Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Chronicles 2:50
These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah; Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim,
50. These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur ] Read with LXX., These were the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur (Cp. R.V.). Hur was the son of Caleb (1Ch 2:19).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Caleb the son of Hur – Hur was the son, not the father, of Caleb 1Ch 2:19. The text should perhaps be read: These (the list in 1Ch 2:42-49) were the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah, were Shobal, etc.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah,…. This is another Caleb, the grandson of Caleb the son of Hezron, called after his name; he was the son of Hur, the firstborn of his wife Ephratah, 1Ch 2:19.
Shobal the father of Kirjathjearim: of the inhabitants of that place; they sprung from him; or, as the Targum, he was prince of Kirjathjearim, a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:60.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The families descended from Caleb through his son Hur. – 1Ch 2:50. The superscription, “These are the sons (descendants) of Caleb,” is more accurately defined by the addition, “the son of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah;” and by this definition the following lists of Caleb’s descendants are limited to the families descended from his son Hur. That the words are to be so understood, and not as apposition to , “Caleb the son of Hur,” is shown by 1Ch 2:19, according to which Hur is a son of Caleb and Ephrath. On that account, too, the relationship of Hur to Caleb is not given here; it is presupposed as known from 1Ch 2:19. A famous descendant of Hur has already been mentioned in 1Ch 2:20, viz., Bezaleel the son of Uri. Here, in 1Ch 2:50 and 1Ch 2:51, three sons of Hur are named, Shobal, Salma, and Hareph, with the families descended from the first two. All information is wanting as to whether these sons of Hur were brothers of Uri, or his cousins in nearer or remoter degree, as indeed is every means of a more accurate determination of the degrees of relationship. Both and in genealogies mark only descent in a straight line, while intermediate members of a family are often omitted in the lists. Instead of , might have been expected, as two sons are mentioned. The singular shows that the words are not to be fused with the following into one sentence, but, as the Masoretic punctuation also shows, are meant for a superscription, after which the names to be enumerated are ranged without any more intimate logical connection. For the three names are not connected by the w copul. They stand thus: “sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah; Shobal…Salma…Hareph.” Shobal is called father of Kirjath-jearim, now Kureyet el Enab (see on Jos 9:17). Salma, father of Bethlehem, the birth-place of David and Christ. This Salma is, however, not the same person as Salma mentioned in 1Ch 2:11 and Rth 4:20 among the ancestors of David; for the latter belonged to the family of Ram, the former to the family of Caleb. Hareph is called the father of Beth-Geder, which is certainly not the same place as Gedera, Jos 15:36, which lay in the Shephelah, but is probably identical with Gedor in the hill country, Jos 15:58, west of the road which leads from Hebron to Jerusalem ( vide on 1Ch 12:4). Nothing further is told of Hareph, but in the following verses further descendants of both the other sons of Hur are enumerated.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
III.1Ch. 2:50-55 : A third register of Calebite clans and settlements.
(50) The sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah.See 1Ch. 2:19-20 and Notes. The statement These were the sons of Caleb should be connected with 1Ch. 2:49, as a subscription or concluding remark to the list, 1Ch. 2:42-49. (Comp. 1Ch. 2:33.) A fresh start is then made with the sons (so the LXX.) of Hur, firstborn of Ephratah, reverting to the Caleb of 1Ch. 2:19 seq., just as 1Ch. 2:34 returns to Jerahmeel in the Sheshanite branch.
Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim.Shobal is named at 1Ch. 4:1 as a chief clan or sub-tribe of Judah, along with Hur.
Kirjath-jearim.City of woods, one of the four cities of the Gibeonites (Jos. 9:17), also called Kirjath-Baal and Baalah (Jos. 15:9; Jos. 15:60), in the hill-country of Judah.
(51) Salma the father of Beth-lehem.See 1Ch. 2:11, where Salma may be the feather-house (clan) of which Boaz was a member. The present Salma, however, is a Calebite, whereas the Salma of 1Ch. 2:11 is a Ramite.
Beth-gader (gder).Jos. 12:13, Geder; Jos. 15:36, Gederah; or perhaps Gedor (Jos. 15:58).
(52) Haroeh, and half of the Manahethites.Haroeh is probably a relic of Jehoraah (LXX., ) =Reaiah (see 1chron iv 2) and perhaps hatsi-hammenuhoth should be altered to hatsi-hammanahti (see 1Ch. 2:54), which would give the sense of the Authorised Version. As the Hebrew stands, the Vulg. is a literal rendering of it: qui videbat dimidium requietionum (!). The Manahathites were the people of Manahath (1Ch. 8:6). a town near the frontier of Dan and Judah (1Ch. 2:54).
(53) This verse is really a continuation of the last, and a comma would be better than a full stop after the word Manahathites. The families (clans or groups of families, mishpehth) dwelling in the canton of Kirjath-jearim, viz., the Ithrites, Puhites (Heb., Puthites), &c, were also sons of Shobl. Two of Davids heroes, Ira and Gareb (1Ch. 11:40), were Ithrites. The three other clans are nowhere else mentioned.
