Adam, Sheth, Enosh,
1. Sheth, Enosh ] “Seth, Enos,” the spellings given in Gen. (A.V.) are less correct. Generally speaking the forms of names in Genesis (A.V.) are derived from the Latin Vulgate, which in turn took them from the LXX., which again (owing to the shortcomings of the Greek alphabet as compared with the Hebrew) did not reproduce the Hebrew forms accurately.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. 1. The Genealogies of the Peoples
1 4. A Genealogy from Adam to the Sons of Noah
The history proper does not begin till the death of Saul, but the historian acts in accordance with Eastern custom in connecting his history with the remote past by means of genealogies.
This first genealogy is taken from Gen 5:3-32. The extremely concise form in which it is given is instructive as shewing how far the Chronicler could go in abbreviating his authorities.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare the margin references and notes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ch 1:1-54
Adam, Sheth, Enosh.
Israelite descent
Israel was Jehovahs chosen people, His son, to whom special privileges were guaranteed by solemn covenant. A mans claim to share in this covenant depended on his genuine Israelite descent, and the proof of such descent was an authentic genealogy. In these chapters the chronicler has taken infinite pains to collect pedigrees from all available sources and to construct a complete set of genealogies exhibiting the lines of descent of the families of Israel. These chapters, which seem to us so dry and useless, were probably regarded by the chroniclers contemporaries as the most important part of his work. The preservation or discovery of a genealogy was almost a matter of life and death (Ezr 2:61-63; Neh 7:63-65). (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)
Names
The first nine chapters contain the largest extant collection of Hebrew names.
1. These names have an individual significance. A mere parish register is not in itself attractive, but if we consider even such a list, the very names interest us and kindle our imaginations. It is almost impossible to linger in a country churchyard, reading the half-effaced inscriptions upon the headstones, without forming some dim picture of the character and history and even the outward semblance of the men and women who once bore the names. A name implies the existence of a distinct personality. In its lists of what are now mere names the Bible seems to recognise the dignity and sacredness of bare human life.
2. These names have also a collective significance. They are typical and representative–the names of kings and priests and captains; they sum up the tribes of Israel, both as a Church and a nation, down all the generations of its history.
3. The meanings of names reveal the ideas of the people who used them. The Hebrew names bear important testimony to the peculiar vocation of this nation. No nation of antiquity has such a proportion of names of religious import. The Old Testament contains more than a hundred etymologies of personal names, most of which attach a religious meaning to the words explained.
4. How far do these names help us to understand the spiritual life of ancient Israel? The Israelites made constant use of El and Jehovah in their names, and we have no parallel practice. Were they then so much more religious than we are? Probably in a sense they were. Modern Englishman have developed a habit of almost complete reticence and reserve on religious matters, and this habit is illustrated by our choice of proper names.
5. According to the testimony of names, the Israelites favourite ideas about God were that He heard, and knew, and remembered; that He was gracious, and helped men and gave them gifts; they loved best to think of Him as God the Giver. This is a foreshadowing of the Christian doctrines of grace and of the Divine sovereignty. God hears and remembers and gives–what? All that we have to say to Him and all that we are capable of receiving from Him. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)
The genealogies indicative of universal brotherhood
The existing races of the world are all traced back through Shem, Ham, and Japheth to Noah, and through him to Adam. The Israelites did not claim, like certain Greek clans, to be the descendants of a special god of their own, or, like the Athenians, to have sprung miraculously from sacred soft. Their genealogies testified that not merely Israelite nature, but human nature, is moulded on a Divine pattern. These apparently barren lists of names enshrine the great principles of the universal brotherhood of man and the universal Fatherhood of God. The opening chapters of Genesis and Chronicles are among the foundations of the catholicity of the Church of Christ. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)
The genealogies and heredity
Each nation rightly regards its religious ideas and life and literature as a precious inheritance peculiarly its own; and it should not be too severely blamed for being ignorant that other nations have their inheritance also. Such considerations largely justify the interest in heredity shown by the chroniclers genealogies. On the positive practical side religion is largely a matter of heredity, and ought to be. The Christian sacrament of baptism is a continued profession of this truth: our children are clean; they are within the covenant of grace; we claim for them the privileges of the Church to which we belong. This was also part of the meaning of the genealogies. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)
The genealogies: what we owe to the past
We are the creatures and debtors of the past, though we are slow to own our obligations. We have nothing that we have not received; but we are apt to consider ourselves self-made men, the architects and builders of our own fortunes, who have the right to be self-satisfied, self-assertive, and selfish. The heir of all the ages, in the full vigour of youth, takes his place in the foremost ranks of time, and marches on in the happy consciousness of profound and multifarious wisdom, immense resources, and magnificent opportunity. He forgets, or even despises, the generations of labour and anguish that have built up for him his great inheritance. The genealogies are a silent protest against such insolent ingratitude. They remind us that in bygone days a man derived his gifts and received his opportunities from his ancestors; they show us men as the links in a chain, tenants for life, as it were, of our estate, called upon to pay back with interest to the future the debt which they have incurred to the past. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)
Genealogies as symbols of the solidarity of our race
The genealogies that set forth family histories are the symbols of the brotherhood or solidarity of our race. The chart of converging lines of ancestors in Israel carried mens minds back from the separate families to their common ancestor. As far as they go, the chroniclers genealogies form a clear and instructive diagram of the mutual dependence of men on men and family on family. They are in any case a true symbol of the facts of family relations; but they are drawn, so to speak, in one dimension only, backwards and forwards in time. Yet the real family life exists in three dimensions. A man has not merely his male ancestors in the directly ascending line–father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc.
but he has female ancestors as well. By going back three or four generations a man is connected with an immense number of cousins; and if the complete network of ten or fifteen generations could be worked out, it would probably show some blood bond throughout a whole nation. The further we go back the larger is the element of ancestry common to the different individuals of the same community. The chroniclers genealogies only show us individuals as links in a set of chains. The more complete genealogical scheme would be better illustrated by the ganglia of the nervous system, each of which is connected by numerous fibres with the other ganglia. Patriotism and humanity are instincts as natural and as binding as those of the family; and the genealogies express or symbolise the wider family ties, that they may commend the virtues and enforce the duties that arise out of these ties. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)
The antiquity and unity of man
Other nations have had more or less imperfect visions of ancient history and of the unity of the race, but in the Bible alone do we find an authoritative declaration made concerning the antiquity and unity of man and the ultimate destiny of the human race. The Chaldeans had a tradition of ten antediluvian patriarchs or kings. They made the duration of this first period of human history four hundred and thirty-two thousand years. All other chronicles have been bewildered by their polytheism, whereas in the Hebrew history we have all the sublime unity which would seem to be necessitated by the monotheism of the writers. They who believed in one God were likely to believe in one humanity. Monotheism accounts for the two commandments which relate first to God, and then to man. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES
Chronological Notes relative to this Book
-Year of the World, 1.
-Year before Christ, according to Archbishop Usher, 4004.
-Year before the Flood, according to the common Hebrew Bible, 1656.
-Year of the Julian period, 710.
CHAPTER I
The genealogy of Adam to Noah, 1-3.
Of Noah to Abraham, 4-27.
The sons of Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, 28.
The sons of Ishmael, 29-31.
The sons of Keturah, 32, 33.
The sons of Esau, 34-42.
A list of the kings of Edom, 43-50.
A list of the dukes of Edom, 51-54.
NOTES ON CHAP. I
Verse 1. Adam, Sheth, Enosh] That is, Adam was the father of Sheth or Seth. Seth was the father of Enosh, Enosh the father of Kenan, and so on. No notice is taken of Cain and Abel, or of any of the other sons of Adam. One line of patriarchs, from Adam to Noah, is what the historian intended to give; and to have mentioned the posterity of Cain or Abel would have been useless, as Noah was not the immediate descendant of either. Besides, all their posterity had perished in the deluge, none remaining of the Adamic family but Noah and his children; and from these all the nations of the earth sprang.
How learned must those men be who can take for a text “The first verse of the first chapter of the first book of CHRONICLES.” and find a mystery in each name; which, in the aggregate, amounts to a full view of the original perfection, subsequent fall, consequent misery, and final restoration, of MAN! O ye profound illustrators of the names of men and cities! why do ye not give us the key of your wisdom, write comments, and enlighten the world?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Adam begat Sheth; and so in the following particulars. For brevity sake he only mentions their names; but the rest is easily understood out of the former books, and from the nature of the thing; and from some following passages where the sense is completed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Adam, &c.”Begat”must be understood. Only that one member of the family is mentioned,who came in the direct order of succession.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ver. 1-4. Adam, Seth,…. These first four verses exactly agree with the account of the antediluvian patriarchs in Ge 5:1, the first letter in Adam is larger than usual, as a memorial, as Buxtorf m observes, of the first and only man, from whence mankind had their beginning, and whose history the author had undertaken to write.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The patriarchs from Adam to Noah and his sons. – The names of the ten patriarchs of the primeval world, from the Creation to the Flood, and the three sons of Noah, are given according to Gen 5, and grouped together without any link of connection whatever: it is assumed as known from Genesis, that the first ten names denote generations succeeding one another, and that the last three, on the contrary, are the names of brethren.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Genealogies. | B. C. 4004. |
1 Adam, Sheth, Enosh, 2 Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, 3 Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, 4 Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 5 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 6 And the sons of Gomer; Ashchenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. 7 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 8 The sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 9 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 10 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be mighty upon the earth. 11 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 12 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (of whom came the Philistines,) and Caphthorim. 13 And Canaan begat Zidon his firstborn, and Heth, 14 The Jebusite also, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, 15 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 16 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. 17 The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech. 18 And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber. 19 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother’s name was Joktan. 20 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 21 Hadoram also, and Uzal, and Diklah, 22 And Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba, 23 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 24 Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah, 25 Eber, Peleg, Reu, 26 Serug, Nahor, Terah, 27 Abram; the same is Abraham.
This paragraph has Adam for its first word and Abraham for its last. Between the creation of the former and the birth of the latter were 2000 years, almost the one-half of which time Adam himself lived. Adam was the common father of our flesh, Abraham the common father of the faithful. By the breach which the former made of the covenant of innocency, we were all made miserable; by the covenant of grace made with the latter, we all are, or may be, made happy. We all are, by nature, the seed of Adam, branches of that wild olive. Let us see to it that, by faith, we become the seed of Abraham (Rom 4:11; Rom 4:12), that we be grafted into the good olive and partake of its root and fatness.
I. The first four verses of this paragraph, and the last four, which are linked together by Shem (1Ch 1:4; 1Ch 1:24), contain the sacred line of Christ from Adam to Abraham, and are inserted in his pedigree, Luke iii. 34-38, the order ascending as here it descends. This genealogy proves the falsehood of that reproach, As for this man, we know not whence he is. Bishop Patrick well observes here that, a genealogy being to be drawn of the families of the Jews, this appears as the peculiar glory of the Jewish nation, that they alone were able to derive their pedigree from the first man that God created, which no other nation pretended to, but abused themselves and their posterity with fabulous accounts of their originals, the Arcadians fancying that they were before the moon, the people of Thessaly that they sprang from stones, the Athenians that they grew out of the earth, much like the vain imaginations which some of the philosophers had of the origin of the universe. The account which the holy scripture gives both of the creation of the world and of the rise of nations carries with it as clear evidences of its own truth as those idle traditions do of their own vanity and falsehood.
II. All the verses between repeat the account of the replenishing of the earth by the sons of Noah after the flood. 1. The historian begins with those who were strangers to the church, the sons of Japhet, who were planted in the isles of the Gentiles, those western parts of the world, the countries of Europe. Of these he gives a short account (v. 5-7), because with these the Jews had hitherto had little or no dealings. 2. He proceeds to those who had many of them been enemies to the church, the sons of Ham, who moved southward towards Africa and those parts of Asia which lay that way. Nimrod the son of Cush began to be an oppressor, probably to the people of God in his time. But Mizraim, from whom came the Egyptians, and Canaan, from whom came the Canaanites, are both of them names of great note in the Jewish story; for with their descendants the Israel of God had severe struggles to get out of the land of Egypt and into the land of Canaan; and therefore the branches of Mizraim are particularly recorded (1Ch 1:11; 1Ch 1:12), and of Canaan, v. 13-16. See at what a rate God valued Israel when he gave Egypt for their ransom (Isa. xliii. 3), and cast out all these nations before them, Ps. lxx. 8. 3. He then gives an account of those that were the ancestors and allies of the church, the posterity of Shem, v. 17-23. These peopled Asia, and spread themselves eastward. The Assyrians, Syrians, Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, descended from these. At first the originals of the respective nations were known; but at this day, we have reason to think, the nations are so mingled with one another, by the enlargement of commerce and dominion, the transplanting of colonies, the carrying away of captives, and many other circumstances, that no one nation, no, nor the greatest part of any, is descended entire from any one of these fountains. Only this we are sure of, that God has created of one blood all nations of men; they have all descended from one Adam, one Noah. Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Mal. ii. 10. Our register hastens to the line of Abraham, breaking off abruptly from all the other families of the sons of Noah but that of Arphaxad, from whom Christ was to come. The great promise of the Messiah (says bishop Patrick) was translated from Adam to Seth, from him to Shem, from him to Eber, and so to the Hebrew nation, who were entrusted, above all nations, with that sacred treasure, till the promise was performed and the Messiah had come, and then that nation was made not a people.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Introduction to Chronicles
In the Hebrew original these two books were one book, but were divided in the Septuagint, or Greek version of the Old Testament. Their title in the Septuagint was Paralipomena, which means “things omitted, or left out,” evidently with reference to the Books of Samuel and Kings. However, this is not an accurate title, for much of the material in the Books of Chronicles is almost identically parallel to that in the other historical accounts of the kings. But they do also contain many things not related in Samuel and Kings, and in that sense are supplementary to those books. For that reason, and for the sake of chronological arrangement, most of the material of these books has been considered in this commentary in parallel with the accounts of Samuel and Kings.
Chronicles begins with an extensive listing of genealogy, beginning with Adam and coming up approximately to the end of the exile. There is, then, a brief account of the death of Saul, the first king of Israel, in battle. The crowning of David follows, and the account proceeds with a history of the united kingdom to the death of Solomon. With the accession of Rehoboam, following the death of his father Solomon, very little is related of the history of the northern tribes, the account being devoted almost entirely to the chronicles of the Kingdom of Judah to its fall to the Chaldaeans.
Conservative opinion holds with the Jewish tradition that the scribe Ezra is the human author of the Chronicles, though some believe they may have been written as late as 250 B. C. Evidence in favor of Ezra’s authorship, after the exile, is preponderant, thus dating them about 400 B. C. The books have a decidedly priestly slant, for Ezra was a priest, and one purpose of their writing appears to be to show the preservation of the priestly line from Aaron and the kingly line from David. The author made considerable use of other sources, such as the books of the prophets: Nathan, Gad, Iddo, Abijah, Isaiah, and others. Of course these were not inspired writings, and the Holy Spirit guided the hand of the scribe of Chronicles in making a divinely accurate account from these. Differences between numbers and such, in comparison of Chronicles to the accounts of Samuel and Kings, are not of the original inspired account, but got into the present versions by scribal error.
First Chronicles – Chapter 1
Pre-Rood Patriarchs, Verses 1-4
These ten generations are the same as those enumerated in Genesis – Chapter 5, though their names are somewhat different in spelling. The account in Genesis gives little information about them either, except for three of four. That chapter is a generation by generation listing to the time of the flood, giving the age of each at the birth of his son, the length of his life after that, and the total years each one lived. That they lived for centuries is a well-known fact to Bible students. Based on this account it is found that the time from Adam to the flood is about 1,666 years.
Adam was, of course, the first man, who ate the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, fell, and brought sin into the human race. His son, Seth, fathered Enoch, at which time his line became distinguished as worshippers of the Lord (Gen 4:26).
Enoch is well known as the intimate follower of the Lord, who was translated without seeing death (Gen 5:24; Heb 11:5). His son Methuselah’s age, at 969 years, is the longest on record. Chronology shows that he outlived his son Lamech and died the year of the flood. God’s longsuffering toward the pre-flood world also waited the decease of these godly patriarchs.
Lamech, the father of Noah, was a prophet, foretelling the comforting of the earth through Noah (Gen 5:29). Of course, Noah is a well-known character of the Bible, the builder of the ark by which he preserved mankind and animal life in the flood. His sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth were the progenitors of races and nations which succeeded the flood (Gen 10:1-32).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.] The writer gives no explanation or introduction, presumes upon the knowledge of the reader, and simply enumerates names from Creation to the Flood, contained in Genesis 5. The Deluge, 1,656 years from the creation of Adam.
1Ch. 1:1-4.These names embrace Genesis 1-9, which the reader is presumed to know. This furnishes a principle of interpretation to other parts of the book. The Hebrew pointing will often account for the orthography of the names.
1Ch. 1:5-7.List of sons and grandsons of Japheth (cf. Genesis 10. Noahs sons in order of Gen. 10:1). Beginning with Japheth, youngest, to dispose of what is not exactly required, the writer gives seven sonsthree through Gomer, the eldest son, and four through Javan, the fourth son.
1Ch. 1:8-16.Descendants of Ham, sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons. Four sons of Ham; six grandsons, including Nimrod, through Cush, the eldest son of Ham; seven grandsons through Mizraim, second son of Ham; two great-grandsons through Raamah, Cushs fourth son; 30 altogether.
1Ch. 1:17-27.Shems descendants to Abraham. A pause half way at the name of Peleg, 1Ch. 1:19, to mention Joktan, his brother, and then Joktans thirteen sons, 1Ch. 1:20-23. Then repeating the first five names of lineal descent, and picking up the thread at Peleg, the remaining five to Abraham are givenGenesis 11-17given as briefly as possible. Abraham the tenth from Noah, and twentieth from Adam.
1Ch. 1:28-33.The collaterals of Isaac. This reaches from Genesis 16-25. Isaac put first as child of promise, though born fourteen years after Ishmael (Gen. 17:25; Gen. 21:5). So Shem put first, though second son. This must be kept in mind in examination of lists. From call of Abraham to birth of Isaac, thirty years. 1Ch. 1:29-31 taken from Gen. 25:12-16. Their generations, a new starting-point, modified from Gen. 25:12, to include Isaac as well as Ishmael. 1Ch. 1:32-33 abridged from Gen. 25:1-4. The sons of Dedan omitted (Murphy).
1Ch. 1:34-37.Descendants of Esau (cf. Gen. 36:10-14). Timna, 1Ch. 1:36, seems to have been concubine of Eliphaz and Amalek, another son by her. 1Ch. 1:37, four grandsons of Esau by Reuel.
1Ch. 1:38-42.Descendants of Seir. Seir probably a Shemite, though his relation is unrecorded (cf. Murphy). Twenty-seven names given agree with Gen. 36:20-27, except for Homam, Alian, Shephi, Amram, and Jakan we have Hemam, Alvan, Shepho, Hemdan, and Akan.
1Ch. 1:43-50.The Kings of Edom (cf. Gen. 36:31-43). Before any king, before Israel had any civil government, or became a nation with a king. There are eight names, the parentage or the land of each given.
1Ch. 1:51-54.The Dukes of Edom. Eleven given. Some think a list of places, not of persons, compared with Gen. 36:15; Gen. 36:41; Gen. 36:43. This ch. contains genealogies which embrace about 2,300 years. Not a remark given apparently, moral, religious, or didactic. It connects Israel with Adam, and retraces the pedigree of men to its original source.
HOMILETICS
THREE PAGES OF HUMAN HISTORY.1Ch. 1:1
Names are potent things, represent mighty factors, sustaining forces in life, and important periods in history. We are apt to think genealogies are dry, and names of no significance, but Scripture nomenclature reads a different lesson. How suggestive the names in 1Ch. 1:11
I. The creation of man. Adam first and representative of the race. The historic man, apparently no prehistoric man. The creation of man a decree and last work of God, the crowning point of all. In man, and through man, nature finds its purpose and transformation.
II. The inspiration of hope. Seth means fixed, settled, or compensation. He came in the place of Abel taken away. At birth of Cain, Eve hasty in joy (I have gotten the man); in Abel (vanity, perishable) desponding; in Seth confident. Divine power compensated for what human cruelty took away, inspired hope of permanent blessing. God can wonderfully comfort. If one gone, He can give another. He can strengthen, establish, and perpetuate the family and the Church, so that the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.
III. The beginning of public worship. Enos designates weakness, human frailty, a sorrowful remembrance of Abel (Psa. 8:5; Psa. 90:3). How soon are hopes dashed! But God becomes great when we feel small. Then began men to call upon (proclaim, announce) Jehovah (Gen. 4:26). A new line of promise in Enoch (Enos) after line of Cain had lost it. Hope finds expression in formal worship. The Sethites merge into a community, outline a church, and publicly honour Jehovah. In a new race and a believing generation Gods name ever presented with higher glory and greater attractions.
SOLEMN VIEWS OF HUMAN LIFE.1Ch. 1:1-4
I. The beginning of human life. In Adam a distinct beginning of humanity on earth, not as a physical act merely or completion of physical progress. It happened in the supernatural and spiritual. Not merely formation, animation, but direct, divine inspiration (Gen. 2:7) [Tayler Lewis]. From the first man spring all the race. History and science cannot present the contrary. The first man was made a living soul.
