Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Chronicles 5:25
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.
25, 26. The Captivity of the Trans-Jordanic Tribes
25. they transgressed ] R.V. they trespassed. The Hebrew verb has a special reference to unlawful or idolatrous worship and also to the violation of a consecrated thing; cp. Jos 22:16; Jos 22:20; Jos 22:31.
the people of the land ] R.V. the peoples of the land. Cp. R.V. Preface, pp. vi, vii.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1Ch 5:25
And they transgressed against the God of their fathers.
The transgressions of the people
I. If we turn to the Book of Kings we shall be surprised to find how the fatal sin of Israel was often of an intellectual kind, as distinguished from the baser iniquities which corrupt and overthrow the soul. There were three instances in which the intellectual sins of the people were conspicuous–
1. In the worship of the holy places.
2. In adoration of the heavenly bodies.
3. In the practice of magic and divination.
There we find nothing of adultery, drunkenness, theft, or licentiousness of any kind. There are sins and sins. One man is simply a sinner of the coarse type, a criminal seen and known of all men and cast out by society; another man sins intellectually–that is to say he mentally deposes God, and more or less secretly endeavours to live without Him, never breaking any of the great social commandments, and thereby forfeiting social confidence, yet all the while committing the sin against the Holy Ghost. In this way men write their own bibles, invent their own deities, banish from the mind all the old orthodoxies, and in hidden vanity walk after the council of their own hearts. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. The gods of the people of the land] We see the reason why God delivered the Hagarites into the hands of these tribes; they were abominable idolaters, and therefore God destroyed them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And they transgressed against the God their fathers,…. Against his law, will, word, and ordinances, not only the half tribe of Manasseh, hut the Reubenites and Gadites also:
and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them; that is, committed idolatry, which is spiritual fornication or whoredom; worshipped the idols either of the Amorites, who were destroyed by the Lord to make way for their first settlement; or of the Ishmaelites, whom they conquered, and whose land they dwelt in to the captivity.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(25) They transgressed against the God of their fathers.Rather, were faithless or untrue to Him (Jos. 7:1, committed a trespass).
Went a whoring after the gods of the people (peoples).Jehovah was the true Lord (Baal) and Husband (Ish) of Israel. Apostasy from Him is, in the prophetic language, whoredom. (See Hos. 1 Chronicles 1, 2, especially 2:16, and 1 Chronicles 3) According to Kings 50100 the fatal sin of Israel evinced itself: (1) in the worship of the high places; (2) in adoration of the heavenly bodies, and the productive powers of nature; (3) in the practice of magic and divination.
The people of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.Comp. Num. 21:21-35, and Jos. 12:6; Psa. 135:10-12. The reduction of the Canaanites was, to the mind of the chronicler, a Divine work. He is not thinking only of such extraordinary events as were told of the battle of Beth-boron (Jos. 10:11-14). All the incidents of the conquest were the Lords doing, whether He acted through the agency of sun and moon, or storm and tempest, or the good swords of Joshua and his warriors. From the same standpoint, he ascribes the Assyrian invasions to a direct impulse from the God of Israel (1Ch. 5:26). The Assyrian kings themselves were wont to regard their campaigns as a fulfilment of the bidding of their Divine protectors, Istar, Bel, and other imaginary beings. It was not given to them to attain to the higher vision of the Hebrew prophets and priests, who saw but one guiding and controlling power at the summit of the world. (Comp. Isa. 10:5-15.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(25, 26) The captivity of the three eastern tribes. A fuller account may be read in 2Ki. 17:6-18.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. They transgressed Being more widely scattered and Bedouin-like in their habits than the western tribes, these eastern Israelites fell into idolatry sooner than the western tribes, and fell more rapidly, and were accordingly the first to suffer exile.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
We have here also an account of their punishment for their departure from the Lord. Though God be true to his covenant engagements in Jesus, yet his own honor will bring forth chastisements to his children. So the Lord hath said: and so the Lord’s people find it in all ages. Psa_89:30; Psa_89:35 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Ch 5:25 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.
Ver. 25. And they transgressed against the God of their fathers. ] Who had so renowned and prospered them. See their sin largely set forth, 2Ki 17:7-8 , &c.
And went a-whoring after the gods.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
transgressed = acted faithlessly.
people = peoples.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1Ch 5:25-26
1Ch 5:25-26
“And they trespassed against the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and of Tilgath-pilneser 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 to the river Gozan, unto this day.”
“Of him came the prince” (1Ch 5:2). Despite the fact of the double portion, normally the right of the first-born, having been transferred to Joseph, “The Chronicler thought that the birthright of Joseph was nullified by the apostasy of North Israel,” and that the blessing of the leadership of God’s people was transferred to Judah.
“Pul, and Tilgath-pilneser” (1Ch 5:6; 1Ch 5:26). The name of this ruler is given as Tiglath-pileser in 2Ki 15:29. The variation in name could have come about by different pronunciations in diverse languages, or by difficulties some copyist might have found in copying it! If the latter had anything to do with it, this writer can identify with the problem; because copying all of these names has been indeed a painstaking and difficult assignment! “Pul and Tilgath-pilneser are the same man, Pul being his personal name which he retained as king of Babylon, and Tiglath-pileser his throne name as king of Assyria.”
“The Hagrites” (1Ch 5:10). “These were the same as the Arabs.”[3]
“Jeroboam” (1Ch 5:17). “This was Jeroboam II.”
1Ch 5:18-22 record an important victory over their enemies by the trans-Jordanic tribes, no record of which is found elsewhere in the Bible. This should warn us against assuming that the Bible records any such thing as a complete history of God’s people. “There may be many other gaps in Samuel and Kings which Chronicles does not fill.”
Many of the events mentioned in this chapter are recorded in Genesis 25; Genesis 35; and Genesis 49; Exodus 6; Jos 22:11, and in Num 1:20; Num 26:5. See our comments under those references in our commentaries.
“The king of Assyria … carried them away” (1Ch 5:26). This was the captivity of the tribes of Israel which inhabited the country east of Jordan. `It took place eleven years prior to the fall of Samaria (722 B.C.), that is, in 733 BC.”
E.M. Zerr:
1Ch 5:25-26. The inspired writer goes onward many generations to the overthrow of these tribes of Israel. The reason for their downfall is given to be the sin of idolatry. The very thing for which God enabled his people to drive out those nations, became the popular sin of them, so that he saw fit to punish them by a national downfall. This has already been mentioned in this chapter (1Ch 5:6), and the original history of it is recorded in 2 Kings 15.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
and went: Jdg 2:17, Jdg 8:33, 2Ki 17:7-18, Hos 1:2, Hos 9:1, Rev 17:5
a whoring: Exo 34:15, Jdg 8:27, 2Ki 17:7, 2Ch 21:11, 2Ch 21:13
after the gods: Jdg 2:12, 2Ch 25:14, 2Ch 25:15, Psa 106:34-39
Reciprocal: Num 32:19 – we will 2Ki 15:19 – Pul Hos 1:4 – will cause
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ch 5:25. They transgressed against the God of their fathers Had they kept close to God and their duty, they would have continued to enjoy both their ancient lot and their new conquests; but lying upon the borders, and conversing with the neighbouring nations, they learned their idolatrous usages, and transmitted the infection to the other tribes: and for this God had a controversy with them.