6.18, 22–28 This genealogy of Kohath proceeds to Shaul (v. 24), but then adds a second line (vv. 25–28), beginning with Elkanah (v. 23), that makes Samuel a Levite. 1 Sam 1.1 classifies him as an Ephraimite whose father was named Elkanah.

  6.19, 29–30 The genealogy of Merari through Mahli, his oldest son.

  6.28 Joel, Abijah. The corruption of Samuel’s sons leads the elders to request a king to rule Israel like all the nations (1 Sam 8.1–6).

  6.31–53 These genealogies connect the singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan to Kohath, Gershom, and Merari, respectively, and so make the singers Levites. These genealogies begin with the sons and move “backward” to the fathers.

  6.31–32 David appoints the levitical singers; the duties of the priests go back to Moses.

  6.33 Heman, a grandson of Samuel.

  6.44 Ethan. See 15.17. In 25.1, 3 Jeduthun is the head of the third family of singers.

  6.48 The duties of the singers are distinguished from those of more generic Levites.

  6.49–53 The duties of the Aaronite priests (sacrifices and service within the holy of holies) and a list of the high priests up until the time of Solomon (cf. 6.2–8).

  6.54–81 Cf. Josh 21.1–42. Attempts to date this list to a specific century have not been successful. The list may have arisen by selecting four cities per tribe from the cities named in Josh 13–19 in order to create a list that shows levitical and priestly presence throughout the land. The other tribes have their territories and their land possessions; the priests and Levites have only their cities and their pasture lands. It is doubtful whether the levitical cities were ever connected with the administration of Israel.

  6.55–59 Cities from the territories of Simeon and Judah.

  6.60 Cities from Benjamin.

  6.66–81 Cities from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun, Reuben, and Gad.

  6.69 The beginning of the verse should read: “And out of the tribe of Dan: Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands.” Cf. Josh 21.23.

  1 CHRONICLES 7

  Descendants of Issachar

  1The sonsa of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. 2The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their ancestral houses, namely of Tola, mighty warriors of their generations, their number in the days of David being twenty-two thousand six hundred. 3The sonb of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, five, all of them chiefs; 4and along with them, by their generations, according to their ancestral houses, were units of the fighting force, thirty-six thousand, for they had many wives and sons. 5Their kindred belonging to all the families of Issachar were in all eighty-seven thousand mighty warriors, enrolled by genealogy.

  Descendants of Benjamin

  6The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael, three. 7The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five, heads of ancestral houses, mighty warriors; and their enrollment by genealogies was twenty-two thousand thirty-four. 8The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher; 9and their enrollment by genealogies, according to their generations, as heads of their ancestral houses, mighty warriors, was twenty thousand two hundred. 10The sons of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. 11All these were the sons of Jediael according to the heads of their ancestral houses, mighty warriors, seventeen thousand two hundred, ready for service in war. 12And Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir, Hushim the sonc of Aher.

  Descendants of Naphtali

  13The descendants of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum, the descendants of Bilhah.

  Descendants of Manasseh

  14The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore Machir the father of Gilead. 15And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. The name of his sister was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad; and Zelophehad had daughters. 16Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she named him Peresh; the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rekem. 17The sond of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh. 18And his sister Hammole-cheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. 19The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

  Descendants of Ephraim

  20The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, 21Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead. Now the people of Gath, who were born in the land, killed them, because they came down to raid their cattle. 22And their father Ephraim mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. 23Ephraime went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son; and he named him Beriah, because disasterf had befallen his house. 24His daughter was Sheerah, who built both Lower and Upper Beth-horon, and Uzzen-sheerah. 25Rephah was his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son, 26Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, 27Nung his son, Joshua his son. 28Their possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer and its towns, Shechem and its towns, as far as Ayyah and its towns; 29also along the borders of the Manassites, Beth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these lived the sons of Joseph son of Israel.

  Descendants of Asher

  30The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah
, and their sister Serah. 31The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith. 32Heber became the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua. 33The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the sons of Japhlet. 34The sons of Shemer: Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram. 35The sons of Helemh his brother: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. 36The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, 37Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. 38The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara. 39The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia. 40All of these were men of Asher, heads of ancestral houses, select mighty warriors, chief of the princes. Their number enrolled by genealogies, for service in war, was twenty-six thousand men.

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  a Syr Compare Vg: Heb And to the sons

  b Heb sons

  c Heb sons

  d Heb sons

  e Heb He

  f Heb beraah

  g Here spelled Non; see Ex 33.11

  h Or Hotham; see 7.32

  7.1–5 The genealogy of Issachar through his oldest son, Tola (cf. Gen 46.13; Num 26.23–25). The numbers in these verses (vv. 2, 4, 5) suggest that a military census list has been put in genealogical form (cf. 5.23–26).

  7.2 Cf. the census of David in ch. 21.

  7.6–12 This genealogy of the Benjaminites also appears to be from the military census list used in 7.1–5 (note the numbers in vv. 7, 9, 11). The Chronicler returns to the genealogy of Benjamin in ch. 8. Cf. Gen 46.21; Num 26.38–41.

  7.12 The sons of Ir. Some scholars read “the sons of Dan.” Hence this verse may contain a fragment of the genealogy of Dan. Cf. Gen 46.23; Num 26.42.