II. The length of human life. Before the Flood men long-lived (cf. Genesis 5). Accounted for
1. By natural causes. Habits simple, food nutritious, and climate healthy.
2. By providential design. To establish institutions, people the earth, and propagate truth.
III. The corruption of human life. The Cainites ungodlyfirst civilisation worldly, art and culture misused, polygamy prevails, races intermix, unbelief and Titanic pride corrupt the race. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5).
IV. The destruction of human life. Evil contagious, rapidly spread and deteriorated the race. They were flesh, wholly carnal or animal. He also is flesh (Gen. 6:3). In wanton deeds, divine warnings despised, the Holy Spirit grieved. The world ripe for judgment. God repented, that is, changed his procedure, not his purpose, concerning man (Gen. 6:7-8). The Flood swept every living thing from off the earth.
V. The deliverance of human life. A few were saved (1Pe. 3:20). Noah and his family preserved, and were progenitors of a redeemed race. God held human life sacred, bound himself by signs never more to destroy it by flood. Noah, the last of Sethic race and first in the line of Shem, a second ancestor of the human family. Man rises to a higher place in the world. As a believer he is saved from general wreck, inherits a new earth purged from sin, and becomes heir of a righteousness by faith.
THE HUMAN RACE, IN ITS UNITY, PROGRESS, AND DECLENSION.1Ch. 1:1-54
Glancing at these names, what an insight into human life, human activity and circumstances!
I. The unity of the race. The race not merely represented but comprehended in Adam. Made of one (blood) all nations of men (Act. 17:26). Mankind not a living sand-heap, without generic connection. The Bible sees in Adam the power of a single lifemen one before they became many; and as many, still one. One natural fatherhood, and one common brotherhood in him. One touch of nature makes the world kin.
II. The progress of the race. Every movement implies beginning, progress, and consummation. This makes history.
1. In knowledge. Not from barbarism at first, but from supernatural light shining directly or indirectly on human steps.
2. In arts. Lamechs three sons authors of inventions (Gen. 4:20-23). Culture and science as old as humanity. Barbarism and brutality result from corrupt civilisation.
3. In civil government. Cities built, states founded, kingdoms formed, titles given, and rulers chosen.
4. In population. Beginning from a single pair, in seven generations the human family attained considerable increase. If Abrahams stock, in less than 400 years, amounted to 600,000, Cains posterity, in the like time, might arise to the like multitude [Willet]. It should remind of the reality and power of Gods blessing (Gen. 1:28).
5. In religion. Abels piety revived in the godly Sethites. While the family of Cainites, by the erection of a city and the invention and development of worldly arts and business, were laying the foundation for the kingdom of this world, the family of the Sethites began, by united invocation of the name of the God of grace, to found and erect the kingdom of God [Delitzsch]. Separation from ungodly associates needful. This, with social worship, checks declension and secures advancement.
III. The declension of the race. Before the Flood, licentiousness and violence, pride and self-gratification. This
1. Seen in sinful works. Nothing wrong to build cities, handle harps, and cultivate poetry and music. These intended for the benefit of men, and should be consecrated to the service of God. But sadly misapplied when they lead to pride and forgetfulness of God.
2. Seen in ungodly lives. Cain, the murderer; Lamech, the polygamist; Nimrod, the powerful tyrant (Gen. 10:8). The earth was filled with violence.
3. Seen in significant names. Qualities, principles, and characteristics seen in names of Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Lamech, &c. (Gen. 4:23-26). Adah and Zillah indicative of sensual attractions. Learn the danger of intellect and civilisation separated from religion, the downward progress of sin, and the necessity, in these days of science and mechanical invention, of steadfastly fearing God and maintaining public worship.
Grieved at his heart when, looking down, he saw
The whole earth filled with violence [Milton].
POSTERITY OF NOAHS SONS.1Ch. 1:5-23
I. The enemies of the Church. 1. Sons of Japhet (1Ch. 1:5-7 and Gen. 10:2-5). Trace the wide world-wandering, in which future generations disappear from the theocratic line.
2. Sons of Ham (1Ch. 1:8-16). Hamite culture early, corrupt and mixed with Cainite elements.
II. Allies of the Church (1Ch. 1:17-23). In the line of Shem we have the gravitation of humanity to its centre, the gradual preparation for the calling of Abraham, and for the Messianic descent. Shems history, the last in the world, first in the kingdom of God.
THE MIGHTY HUNTER.1Ch. 1:10
In the formal register of Gen. 10:8-12, a brief account of an individual inserted. A fact of importance, because it concerned the Hebrews to know that though their own ancestors came from the region where Nimrod played so conspicuous a part, the great kingdom, afterwards known as Babylon, was of Cushite, not of Semitic origin [Dr. Dods].
1. His descent. Cush begat Nimrod. He is put back before the time of Abraham and assigned to the Ethiopian race.
2. His occupation. He was a mighty hunter. Hunting of ravenous beasts a benevolent act for the human race. Powerful huntsmen pioneers of civilisation, as in the myth of Hercules. Nimrod, successful, became a great man, conqueror, and ruler.
3. His extensive empire (Gen. 10:10-12). As a mighty hunter, he founded a powerful kingdom. The founding of the kingdom is shown to have been the consequence or result of his strength in hunting, so that the hunting was most intimately connected with the establishment of the kingdom. Figuratively, he was a hunter of men (a trapper of men by stratagem and force, Herder), and became a tyrant and oppressor of liberty (cf. Keil, Gen. 10:9).
4. His great fame. Recognised as mighty; became a proverb, It is said, &c. Expression before the Lord added as if God himself must take note of his skill. Some think that blame is intended, that his notoriety for boldness and wickedness is expressed; something so bad that God could not take his eyes from it. Learn the responsibility of power. Check the tendency to do homage to greatness which takes the form of hero-worship. Wisely use and not abuse the endowments entrusted to your care.
O execrable son, so to aspire
Above his brethren, to himself assuming
Authority usurped, from God not given [Milton].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Genealogies and their use.
1. In helping Jews to identify their tribes. After return from captivity, all confusion. In prospect of future, needful to revise and reconstruct.
2. In illustrating Jewish History. Here and there names of great importance, and significant of solemn crises of history.
3. In tracing the descent of the Messiah.
1Ch. 1:1; 1Ch. 1:4; 1Ch. 1:28. Three covenantsAdam, Noah, and Abraham. Double namesAbraham, the natural and spiritual name; Jacob, supplanter and prince.
1Ch. 1:10. Nimrods threefold position.
1. As the pioneer of civilisation;
2. As oppressor of patriarchal liberties;
3. As the instrument of God for the development of the world [Lange].
1Ch. 1:19. Peleg, or Division of the earth. Its time, method, design, and commemoration (Gen. 10:25).
1Ch. 1:24-27 (Genesis 11). Other nations shaken offline from Shem to Abraham given here.
1. Ishmaelites (1Ch. 1:29-31): 12 sons = 12 princes (Gen. 17:20).
2. Midianites, children of Keturah (1Ch. 1:32-33).
3. Edomites (1Ch. 1:36-54, cf. Genesis 36): (a) Kings of Edom (1Ch. 1:43-50); (b) Dukes of Edom (1Ch. 1:51-54).
1Ch. 1:47. Hadad dead (cf. 1Ch. 1:43). Notice
1. Changes in earthly governmentsreigned and died.
2. Uncertainty of human life: (a) In lifes circumstances, reigned; (b) In lifes end, died.
1Ch. 1:1-54. In list we find:
1. Progenitors of a new race.
2. Founders of great nations. Napoleon vowed that he would found a family, though not himself, of great lineage. Many famous men: Adam, the first man; Methuselah, the oldest; Lamech, polygamist, musician, and poet; Enoch, Noah, Nimrod, Abraham, &c. Great events: Creation of man; invention of arts; translation of Enoch; flood of Noah; call of Abraham, &c. Suggested subjects: The Antiquity of Man; The Origin of Civilisation; The Division of Nations; The Unity of the Race; The Foundation of the Israelitish People.
For human weal, Heaven husbands all events [Young].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
1Ch. 1:1. These chronicles have a mission. As no star was useless in the heavens, and as every atom has been created for a purpose, so God would not devote these chapters to a pedigree without design. The end is Christ.
1Ch. 1:1. Adam. Every human being is a volume worthy to be studied, and I thank God that my own lot is bound up with that of the human race [Channing]. No man can think too highly of his nature, or too meanly of himself [Young].
1Ch. 1:5-18. Threefold division of nations according to the names Japheth, Ham, and Shem. For part played by the several races in civilisation, cf. Fairbairns Studies in Phil. of Religion, and Noahs prophecy (Gen. 9:25-27). All these sons, the white posterity of Japheth, the yellow and dark sons of Ham, however they may live in temporal separation, are all still Gods children, and brothers to one another.
1Ch. 1:27. Abram. The tenth from Noah, and the twentieth from Adam. The letter H, which was added to the original name of the patriarch, occurs twice in the sacred name of Jehovah. It was added, also, to the name of Sarai. The addition in each case seems to mark a new and closer relation to God. And I will write upon him the name of my God [J.H. Blunt] (Gen. 17:5). The sacramental character of a name consists in its divine appointment to represent and commemorate and testify some special grace and blessing, and so to be a permanent pledge of its bestowal. Wilkinson, Personal Names, &c.
1Ch. 1:44-45. Bela dead, Jobab reigned in his stead. A great hand is sometimes laid even on the fly-wheel of lifes engine [George Macdonald].
What exhibitions various hath the world
Witnessd of mutability in all
That we account most durable below!
Change is the diet on which all subsist,
Created changeable, and change at last destroys them [Cowper].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
LESSON ONE 13
I. GENEALOGIES FROM ADAM TO DAVID (1Ch. 1:1 to 1Ch. 9:44)
1. THE GENEALOGY OF THE HUMAN RACE FROM ADAM TO NOAH AND NOAHS THREE SONS
INTRODUCTION
The first three chapters of I Chronicles cover the list of descendants from Adam until the times of Zerubbabel and the return from captivity. Special attention is given to those of the line of descent which would ultimately lead to Jesus Christ.
TEXT
1. Adam, Seth, Enosh, 2. Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, 3. Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, 4. Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth.
PARAPHRASE[10]
[10] The Living Bible Paraphrased, Wheaton, Tyndale House Publishers, 1971.
1. These are the earliest generations of mankind: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
COMMENTARY
The record in I Chronicles begins with Adam and lists the patriarchs of whom Noah is the tenth. The chronicler[11] is not primarily concerned about the creation of the heavens and the earth as described in Genesis, Chapter 1. He is concerned with Adam and those of his kind through whom the promised Seed will come. The men named above are very important in Gods plans. It will be clearly evident to the careful student that the chronicler establishes the fact that the house of David will by Gods direction produce the Messiah. Questions will arise. Credentials must be presented. What is this house of David? Who is the Messiah? Can you present historical data to support your conclusions? Both books of Chronicles are designed to answer these questions. Therefore, the first word in the record is Adam.
[11] The human agent used by God to write the Books of Chronicles.
The name Adam means red or ruddy. While it is a personal, name, in the Hebrew it also may mean mankind. A genuine acquaintance must be formed with Adam if one is to come to appreciate man and the eternal God who created him. Adam is mentioned many times in the scriptures. His creation in Gods image (Gen. 1:26; Gen. 2:7); his appointment in Eden (Gen. 2:15); his marvelous intelligence manifested as he named the animals (Geneis 1Ch. 2:20); his participation in the creation of Eve (Gen. 2:23); his temptation and sin (Gen. 3:8); his being driven out of Eden (Gen. 3:23); his role as the father of at least three sons (Gen. 4:25); and his office as he pointed to the second Adam, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:12-21; 1Co. 15:22-47) all need to be carefully explored. With Adam, God opened the revelation of Himself to mankind. Since all men must trace their origin to Adam, the line of godly descent leading through David to Christ begins with Adam.
Seth comes on the scene as Adams son when the father was one hundred thirty years of age sometime after Cain had murdered Abel. His name means setting or appointed. When Abel was killed, Eve said, God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel (Gen. 4:25). Eve was concerned about the seed promised by God in Gen. 3:15. Seths main purpose in life was to provide a link in the godly line of descent. At the age of one hundred and five years Seth became the father of Enosh (Gen. 4:26). No other incident in his life is recorded. He died when he was nine hundred and twelve years of age. It was at this time that men began to call upon the name of Jehovah (Gen. 4:26).
The fifth chapter of Genesis records the generations from Adam to Noah. Considering the age of each father when his son was born, a total of one thousand six hundred and fifty six years passed from the time of Adam to the beginning of the Flood. When Enosh was ninety years old his son Kenan was born. Enosh died at the age of nine hundred and five years. Kenan was the contribution of Enosh to Gods purpose (Gen. 5:9-11). The birth and training of a godly child can be a most important enterprise.
When Kenan was seventy years old he became the father of Mahalalel. As had been true with preceding patriarchs, in addition to the godly seed, other sons and daughters were born (Gen. 5:12-14). Those not in the godly lineage are not named, Kenan died when he was nine hundred and ten years of age.
Mahalalel was only sixty five years old when his son, Jared, was born. So Mahalalel lived and died at the end of eight hundred and ninety five years (Gen. 5:15-17). Jared, at the age of one hundred and sixty two years, became Enochs father, Having fathered other unnamed sons and daughters, Jared died in his nine hundred and sixty second year (Gen. 5:18-20). Jareds love for God is revealed in the character of his son, Enoch.[12] When Enoch was sixty five years of age he became Methuselahs father. When Enoch was three hundred and sixty five years old God took him. Unlike the patriarchs before him, he did not die. When he was a young man, in comparison with the long lives of those who preceded and followed him, he walked with God and did not experience death (Gen. 5:21-24). This reflects the training which Enoch undoubtedly received in his fathers house. Enochs faith qualified him for immortality among the faithful (Heb. 11:5; Jud. 1:14).
[12] Not to be confused with the Enoch of Gen. 4:17.
At the age of one hundred and eighty seven years Methuselah became the father of Lamech[13] (Gen. 5:25-27). After that, other sons and daughters were born into his family. Methuselahs claim to distinction is that he lived nine hundred and sixty nine yearsthe most advanced age for man recorded in scriptures. In this long life there is a hint or foretaste of Gods purpose for those who love him.
[13] Not to be confused with the Lamech of Gen. 4:18.
Lamech, at the age of one hundred and eighty two years, became the father of Noah (Gen. 5:28-31). The name Noah means comfort or rest. Lamech said that Noah will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands. Here is a man whose godly son rose up and called him blessed. Lamech died at the age of seven hundred and seventy seven years; but his son was destined to be Gods man in one of the darkest hours of human history.
Considering the promised seed (Gen. 3:15), Noah carried in his life the prospects of a better day. When he was five hundred years old, his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth were born (Gen. 5:32). The Flood came when Noah was six hundred years of age (Gen. 7:6). For one hundred and twenty years prior to the Flood Noah was building the ark and doing the work of a preacher of righteousness (Gen. 6:3; 2Pe. 2:5). When he attained the age of nine hundred and fifty years he died (Gen. 9:29). By his godly life he qualified for the roll of the faithful (Heb. 11:7). Adams relationship to mankind in the beginning is renewed in Noahs importance in Gods plans after the Flood. From his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, (Gen. 9:18-19), the whole earth was eventually to be populated.
These sons were three in number. God will use only one of them as a vehicle for the Godly seed. Genesis, chapter 10, names the sons and descendants of Noahs sons. Japheths people were the Medes, Greeks, Asians, and Europeans. Hams descendants were to live in Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, and Canaan. Shems people, called Semites, were to become the Persians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Syrians, and the Hebrews. The godly line will come from Shem through Arpachshad (Gen. 10:22). So it is from this point that the genealogy continues in Genesis, chapter 11 (Gen. 11:10-11) and carries to Abram (Gen. 11:26).
Against this background every name in 1Ch. 1:1-4 is very important. In the history bound up in these lives the foundation for Israels history is laid. Apart from these patriarchs, Davids life would have no meaning.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Adam (man) is here treated as a proper name; in Gen. 5:1-5 it is an appellative.
The Chaldeans also had a tradition of ten antediluvian patriarchs or kings, beginning with Alorus and ending with Xisuthrus (Hasis-Adra), the hero of the Flood. They made the duration of this first period of human history 432,000 years. Remembering that Abraham, the Hebrew, was from Ur (Uru, the city) of the Chaldees, we can hardly suppose the two accounts to be independent of each other. The comparative simplicity and, above all, the decided monotheism of the Hebrew relation, give a high probability to the assumption that it represents a more original form of the tradition.
Sheth, Enosh.Those who have imagined the present list to be a mere duplicate of that given in Gen. 4:17 sqq., and who explain the whole by the fatally easy process of resolving all these different names into a capricious repetition of one original solar figure, are obliged to admit a difficulty in connection with the names of Sheth and Enosh, which are acknowledged not to belong to mythology at all (Prof. Goldziher). Considering that most Hebrew names have a distinct and intentional significance, it is obviously a mere exercise of ingenuity to invest them with a mythological character. Meanwhile, such speculations cannot possibly be verified.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Ch 1:7 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
1Ch 1:7
Gen 10:4, “And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim .”
Because of the tremendous reverence that the Jews gave the Hebrew Scriptures, they feared to correct the text even when it was an obvious scribal error. Therefore, any corrections of recognized errors were made in the margin or footnote of the text, while the misspelled words were retained within in the text. 1Ch 1:7 is a classic example of this retention of an altered text.
Because the LXX, the Samaritan Pentateuch and some of the manuscripts of the Masoretic Text read “Rhodians” in both passages ( Gesenius), many scholars believe that the correct form should read “Rodanim,” which denotes the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes. However, most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text read “Dodanim.” Regardless of the interpretation, everyone agrees that this refers to the Rhodians.
Some modern translations take the liberty to correct the reading of 1Co 1:7, such as the NIV.
NIV, “The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim .”
1Ch 1:18 And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber.
1Ch 1:18
1Ch 1:19 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother’s name was Joktan.
1Ch 1:19
[21] S. F. Hunter, “Peleg,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
From Adam to the Sons of Keturah
v. 1. Adam, Sheth, Enosh, v. 2. Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered,
v. 3. Henoch, v. 4. Noah, v. 5. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
v. 6. And the sons of Gomer: Ashchenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
v. 7. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. v. 8. The sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
v. 9. And the sons of Cush: Sevah, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba. and Dedan.
v. 10. And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be mighty upon the earth, v. 11. And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
v. 12. and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (of whom came the Philistines,) and Caphthorim. v. 13. And Canaan begat Zidon, his firstborn, and Heth,
v. 14. the Jebusite also, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,
v. 15. and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
v. 16. and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite, v. 17. The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech v. 18. And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber.
v. 19. And unto Eber were born two sons; the name of the one was Peleg v. 20. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazar-maveth, and Jerah,
v. 21. Hadoram also, and Uzal, and Diklah,
v. 22. and Ebal v. 23. and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. v. 24. v. 25. Eber, Peleg, Reu,
v. 26. Serug, Nahor, Terah,
v. 27. Abram; the same is Abraham, v. 28. The sons of Abraham: Isaac, v. 29. These are their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
v. 30. Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Radad, and Tema,
v. 31. Jetur, Naphish, arid Kedemah.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
1Ch 1:1-4
A. LIST OF GENERATIONS FROM ADAM TO NOAH. These verses contain a line of genealogical descents, ten in number, from Adam to Noah, adding mention of the three sons of the latter. The stride from Adam to Seth, and the genealogy’s entire obliviousness of Cain and Abel, are full of suggestion. All of these thirteen names in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint Version, though not those in the Authorized Version, are facsimiles of those which occur in Gen 5:1-32. They are not accompanied, however, here, as they are there, by any chronological attempt. Probably the main reason of this is that any references of the kind were quite beside the objects which the compiler of this work had in view. It is, however, possible that other reasons for this chronological silence may have existed. The uncertainities attaching to the chronology found in Genesis, as regards this table, may have been suspected or evidentuncertainties which afterwards proclaim themselves so loudly in the differences observable between the Hebrew, Samaritan, and Septuagint versions. Thus the Hebrew text exhibits the total aggregate of years from Adam to the birth of Noah, as amounting to one thousand and fifty-six; the Samaritan version to seven hundred and seven only; and the Septuagint to as many as sixteen hundred and sixty-two; nevertheless, all three agree in adding five hundred years onward to the birth of Shem, and another hundred years to the coming of the Flood. It must be remarked of this first genealogical table, whether occurring here or in Genesis, that, notwithstanding its finished appearance, notwithstanding the impression it undoubtedly first makes on the reader, that it purports to give all the intervening generations from the first to Shem, it may not be so; nor be intended to convey that impression. It is held by some that names are omitted, and with them of course the years which belonged to them. There can be no doubt that this theory would go far to remove several great difficulties, and that some analogies might be invoked in support of it, from the important genealogies of the New Testament. The altogether abrupt opening of this booka succession of proper names without any verb or predicationcannot be considered as even partially compensated by the first sentence of Gen 9:1-29; “So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.” This verse applies directly to the genealogies of Israel and the tribes, beginning Gen 2:1, while under any circumstances, we must look on the first portion of this book as a series of tables, here and there slightly annotated, and suddenly suspended before the eyes.