Of them came the Zareathites, and the Eshtaulites.Rather, from these went forth the Zorathites, &c. The men of Zorah and Eshtal were subdivisions of the clans of Kirjath-jearim. Zorah (Jdg. 13:2), a Danite town, the home of Samson, now Sura. Eshtal, also a Danite town, near Zorah (Jdg. 16:31; Jdg. 18:11-12), the present Um-Eshteiyeh. Both were on the western border of Judah, a few miles west of Kirjath-jearim.
(54) The sons of Salma; Beth-lehem.In 1Ch. 2:51 Salma is called father of Bethlehem, and according to 1Ch. 2:50, Salma is a son of Hur and a grandson of Ephratah, i.e., Beth-lehem (see 1Ch. 2:19, Note). The recognition of the ethnographical and geographical significance of these expressions at once removes all difficulty. Salma was the principal clan established in Bethlehem-Ephratah; branches of which were settled at Netophah, a neighbouring township (1Ch. 9:16; 2Sa. 23:28-29), important after the return (Ezr. 2:22; Neh. 7:26).
Ataroth, the house of Joab.Rather, Atroth-beth-Joab (comp. Abel-beth-Maachah); an unknown town, whose name means ramparts of the house of Joab, i.e., Joabs castle, perhaps a strong city where Joabs family was settled. (See 1Ch. 2:26.)
Half of the Manahethites were sons of Salma, the other half sons of Shobal (1Ch. 2:52).
The Zorites.A by-form of Zorathites (1Ch. 2:53). The word really belongs to the next verse, as the sons of Salma are arranged in pairs.
(55) The families (mishpehth=clans) of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez.Among the clans calling themselves sons of Salma were three groups of Sopherim (Authorised version, scribes) settled at Jabez (Heb., Iab), a town of northern Judah, near to Zorah. (See 1Ch. 4:9, Note.) The three clans were known as those of Tirah, Shimeah, and Suchah. The Vulg. treats these names as appellatives, and renders canentes atque resonantes et in tabernaculis commorantes, that is, singing and resounding, and dwelling in tents. This translation is assumed to be due to Jeromes Rabbinical teachers, and is justified by reference to the words terh, trumpet-blare; shimh, report; or the Aramaic Shemat legal tradition and skh (= sukkah), a booth. Hence the conclusion has been drawn that the Sopherim of Jabez were, in fact, ministers of religion, discharging functions precisely like those of the Levites. So Wellhausen, who refers to Jer. 35:19, and the title of Psalms 70 in the LXX., and to one or two late fragmentary notices of the Rechabites. On the face of it the supposition is unlikely; nor does it derive any real support from the Kenite origin of these Sopherim, for it is a mere fancy that the house of Jethro, the Kenite priest of Midian, became temple-ministers in Israel. Besides, the etymologies of the names are hardly cogent; and if we try to extract history from etymology here, we might as well do so in the case of the clans of Kirjath-jearim (1Ch. 2:53), and make the Ithrites a guild of ropers (yether, cord, bowstring), the Puthites hinge-makers (pthth1Ki. 1:50hinges), and the Shumathithes garlic-eaters (shm, garlic, Num. 11:5). The Vulg. often makes the blunder of translating proper names. (See 1Ch. 2:52; 1Ch. 2:54).
These are the Kenites that came of Hemath (Heb., Hammath), the father of the house of (Beth-) Rechab.The three clans of Sopherim were originally Kenites, and traced their descent from Hammath, the traditional founder of the Rechabite stock. When, or under what circumstances these Rechabite Kenites amalgamated with the Calebite clan of Salma is unknown; but comp. Jdg. 1:11-16.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Ch 2:50. These were the sons of Caleb, the son of Hur These were the sons of Hur, the son of Caleb, the first born of Ephratah. Houbigant. See the 19th verse.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Caleb the son of Hur. The son of the Caleb in 1Ch 2:19, Hur giving him the name of his own father. It is possible that this Caleb (1Ch 2:50) may have been the son of Jephunneh (Num 13:6), Jephunneh being the surname of the Hur of Exo 17:10; Exo 24:14; Exo 31:2; Exo 35:30.
Kirjath-jearim. An old Gibeonite city (Jos 9:17; Jos 15:60), where the Ark tarried long, and whence it was brought to Zion by David (1Sa 6:21. 1Sa 7:2. 2Sa 6:2. 1Ch 13:5-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Caleb: This Caleb was the grandson of the preceding, and brother to Uri, the father of Bezaleel.
Ephratah: 1Ch 2:19, 1Ch 2:20, Ephrath
Kirjathjearim: 1Ch 2:53, 1Ch 13:5, 1Ch 13:6, Jos 15:9, Jos 15:60, 1Sa 7:1
Reciprocal: Gen 4:20 – the 1Ch 4:4 – Hur 1Ch 8:13 – the fathers 1Ch 9:35 – the father Ezr 2:21 – Bethlehem Mic 5:2 – Ephratah