1Ch 1:5-7
B. LIST OF SONS AND GRANDSONS OF JAPHETH. After the mention of Noah’s three sons, in the order of their age (though some on slender ground think Ham the youngest), this order, as in Gen 10:2, is reversed; and the compiler, beginning with Japheth, the youngest, apparently with the view of disposing of what his purpose may not so particularly require, gives the names of seven sons and seven grandsons, viz. three through Gomar, the eldest son, and four through Javan, the fourth son. These fourteen names are identical in the Authorized Version with the list of Gen 10:2-4. The Septuagint, though not identical in the spelling of the four names Madai, Tiras, Tarshish, and Kittim, shows no material differences in the two places. In the Hebrew, according to the text and edition consulted, very slight variations are found in the orthography of Tubal ( here for ) and Tarshish ( here for )and in the adoption of Riphath and Dodanim in this book for Diphath and Rodanim. The names Kittim and Dodanim look less like names of individuals than of such family, tribe, or nation as descended from the individual. At the close of this short enumeration, we have .in Genesis the statement, “By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.” It is evident here also that, whether the compiler borrowed from the Book of Genesis itself, or from some common source open to both, his objects are not exactly the same. Time and the present position and condition of that part of his people for which he was writing governed him, and dictated the difference. Accordingly we do not pause here on the colonizings and the fresh seats and habitations of the sons and grandsons of Japheth. The subject, one of extreme interest, and the threads of it perhaps not so hopelessly lost as is sometimes thought, belongs to the place in Genesis from which the above verse is cited. It may, however, be written here that the rather verbose disquisitions of Joseph Mede are neither altogether unin-retorting nor in some parts of them unlikely. They form Discourses 47, 48, bk. 1..
1Ch 1:8-16
C. LIST OF THE SONS, GRANDSONS, AND GREAT–GRANDSONS OF HAM. This list consists of four sons of Ham, of six grandsons, including Nimrod, through Cush, the eldest son of Ham; of seven grandsons through Mizraim, the second son of Ham; of eleven grandsons through Canaan, the fourth son of Ham; of two great-grandsons through Raamah, Cush’s fourth son;thirty descendants in all. No issue is given of Put, the third son of Hem. The parallel list is found in Gen 10:6-20. The names agree in the Authorized Version, with minute differences, e.g. Put here for Phut there, and so the Philistines for Philistine, Caphthorim for Caphtorim, Girgashite for Girgasite. They are similarly in agreement in the Hebrew text of the two places, with minute differences, e.g. here for there; for for for for . However, in Genesis the following statements are added to Nimrod’s name:”He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty. hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; the same is a great city.” And again, at the close of the enumeration of sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons, follow the statements, “And afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comsat to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.”
1Ch 1:10
The Septuagint supplies the word after . Also after this description of Nimrod, it proceeds to the enumeration of the posterity of Shem, omitting all mention of Ham’s grandsons through Mizraim and Cainan. Up to that point the names in this book and Genesis are in agreement in the Septuagint Version. It is evident that some of the names in this portion of the genealogy are not strictly those of the individual, but of the tribe or nation which came to be, as, for instance, Mizraim, Ludim, the Jebusite, the Amorite, and so on.
1Ch 1:16
This verse furnishes us with one illustration of the assertion made above, that the clues to the ethnological and ethnographical statements of these most ancient records are not necessarily all hopelessly lost. In the name Zemarite, it is suggested by Michaelis, that we have allusion to the place Sumra, on the west coast of Syria, this Sumra being the Siniyra of Pliny (‘Hist. Nat.,’ 5.20), and of the Spanish geographer of the first century, Pomponius Mela (1. 12). But the place Zimira, in company with Arpad, is found in the Assyrian inscriptions of Sargon, n.o. 720, leaving little cause to hesitate in accepting the identification of Michaelis. Certainty, however, cannot be felt on the subject.
1Ch 1:17-27
D. THE LIST OF SHEM‘S DESCENDANTS TO ABRAM. This list is broken in two; it pauses a moment exactly halfway to Abram, at the name Peleg, to mention Peleg’s brother Joktan and Joktan’s thirteen sons. Then, repeating the first five names of lineal descent, and picking up the thread at Peleg, the list gives the remaining five to Abram. In the first half of this list, we have apparently the names of nine sons of Shem, but, as Genesis explains, really the names of five sons, and through Aram, the last of them, the names of four grandsons. Another grandson, through Arphaxad the third son, follows, and through this grandson two consecutive lineal descents bring us, in the name Peleg, half-way to Abram. It is here the lineal table pauses to give Joktan and his thirteen sons. The names then in this portion of the list are twenty-six in number. In the Authorized Version they correspond with those in Genesis, except that Meschech () here is called Mash () there; Shelah here is spelled Salah there; and Ebal () here is written Obal () there. The difference between the Hebrew texts justifies the first and last of these variations in the Authorized Version, but in all other respects those texts are in entire accord with one another, for this paragraph. The Septuagint gives very little of this portion of the list. It corresponds, whether with the Hebrew or the Authorized Version, only as far as to the name Arphaxad, after which it carries down the line at once to Abram by the remaining eight names as given in our twenty-fourth to twenty-seventh verses. Nor is it in agreement with its own version in Genesis, which has points of important variation with the Hebrew text also. It is then at this break of the list that, after the names of Joktan’s sons, we have in Genesis these words, “And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lauds, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations; and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the Flood.” Upon this follows the account of Babel, in nine long verses, and then a chronological summary is furnished in lineal descent only from Shem to Abram. It is with the names in this chronological summary that those in this second part of our list (verses 24-27) are found to agree. But any attempt at reproduction of the chronology found in Genesis is again absent here. At this point a significant stage of these genealogies is reached. The ever-broadening stream of population now narrows again. Two thousand years have flown by, then Abraham appears on the stream and tide of human life. Of that long period the life of Adam himself spanned nearly the half. So far we learn without partiality of all his descendants in common. But henceforth, the real, the distinct purpose of the genealogy becomes apparent, in that the line of the descendants of Abraham, and that by one family, alone is maintained, and proves to be a purpose leading by one long straight line to Christ himself. With Abraham “the covenant of innoceney,” long forfeited in Adam, is superseded by the everlasting “covenant of grace,” and we lose sight in some measure of Adam, the “common father of our flesh,” to think of a happier parentage found in Abraham, the “common father of the faithful.”
1Ch 1:28-37
E. LIST OF THE SONS, GRANDSONS, AND OTHER DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM. In the first of these verses the new form of the name of Abraham is at once used in place of the old form. And the names of two of his sons are given, Isaac the son by Sarah, and Ishmael the son by Hagar, his Egyptian bondwoman. That these stand in the inverse order of their birth and age requires no explanation. The distinct and separate mention of these two sons, apart from all the others, is of course in harmony with Gen 21:12, Gen 21:13, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.” Although stated in the first place in the order of importance, and Isaac takes precedence of Ishmael, the name of this latter and of his posterity are treated of first. To note each clear instance of this kind will guard us against inferring, in cases not clear, anything positive, one way or the other, respecting seniority merely from order. The order either of age or of historic importance may be given in the first instance, to be immediately reversed in favour of the order which shall enable the writer to clear out of his way the less important.
1Ch 1:29-31
Contain the list of Ishmael’s sons, twelve in number. The names in the Authorized Version and in the Hebrew text are identical respectively with those in Gen 25:1, Gen 25:3-15, except that for Hadar there we read Hadad here. In the Septuagint we have Idouma, Choudan, Iettar here, for Douma, Choddan, and Ietur there. At the close of this list in Genesis we have joined on to “these are the sons of Ishmael,” the clauses, “and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations. And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people. And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.”
1Ch 1:32, 1Ch 1:33
Contain the list of Abraham’s sons by Keturah, here called one of his concubines; but in Genesis, “a wife,” and apparently not taken by Abraham till after Sarah’s death (Gen 25:1-4). The sons are six; the grandsons, two by the son placed second in order, and five by the son placed fourth in order; in all thirteen names. But the passage in Genesis gives also three great-grandsons, through the second grandson. All the thirteen are in the Authorized Version identical in the two places and in the Hebrew text; but in the Septuagint slight differences occur, as Zembram, Iexan, Madam, Sobak, Soe, Daidan, Sabai, Opher, Abida, and Eldada here, for Zombran, Iezan, Madal, Iesbok, Soie, Dedan, Saba, Apheir, Abeida, and Eldaga there. It is carefully stated in Gen 25:5, Gen 25:6, after the enumeration of Keturah’s children, and in spite of her having been called “wife” in the first verse, that “Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his sou, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.”
1Ch 1:34-37
Lead us on to the descendants of Isaac, the more important branch of Abraham’s family. It breaks again at once into two, Esau, the less important, treated of first; and Israel, reserved till we enter on 1Ch 2:1-55. Of Esau, the names of five sons are given; and of seven grandsons by the first in order, and four grandsons by the second in order of these sons. In Gen 36:1-5 we have the names of the five sons of Esau, which correspond in the Authorized Version and in the Hebrew text exactly with those of this list. We have there in addition the names of their mothers respectively, who were “daughters of Canaan,” Adah of the Hittites, mother of the first; Bashamath of the Ishmaelites, mother of the second (and by these two lines came the seven and four grandsons); and Aholibamah of the Hivites, mother of the remaining three sons. The names correspond also in the Septuagint in the two places, with the minute differences of Eliphaz and Ieoul here, for Eliphas and Ieous there. Then follow the names of seven grandsons of Esau though his son Eliphaz, of whom the first five are found and in agreement (Gen 36:11), with the exception of Zephi here for Zepho there, both in the Authorized Version and in the Hebrew text. But the sixth name here, Timna, is explained in Genesis as the name of a concubine of Eliphaz, by whom he had the son Amalek, who appears here as the seventh son. There can be no doubt that we come here upon a transcriber’s error, and it would be easily amended if we read “and by Timna, Amalek,” vice “and Timna and Amalek.” If this be the correct account of the matter, the grandsons of Esau of course count one fewer here. These two names also tally in the Authorized Version and in the Hebrew text in the two places; while for all seven names the agreement in the Septuagint is exact, except that we read Gootham here for Gothom there. There remain, in verse 37, four grandsons to Esau, by Reuel. Their names agree with Genesis in the Authorized Version, in the Hebrew text, and in the Septuagint, except that this last reads Naches here for Nachoth there.
1Ch 1:38-42
F. LIST OF DESCENDANTS OF SEIR. These verses contain the names of seven sons of Seir and one daughter, and of grandsons through every one of the seven sons, viz. two through Lotan the first, five through Shobal the second, two through Zibeon the third, one through Anah the fourth, four through Dishon the fifth, three through Ezar the sixth, and two through Dishan the seventh,twenty-six names in all, or, including the one daughter, who is introduced as Lotan’s sister, twenty-seven. The first question which arises is, who Seir was, now first mentioned here. He is called in Gen 36:20 “Seir the Horite,” and the only previous mention of the name Seir in that chapter is in Gen 36:8, “Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom;” while we read in Gen 14:6, “The Horites in mount Self;” in Gen 32:3, “To the land of Seir, the country of Edom.” For anything we know of the person Self, then, we are confined to these two noticesthat in Gen 36:20 and the one in our text. The name signifies “rough;” and whether Seir. the person, took the name from Seir, the place (a mountain district, reaching from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf), or vice versa, it would seem plain that the proper name belonged to the head of the tribe, which had become located there, and was, of course, not in the line of Abraham. This tribe, called HoritesHori being the name of Seir’s eldest grandsonor Troglodytes, acquired their name from hollowing out dwellings in the rocks, as at Petra. They were visited evidently by Esau: he married at least one of his wives from them; and his descendants, the Edomites, in due time dispossessed and superseded them (Deu 2:12). No doubt some were left behind, and contentedly submitted to the Edomites and became mingled with them. These considerations put together account for the introduction here of the names of Seir and his twenty-seven descendants, while the particulars of their genealogy, so far as here given, would lie easily to hand. The sons of Seir are called in Genesis also “dukes” (), a word answered to by the later “sheikhs;” and they are called “dukes of the Horites,” or “the dukes of Hori, among their dukes in the land of Self.” The twenty-six or twenty-seven names under notice agree in the Authorized Version entirely with those in Gen 36:20-27, except that for Homam, Allan, Shephi, Amram, and Jakan here, we have Hemam, Alvan, Shepho, Hemdan, and Akau there. Also in the Hebrew the texts agree in the two places as regards these names, with the same exceptions. But in the Septuagint the names differ much more in the two places. Thus for , (or ), , , , and here, we have , , , and there. When the name of Anah is reached in Genesis, it is added, “This was that Anah that found the mules [, more probably ‘hot springs,’ as the finder of which Anah is supposed to have been called Beeri] in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon, his father.” And again, when Dishon is mentioned as the son of Anah, there is added, “And Aholi-bamah the daughter of Anah.” Note is made of her name, no doubt, for the same kind of reason as Timna is mentioned above. Aholibamah (i.q. “Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite,” Gen 26:34) enjoys notice inasmuch as she became the wife of Esau; and Timna, as she became the concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and thereby the mother of Amalek.
1Ch 1:42-50
G. LIST OF KINGS OF EDOM. These verses contain a list of kings who reigned in Edom, during a period expressly notified as anterior to the institution of kings in Israel. Some further point of practical use than has been yet ascertained may lie in the preservation of these snatches of Edom’s history. Something surely hangs on the emphatic but otherwise gratuitous statement, that kings were unknown in Israel when this line reigned in Edom. It may turn out to cover the fulfilment of some obscure point of prophecy, or to subserve some important chronological purpose; but wedged in as it is, it cannot be permitted to count for nothing. That it stands in identical words in Gen 36:31 increases not a little the attention to be paid to it. It has hence been asserted far too dogmatically, as by Spinoza, that the Book of Genesis was no work of Moses; or again, that the passage, in the course of some transcription of manuscripts, had found its way from Chronicles, through a marginal note, at last into the text of Genesis (see Kennicott). But these positions are only forced by the assumption that kings must have reigned in Israel before the sentence could have been written, which is an unnecessary assumption. Kings had been promised to Jacob (Gen 35:11), as among his posterity, and had been prophesied of by Moses (Deu 28:36). It may have been that Edom, secure in her kings for generations, had been wont to make her boast of them. in comparison of and in presence of her neighbours, and the remark may have thence originated. Lastly, it has been correctly pointed out that the structure of the sentence in the original does not at all necessitate the suggestion (of which in the English Version there is confessedly the appearance), that kings had already been in Israel. At the same time, too great stress must not be laid upon this, for the slight alteration of translation that would suit the time for Genesis, would throw it out again for our text here, and yet the words of the original are identical. These kings are eight in number; the parentage or the land of each is given. It is to be noticed that the line of royalty is not hereditary, and that several dukes, or heads of tribes, or princes of districts, rule under the king. The names, whether of persons or places, agree in the Authorized Version as they occur here and in Gen 36:31-39, except that Saul is here spelt Shaul, and that we have here Hadad and Pai for Hadar and Pan there. These two differences are occasioned by the Hebrew text, and are the only differences between the two Hebrew texts, except that here is given there, and that the incorrect spelling here of is found right () in Genesis. The superfluous statement, Hadad died also, which begins our fifty-first verse, is not found in Genesis. In the Septuagint the variations between the two places are greater, as well as those from the Hebrew text in either place. Thus we have Asom, Gethaim, Sebla, Roboth, Balaennor, Achobor, Adad, here, for Asom, Getthaim, Samada, Robboth, Ballenon, Achobor, Arad, there. There is also an entire omission here of the name of the wife of the last king, with those of her mother and grandmother, all of which are given in the passage of Genesis, as found in the Hebrew text.
1Ch 1:44
It is not impossible that this Jobab is one with Job. The allusions in Gen 36:11 to “Eliphaz the Temanite” have directed attention to this; and it has been favoured by the Septuagint and the Fathers.
1Ch 1:48
Rehoboth by the river; i.e. the Euphrates, to distinguish it probably from “the city Rehoboth” of Gen 10:11.
1Ch 1:51-54
H. LIST OF ELEVEN DUKES OF EDOM. These, the remaining verses of 1Ch 1:1-54; appear to give a list of eleven dukes of Edom, emphasized apparently as “the dukes of Edom,” as though there were none before or after them. But see Gen 36:15, Gen 36:41, Gen 36:43, the study of which can scarcely leave a doubt on the mind that this list is not one of persons but of places; e.g. “the duke” of the city, or region of “Timnah,” and so on. The places were dukedoms. The names of these verses, in both Authorized Version and Hebrew text, are an exact counterpart of those found in Gen 36:40-43, except that Aliah here (so Allan, Gen 36:40) stands for Alvah in Genesis. In the Septuagint we have Golada, Elibamas, and Babsar here, for Gola, Olibemas, and Mazar there. Thus this first chapter contains those genealogical tables which concern the patriarchs from Adam up to Israel, spanning a stretch of some two thousand three hundred years, and embracing also tables of Edom and certain of the descendants of Edom up to the period of kings. The chapter contains not a single instance of a remark that could be described as of a moral, religious, or didactic kind. Yet not a little is to be learnt sometimes, not a little suggested, from omission and solemn silence as well as from speech; no more notable instance of which could perhaps be given, when we take into account time, place, and circumstances, than that already alluded to in the omissions involved in the following of the name of Seth upon that of Adam. The genealogies of this chapter, with their parallels in Genesis, are notable also for standing unique in all the world’s writing, and far over all the world’s mythology, for retracing the pedigree of the wide family of men, and especially of the now scattered family of the Jew, to its original. From the time of the close of our Chronicle genealogies, supplemented by the earliest of the New Testament, no similarly comprehensive but useful, ambitious but deliberately designed and successfully executed enterprise has been attempted. And as Matthew Henry has well said, since Christ came, the Jews have lost all their genealogies, even the most sacred of them, “the building is reared, the scaffold is removed; the Seed is come, the line that led to him is broken off.”
Homilies By J.R. Thomson
1 Chronicles-On the whole book-Chronicles.
It has pleased God that a large part of Old Testament Scripture should take the form of history. The sacred books of the Hebrews consist largely of a record of the national life. Here we read of the birth and growth of the chosen people, their prosperity, their conquests, their defeats and captivities, their lawgivers, priests, prophets, kings, and patriots. This Book of Chronicles contains the genealogies of Hebrew tribes and families, and the annals of the nation during the long and glorious reign of David. There must be reasons why the volume which contains the revelation of the Divine character and will should, in so many parts, assume the historical form.
I. There is A GENERAL RELIGIOUS PURPOSE answered by history. Man is social, and is appointed by Providence to live in families, tribes, and nations. Religion not only summons the individual to live a life of allegiance and submission to the unseen power of righteousness and grace, but requires men in their political relations to abide beneath the guiding eye of the Eternal.
1. Historical records promote national life.
2. They encourage a sense of national unity and responsibility. “Not only,” says a great writer, “does the nobleness of a nation depend on the presence of this national consciousness, but also the nobleness of each individual citizen.” The same writer adduces the Jews as an illustration of this principle.
3. They furnish us with practical political lessons. Bossuet has admirably shown of what service history must needs be to princes and rulers.
4. They represent good and evil principles in living instances.
5. To the devout mind they are full of indications of the presence and the energy of God, the moral Ruler and Lord of all.
II. There is a SPECIAL RELIGIOUS USE in Jewish history.
1. It is the history of a very remarkable and favouredwe should say chosenpeople.
2. it records direct interpositions of the hand of God. In the obligation to obedience and service, in the chastisement of lawlessness and rebellion, the Christian can trace a Divine power, whatever race or nation he reviews in the pages of history or contemplates with an observant eye. The peculiarity of the Israelitish chronicles lies herethe Divine power is acknowledged from page to page.
3. The history of the Jews is an epitome of the history of mankind. Within that little territory of Palestine there lived a microcosm of humanity. The parallel is ever presenting itself to our vision.
4. The record of Israel is the story of the preparation for the advent of Christianity. The Old Testament points on to the New. This Book of Chronicles, in its biography of David, leads the mind on to him who was David’s Son and David’s Lord.
APPLICATION.
1. This book should be read with interest as presenting an especially Levitical view of Hebrew history.
2. The reader should be on the watch for gleams of light amidst the sombre catalogues of Israelitish names.
(3) Sympathy should be elicited by the presentation of the Divine side of both biography and history.T.
1 Chronicles 1-9 On the first nine chaptersGenealogies.
Most readers of the Scriptures shrink from perusing the lengthy genealogical tables which constitute so large a part of the Books of Numbers and of Chronicles. It is difficult to feel any interest in persons of whom we know nothing but the name. The lists of Hebrew names constitute dry and unattractive reading. Yet, as every man amongst ourselves who has a distinguished pedigree takes pleasure in tracing his own descent by means of “the family tree” which he has in his possession, so it is reasonable to suppose that the Jews regarded their recorded genealogies with pleasure and pride. There are, however, reasons why we also should contemplate these family records with interest.
I. There are GENERAL REASONS why genealogies should be recorded and preserved.
1. Family life is ordained by God. Revelation teaches us that the family is a Divine institution, and society can only prosper and retain stability when fixed upon this basis.
2. Family feeling is consequently natural and Divine. The relationships of the household are bound up with deep, tender, and beneficial sentiments.
3. Family recollections and records are of human interest and moral advantage. When the father tells the story of his boyhood to his son, the grandfather to his grandson, there is a natural interest felt, and a wholesome feeling of family life and community developed.
4. In many instances family history is an important part of national history. The story of the reigning family in a monarchical country, and of families distinguished for hereditary ability and patriotism in all countries, can scarcely be omitted from the chronicles of a nation.
5. The federal family feeling is contributive to the religious life. “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.”
II. There are SPECIAL REASONS why the genealogies of the Jews should be preserved. The fact that they have been thought worthy of so prominent a place in the canonical Scriptures is indicative of their importance to the national and religious life of the Hebrew people.
1. In some instances these genealogies evince the faithfulness of God in the fulfilment of prophecy. This is especially the case with regard to the character and functions of the several tribes of Israel.
2. In some instances these tables indicate the functions of families in the nation and in the service of the sanctuary. Thus the tribe of Judah is pointed out as the monarchical, the tribe of Levi as the ministerial tribe, and the family of Aaron as the priestly family.
3. One especial purpose of Hebrew genealogy was to provide that the descent of the Messiah should be duly traced, and that the predictions of Scripture should be thus obviously fulfilled. The genealogies of the Evangelists should be read in connection with those of the books of the Old Testament. The Son of David, the descendant of Abraham, is thus shown to be the Son of God and the Saviour of mankind.T.
1Ch 1:10.-A mighty one.
In the early history of the world and in the early history of most nations there arise, out of the dimness, great gigantic figures. We know little of such; but they impress the imagination, and their names suggest great qualities and memorable deeds. Such a figure is Nimrod, of whom we read that “he began to be mighty upon the earth.”
I. Observe an instance of the NATURAL INEQUALITY OF MAN WITH MAN. Many are forgotten; one is remembered; and he who is remembered is, in some respects, superior to his fellows. This inequality is divinely ordered, and, on the whole, must be admitted to contribute to the welfare of society. The respects in which men are great and distinguished are very various. Some are admired for their bodily powers, their daring; others for their wisdom; others, again, for their sanctity.
II. Observe MEN‘S NATURAL TENDENCY TO DO HOMAGE TO GREATNESS. This often takes the form of “hero-worship,” to use the expression of one of our most influential thinkers and writers. The disposition to hero-worship is neither an unmixed good nor an unmixed evil.
III. Consider THE CONSEQUENT RESPONSIBILITY OF POWER AND GREATNESS, When used for an evil end, power is indeed a curse. The selfish, the ambitious, the cruel, are a scourge to humanity. On the other hand, a wide range of influence is the means of the usefulness of these who are alike good and great. The more the talents, the more serious the reckoning at last with the Lord and Judge. History largely consists of the records of the achievements of the mighty. What an account must some such have to render at the last!
APPLICATION.
1. See that the greatness you admire be true greatness, moral grandeur, spiritual dignity.
2. Whether your endowments be lavish or slender, seek to use aright what a wise Providence has entrusted to your care.T.
Homilies By R. Glover
1 Chronicles 1-6-On the genealogical tables of the first six chapters of the First Book of-Chronicles.
It is worth while to read these long lists of names. It is like standing on a river-bank and watching the flow of time. Solemn thoughts of transiency of life, of fame, of importance, are suggested by them. Solemn thoughts of responsibility are started by them, and appeals to act worthily of the past rise from them. They deepen our respect for our grand old world, the nurse of heroes and of saints
“Where half the soil has trod the rest
In poets, heroes, martyrs, sages.”
They reconcile us, to some extent, to inevitable evils in the present, showing that wars and conflicts have been the order of the day from the beginning. Observe more particularly
I. How broadly the writer of this book lays THE BASIS OF HUMAN BROTHERHOOD, He is intensely devoted to the Jewish priesthoodalmost certainly one of them. Some, therefore, would expect only narrowness from him. Priest, presbyter, or pastor are all supposed to have more contracted views than neighbours. But he commences his genealogies, not with Moses, nor Jacob, nor Abraham, but with Adam; recognizing at the outset that mankind is of one blood, one essential nature, one need, one capacity. This is one of the grand differences between the Bible religion and all other ancient religions. It recognized a common brotherhood of mankind beneath the common fatherhood of God. Let us learn this lesson, and go back a little further than the Commonwealth or the Conquest, and remember the English race is not made of different clay from the rest of mankind. All had the same origin, and all, therefore, are capable of the same elevation.
II. Observe, secondly, IT BECOMES US TO RECOGNIZE OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO THE PAST. No Jew could read these records without feeling it. If possessing fertile land, they owed it to othersto the Simeonites, five hundred, who occupied Mount Seir (1Ch 4:39-43); to the men of Reuben, extirpating Arab tribes and dwelling in their place for centuries; to Caleb, for possessing Hebron; to Machir and to Jair, and to many such. If enjoying the arts of life, they should remember how much of these were inherited. They would recall with advantage “Joab, the father of the valley of craftsmen” (1Ch 4:14); those who “wrought fine linen of the house of Ashbea’ (1Ch 6:21); and “the potters” and “those that dwelt among plants and hedges” (1Ch 6:23). If they rejoice in their exquisite poetry, and their music probably matching it in worth, they should remember David and Heman (1Ch 6:33), Asaph (1Ch 6:39), and Merari (1Ch 6:44). It is well to remember the debt we owe to the past. Science did not begin in the nineteenth century, nor good laws, nor philanthropy, nor even statesmanship. We stand on the shoulders of the past. Some are too confident and presumptuous, as if what we possess had been achieved and not inherited. See that we do something for posterity, and transmit in finer volume the advantages we have enjoyed.
III. Observe THE LONG BLESSING THAT FOLLOWS THE GODLY, The priestly line of Aaron is traced through a thousand years of eminence down to the time of the Captivity, and then it is still strong. The royal line of David is traced down to the Captivity, the crown resting on some member of his family through seventeen generations, and traced subsequently in the eminence of Zerubbabel, who is one of the leaders of the return. Blessing of long lines of progeny, inheriting parents’ success, are seen in many other cases, e.g. Caleb’s. A grandson of the prophet Samuel (Heman) inherits his poetic fire. Evil extends its traces and its curse to the third or fourth generation of those that hate God; good carries its blessing to “thousands of generations” of those that love him. Do right and do good, and none can limit your power of blessing your fellow-men. Yet observe, lastly
IV. THE PROMISE OF THE START IS SOMETIMES BROKEN, AND THE UNPROMISING BEGINNING TURNS OUT WELL. Some of Aaron’s sons (Nadab and Abihu) have an awful fate; some of Judah’s an unhappy character. But sometimes a family, beginning badly, improves; for example, here is Judah’s, who in the course of a few generations had in it Er, Onan, and Achan (“the troubler of Israel”); yet it runs itself clear, and gets better, purer, and stronger as it goes on. Therefore despair of none, nor of yourself. Heart within and God overhead, whatever you have been, you may become a blessing to great multitudes.G.
Homilies By R. Tuck
Verse. 1, etc.-The mission of Scripture genealogies.
Since “all Scripture is profitable,” etc. (2Ti 3:16, 2Ti 3:17), we may inquire what is the purpose of the many genealogical records that are preserved for us, and how they stand related to the higher spiritual objects of the Divine revelation. It appears that genealogies have always possessed a peculiar attraction for Orientals; and still nothing so quickly seizes their attention, or pleases them so much, as a summary or review of their histories. The genealogies of Scripture, therefore, help to give naturalness and the sense of genuineness to it as entirely an Eastern composition. It would be made a plea against the authenticity if such genealogies were not found in it. Sufficient reason for the lists which commence the Books of Chronicles may be found in the date and circumstances of their composition. Whoever was the editor, we are sure that the work was prepared after the return from captivity and subsequent to the building of Zerubbabel’s temple. The condition of the people called for such a review of the national history as would impress upon them their connection with a long and glorious past, and would freshen to their view the great principles on which the national prosperity had rested. “The people had not yet gathered up the threads of the old national life, broken by the Captivity. They required to be reminded, in the first place, of their entire history, of the whole past course of mundane events, and of the position which they themselves held among the nations of the earth. This was done, curtly and drily, but sufficiently, by means of genealogies.” Such a picture of the past revived hope and encouraged high aspirations for the future. Such a summary became a virtual introduction to the Gospels, and these genealogies may be compared with those found in St. Matthew and St. Luke. But beyond the use of “genealogies” to Orientals generally, and to the returned captives of that age in particular, we inquire what comprehensive truths for the race, and so for us, they may be designed to impress. And we may fix attention on three:
(1) the unity of God;
(2) the unity of the race;
(3) the unity of the Divine dealings with the race.
I. THE UNITY OF GOD. This was the first and essential truth committed to the trust of the Abrahamic race. This they were to conserve for the world during the long ages of man’s “free experiment.” It was opposed by the dualism of Persia, and the more common polytheism, which associated “gods” with particular localities and countries. It is significant that after the Captivity the Israelites never relapsed into idolatry; but such a genealogy as this helped them to realize fully that the God of their restoration was the “one God” of their fathers, and the God of the whole earth, who could not be limited in thought to any locality, nation, or name. Illustrate and enforce the jealousy of the Divine unity, and the position of this truth, as the very foundation of the Christian doctrine. There may be no question on this point; we, and all the generations that have ever lived, have to do with one God, the same, the only Lord God Almighty. If we are at peace with him, then we have none else to fear. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
II. THE UNITY OF THE RACE. All mankind, from the great first parent, Adam, are gathered together in the genealogy as one race. Thus is resisted the tendency of some nations to a pride of superiority over others, as though they were of another origin and kind; and the disposition of Israel to exclusiveness as a people specially favoured by God. God made all (Act 17:26); God cares for all that he has made. And any apparently special dealings with one race are designed for the good of the whole. In these modern times attention is being freshly given to what is called the “solidarity” of the race, and that fact is assumed to explain much that seems mysterious. But this is precisely the impression which Scripture designs to produce by its genealogies: with this further moral aim, that thus it confirms the claims of the great human brotherhood.
III. THE UNITY OF THE DIVINE DEALINGS WITH THE RACE. This is the chief impression made by a review of the world’s past history. It may be illustrated in relation to
(1) the orderings of Divine providence;
(2) the requirements of Divine Law;
(3) the judgments of Divine wrath;
(4) the signs of a Divine plan; and
(5) the fulfilment of Divine promise.
We may firmly stay our hearts upon the world’s experience of the unity of God’s dealings. He is the Lord; he changes not: “His years are throughout all generations.” This conviction concerning God is the basis of social order, of earthly governments, of the redemptive scheme, and of man‘s ideal of righteousness. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” These genealogies also stand in special relation to the promise of Messiah, the Saviour. They show a Divine purpose being wrought through all the ages, and reveal it accomplished at last in the Child of the Virgin Mary. But they teach that the dominion of this Messiah is wide as the race, and long as the ages. It is to be universal and everlasting. As a practical conclusion, it may be shown that the depressing influence exerted on us by the brevity of human life, and by the uprising and falling of dynasties and nations, is corrected by this revelationin the genealogiesof the “Faithful One,” “whose years are throughout all generations;” and who so solemnly declares, “All souls are mine.”R.T.
1Ch 1:1-4.-The two great race-heads.
It is a significant thing that Scripture so distinctly affirms a double beginning for the human race, and sets before us two great human fathers. It is usual to speak of our “father Adam,” but it would be at least as truthful to speak of our “father Noah.” The period from Adam to Noah is given us very briefly, and it is scarcely more than a record of names. The one fact that comes out so prominently is that the first descendants of Adam lived lives that were so prolonged as to be almost inconceivable to us. And it is equally evident that the new race born of Noah was a race of short-livers, their allotted time on earth not being greatly in excess of our own. Here are facts so important as to be a fitting subject for consideration.
I. THE HEAD OF THE LONG–LIVERS. Adam was himself a long-lived man. We know that physical death was not the judgment on his sin, though the embittering of death by a smiting conscience, and by the sufferings of disease engendered by sin, undoubtedly was. How long men’s earthly lives might have been if they had preserved the purity of Eden, we may only imagine, but some hint of it is given in the experiment God made of permitting even the banished ones to live for a thousand years. Can we conceive the Divine thought in permitting for a time these prolonged lives?
1. The earth was to be won by the human race; its stores were to be discovered, and their uses shown. This beginning of the arts of civilized life would make more rapid progress if one man could carry his experience over several generations, getting full time for the outworking of his thoughts and plans. We know too often now how sadly invention and discovery are stopped by the early death of the workers.
2. It might be expected that man would have a fuller and fairer moral trial if his time on earth were thus prolonged, and it might reasonably be hoped that the continuous experience of God’s goodness would lead him to repentance and restored relations with God. This expectation, however, was not fulfilled, but man’s self-will took advantage of the security of life, and grew into an awful majesty and pride of power, that necessitated the Divine interference in an overwhelming judgment. And it became declared for all the ages that too prolonged life is not the best thing for sinful and self-willed human creatures. It is a trust too great. It is better for man’s highest welfare that upon him should constantly rest the sense of the brevity of life. He only perverted to his uttermost ruin the longer trust. So Adam is the father of a race that is passed and done with. We are not his children in the sense of being placed under the same time-conditions.
II. THE HEAD OF THE SHORT–LIVERS. This is the first and chief distinction between the races before and after the Flood. Noah had a cleansed earth to possess, but he carried over into it some relics of the older evil in his family, and so commenced the new trial under disability. Before, the race had kept in one stream; under the new condition it divided into three great streams, represented by Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and it is found by scholars now that this is stilt the substantial division of the human race. But everywhere we find the condition of the shortened life. “Brief life is here our portion.” And this is made one of the most important influences in the moral training of mankind. Show how it fills each day with importance; prevents any man reaching extreme degrees of crime; solemnizes with the shadow of coming judgment, etc. Now, he only “liveth long who liveth well;” and we need to pray with Moses, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Impress the duty of seeking at once salvation, and at once to be found faithful, in view of the brevity of our life. Compare Jacob’s confession, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been,” etc.R.T.
1Ch 1:10.–Nimrod, the first conqueror.
Previous to this verse we find recorded only names. Nimrod is recalled to mind by a brief but suggestive description. “He began to be mighty upon the earth.” It is further narrated in Genesis (Gen 10:9) that “he was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” From this it appears that proverbs and legends grew up round his name. “The Eastern traditions make him a man of violent, lawless habits, a rebel against God, and a usurper of boundless authority over his fellow-men.” It may suffice, however, to recognize in him the first person to develop war as an agency for subjecting some portions of the human family to the dominion of others. He is the first warrior, the progenitor of the Alexanders and Napoleons, the great world-conquerors. Many men live to serve their generation, and then they die and pass away out of thought, and their very names are forgotten. But they leave their work and the influence of their characters behind them: these can never die. This must be the lot of the great majority of mankind; and yet even thus every man may gain a gracious immortality. “He may still be remembered by what he has done.“ Other men leave their names behind affixed to some principle or truth, and then, though the name is to us no more than a name, it serves to recall the principle. And this we have in the case of Nimrod. His name brings up to our minds the ruin and the sin of man’s masterfulness over his fellow-men. The ruin and the sin are set forth in very impressive forms in the cases of such conquerors as Nimrod; but the mischief is wrought still, and has been wrought through all the ages, in the smaller spheres of the family, society, the nation, and the Church. There are stilt Nimrods, who are bent on self-aggrandizement, and think little of the claims or the sufferings of others, as they tread on to place and wealth and power. The essence of their masterfulness is that they win and hold for self, not for God. To win and hold for God always tones our relations with others, and makes them tender, considerate, and gracious.
I. MAN‘S MASTERFULNESS IMPERILS THE LIBERTIES OF HIS FELLOW–MAN. Nimrod was a hunter. We only hunt to bring under subjection to us. Nimrod was a hunter of men that he might subject them as slaves to his authority. Illustrate in cases of other world-conquerors, and show how absorbing becomes the lust of power. All the nations of the earth have had to win the measures of liberty they enjoyed, by struggle and tears and blood, from those who held them in subjection. Eastern kings were always independent and tyrannical; and still, in the smaller spheres of associate life, the masterful men are always inconsiderate of others, and delight to make others subject to them. This masterfulness is sometimes the natural disposition; then it must be repressed and overcome, in the grace and help of God. At other times it is unduly fostered by the circumstances in which men are placed, and the deference that is paid to them; then we need to “watch and pray lest we enter into temptation.” The “golden rule” cuts it down at the very root. He will never show himself to be masterful who strives “to do unto others as he would have others do unto him.” Godliness and masterfulness can never dwell together in peace, for the godly man obeys the Divine Law, and seeks to “love his neighbour as himself.”
II. MAN‘S MASTERFULNESS IMPERILS THE HONOUR AND THE CLAIMS OF HIS GOD. It sets the man in the world’s eye as before God, able to control things, needing no Divine aids, sufficient in himself; and so puts God out of men’s thoughts, more especially it the masterful man succeeds. Compare Nebuchadnezzar’s boasting, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?” For multitudes Nimrod was the great hero, and men worshipped the masterful man. Surely it is a fatal thing for any one of us that, instead of standing on one side and showing God to our fellows, we stand before him, and only let men see ourselves. Yet this is still the temptation and the peril of the masterful man, in any and every sphere of life.R.T.
1Ch 1:19.–The divided earth.
Here a man’s name is employed to fix an important historical fact. The word Peleg means “division,” but it is uncertain whether allusion is intended to the dispersion of the people from Babel, or a later separation of the Shemitic race to which this Peleg belonged. “The two races which sprang from Eber soon separated very widely from each otherthe one, Eber and his family, spreading north-westward towards Mesopotamia and Syria; the other, the Joktanides, southward into Arabia.” We dwell on the general facts of the division, again and again, of the human race, and endeavour to understand how by this the Divine dealings with the race are illustrated. It is important that we should apprehend what may be called the experimental character of the Divine dealings with man. There is a true and reverent sense in which we may speak of God as experimenting. If it pleased him, in his infinite wisdom and goodness, to make men, and to entrust them with a measure of independence and free-will, then God designed to leave it to be seen how men would act under these conditions; and he must have intended to leave his relations with them open to modification, so that he might meet their varying requirements. God is said to “repent” when he thus graciously adapts his dealings to new circumstances which man, in his self-will, may have created. Such a view of God’s dealings is quite consistent with his foreknowledge. Man, in his most wilful ways, can never” take God at unawares,” for he “seeth the end from the beginning.” But he may see and know all without active interference until his own good time.
I. MAN IS ALONEA SINGLE PAIR. What, may we say, is the experiment here? It is this: given every surrounding condition helpful; no others to confuse the mind or the choice; sufficient knowledge of what their God will have them do and not do;will man use his independence aright? Will he set his will on God? Alas! he failed, “serving the creature more than the Creator.” Man’s moral trial could never be set under greater advantages; and it becomes evident, in the very first instance, that free-willed man’s only hope rests on his receiving into his will the grace and the strength of the Spirit of his God. And this lesson is further pressed home by every experiment, whether it be made by the race, any portion of the race, or the individual. The issue is to convince us that it is “not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” He must learn to say, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” The next form of the experiment is
II. MAN IS IN ONE GREAT SOCIETY. Virtually dwelling together, in large and ever-increasing masses. What comes of this experiment? Utter lawlessness, such wild riotings, such debasing vice, that mankind is utterly and hopelessly corrupt, and God can but cleanse the earth of their presence and their defilement. Man is no stronger for moral right when he is found in masses than when he is found alone. Nay, aggregation only gives man’s will more terrible possibilities of evilpower to develop crimes that debase to the uttermost. The third experiment is the one which God has been pleased to continue through the long ages
III. MAN IS IN A NUMBER OF SOCIETIES, VARIOUSLY LOCATED AND VARIOUSLY RELATED. God never lets these grow too large; famine, pestilence, war, and emigration are always putting limits on excessive populations. So humanity repeats its moral trial under all possible natural conditions, in plains, on mountain sides, at sea-beards. etc; ever proving again and again its absolute need of the Divine strengthening of the will for the attaining of all moral good. Impress these points.
1. God presides over the moral culture of not too large communities.
2. God works by the special genius with which he is pleased to endow particular nations. Illustrate by Rome, Greece, Judaea, etc.
3. God works by the mutual relations of the divided nations. Show how these are maintained in the interests of commerce.
4. God works to secure the permanent moral unity of the race in its dependence on him, and to this end he has graciously introduced his redemptive agency.R.T.
1Ch 1:27.–Abraham’s double name.
F.W. Robertson has some suggestive remarks on the significance of ancient names in his sermon on ‘Jacob’s Wrestling’. He recognizes in the Hebrew history three periods in which names and words bore very different characters. We deal with the first of these periods, when “names meant truths, and words were the symbols of realities. The characteristics of the names given then were simplicity and sincerity. They were drawn from a few simple sources: either from some characteristic of the individual, as Jacob, the ‘supplanter;’ or from the idea of family, as Benjamin, ‘son of my right hand;’ or from the conception of the tribe or nation, then gradually consolidating itself; or, lastly, from the religious idea of God.” Scripture attaches significance to names, and the precise name indicates the minuteness of the Divine knowledge and the tenderness of the Divine care: “I have called thee by name,” “I will give him a new name,” etc. So a change of a man’s name may seal to him the fact of new, more important, and more tender Divine relations. Explain the precise force of the two names, Ab-ram and Ab-ra-ham, and give details of the occasion chosen for changing the names (Gen 17:1-27.). Then illustrate and enforce these three points
I. THE DIVINE INTEREST IN A MAN‘S LIFE. This is so minutely detailed in such lives as these of Abraham and Jacob, that we may each gain the impression of its being the fact concerning ourselves. We are under the eye and in the hand.
II. THE DIVINE RECOGNITION OF A MAN‘S VIRTUE. Illustrate by the reason given for God’s telling Abraham of his proposed judgment on Sodom; by David’s appeal, “Judge me according to my integrity;” and Christ’s address to the Church at Ephesus, “I know thy works” (Re 1Ch 2:2).
III. THE DIVINE COMMUNICATION OF DIVINE APPROBATiON. We indeed may not look to get a change of name, and yet we, too, may be quite sure that our progress in the Divine life has all its stages noticed and marked by God, and, it may be, sealed with a now “unknown name.” We want to see the stages of our spiritual growth; it is enough that we learn from Abraham’s double name how God watches them, and surely marks them down ready for the by-and-by.R.T.
1Ch 1:43.–The relations of Edom and Israel.
The historical and geographical relations of the two nations may be given. Those of Israel are familiar, those of Edom may be thus indicated: Mount Seir, where Esau settled, was a rugged tract, east of the great valley of the Arabah. It consisted of limestone hills, with red and variegated sandstone cliffs and ridges, marked by that peculiar ruddy tinge of colour so consonant with the name of Edom (red). Kings reigned in Edom long before any descendant of Jacob occupied a throne. Eight Edomitish monarchs are enumerated in the early records. The refusal of Edom to allow Israel to march through the country on the route to Canaan both expressed and intensified the family enmity which came as the fruitage of Jacob’s deception. No friendly intercourse could be expected between the nations. The relations between the two peoples, descended from one parent, may be used to illustrate the way in which family and social wrong-doing will work out into practical evil in the succeeding generations. And, so treating the history of these two peoples, we may learn the valuable and impressive lesson that the sinner may be forgiven and personally accepted with God, but the natural and necessary fruitage of his wrong-doing cannot be stopped, and cannot always even be checked. Vindicate the Divine goodness and righteousness in thus permanently attaching penalties of suffering to sin, and letting these come upon others beside the wrong-doer. From the history the following topics may be fully detailed:
I. THE ORIGINAL WRONG. It was a double wrong. Esau was meanly defrauded of his birthright by his brother taking unfair advantage of his fatigue and hunger. And he was, by a wicked scheme, dodged out of his paternal blessing. Because he was so manifestly the wronged party, we may fail to appraise aright Esau’s personal character; but we cannot wonder that he went forth to life with the sense of the grievous wrong done to him rankling in his mind. It was a grievous and shameful wrong, which nothing can extenuate or excuse; an utterly selfish and unbrotherly act. Such an act as bears its natural penalty in hatred, and all the mischief that hatred can contrive to do.
II. THE DIVINE FORGIVENESS. Give the scene at Mananaim, and show how it bore relation to the sin as against God. Scripture urges that sin seemingly committed against our brother is really committed against God. “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” So Divine forgiveness has ever to be sought first.
III. THE BROTHERLY RECONCILIATION. This seems to have been complete and satisfactory, yet it was too much a matter of impulse. Jacob was afraid to presume on it. And too often such reconciliations only prove temporary, and the old enmities come back again; and the “last state is worse than the first.”
IV. THE NATIONAL ENMITIES AND ENVIES. These had been started before the reconciliation of the brothers, and they could not be stopped. They grew in strength as the years rolled by. They formed a predisposition to judge each other unworthily, and see each other on the bad side only. And as time wore on the evil broke out into open war, and brother races shed each other’s blood (see 1Sa 14:47; 2Sa 8:14; 1Ki 11:15, 1Ki 11:16; 1Ch 18:1-17 :19, 20, etc.). In some of these wars and sieges such cruelties were practised as can only be explained by the intensity of the national feud and hatred. So the early wrong worked out into misery for both parties. “He that soweth to the flesh ever reaps corruption.” Earnestly warn against wrong-doing in family and in social relationships; they are often the secret cause of long feud, war, and woe. We need to “think, not on our own things, but on the things of others;” we should be found jealous of our brother‘s rights. In the way of righteousness and. brotherliness and charity ever flow life and peace and fellowship, all human blessedness, and the all-hallowing Divine favour.R.T.
Homilies By F. Whitfield
Chapters 1 and 2–Genealogies.
In the meaning of genealogical names as translated from the original, volumes of spiritual truth lie hid. In the present day names are arbitrarily given, generally because they belong to some member of the family; indeed, in most cases, for no other reason. With the Jews it was different. It was because of some feature in the parent‘s character or some of his family, or because of some future relation to prophecy, or because of some calling to which the child was to be trained. Jacob, Samuel, Solomon, and many others are instances of this fact; hence from these names much information may be gathered as to their spiritual and natural life. The inner history of families is recorded, revealing the spiritual and natural life of each which ordinary history could but imperfectly bring to light. The profession or calling of the individual or the family, or the Lord’s special dealings with it, or some event in life with all its results,these are the origin of most of these names, and bring to light a hidden history. A great writer has said that Shakespeare opens out to us much of the inner history and character of the day in which he livedthe manners and customs, the thoughts, habits, and feelingswhich ordinary history never could write. This illustrates the great importance to the Christian student of studying these genealogies of the Old Testament, so generally, if not altogether, overlooked. And what is the spiritual lesson we may learn from this portion of our subject? That just as these names are the embodiment of spiritual truths and principles of life, and replete with eventful realities, so should it be in each of our lives. Nothing should be meaningless. Spiritual truth should permeate the smallest and meanest duties. There is a history in even the smallest action. There is no such thing as a trifle. Let us stamp everything with that which will survive us; with that which will speak, to generations yet unborn, of truth and righteousness and God; so that as they read our history they may gather from it what we gather from these namesgreat principles, which may animate and encourage them, and thus “make our lives sublime,” thus live so as to be missed, that it may be said of us, “He being dead yet speaketh.” But what was it made “the fathers” put Divine meanings into their names? It was that God was to them a reality; that everything connected with him had for them a deep and solemn meaning. This so impressed the mind and heart that it found its expression in their names and in the smallest events of their every-day life. Thus must God be to us if there is to be the impress of Divine and imperishable memorials in our history. Not only the language of a nation, but its spiritual life, is written in its names and words. Read in this light, what meaning is thrown into these dry genealogical trees of the Old Testament! How replete with spiritual instruction to the Bible student!W.
Chapters 1 and 2 -The genealogies in relation to Christ.
It will be seen that many of the names in these genealogies have “El” or “Jah” as a prefix or terminationthe former God as Creator, the latter God in covenant or as Redeemer. Thus each individual bearing this Divine name is seen in direct personal relation to God in these aspects of his character. But the most important consideration in these genealogies is that they contain that of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can trace the thread through all the names till we reach the holy family. It runs like a vein of silver through generations and families, many of whom, despite the holy meaning of their names, bring up a history of shame and sorrow. This doubtless is the reason why they are so faithfully recorded. They are all here to continue the genealogy of Christto lead up eventually to him. He is the fruit of every genealogical tree. We see the seed, the blade, the blossom, the flower, and at last we have the fruitJehovah Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, as he appeared among men. All that is repulsive or flagrant in the genealogical tree only serves to bring into more striking contrast the fruit that grows out of it. The summer fruit has sprung out of the corrupt ground, and has had to contend on every side with elements at war with its very existence. Sometimes these genealogies, in the very order of their record in the sacred volume, contain within themselves a prophecy pointing to him. An instance of this in illustration may be found in Gen 5:1-32; the leading names in which, when translated in the order there recorded, contain the beautiful prophecy, “The blessed God shall come down teaching, and his light shall give life and consolation to men.” Sometimes names of this kind foreshadow some special aspect of Christ’s work. We have the names of El-kanah, Abi-jah, Mori-jah or Moriah. This last-named is the mount on which Isaac, the type of Christ, was offered, and on this mount Solomon’s temple was built. “Mor” signifies “bitterness,” “Jah” means “Jehovah.“ Thus the temple is built on the “bitterness,” or sufferings, of Jehovah. So also the spiritual temple is founded upon the cross of Christ. The genealogical tree of Christ runs through the names in these chapters. There are several truths forced upon our notice as we think of this. First, grace is not hereditary. In the lineal descent of the Lord Jesus we find idolaters and slaves. We see it every day. Manasseh is son to Hezekiah, Josiah is the son of Amen. It is still true, and will ever be so. They who are of the family of God are “born not of blood, nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Secondly, as Jesus Christ came through all sorts of people, so he came to save and bless all sorts of peoplesaints and sinners, bond and free, rich and poor. He took the humanity of each without sin, that he might bless them. “This man eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners.” Though on his throne of glory, these he still calls and loves to gather round him. Lord Macaulay tells us of a celebrated artist who made a beautiful piece of statuary which was the admiration of Europe. But he had a poor boy who was his apprentice. He gathered up the broken fragments that fell from the master’s hand, and with these he made a work which eclipsed his master’s, so that the latter died of a broken heart. Jesus Christ, the despised and rejected carpenter’s Son, has stooped down to our fallen world and gathered up the fragments of our fallen humanity, and is forming them into a kingdom which shall eclipse in grandeur and glory every other.W.
Chapters 1 and 2 -The genealogies in relation to the Church and the world.
Looking over these chapters, we find prominent mention of “families” and “sons.“ These are the two words which, constantly used, are replete with meaning. The sons form the families. How important to family life oat of which all that is great and good has issued, that the “sons” who bear the names of “El” and “Jah” should be nurtured and trained to a life worthy of those high and holy names! Where this is not the case, there is the real breach of the third commandment. The Name of the Lord God has been “taken in vain.” Our “families” will be what the “sons” make them, and our Churches and the world will ever be what the “family” is. Family training in the fear of God will send forth messengers that will be the brightness of the Church and the blessing of the world. All real degeneracy in one and the other will ever be traceable to the “family,” and ultimately to the” sons.” Mothers, think of this! It all, under God, is in your hands. And as we saw in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus that he passed through all sorts of people, so we see it here in his people. Here we find Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, all honoured names, mingled with names worthless and infamous. It is for the same reason, to show that grace is not hereditary. In the first two verses of the second chapter we have the names of the family of Israel. The sons of Israel are mentioned in their order of natural birthright. But immediately in the same chapter, in the family enumeration, this order is set aside, and instead of beginning with Reuben, according to the natural order, the record begins with Judah. Thus grace is set in the forefront, and nature put into the background. The Bible is not the record of nature, but of grace. The history of one little tribe, occupying a strip of land not larger than Wales, fills the entire pages of the Old Testament, while huge empires are passed over in silence. This is in accordance with the character of the Book. The history of this little tribe fills its pages because it is the history of the kingdom of God. Its design was to manifest Christ. Apart from him the Word does not acknowledge history in any sense. Neither a nation nor an individual has any history before God, except as connected with him. Hence Assyria and Babylon are comparatively overlooked, and all record is centred in Jerusalem. Hence Sennacherib is barely mentioned, while whole chapters are filled with Abraham and Moses and Joseph. Hence Reuben is put into the background and Judah into the forefront. This prominence given to Judah over Reuben was because the right and privileges of primogeniture had been given to him, and because from his tribe Christ was to spring. Thus in the very foreground of this book Christ is placed. Judah is also shown to have pre-eminence simply because of Christ. It is so now. Christ must be first; he is the Alpha and Omega. The opening chapter of every history, every event, every duty, every pleasure, should be him. If he be not in the forefront of each one and the centre round which everything converges, there is no history there worthy of the name; there is no record there before God, however great it may be before men. There is no name in heaven without this, though it may be emblazoned on the marble tablets of the world for ever. But only Christ is true. There is a blot on every escutcheon but his. Scarcely is Judah’s pre-eminence brought before us ere we see the dark picture of sin in it. Er and Achan stand out pre-eminently as blots on Judah’s fair fame. Yes, on the very lineage of the Messiah himself there is written, as with a sunbeam, “Cease ye from man.” Lust and murder are the dark lines drawn by the Holy Spirit on the beautiful picture. Only the Spirit of God can make a Christian. And the man may put on all the garments of a Christianthe knowledge of truth, the doctrines of truth, the zeal for truth, the profession of truth in its holiest and purest form, and yet carry through life an unchanged heart, the very light which he possesses so dazzling him with its brightness as to keep him from seeing his terrible depravity and feeling his need of a Saviour. Reader, are you one of these?W.
Homilies By W. Clarkson
1Ch 1:1-27.-Natural and spiritual paternity.
There may not be much that is positively instructive in these genealogies; yet there may be found that which is suggestive in them. They invite us to think of
I. THE ADAMIC, OR NATURAL, FATHERHOOD. (1Ch 1:1.) It is a high distinction to be the progenitor of an illustrious “family” or of a powerful tribe; still more so of a whole nation; and the highest of its kind to be the father of the human race. But the honour is not without its serious qualifications.
1. It is of an inferior order. It is “after the flesh;” it pertains to the lower kingdom; it does not stand in the first rank in the sight of Divine wisdom.
2. It involves shame as well as honour. If in his later days Adam could boast of the happiness and triumphs which his descendants enjoyed, he must have been covered with confusion as he witnessed the sorrow and the humiliation which they endured. By his fatherhood of our race be became the parent of guilt and shame as well as of virtue and honour. They who sigh for the honour and joy of parentage may well reflect that, if our first father could have foreseen the misery and degradation to which his sons and daughters would sink, he would (or might well) have shrunk from the high distinction he enjoyed.
II. THE ABRAHAMIC, OR SPIRITUAL, FATHERHOOD. (1Ch 1:28.) It is true that Abraham, as his name suggests, was the father of a multitude, and that it was of him, as concerning the flesh, the Messiah came. But it is also true that our Master taught us to think of the Hebrew patriarch as the father of all faithful souls rather than as the mere progenitor of a people. The true children of Abraham are those who “do his works” (Joh 8:39)those who hear and heed the Word of God. Not they who are “the seed of Abraham” are the children of the promise (Rom 9:8), but they who have the spirit of the believing and obedient patriarch; they who are Jews, “not outwardly, but inwardly, whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom 2:28, Rom 2:29). This is the paternity to which we should aspire, and to which we may attain. By
(1) cultivating a Christian character and spirit;
(2) living a blameless and beautiful life;
(3) speaking, in love and wisdom, enlightening and redeeming truth;
we may become parents of faithful souls: we may be the means of quickening to newness of life those who, in their turn, will lead others also into the way of life. We may thus generate sources of holy influence through which, in distant times, the erring shall be restored and the dead shall live.C.
1Ch 1:19.-The human race; unity and division.
In the midst of this genealogical table we have a statement that “the earth was divided.” We are reminded of the same fact of the dispersion of mankind by the reference to different families and separate countries. But all are shown to spring from one source, to have a common origin in the first father whose name heads the list, and is the first word of the Book of Chronicles. We are thus admonished of that twofold fact which is daily confronting us.
I. THE DIVERSITY WHICH MANKIND PRESENTS. These are distinguished from one another by many features, and are separated from one another by many barriers. Distinguishing or dividing us, man from man, are
(1) physical obstacles (seas, mountains, varieties of climate);
(2) colour;
(3) creed;
(4) language;
(5) social habits, mental tastes, and moral dispositions.
II. THE ESSENTIAL ONENESS OF THE HUMAN WORLD. Notwithstanding all interposing obstacles and all separating divergences, man is everywhere the same. The blood of one human father is in his veins. One human nature, bodily and spiritual, he inherits; above it he cannot rise, and beneath it he cannot fall. He is the son of Adam, and he “was the son of God” (Luk 3:38). Sin has scattered and slain him, but he may rise and be revivified. In him still are those germs of good which, under heavenly culture, may spring into the most perfect flowers that can adorn the garden of the Lord. In mankind, under all conceivable diversities, are
(1) the same animal instincts,
(2) the same family attachments,
(3) the same capacity of mental culture,
(4) the same spiritual nature,
which is able to receive the truth and know the will and live the life of the eternal God himself. The unity and diversity of our kind suggest to us:
1. That there are variations and separations which are due to God’s providence rather than to our sin. These are either to be cheerfully borne or bravely and intelligently overcome. They are given us either to try our faith and patience or to excite our enterprise and activity.
2. That there are separations and distinctions which are the penalty of sin; these should humble us.
3. That in the gospel of Christ we have resources which can raise the lowest and reunite the most spiritually distant. The hour will come when the” earth that was divided” so long ago will be united in one most blessed bond, worshipping one God, loving one Father, trusting one Saviour, living one life, travelling to one home.C.
1Ch 1:47, 1Ch 1:48.–Though transient, not vain.
As we road these following verses and find one king mentioned and then another, with simply the record of his name, his reign, and his death, we feel how swiftly flows the current of human life, how many generations have come and gone, how slight attention posterity can spare for those who were once great and honoured. Three thoughts befit the theme
I. TO EACH MAN IN HIS TIME HIS HERITAGE SEEMS LARGE AND LASTING. No doubt Samlah of Masrekah looked eagerly forward to the occupancy of his seat of power; rejoiced greatly as he took possession; said to himself, “Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong;” thought that many days of honour and wealth and joy were before him; was one more instance of the truth that “All men think all men mortal but themselves.” His day of authority and enjoyment seemed bright enough to him in anticipation, and he rejoiced in his heritage. To every human eye a long and happy human life seems, at the outset and for some way on, a very possible and desirable thing. But to us, who look back on that which is over, it seems that
II. THE BEST EARTHLY ESTATE IS A PAINFULLY TRANSIENT THING. What, to all these and to all other kings of all other countries, are their sceptres now? What have they been for many thousand years? Their grave is not more quiet, nor is it better known, than the last resting-place of their meanest subjects. Looking back, it seems as if their honour was but a brief flash that struck a sudden splendour and then went out into the darkness. A brief day is ours below, a little sunshine for a few fast-fleeting hours
“And then night sweeps along the plain,
And all things fade away.”
But we have a third correcting thought, namely
III. THAT OUR SHORT EARTHLY LIFE IS LONG ENOUGH TO HOLD AND TO WORK MUCH ENDURING GOOD. Though our human life is transient, and though its beauty and honour soon pass away, yet it is not lived in vain. Spent in the fear of God, devoted to the glory of Christ, and having regard to the well-being of the world, it has an excellency which true wisdom does not despise. It is not in vain
(1) that it contains pure and ennobling joy;
(2) that it illustrates Divine principles;
(3) that it diffuses bounty and blessedness on every hand;
(4) that it leaves behind it something better than it foundthe harvest of its own thought and toil;
(5) that it has been a preparation for a wider sphere and a larger life beyond.C.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
1Ch 1:1. Adam, Sheth, Enosh Adam was the father of Sheth, and Sheth the father of Enosh, and so on to the sons of Noah. No mention is made of the posterity of Cain or Abel, nor of the other sons of Adam, because the sacred writer was only engaged to give a detail of the Patriarchs in the direct line from Adam to Noah. The history of the Bible was not designed as a history of the world, but a history of the church, and of the deduction of the sacred promise of the seed of the woman.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
THE BOOKS OF CHRONICLES
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FIRST BOOK
1. GENEALOGICAL TABLES OR PEDIGREES, WITH SHORT HISTORICAL STATEMENTS INTERSPERSED.CH. 19
a. Genealogies of the Patriarchs from Adam to Isaacs Sons Israel and Edom, with the Posterity of the Latter till the Times of the Kings, Ch. 1
1Adam, Sheth, Enosh. 2Kenan, Mahalalel, Jered. 3Henoch, Methushelah, 4Lamech. Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 5The sons of Japheth: Gomer, 6and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath,1 and Togarmah. 7And the sons of Javan: Elisha, and Tarshishah, Kittim, and Rodanim.2 8The sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim, Put and Kanaan. 9And the sons of Kush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Rama, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Rama: Sheba 10and Dedan. And Kush begat Nimrod; he began to be a hero on the earth. 11And Mizraim begat the Ludim,3 and the Anamim, and the Lehabim, and the 12Naphtuhim. And the Pathrusim, and the Kasluhim, of whom came the 13Pelishtim, and the Kaphtorim. And Kanaan begat Zidon, his first-born, and 14, 15Heth. And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite. And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite. 16And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. 17The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpakshad, 18and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech.4 And 19Arpakshad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Heber. And to Heber were born two sons; the name of the one was Peleg [division]; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brothers name was Joktan. 20And Joktan begat 21Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah. And Hadoram, and 22Uzal, and Diklah. And Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba. 23And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these are sons of Joktan.
24Shem, Arpakshad, Shelah. 25Eber,Peleg,Reu. 26Serug, Nahor, Terah. 27Abram; 28that is, Abraham. The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. 29These are their generations: Ishmaels first-born was Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and 30, 31Mibsam. Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema. Jetur, Naphish, 32and Kedemah: these are sons of Ishmael. And the sons of Keturah, Abrahams concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah; and Jokshans sons: Sheba and Dedan. 33And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaah: all these are the sons of Keturah. 34And Abraham begat Isaac; the sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel. 35The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, and Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah. 36The sons of Eliphaz; Teman, and Omar, Zephi, and Gatam, Kenaz, and Timnah, and Amalek. 37The sons of Reuel; Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. 38And the sons of Seir: Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibon, and Anah, and Dishan, and Ezer, and Dishan. 39And the sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam; and Lotans sister was Timnah. 40The sons of Shobal: Aljan,5 and Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi,6 and Onam; and the sons of Zibon: Ajah and Anah. 41The sons of Anah: Dishon; and the sons of Dishon: Hamran,7 and Eshban, and Ithran, and Keran. 42The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Jaakan; the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
43And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before the sons of Israel had kings: Bela, son of Beor; and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 44, 45And Bela died, and Jobab, son of Zera of Bozrah, reigned in his stead. And Jobab died, and Husham, of the land of the Temanites, reigned in his stead. 46And Husham died, and Hadad, son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the land 47of Moab, reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Ajuth.8 And 48Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. And Samlah 49died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead. And Shaul 50died, and Baal-hanan, son of Hakbor, reigned in his stead. And Baal-hanan died, and Hadad9 reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pahi; and the name of his wife was Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, daughter of 51Mezahab. And Hadad died; and the dukes of Edom were: the duke of 52Timnah, duke of Aljah,10 duke of Jetheth. Duke of Oholibamah, duke of 53Elah, duke of Pinon. Duke of Kenaz, duke of Teman, duke of Mibzar. 54Duke of Magdiel, duke of Hiram: these are the dukes of Edom.
EXEGETICAL
Preliminary Remark.The whole of these patriarchal forefathers of the house of David down to Israel and Edom, sons of Isaac, appear to be divided into two nearly equal parts, to the second of which is added an appendix on the descendants of Edom till the times of David. The first part, 1Ch 1:1-23, enumerates the 10 antediluvian patriarchs from Adam to Noah, the 3 sons of Noah, and the 70 nations descending from them (on this number 70, see the Remark under 1Ch 1:23). In the second part, 1Ch 1:24-42, are given the 10 generations from Shem to Abraham, the sons of Abraham by Hagar, Keturah, and Sarah, and the stocks derived from them, which again amount to 70 (see under 1Ch 1:42). The appendix, 1Ch 1:43-54, mentions the kings of the Edomites before David, that are also given in Genesis 36, as well as the 11 there named dukes of Edom. In all these genealogical and ethnological statements the author adheres closely to the matter, and where he does not merely abbreviate, as several times in the second part, and partly also in the appendix, even to the words of Genesis, of which 1 Chronicles 5, 10 (the table of nations) serve him till 1Ch 1:23, and 1 Chronicles 2, 25, 36 till the end as sources and models. He reports in the briefest manner concerning the patriarchs before Noah, and concerning Noah himself, and his sons (1Ch 1:1-4), of whom he merely gives the names, 13 in number, without even remarking that the first 10 of these names denote successive generations and the last 3 brothers. He might certainly presuppose in his readers sufficient knowledge of the relations of these holy and venerable names from the earliest foretime. He knew that to them as well as to himself belonged the faculty to perceive in all these names the indications and foundations of a rich ancient history (Berth.). And it was scarcely otherwise with the names of the following series, reaching further into the more known history, which he also brings together in a brief and bare report. Even where we are unable to perceive the historical importance of the prominent names, and the grounds on which they must have been of interest to every pious Israelite, the fact of such importance is to be presumed in every case, and for every single name. Comp. Ewald, Gesch. d. Volkes Israel, 2d edit. i. 1Chr 479: These dry names from a hoary antiquity when we know how to awaken them from their sleep, do not remain so dead and stiff, but announce and revive the most important traditions of the ancient nations and families, like the petrifactions and mountain strata of the earth, which, rightly questioned, tell the history of long vanished ages.11
I. The Patriarchs before Noah, the three Sons of Noah, and the (70) Nations descending from them: 1Ch 1:1-23
1. From Adam to Noahs Sons: 1Ch 1:1-4.On the stringing together of the bare names, without any explanation, see Preliminary Remark. The names are all taken from Genesis 5 : the rich contents of this oldest genealogy of primeval history is here reduced to the shortest possible form of an abstract. For the conjectural etymology of the several names (Adam = man ; Sheth = substitute; Enosh = weak, frail man; Kenan = gain or gainful, etc.), see vol. i. p. 121 f. of the Bibelwerk.The order of the names of the three sons of Noah is Shem, Ham, and Japheth; as always in Genesis also, though Ham (Gen 9:24) was the youngest of the three. Comp. our Introductory Remarks on the prophet Daniel (Bibelwerk, part xiii. p. 11), where it is made probable that this order, like that of the names Noah, Daniel, and Joab (in Ezekiel), depends on euphonic principles (so Delitzsch, Komm. ber die Genesis , 4 th edit. 1872, p. 233)
2. From Noahs Sons to Abraham; the Table of Nations: 1Ch 1:5-23.This abstract from the Mosaic table of nations Genesis 10 has abridged the larger genealogical ethnographic account to the present narrow limits, chiefly by omitting the opening and closing notes, and passing over the remarks on the kingdom of Nimrod at Babel, and the spread of the Shemites and Hamites in their countries (1Ch 1:5; 1Ch 1:9-12; 1Ch 1:18-20). Here, again, there is that abbreviating and condensing process which is characteristic of the author. For the ethnological and geographical import of the several names, comp. the commentary on Genesis by the editor (vol. i. p. 171 of the Bibelwerk), and the monographs on the table of nations there cited.
a. The Japhethites: 1Ch 1:5-7.The names of the descendants of Japheth, 14 in number (7 sons and 7 grandsons), open the series in Genesis 10 of stems and nations to be enumerated, perhaps because they represented the strongest and most widely-spread body (Japheth = enlarging, Gen 9:27), scarcely because he passed for the firstborn of Noah; for Shem, who is always placed before Japheth, even when only the two are named together, is to be regarded as such; see especially the decisive passages, Gen 9:23; Gen 9:26 (against Starke, Bertheau, etc.). [These texts are not decisive; and Shem was born in the 503d year of Noah, Gen 11:11, and therefore two years at least after Japheth, Gen 5:32,J. G. M.]The view recently again maintained with ingenuity and learning by J. G. Mller (Die Semiten in ihrem Verhltniss zu Chamiten und Japhetiten, Gotha 1872), that the so-called Shemites are nothing but Japhethites or Indogermans Hamitized in language, is in any case at variance with the Biblical genealogy of the sons of Noah, whether Shem or Japheth be the first-born.
1Ch 1:6. Riphath. This form, rejected by the Masoretes in favour of the probably erroneous (resting on an old clerical error) , has not only the weight of so old witnesses as the Sept. and Vulg. for it (see the Crit. Note on 1Ch 1:6), but also the circumstance that plausible ethnographic explanations can be adduced for Riphath, but not for Diphath; comp. the name = in Joseph. Antiq. i. 6, and the , on the ground of which Knobel has attempted to show in Riphath the ancestor of the Kelts (against which the Paphlagonian cities Tibia and Tobata [Bochart, Geogr. Sacra, p. 198 seq.], produced by the ancients in defence of the reading , cannot, from their smallness and insignificance, be taken into account).
1Ch 1:7. Tarshishah (), a later form for , which is usual in Gen. (1Ch 10:4) and elsewhere in the O. T. (also 2Ch 9:21; 2Ch 20:36), the ah of motion having in this form melted into one word with the name itself. With this are to be compared the modern Greek names, obtained by the wearing away of the proposition and the article, Stalimene = Lemnos, Stambul = (Konstantino)polis, Satines = Athen, Stanko= Kos, etc. (Berth.).Rodanim, ; many transcribers and older editors wish to change this into the of Gen 10:4, although even there some old authorities (Sam., Sept., Jerome, Qust. in Gen.) read . The decision is difficult, because, on the one hand, Knobels reference of Dodanim to the Dardani is verbally doubtful; on the other hand, the Rhodians ( = Rodanim) appear too unimportant a part of the Hellenic race to be put on the same footing with olians (= Elishah), Etruscans (= Tarshish), and Cyprians or Karians (= Kittim). And yet the placing of Kittim and Rodanim together, and the consideration that the sea trade of the Rhodians might have become very important for such oriental nations as the Phnicians and the Hebrews, appear to speak more for the reading of our book than for the original (comp. Berth.). And if Dodanim were to pass for the original form, and yet the application to the Dardani be untenable, the reference to Dodona would be internally still less probable than that to the Rhodians.
b. The Hamites: 1Ch 1:8-16.Of these are named 4 sons, 24 grandsons, and 2 great-grandsons, being 30 descendants in all. Nimrod, 1Ch 1:10, does not count among the grandsons, as he appears only as a famous individual (hero), not as a head or founder of a people (patriarch). His introduction, therefore, is different from that of those previously named, not by (see 1Ch 1:5-9; and comp. Gen 10:2-7), but by , as Gen 10:8, which verse is literally transcribed by the Chronist. By the formula: he began to be a hero on the earth, the nature and import of Nimrod are briefly and pithily expressed, so that a repetition of the further statements of Genesis concerning him (1Ch 10:9-12) is not necessary. Comp. as a parallel from the New Testament: (or ), with which the evangelists are wont to characterize Judas Iscariot.On , 1Ch 1:11, see Critical Note.
c. The Shemites, particularly the non-Hebrews: 1Ch 1:17-23.Of them are named in all 23 members, namely (as the parallel passage Gen 10:23 more exactly shows), 5 sons, 5 grandsons, and 16 other descendants. That in 1Ch 1:17 the names Uz, Hul, Gether, Meshech, which properly denote grandsons of Shem by Aram, are appended at once to the 5 sons of Shem (so that they appear to be his sons, and thus the number of his sons would be 9, and that of his grandsons only 1), is a circumstance sufficiently explained, as the similar case in 1Ch 1:4 of Noahs sons: the author presumed the relation of the 4 as sons to Aram to be sufficiently known, and therefore thought it unnecessary to repeat the words before from Gen 10:23. Less probable is the supposition that the words in question fell out by a mistake of the copyist, or that the Chronist, deviating from the Pentateuch, really took the nations Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech to be sons, not grandsons, of Shem (as Knobel, Vlkertafel, p. 252).Moreover, almost all manuscripts give the last name in 1Ch 1:17 ; only a few conform to the reading in Genesis (), for which also the Sept. there presents = ; and so might the Chronist have read in the text of Genesis. It is also in favour of Meshech being the original name, that Mash as a national name is quite unknown, while Meshech occurs as the name of a Shemite or Arabic tribe along with Kedar in Psa 120:5
1Ch 1:22. Ebal, , is called in the parallel Gen 10:28 rather Obal, ; yet the Sept. seems to have read , for it gives the name as . Comp. the similar but reverse case of Homam ( = Hemam) under 1Ch 1:39.The 14 descendants of Japheth, 30 of Ham, and 26 of Shem, amount to 70 nations descended from Noah. This number the author intended to bring out; for with him, or before him, other Jewish expositors might have discovered the symbolic number 70 in the Mosaic table of nations (it may, in fact, be gathered from it; comp. J. Frst, Gesch. der bill. Liter. und des jdisch-hellenischen Schriftthums, i. p. 119); and this number of the nations of the globe, occasionally enlarged to 72, plays otherwise an important part in the Jewish circle of thought. This is shown by its frequent mention in the Talmud, and its occurrence in the Gnostic writings and the Pseudo-Clementine (Recogn. ii. 42). To this belong also such biblical passages as Num 9:16 and Luk 10:1 ff.; for the 70 elders appointed by Moses in the wilderness (with the 70 members of the Jewish Sanhedrin on this model), as well as the 70 disciples chosen by Jesus, appear to be due to a symbolic reference to the 70 nations of the globe (comp. Godet, Commentaire sur lvangile de Luc, 1870, ii. p. 21). And there is actually a deeper sense in the view; that the total number of the nations of the earth is = the sacred ideal number 70 (7 x 10, the humanly complete, elevated and multiplied by the power of the Divine Spirit; comp. my Theol. naturalis, i. p. 716). And why should we not have as good a right, in the popular phraseology of Hebrew antiquity, to speak of the 70 nations of the world, as of the 4 winds, the 4 quarters of heaven, the 12 signs of the zodiac, without uttering anything untrue or against nature, though such expressions may have no exact scientific basis? There seems then to be no reason to hesitate, from a dogmatic-apologetic point of view, to acknowledge that the number 70 was intended by the author to apply to the descendants of Noah. The only thing that can be said against it is, the absence of an express intimation, such as Matthew gives at the close of his genealogy of Jesus, in the form of a recapitulation of the several groups of numbers (1Ch 1:17). Yet the pedigree by Luke (1Ch 3:23-24) wants also such a recapitulation, though its symbolic construction out of 77 = 7 x 11 members is no less certain than that of Matthew. If Keil objects to our view, which is that of almost all recent expositors, that the number 70 is only obtained by making, in the sons of Shem, the personal names Arpakshad, Shelah, Heber, Peleg, and Joktan to be names of nations, contrary to the view of Genesis, in which the five names denote persons, the ancestors of the nations descending from Heber through Peleg and Joktan, this refutes nothing. For the number 70 is obtained throughout, and not merely in the case of Arpakshad, etc., by the addition of all names, those of the patriarchs, who only became nations in their sons, as well as these sons themselves, and their descendants. In other words, it is quite reasonable, and corresponds entirely with the spirit and method of the genealogizing ethnography of the Hebrews, to regard all higher or lower members of old pedigrees as in abstracto equivalent factors and representatives of definite co-ordinate races in the subsequent history, though this view may be in concreto impracticable. Comp., moreover, the evangelical-ethical principles under 1 Chronicles 9.
II. The Patriarchs from Shem to Abraham, and the Descendants of the latter through Ishmael, Keturah, Edom (70 stems in all): 1Ch 1:24-42
1. From Shem to Abraham: 1Ch 1:24-27.The 10 members of this line are exactly coincident with Gen 9:10-29, though with the omission of all historical details. And the Chronist follows the genealogical account of the Masoretic text, which represents Abraham himself as the tenth of the line, not that of the Sept., which inserts a Kenan () between Arpakshad and Shelah, thus following a tradition that regarded Terah, the father of Abraham, as the tenth from Shem. Bertheau (in the annual report of the Deutsche Morgenl. Gesellschaft, 184546) has attempted to make it probable that this tradition was the older, and that the name stood originally in the text of Genesis.
1Ch 1:27. Abram, perhaps for the sake of brevity, and to avoid all needless accumulation of names, afterwards (from Gen 17:5) Abraham, in which the author, in his brief manner, notices the change of name, is alone named as a son of Terah, Nahor and Haran and their posterity being omitted.
2. Abrahams Sons and their Descendants: 1Ch 1:28-34.They fall, like those of Noah and Terah, into three stocks or branches under Ishmael, Keturah, and Isaac. The Chronist places the former groups first, because, like the genealogists in the primeval history, he wished first to enumerate the remote stocks, and then to take up the people of God. The same process from without to within placed the genealogy of the Japhethites and Hamites before the Shemites, and determines, further, that of Isaacs posterity the Edomite branch is first treated, and then the Israelite.
a. Ishmael and his Twelve Sons: 1Ch 1:29-31.The twelve names agree exactly with the list in Gen 25:12-16, with respect to the order as well as the words. And the introductory , 1Ch 1:29, the predicate , the firstborn before Ishmael (comp. Gen 25:13), and the closing formula, These are the sons of Ishmael (1Ch 1:31; comp. Gen 25:16), show how closely the author adheres to the Mosaic record. The designation of Ishmael as the first-born is only to be explained by this faithful adherence to the original, not by the wish of the author to justify his placing the Ishmaelites before the descendants of Israel (as Bertheau seems to think); for this position needed no justification, because it necessarily followed from the genealogical method of our author (see on 1Ch 1:28). [In our authors version of 1Ch 1:29, the first-born is made to refer to Nebaioth, and not to Ishmael, as above. This seems to be correct.J. G. M.]
b. The Descendants of Keturah: 1Ch 1:32-33.The six sons and seven grandsons of Abraham by Keturah are not given literally as in Gen 25:1-4. On the contrary, the Chronist has left out three great-grandsons there namedAsshurim, Letushim, and Leummim, descendants of Dedanwhether intentionally, on account of the plural form of the names, or because he did not find them in his copy of Genesis, must remain undetermined. That Medan and Midian, 1Ch 1:32, are only different pronunciations of the same name (comp. Gen 37:28; Gen 37:36), the number of the sons of Keturah was originally and properly five, and the total number of her descendants only twelve, is an arbitrary conjecture of Bertheau, while pushing too far the endeavour to find certain symbolic numbers everywhere.
c. The Two Sons of Isaac, Esau, and Israel, and the Descendants of the former: 1Ch 1:34-42.And Abraham begat Isaac. This notice, leading back to the statement in 1Ch 1:28, appears occasioned by Gen 25:19, where the same words (only with for ) occur immediately after the enumeration of the sons of Keturah. This reference to Abraham was not in itself necessary here; but comp. also the reference to Shem above in 1Ch 1:24.
1Ch 1:25. Esaus sons, enumerated exactly after Gen 36:4-5 (though without naming their mothers, the three wives of Esau), as in general the author henceforth reports very closely from Genesis 36, following which also he annexes the Seirites or aborigines of Iduma to the proper Edomites, and treats both as belonging to one and the same family of nations.
1Ch 1:36. Sons of Eliphaz. These, five in number, are given exactly as in Gen 36:11; for the name of the third, Zephi, is only a by-form of Zepho, as in 1Ch 1:40 a Shephi appears in place of the Shepho, Gen 36:23; comp. the Crit. Remark. But if the names Timnah and Amalek are annexed, apparently as sons of Eliphaz, this is probably a similar breviloquence to that in 1Ch 1:4; 1Ch 1:17; the author presumes it sufficiently known to his readers, that Timnah, Amaleks mother, was not a son, but rather a concubine of Eliphaz (another wife besides Adah, the mother of those five sons first named); comp. Gen 36:12. So have the Sept. (in the cod. Alex.) and numerous older Jewish and Christian expositors solved the difficulty, and of the moderns, J. H. Michaelis, Starke, Keil, etc.; whereas Bertheau, having regard to 1Ch 1:39; 1Ch 1:51, where actually a separate stem and then a stem-prince Timnah are counted, prefers to assume that the Chronist, interpreting the genealogical language, and perceiving in the family names the stem-relations that lie at their root, has explained the statements of Genesis concerning Timnah, so that by them the connection of two stems Timnah and Amalek with the other stems of Eliphaz shall be indicated, and they are accordingly counted in the same line with these stems as sons of Eliphaz. This assumption seems to us too artificial, and ascribes to the Chronist a higher degree of bold independence and wilfulness in his operations than is admissible or consistent with his evident piety and conscientiousness in recording the facts of primeval history that were handed down to him.
1Ch 1:37. Sons of Reuel. These are entered four in number, exactly as in Gen 36:13. There are thus in all 10 grandsons (6 sons of Eliphaz and 4 of Reuel) who are assigned by our author to Esau, and who, with the three sons of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah (sons of Oholibamah), form the 13 family or stem chiefs (, Sept. Gen 36:15) of the Edomites. Against Bertheau, who would here make out a 12 from the 13 families, by reducing Amalek, 1Ch 1:36, to a secondary place, comp. Keil, p. 1Chr 36: Neither Chronicles nor Genesis knows 12 tribes of Edom, but both books give 13 grandsons (rather descendants) of Esau; and these 13 grandsons are, by the report of Genesis, the 13 phylarchs of Edom which are distributed among the 3 wives of Esau, so that the 13 families may be reduced to 3 stems. And in Genesis, Amalek is not placed in a looser connection with the remaining tribes, but on the contrary, is not only, 1Ch 1:12, counted with the sons of Adah, perhaps because Timnah stood to Adah, the wife of Esau, in the same relation as Hagar to Sarah, but also in 1Ch 1:16 is reckoned to the dukes of the sons of Eliphaz. Thus Genesis counts not 5, but 6 stems of Eliphaz; and Chronicles has not fully effaced the number 12, as Bertheau further asserts, but the 13 sons and grandsons of Esau, who became phylarchs, are fully entered, and only their designation as left out, because unnecessary for the genealogy of the descendants of Esau.
1Ch 1:38-42. The 7 sons of Seir and their descendants, or the (mingled since Esaus invasion with his descendants) Seirite or Horite aborigines of Iduma according to their tribes. These aborigines of the mountains of Edom, though not of Abrahamic descent, yet, from their gradually formed connection and intermingling with the descendants of Esau, are so reckoned as if they belonged to the Edomite family of nations. And this occurs not only here in Chronicles, where they are introduced as , but also in Gen 30:20-30, where they are called , dwellers in caves, Troglodytes. Comp. also on these Horites, our exp. of the book of Job, vol. 10. of the Bibelw. p. 238.The names of the seven sons of Seir, that is, the seven Seirite chiefs, agree exactly with Genesis; and likewise their descendants, in number 18 men and 1 woman, Timnah, 1Ch 1:39. Only Oholibamah, a second Seiritess named in Gen 36:25, has been passed over by the Chronist, according to his wont in general to reckon only male members in his genealogical lists. On the deviations of some forms from the text of Genesis, as Homam, 1Ch 1:39, for Hemam; Aljan, 1Ch 1:40, for Alwan, etc., see Crit. Note.The total names enumerated from Abraham amount to about 70, whether the two Timnahs, the mother of Amalek, 1Ch 1:36, and the sister of Lotan, 1Ch 1:39, or the Edomite and the Seirite Timnah be included, in which case there are exactly 70, or both or one of them be excluded from the number, and so then be only 68 or 69. Bertheau (whom Kamphausen, in Bunsens Bibelw., follows), counting in the former way, finds 12 descendants of Esau, 13 of Keturah, 2 of Isaac, 16 of Esau, and 27 of Seir, and so obtains the number 70; Keil, in the latter way, regards the Seirite Timnah as only mentioned by the way, and therefore excluded, and consequently reckons only 26 descendants of Seir, and in all, only 69 descendants of Abraham. Though the latter be right in many of his objections to Bertheaus mode of reckoning (for instance, its exclusion of Ishmael, and inclusion of Esau and Israel), yet he certainly goes too far when he utterly denies the design of the Chronist to follow up his list of 70 descendants of Noah with the same number of those of Abraham. This design, though not carried out with mathematical exactness, and therefore not expressly mentioned here (any more than in 1Ch 1:5 ff.), appears in fact to have had a distinct influence on the selection and arrangement of his genealogical lists. The incidental agreement of the number in 1Ch 1:29-42 with that in 1Ch 1:5-23 shows this, just as the decade of the patriarchs between Noah and Abraham, in its agreement with that of the patriarchs before Noah (comp. 1Ch 1:24-27 with 1Ch 1:1-4), points to design.
Appendix.The Edomite Kings and Chiefs till the beginning of Kingdom of Israel: 1Ch 1:43-54
1. The Kings: 1Ch 1:43-51 a.A nearly literal repetition from Gen 36:31-39; only the words (1Ch 1:43) before , and in 1Ch 1:51 after , the words are left out, which, however, many Mss. here also supply. On the variants in Ajuth, 1Ch 1:46, and in Hadad and Pai, 1Ch 1:50, see Crit. Notes.
1Ch 1:51. And Hadad died. This statement ( ) is wanting in the parallel texts of Genesis, where, after entering Hadad (or rather Hadar) as the last king, the formula serves to introduce the then following list of the phylarchs and their seats. By the sentence and Hadad died, along with the following, and there were (), this list of phylarchs is here brought into a far closer connection with the foregoing register of kings than in Genesis,into a connection, indeed, which at first sight looks as if the Chronist intended to represent the dukes as successors of the kingdom terminated by Hadads death, and so report a transition from the monarchic to the aristocratic form of government in Edom. This supposition, however, which Bertheau, Kamph., and others defend, is not absolutely necessary; the consec. in may express merely the order of thought; that is, may connect the mention of the dukes only in thought with the enumeration of the kings, or intimate that besides the kings there were also dukes, who could govern the nation and country (Keil). The latter supposition is the more probable, as the following list is owing to a statistical and chronographic rather than a genealogical tendency, as will presently be shown.
2. The Dukes: 1Ch 1:51-54.This list agrees in the order and form of the 11 names given exactly (on the variant Aljah for Alwah, 1Ch 1:51, see Crit. Note) with Gen 36:40-43. Yet it has received from the Chronist another superscription and subscription, of which the former runs thus: and there were the dukes of Edom ( instead of , Gen 36:40, the name of the people and land taking the place of the n. propr. of the patriarch), and the latter: these are the dukes of Edom (for which that of Genesis is more circumstantial: These are the dukes of Edom according to their habitations in the land of their possessions: this is Esau, the father of Edom). And the list treats not so much of the enumeration of certain persons as of that of the seats of certain (perhaps hereditary) dukes of the nation or phylarchs, according to which they are briefly named, the duke of Timnah, etc. The list has thus a geographical, not a genealogical import; it is a list of neighbouring principalities of Edom, not of Edomite princes. The number eleven of these principalities forms an approximative parallel with the number twelve of the tribes of Israel; it agrees also nearly with the number of the descendants of Esau above named (1Ch 1:36 ff.): but it could only by violent means and arbitrary hypotheses be made to agree with this number, or reduced to the number twelve (comp. the remarks against Berth. on 1Ch 1:37).
Footnotes:
[1] is certainly an error of the pen for , Gen 10:3, which is found here in many mss. and editions, as well as in the Sept. and the Vulg.
[2] appears to be an error of the pen or an arbitrary amendment for , Gen 10:4, which many mss. and older editions present here also. But comp. the exposition.
[3]So () the Keri in our passage, which, however, may rest on a confirmation with Gen 10:13. The Kethib has , a long plural form, which is to as in English Lydian would be to Lydian, or as in Hebrew , Amo 9:12, to , 2Ch 21:6.
[4]On instead of , Gen 10:23, see the Commentary.
[5]Instead of Aljan () many mss. have Alvan (), in accordance with Gen 36:23.
[6]For some mss. have , as in Gen 36:23. So in 1Ch 1:36, where the name is in a number of mss. changed into , as in Gen 36:11.
[7]For a considerable number of mss. have , as in Gen 36:26.
[8]For the Kethib the Keri has , as in Gen 36:35.
[9]For some mss. read , which is the usual reading in Gen 36:39, while there also several mss. present . Hadads city , which, in the same parallel, is , some good codices here also change into .
[10]For the Keri gives , according to Gen 36:40.
[11]Comp. also Wellhausen, De gentibus et fam. judis, etc., p.4, where with respect to the genealogical lists in the beginning of Chronicles, it, is well remarked: Quo fit. ut cmeterii quasi speciem nobis prbeant hc capita cipporum pleni: fuit tas, cui breves suffecere tituli ad resuscitandam sepultorum memoriam;interjectis sculis, nedum millenniis, leguntur tituli, sed quo referantur, quid sibi velint, nescitur.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The genealogy of families, from Adam to Abraham, forms the contents of this chapter, containing a period of nearly 2000 years.
1Ch 1:1
I detain the Reader in the very opening of the Book of the Chronicles, to call his attention to that feature of it, for which the Chronicles themselves are valuable; namely, to direct the Reader’s observation to the pedigree of the Lord Jesus. Here is no mention of Cain Or Abel, the two first sons of Adam, because neither of them is in the genealogy of Christ. Abel died childless, and Cain belonged to a very different stock. The seed of the woman was the great promise of the Bible. From Adam to Seth, therefore, the tracing of that seed is to be made.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Man Succeeding Man
1Ch 1:44
There are men immediately behind us who are waiting for us to get on, and to go, and finish our prophecy, our commerce, our function, whatever it may be. The breath of the next man is hot on my neck. Do not lose the spiritual impulse and spiritual edification of such texts as these by calling them commonplace. Do not say that we are uttering trite sayings when we say that man lives that he may die, and dies, says the Christian faith, that he may live. We 6poil the estate of God and the inheritance of Zion when we say that all these things are the commonplaces of life.
I. Succession is an argument for Providence. We did not know where the men were to come from, but God knew. God says, I know of seven thousand men who have not kissed the lips of Baal, who have turned their back in scorn upon him, and I will call them up. The reserves of God are twenty thousand and thousands of thousands. It is wonderful how God conducts things; it is marvellous where His men come from to conduct the business, the commerce, the civilization, the nationalization of the world just so many, no more, not overcrowded.
II. There is no guarantee that the next man will be better than the last, but he is on the way to a better. The line of God’s world is a line of progress, upwardness; here and there he may have depressions, but they are depressions on the highlands, they are not depressions from the common level. In God’s way the undulations are on the highland country, and they lead to hill after hill, conquest after conquest: haply one fool may be a misfit, but he will not spoil the succession.
III. This law of succession holds good on a wider scale It is a great law, with great meanings, wide applications, it holds good in the Christian life. These men mentioned in the text may have come to the throne by right of blood, by claim of birth, or genealogy the very poorest of all claims; but in the Christian life men succeed not by line of inheritance and breeding, but by the line of faith and virtue and nobleness. Who will be baptized for the dead? There are many vacancies now.
IV. ‘Reigned in his stead… reigned in his stead… reigned in his stead.’ And so the history flows on as a matter of course. What is the great application of all this? I will tell you. What have I been aiming at in this long introduction? I will tell you. There is a King in whose stead no monarch shall reign. Name him. I will: Jesus Christ. It will never be said in the annals of history, ‘And Jesus died, and somebody reigned in His stead’.
Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. VI. p. 223.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The Second Adam The Mighty Dead
1Ch 1
This chapter should be taken as one lesson from beginning to end, and having read it through the reader will certainly be filled with wonder at the list of strange and even marvellous names. The first question that will arise must naturally be, What do we know of these people? The answer is that we know next to nothing about them, and yet there is the fact that they actually lived, exerted an influence, concluded their mission, and then passed away. It is always of importance vividly to realise the fact that there are other people in the world beside ourselves. This may seem to be commonplace, but in reality it is full of deep suggestion. How difficult it is, for example, for an Englishman to believe that there are other countries besides England! As a geographical matter he would not doubt it for a moment, for the Englishman keeps his atlas and looks at it from time to time for various purposes. But this is not the question. It is not enough to admit that the geography includes within its limits a great number of nations; we must so realise the nationalities in their variety and in their unity as to feel more and more that the human race is one, and is under the same beneficent providence. The last idea that will be driven out of the mind of an Englishman is that he is the superior person of the world. He looks upon all other languages as but signs of ignorance on the part of those who speak them. He smiles at the civilisation of other countries with which he is unfamiliar. He rudely comments upon the habits of people who do not belong to his own empire. Who can understand the smile of ignorance? Who can utterly exhaust all the meaning of the contempt which is even civilly suppressed? In order to overcome all this there must be much more intercourse between nationalities, and greatly enlarged sphere of education, much deeper study of history and national polity than we have yet entered upon. However great may be the name of an Englishman, the word Man is greater than any epithet which can be attached to it, whether the epithet refer to nationality, to personal attraction, or to social position. Jesus Christ came into the world to teach us the value of the word Man: he himself was the Son of man a title the full meaning of which we have not yet realised, but when we do realise it there will be great advances made in positive democracy, and more attention will be paid to the consolidated wisdom of the ages than to the arbitrary authority of single persons or officers.
The next effect of a perusal of this chapter will probably be something of the nature of wonder that we should have become connected with the extraordinary personalities given in this great list. What have we to do with Enosh, Jered, Meshech, or Gomer? Now, this is the miracle of Christ, that we should come to be related to all these names, not perhaps in any explicable way, which can be stated and defended in words, but mysteriously, yet vitally, as receiving atmospheric impressions, or inheriting intellectual estates, or entering upon the possession of new territories of thought. Jesus Christ came to claim the whole world in its unity, to be indeed the second Adam, carrying forward all the meaning of the first to its highest expressions. He was not one of a multitude, but the Head of the new race. It is suggestive that the very name Adam is applied to him by the Apostle Paul. He is called “the second Adam” which is the Lord from heaven. Other nations have had more or less imperfect visions of ancient history and of the unity of the race, but in the Bible alone do we find an authoritative declaration made concerning the antiquity and unity of man and the ultimate destiny of the human race. The Chaldeans had a tradition of ten antediluvian patriarchs or kings. They made the duration of this first period of human history four hundred and thirty-two thousand years. All other chronicles have been bewildered by their polytheism, whereas in the Hebrew history we have all the sublime unity which would seem to be necessitated by the monotheism of the writers. They who believed in one God were likely to believe in one humanity. Monotheism accounts for the two commandments which relate first to God, and then to man. There is no theological diversity, multitudinousness, and consequent confusion: the Hebrews knew but one God, one fountain and origin of things, and they were consistent with their philosophy and their theology in tracing the human race back as it is traced in the Book of Genesis. It cannot but be an intellectual blessing, to take the very lowest ground, that we should accustom ourselves to think of all nationalities as one. Out of this practice will come an enquiry as to the varieties of habit which are discoverable in all human history how to account for such variety, how to account for the difference in colour, stature, language, and usage of all people? Ethnology has some answer to give, but the only complete answer which covers the entire area of the question is to be found in the Bible. Not only is it an intellectual blessing to realise the unity of the human race, it has the effect of an inspired prophecy upon our whole thinking and outlook. How are these varieties to be brought into conscious reconciliation and brotherhood? That they can never bring themselves to such an issue has been abundantly proved by the abortive efforts which have covered the space of innumerable centuries. The Christian’s hope is in Christ. The Son of man makes all men one. To touch him is to enter into the mystery and joy of universal brotherhood. To know the Son is to be made free; if the Son shall make us free we shall be free indeed. All gropings, endeavours, attempts, and efforts in the direction of bringing the world into conscious unity, are but so many prophecies, all but inspired, that there must be One somewhere, who holds the answer to this mystery, and who can bring to consummation this sacred and beneficent miracle.
Another effect arising from a thoughtful perusal of this chapter will be an awful familiarity with what may be called the death-roll of the human race. What a crowded cemetery is this! Kings, princes, leaders, mighty men, fair women, hunters living upon the mountain, citizens dwelling in the plain, statesmen, legislators, all have come and gone; all have been laid in the common dust. When one man dies a solemn feeling is produced by his decease: but let another die, and a whole family be added to the number of those who have departed, then a whole township, then an entire county, then a complete nation; and let this process of addition go on from century to century, and at last we come to expect death, to be familiar with it, and to care nothing about it, except at the point where it happens to affect us personally. Who could bear to look at once upon all the deaths which are occurring during any one hour of the world’s history? We do but see our own dead. The father only knows of one dead child, and that child is his own. He hears of the death of others, he reads the death-list day by day as an item of general intelligence, but no man realises the dreadful extent of the ravages of death during any one hour of the world’s career. The literature of our tombstones would fill a great library. Who could calculate the acreage of paper that would be needed to have copied upon it all the writing that is to be found in the cemeteries of the world? Yet, notwithstanding this continual removal of men, there is a continual influx of successors, so that the earth abideth for ever, even as to its human phases and relationships. Men go down in the nighttime and are not missed in the morning. The greatest names in history pass away into partial oblivion, and new energies come to occupy the attention of the world. Blessed be God, no man can put away from him the thought of his own personal death. A right acceptance of that fact should lead to religious consideration and religious preparation. Death is not something that occurred long ago, or something that will transpire in distant ages: death will come as a guest to every house, and as a guest, if we may so say it, to every heart; and every man must make his own acquaintance with the last grim enemy. We cannot tell how we may die, but, thanks be to God, it is in our power to say in some measure at least how we may live. Christ has ennobled us by the thought that we may so live in him and for him as actually to abolish death, in so far as it is either a penalty or a degradation. Living in the Lord Jesus Christ, serving him diligently, acknowledging only his mastery over all our thoughts, feelings, and actions, we may come to long for death, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better; and in that sublime ecstacy we shall know nothing of the bitterness of death, but shall recognise in the last messenger one who is sent to introduce us into the presence of the King.
What havoc is made in this chapter of the grandeur of titular dignity; what brilliant names are here; and yet they have become the names of the dead. The dukes of Edom, duke Timnah, duke Aliah, duke Jetheth, duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon, duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar, duke Magdiel, duke Iram, what are they now? where are their robes? where the pomp and circumstance that made them figures in their time? And as for the kings of Edom, and Bela, and Jobab, and Husham, and Hadad, and Samlah, and Shaul, and Baalhanan, is there not one of them left to represent the dignity of the house of Edom? are they clean gone for ever? Can spaces that have been occupied by kings be emptied of all glory and renown, and throw themselves open to uses of the people? We know that such things do happen as a mere matter of fact, but we seldom allow them to come so near to us as to produce a deeply religious impression upon our thought and feeling. If all these mighty men have come and gone, let us not attempt to put away from ourselves the commonplace fact that we shall also go, and the place which knows us now shall know us no more for ever. The difference between the kings and the dukes of Edom and ourselves is, that they have a name on historical pages, whilst we have no names but in our own family Bible or on our own particular tombstone. But a fame is open to us: the fame of doing good is a renown which any man may enjoy, and though it may make but little figure as to historical importance, it will be recognised at the last by the words “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
The writer of this chapter shows us how necessary it is to understand the whole, if we would really understand the part. He boldly puts down the name of Adam at the head of his list. But is not the writer going to furnish the history of the kings of Israel and of Judah; is he not in the last resort to occupy a still narrower ground? Why, then, does he begin at the very beginning? Simply because in order to understand any one man we must understand the whole man, or humanity. This gives importance to every individual. He is not self-contained and self-measureable, as if he had no relation to any who have gone before; every man may be said to be the sum-total of all the men that have preceded him upon the stage of history. If he is not so consciously, yet he is more or less so unconsciously. The man who is born today is born under infinite responsibilities: he has but few experiments to make, for all experiments have been made before he was born; it may come that the very last man who enters into this state of being may have nothing to do but to accept conclusions, for the little earth has been understood through and through, in every line and particle, so that nothing further remains to be discovered by science or argued by philosophy. Think of it the little world utterly exhausted; every atom of dust has been examined, every insect has been anatomised, every flower has been made to give up its secret, and there is nothing now to be done on what we call “the great globe itself” but to accept the conclusions which other men have discovered. Think of the exhaustibleness of time and space, as these terms are now known to us! Is there then no sphere that may be described by the word “infinity”? Is there no duration to which the term “eternity” alone is applicable? It is our joy to believe that this world is a mere letter in the great alphabet of stars and planets, and that all we know of time is less than a syllable in the infinite literature of the revelation which is yet to be made. “We are not ignorant of the past, nor are we ungrateful for it, but we shall best show our wisdom and our thankfulness by doing what we now can to make the future rich in thought and energetic in beneficence. The true use of the present is to brighten the darkness and lighten the burden of the future.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
1Ch 1:1 Adam, Sheth, Enosh,
“CHRONICLES” we call these two books, – anciently but one, – which is the same in effect with that of the Hebrews’ Dibr ehaiamim, Words, or Deeds, of Days. Paralipomena, or Remains, the Greeks call them, because they take up many things not recorded in the Books of Kings. Yet are they not those “Books of Chronicles of Israel and Judah” we so often read of in the Books of Kings, for they long since perished, but a divine authentic epitome of them. Yea, Jerome a doubteth not to call these two Books of Chronicles Instrumenti Veteris Epitomen, et totius divinae historiae Chronicum. Munster calleth them, A sacred diary, The Church’s annals. They begin as high as Adam the Protoplast, – of whom nothing is read in human histories, as neither indeed of anything else that is truly ancient till the Theban and Trojan wars, as Diodorus Siculus confesseth, – and show how by him the world was populated, according to that first promise, Gen 1:28 and the descant of some ancients upon the name of Adam. A, that is, A , or the east; D , that is, D , the west; A , that is, A , the north; and M , that is, M , the south: for all these four quarters of the world were and are populated by Adam’s posterity, some of whom, as the antediluvian patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons – all except Dan and Zebulon – are registered in these first eight chapters. In the first four verses of this chapter we have the line of Adam to Noah, no other of the posterity of Adam being mentioned, because, saith one, they were all destroyed in the flood: whereunto may be added, that the genealogy of the second Adam is here mainly intended, and his progenitors principally mentioned.
Ver. 1. Adam, Sheth, Enosh. ] Thus this prompt scribe and perfect genealogist, Ezra, as is generally thought, beginneth his holy history.
“ Primaque aborigine mundi,
Ad sua perpetuum deducit secla volumen. ”
a 1 Chronicles Chapter 1
1 Chronicles 1 – 9: 1
The books of Chronicles are much more fragmentary than those of Kings. At the same time they are more bound up with what follows, for this very reason – that they look at the line of promise and purpose, and hence, therefore, are occupied with David and those that inherited the kingdom of David’s race. The books of Kings. on the other hand, look at the kingdom of Israel as a whole, and therefore show us the continuation of Samuel much more closely – show us the history of the kingdom viewed as a matter of responsibility. Hence, we have the failure of the ten tribes detailed at great length in the Kings and not in the Chronicles, because there it is not purpose, but responsibility; and we have, therefore, the contemporary kingdoms from the time of Jeroboam and Rehoboam till the extinction of the kingdom of Samaria, and then the history of the kingdom of Judah until the captivity. But the books of Chronicles look only at the history of God’s kingdom in the hands of David and of his race. For that reason we here at once are connected with the whole of God’s purposes from the beginning. We have the genealogy. Indeed all the early chapters are filled with genealogy for a reason which I shall afterward explain; but we begin with the beginning – “Adam, Sheth, Enosh” and so on, down to Noah, a line of ten from the beginning, followed by the various sons of Noah, and their posterity – seventy nations springing from the sons of Noah. Then again we. have Abraham as a new stock and commencement. Just as Adam in verse 1, so Abraham and his sons in verse 27 are brought before us, with also a list of seventy tribes, or races, that spring from Abraham and his posterity.
It is clear, therefore, that the Spirit of God purposely presents these things. They are not done in any way loosely or arbitrarily. There is a purpose. We can readily see this in the ten names that come before us first of all – the ten forefathers of the human race, and the seventy nations branching out from the sons of Noah. Then again. we can see the seventy tribes branching out from Abraham and his family. But there is another thing too in this, as showing not only the general way of God here, but the principle of God throughout Scripture – “first that which is natural, afterward that which is spiritual.” We find it just the same here. Japheth and Ham, with their sons, are brought before us previous to the introduction of Shem, and the line of God’s promise in Shem. Here is the Lord God of Shem. So in the same way even with Abraham. Although we come to the man that was called out, still, even there, “first that which is natural.” Hence, therefore, we have Ishmael and his posterity, and even the sons of the concubine, and, last of all, “Abraham begat Isaac.” But even in looking at the sons of Isaac, as the role the sons of Esau are put first, as in the 35th verse. These are pursued, and even the allusion to the kings before there were any over the children of Israel. God’s purposes ripen latest. God lets the world take its own way, and it exalts men in the earth. God means to exalt the Man that humbled Himself. We see, therefore, a common principle everywhere throughout Scripture. Thus, this genealogy, even if we only look cursorily at the first chapter is not without spiritual fruit. There is nothing in the Bible without profit for the soul – not even a list of names.
Adam. Compare Gen 1:26; Gen 2:7.
Sheth. Compare Gen 4:25; Gen 5:3.
Shall we turn now to First Chronicles, chapter one, and let’s see what. You know, we used to say to our kids they could get juice out of anything when they ate. They could make a cracker so juicy that when they were through it was all over the place. But we’ll pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to draw some juice out of First Chronicles and the listing of all of these genealogies.
Now the list begins where it should, of course, with,
Adam [And then his sons], Sheth and Enosh ( 1Ch 1:1 ).
And gives the names of the sons, the descendants down to Japheth who was one of Noah’s sons. And then it’s interesting as you watch it, it will take off and give you just a few descendants of Japheth and it drops Japheth. It will give you a few descendants of Ham, but it’s going to drop Ham. And then it centers in on the descendants of Seth, because it is from the descendants of Seth that Abraham came. From Abraham whom David came. From David who Christ came. And that’s the genealogy really that the Scripture is interested in and really following. And so we get a few of the sons of Japheth, and as we read the names of the sons of Japheth, immediately we’re aware of the fact that the descendants of Japheth were actually the Europeans and the Russians. And so Gomer, Magog and so forth, those that went north and west were the descendants of Japheth.
As we read the descendants of Ham, beginning with verse eight, we realize that they are those who went south from Israel down into the African continent, and they populated the area of the African continent. And so that leaves Shem with the children of Israel and those towards the east from Israel.
Now in verse nineteen of chapter one, it mentions this fellow
Peleg; and it was in his days that the earth was divided: and his brother’s name was Joktan ( 1Ch 1:19 ).
Now just what is meant by “the earth is divided” is a matter of speculation. It could be that it is a reference to the time of the tower of Babel when the people were separated and went out from there with the confusion of tongues and really the beginning of nationality groups. Or there are some who believe that this is a reference to some great cataclysmic event in which the continents were divided. They are talking now of the continental drifts and that the possibility at one time they were all together, and so, if that indeed be so, who knows? But an interesting phrase at least.
Now we take in verse twenty-four to twenty-eight, you have a direct line now from Shem to Abraham. And as we read these in the book of Genesis, we find that Abraham actually was still alive, or was born when Shem was still alive. And then we move to Ishmael’s sons in verse twenty-nine. And then, of course, to the sons of Abraham by Keturah, his concubine. And then we come to Isaac and Esau and Israel in verse thirty-four.
Then we follow for a little while the sons of Esau, who became the Edomites. And then when we get into chapter two, we take Esau’s twin brother Jacob. “
1Ch 1:1-4
1Ch 1:1-4
THE GENEALOGIES (1 Chronicles 1-9)
“Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Mathuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”
E.M. Zerr:
1Ch 1:1-4. The 10 names represent the “blood line” through that many generations. After Cain killed Abel he was rejected although the older son of Adam. Then Seth (here called Sheth) was born and took his place in the line, and became the ancestor of the “sons of God” mentioned in Gen 6:2. This is indicated by the marginal reading, “call themselves by the name of the Lord” at Gen 4:26. See my comments at that place, also at Gen 6:2. By the blood line is meant the lineal descendants from Adam to Christ, passing through many generations, and often including men of prominence from various stand points. The name or person of Christ was not made known to mankind until the time of Abraham, (Gal 3:16), but God had it in mind all down through the ages, and guarded it to help keep it a pure strain. We shall observe this line running through patriarch, prophets, kings and preachers. Sometimes the members of the line will be good men and at other times wicked men. Occasionally a woman was allowed to get into the line from the outside, after the strain had been pretty well established, but the masculine side of the line was kept strictly with the lineal descendants of Adam. The general rule was for it to pass through the oldest son, but there are some exceptions, although we will not be able always to discover the basis for the change. This line of descendants has commonly been called the “blood line” from the fact that Christ was to have human blood in his body, received from the first man, and through a carefully guarded line of generations. In most cases the particular group of these men is determined by the mention of some man who was of special importance besides being in the line. The group of this paragraph stops with Noah, made famous by the flood. His three sons are named, and later we shall see one of them placed in the blood line as the story goes on.
The two Books of Chronicles cover the period of history already studied in I and II Kings. They record this history, however, from an entirely different standpoint. The outlook is almost exclusively confined to Judah, the chronicler never referring to Israel save in cases of absolute necessity.
Moreover, the history of the tribe of Judah is the history of the house of David, all other matters being referred to only as they affect, or are affected by, the Davidic line. Moreover, the story of these two Books centers around the Temple. The chief matter in David’s reign is his interest in preparing for it, while in Solomon’s the chief interest is in the building thereof.
The whole period included in these genealogical tables is that from Adam to the restoration under Nehemiah. They are not exhaustive, but serve a clearly dehed purpose in that they indicate the divine choice of channels in the accomplishment of the purposes of God. Side issues are traced in certain directions, but only as they touch on the divine progress. This is indicated very clearly in the opening verse. The only son of Adam mentioned is Seth. From him the line is traced through Enoch to Noah. At this point the genealogies of Japheth and Ham are given because of the relation of their descendants to the chosen people of God. The direct line of the divine movement is taken up through Shem, and Ends a new departure in Abram. Again there is a digression from Abram in tracing the descent through Ishmael, and of that also through the sons of Keturah. The direct procession continues through Isaac. A third and somewhat elaborate excursion is made for the purpose of tracing the descendants of Esau, who came into such intimate relation to the procedure of God. Israel, however, is the son of Isaac through whom is carried forward the great program. A careful consideration of all this will show that the choice of God was ever based on character.
Analysis and Annotations
I. THE GENEALOGIES
1. From Adam to the Edomites
CHAPTER 1
1. Adam to Noah (1Ch 1:1-4)
2. The sons of Japheth (1Ch 1:5-7)
3. The sons of Ham (1Ch 1:8-16)
4. The sons of Shem (1Ch 1:17-23)
5. From Shem to Abraham (1Ch 1:24-27)
6. Ishmael and his sons (1Ch 1:28-31)
7. Abrahams sons from Keturah (1Ch 1:32-33)
8. The sons of Isaac (1Ch 1:34)
9. The sons of Esau (1Ch 1:35-42)
10. The kings and dukes of Edom (1Ch 1:43-54)
The nine chapters of genealogical tables is the largest collection of Hebrew names in the Bible. These names are full of the deepest interest, as they often bear in their meaning a message. We have pointed out this fact many times in the annotations of the preceding books. Here is unquestionably a mine of great wealth for the diligent searcher: many lessons connected with these names have been but little understood. (A good concordance or dictionary of these names and their meaning is needed for such research.) The names given in this chapter are all found in the book of Genesis (chapters 5, 10, 11, 25 and 36.) The ten generations before the flood, ending with Noah begin the list. The descendants of Cain are not mentioned. Then follow the names of the offspring of Noahs sons, Japheth, Ham and Shem. Fourteen nations descended from Japheth; thirty-one from Ham and twenty-six from Shem. No person is able to trace all these races in history, but He who has recorded their names knows also their history and their wanderings. And so He knows all His creatures. But above all does He know His own people by name.
Shems line is followed to Abraham, the father of the nation. The sons of Abraham are mentioned first as Isaac and Ishmael, not in their right order, Ishmael preceding Isaac. The sons of Ishmael are therefore given first, as well as the sons which Abraham had from Keturah. Then follows the statement, And Abraham begat Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel (verse 34). Esaus sons and descendants are given before the sons of Israel; those we find in the second chapter. Then follows the list of the kings and dukes (or chiefs) of Edom. King Jobab (verse 44) is considered by some to be Job and that he ruled in Dinhabah (Gen 36:32).
Sheth: Gen 4:25, Gen 4:26, Gen 5:3, Gen 5:8, Luk 3:38, Seth
Enosh: Gen 5:9-11, Luk 3:38, Enos
Reciprocal: Gen 5:1 – book Gen 5:4 – And the Luk 3:37 – Mathusala
GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES
INTRODUCTION
With this begins the study of those historical books of the Old Testament written shortly after the return from the Babylonian captivity, the remainder of the series including 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
Chronicles means diaries or journal, and the books recapitulate sacred history from the time of Adam, in which the earlier books of the Old Testament are drawn upon and occasionally supplemented. The Holy Spirit, who is the real Author, has a right to do this when the occasion calls for it.
The closest relation exists between the Chronicles and Kings. The last- named were written, it is thought, by Jeremiah, and the first-named by a priest or Levite. Kings must have been compiled shortly after the people went into exile, Chronicles after their return. Kings deal more with the inner spiritual condition of things, Chronicles with the external modes of worship.
There are differences in the two records here and there. Not only are genealogies differently grouped, but names and places are changed, speeches of persons are presented from dissimilar aspects, religious festivals have more than one description given them, and things of that kind; but there is no contradiction not explainable by the changes incident to time, the later writers point of view, the object in mind, negligent transcribing and the like.
Why Chronicles were written is difficult to say, but there must have been some good reason for going over the ground again, some new aspect of the history to signalize, and some new lesson to convey to the people of
God on returning from the captivity. What these things may be must appear as we proceed.
SUBDIVISIONS
The first nine chapters contain the genealogies of the patriarchs, the twelve tribes, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem till the beginning of the kingdom, the purpose being to connect David, the great forerunner of the Messiah, as well as the priests and Levites of his time with the antediluvian patriarchs. They have been subdivided as follows:
The Patriarchs from Adam to Jacob and Esau, with the descendants of the latter till the era of the Edomite Kings (chap. 1). At first these names may not seem of importance to us, but we remember that the Holy Spirit caused them to be written and that is enough. And when we know how to awaken them from their sleep, they do not remain so dead as they at first appear, but revive the most important traditions of the ancient nations and families, like the petrifactions and mountain strata of the earth, which rightly questioned, tell the history of long vanished ages.
The Sons of Jacob, or the Generations of Judah till David, with Davids Posterity till Elioenai and His Seven Sons (1Ch 2:1 to 1Ch 4:23). In this we discover a biographic gem in the story of Jabez and his prayer (1Ch 4:9-10) of whom we are told nothing further. Verse 10 has homiletic value in the three things for which Jabez prayed and which he received prosperity, power, and protection.
Another homiletic suggestion is in the words, There they dwelt with the king for his work (v. 23). These potters that dwelt among plants and hedges, may have been artistic craftsmen adjacent to the royal gardens at Jerusalem, not merely in the reign of one king but all of them. Remains of these potteries have been found in recent times.
The Descendants of Simeon and the Tribes East of the Jordan till the Assyrian Captivity (1Ch 4:24 to 1Ch 5:26). This division is interesting, as it records two conquests or migrations of the Simeonites (1Ch 4:38-43), and corroborates what we learned earlier about the small size of this tribe (compare 1 Chron. 5:27 with Numbers 1-4 and Jos 19:1-9). In the same way compare the reference to Reuben, Joseph and Judah, 1Ch 5:1-2, with the earlier account in Genesis 49. Nor should we permit such an inspired comment as chapter 5:20 to escape us.
The Levites and Their Locations (1Ch 6:1-81).
This division may be broken up, thus: The sons of Levi (1Ch 6:1-3); the priests down to the captivity (v. 4-15); the families of Gershom, Merari and Kohath (1Ch 6:16-48); the office of Aaron and his line unto Ahimaaz (v. 49-53); the cities of the priests and the Levites (1Ch 6:54-81).
The Remaining Tribes (1 Chronicles 7-8).
These tribes include Issachar (1Ch 7:1-5); Benjamin (1Ch 7:6-12) Naphtali (1Ch 7:13); Manasseh (1Ch 7:14-19); Ephraim (1Ch 7:20-29); Asher (1Ch 7:30-40); the chief men of Benjamin (1Ch 8:1-32); the house of Saul (1Ch 8:33-40). Dan and Zebulun are omitted, but why, no one knows. In the case of Dan, perhaps, it is judicial punishment because of their early and almost total fall into idolatry. They are omitted again in the list of Revelation 8. Zebuluns omission is more difficult to explain. It was a small tribe, especially just before and after the exile, but it was the tribe whose territory included Nazareth where Jesus dwelt.
The Inhabitants of Jerusalem till the Times of the Kings (1 Chronicles 9).
QUESTIONS
1. Name the post-exilian historical books.
2. Give the scope and general contents of the books of Chronicles.
3. Contrast Kings and Chronicles as to their history and character.
4. What are some of the points of difference between Kings and Chronicles, and how are they explained?
5. Give the contents of 1 Chronicles 1-9 in outline.
6. What can you recall of the history of Jabez?
7. Which two tribes are altogether omitted from these genealogies?
1Ch 1:1. Adam, Sheth, Enosh Adam was the father of Sheth, and Sheth the father of Enosh, and so on to the sons of Noah. For brevitys sake he only mentions the names, the rest being easily understood out of the former books. No mention is made of the posterity of Cain or Abel, nor of the other sons of Adam, because the sacred writer was only engaged to give a detail of the patriarchs, in a line from Adam to Noah. The history of the Bible was not designed as a history of the world, but as a history of the church, and of the deduction of the sacred promise of the seed of the woman. This was the peculiar glory of the Jewish nation, that they alone were able to trace their pedigree from the first man that God created, which no other nation pretended to, but abused themselves and their posterity with fabulous accounts of their originals; the people of Thessaly fancying that they sprang from stones, the Athenians, that they grew out of the earth.
1Ch 1:1-4. AdamNoah. Noah was the tenth from Adam. Sanchoniatho, the Phnician historian, makes Noah to be the eighth. He calls these patriarchs by different names, which probably were the titles they assumed after some action accounted illustrious. We may here recite the substance of Genesis 11., on which biblical critics are generally agreed.
Gomer father of the Gomerians Magog father of the Scythians Madai father of the Medes Juvan father of the Ionians Tubal father of the Iberians or Spaniards Meshech father of the Cappadocians Tiras father of the Thracians, the Germans, which proves, as in Herodotus, that Europe was populated very early. See more on Genesis 11.
1Ch 1:17. Sons of Shem. The first five named were his sons; the four last, his grandsons; for descendants, though of remote generations, were often called sons.
1Ch 1:32. Concubine: where polygamy is allowed these are lawful wives, but their issue cannot inherit. From those dangerous connections mischiefs without end have issued.
1Ch 1:36. Timna and Amalek. Kennicott here follows the Arabic version, which seems to be the true reading. Timna, who was the concubine of Eliphaz, bare him Amalek.
1Ch 1:43. Bela, supposed to be the Balaam slain by Phinehas.
REFLECTIONS.
In this chapter we perceive that all the countries were originally called by the names of the patriarchs who peopled them, and it fully proves the respect in which the Mosaic Chronology was held throughout every age of the Hebrew nation. A full acquaintance with the literature of Chaldea, during a long captivity, had made no variation in the opinions of the learned scribes, who had filled the place of historians, both in the Babylonian and in the Median empire. Shall we then, at this remote period, begin to doubt and to alter our opinions, merely because the licentious infidels of modern times would almost deify themselves, and exalt their insidious sneers above the venerable glory of ancient truth?
PART I (1 Chronicles 1-9). Genealogical Lists, together with Geographical and Historical Notes.These chapters form a general introduction to the whole work. They contain the following genealogies, often in an incomplete form: Adam to Israel (1Ch 1:1 to 1Ch 2:2)with the exception of Cains descendants (Gen 4:16-22)the whole material is taken from Genesis 1-36; Judah (1Ch 2:3-55); David (1Ch 3:1-24); Judah again, and made up of fragments (1Ch 4:1-23); Simeon (1Ch 4:24-43); Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe (the eastern) of Manasseh (1Ch 5:1-26); Levi and the Levitical cities (1Ch 6:1-81); Issachar (1Ch 7:1-5); Benjamin (1Ch 7:6-12); Naphtali (1Ch 7:13); half the tribe of Manasseh (the western) (1Ch 7:14-19); Ephraim (1Ch 7:20-29); Asher (1Ch 7:30-40); Benjamin again, together with the house of Saul (1Ch 8:1-40). Then follows an enumeration of the inhabitants of Jerusalem given in the order: sons of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, Manasseh, priests, Levites, doorkeepers (1Ch 9:1-44); 1Ch 9:35-44 are repeated verbally from 1Ch 8:29-38.
1:1 Adam, {a} Sheth, Enosh,
(a) Meaning, that Seth was Adam’s son, and Enoch was Seth’s son.
A. The Lineage of David chs. 1-3
The writer evidently chose, under divine inspiration, to open his book with genealogies to help his readers appreciate their heritage and to tie themselves to Adam, Abraham, and David in particular. Adam was important as the head of the human race. Abraham was important because of the promises God gave him and his descendants in the Abrahamic Covenant. David was important because of his role as Israel’s divinely chosen king and because of the promises God gave him in the Davidic Covenant. This section shows Israel’s place among the nations. Both the Old and New Testaments open with genealogies, in Genesis, Matthew, and Luke.
One of the major themes of Chronicles is that the Davidic dynasty would be the instrument through which God promised that salvation and blessing would come to Israel, and through Israel to the whole world. The final Davidic king, Jesus Christ, was the last Adam (1Co 15:45), as well as the Person who would fulfill the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants completely.
"The genealogy of David in the Book of Ruth and in 1Ch 2:3-17 unambiguously establishes the connection between patriarchal promise and historical fulfillment and demonstrates once and for all Judah’s theological primacy amongst the tribes despite its geographical handicap." [Note: Eugene H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, p. 316.]
The writer probably also went back to Adam for another reason. He tied God’s provision of salvation in David and his descendants to the first promise of salvation given to Adam and Eve in Gen 3:15.
In 1Ch 3:19-24 the Chronicler traced David’s descendants into the restoration period. David’s kingdom ended temporarily with the Babylonian exile (cf. Amo 9:11), but by tracing David’s line the writer was giving his original readers hope that God would fulfill His promises. The future did not depend ultimately on the decisions of Cyrus, king of the Persian Empire, but on the faithfulness of Yahweh (cf. Hag 2:21-22).
In 1Ch 3:19 the writer said Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah. Other references to Zerubbabel call him the son of Shealtiel (cf. Ezr 3:2; Neh 12:1; Hag 1:12; Mat 1:12; Luk 3:27; et al.). This may be a scribal error, or perhaps Shealtiel died early and his brother or other close relative, Pedaiah, reared Zerubbabel.
The original readers of Chronicles, freshly transplanted into the Promised Land from Babylonian captivity, were having an identity crisis. They needed to remember what they were and what God intended for them to be. They lived in a culture that wanted to use them for its own ends. By piecing together name lists from the previous historical books of the Old Testament, and perhaps other sources, the writer was able to preach the meaning of his people’s history. This he continued to do throughout Chronicles.
"The framework of history is . . . seen to comprise three pairs of events. God creates all things; in due course Adam procreates the rest of mankind. God calls Abraham; in due course Israel sires the twelve patriarchs. God calls Moses; in due course David sets up the kingdom. In each of these three pairs, it is with the second member that the Chronicler is concerned." [Note: Michael Wilcock, The Message of Chronicles, p. 28.]
{e-Sword Note: 1 and 2 Chronicles were largely in topical format in the printed edition. When possible, this content has been divided by verse/chapter. Content that could not fit elsewhere was placed in the 1 and 2 Chronicles Book Comments for e-Sword.}
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary