I chronicles 4 commentary

I CHRONICLES 4 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Other Clans of Judah
1 The descendants of Judah:
Perez, Hezron, Karmi, Hur and Shobal.
CLARKE, "The sons of Judah - A genealogy of this tribe has already been given in
the second chapter. It is here introduced again, with some variations. Probably there
were different copies in the public registers; and the writer of this book, finding that this
second one contained some remarkable particulars, thought proper to insert it in this
place: and no reader will regret the insertion, when he carefully considers the matter.
GILL, "The sons of Judah: Pharez,.... The posterity of Judah in the line of Pharez,
for he only is mentioned:
Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal. Hezron was the son of Pharez, and
Carmi is supposed to be Chelubai, or Caleb, the son of Hezron; and Hur the son of Caleb;
and Shobal was the son of the second Caleb the son of Hur; see 1Ch_2:5.
HENRY 1-10, "One reason, no doubt, why Ezra is here most particular in the register
of the tribe of Judah is because it was that tribe which, with its appendages, Simeon,
Benjamin, and Levi, made up the kingdom of Judah, which not only long survived the
other tribes in Canaan, but in process of time, now when this was written, returned out
of captivity, when the generality of the other tribes were lost in the kingdom of Assyria.
The most remarkable person in this paragraph is Jabez. It is not said whose son he was,
nor does it appear in what age he lived; but, it should seem, he was the founder of one of
the families of Aharhel, mentioned 1Ch_4:8. Here is,
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I. The reason of his name: his mother gave him the name with this reason, Because I
bore him with sorrow, 1Ch_4:9. All children are borne with sorrow (for the sentence
upon the woman is, In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children), but some with much
more sorrow than others. Usually the sorrow in bearing is afterwards forgotten for joy
that the child is born; but here it seems it was so extraordinary that it was remembered
when the child came to be circumcised, and care was taken to perpetuate the
remembrance of it while he lived. Perhaps the mother called Habez, as Rachel called her
son Benoni, when she was dying of the sorrow. Or, if she recovered it, yet thus she
recorded it, 1. That it might be a continual memorandum to herself, to be thankful to
God as long as she lived for supporting her under and bringing her through that sorrow.
It may be of use to be often reminded of our sorrows, that we may always have such
thoughts of things as we had in the day of our affliction, and may learn to rejoice with
trembling. 2. That it might likewise be a memorandum to him what this world is into
which she bore him, a vale of tears, in which he must expect few days and full of trouble.
The sorrow he carried in his name might help to put a seriousness upon his spirit. It
might also remind him to love and honour his mother, and labour, in every thing, to be a
comfort to her who brought him into the world with so much sorrow. It is piety in
children thus to requite their parents, 1Ti_5:4.
II. The eminence of his character: He was more honourable than his brethren,
qualified above them by the divine grace and dignified above them by the divine
providence; they did virtuously, but he excelled them all. Now the sorrow with which his
mother bore him was abundantly recompensed. That son which of all her children cost
her most dear she was most happy in, and was made glad in proportion to the affliction,
Psa_90:15. We are not told upon what account he was more honourable than his
brethren, whether because he raised a greater estate, or was preferred to the magistracy,
or signalized himself in war; we have most reason to think it was upon the account of his
learning and piety, not only because these, above any thing, put honour upon a man, but
because we have reason to think that in these Jabez was eminent. 1. In learning, because
we find that the families of the scribes dwelt at Jabez (1Ch_2:55), a city which, it is
likely, took its name from him. The Jews say that he was a famous doctor of the law and
left many disciples behind him. And it should seem, by the mentioning of him so
abruptly here, that his name was well known when Ezra wrote this. 2. In piety, because
we find here that he was a praying man. His inclination to devotion made him truly
honourable, and by prayer he obtained those blessings from God which added much to
his honour. The way to be truly great is to be truly good and to pray much.
III. The prayer he made, probably like Solomon's prayer for wisdom, just when he was
setting out in the world. He set himself to acknowledge God in all his ways, put himself
under the divine blessing and protection, and prospered accordingly. Perhaps these were
the heads on which he enlarged in his daily prayers; for this purpose it was his constant
practice to pray alone, and with his family, as Daniel. Some think that it was upon some
particular occasion, when he was straitened and threatened by his enemies, that he
prayed this prayer. Observe,
1. To whom he prayed, not to any of the gods of the Gentiles; no, he called on the God
of Israel, the living and true God, who alone can hear and answer prayer, and in prayer
had an eye to him as the God of Israel, a God in covenant with his people, the God with
whom Jacob wrestled and prevailed and was thence called Israel.
2. What was the nature of his prayer. (1.) As the margin reads it, it was a solemn vow -
If thou wilt bless me indeed, etc. and then the sense is imperfect, but may easily be filled
up from Jacob's vow, or some such like - then thou shalt be my God. He did not express
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his promise, but left it to be understood, either because he was afraid to promise in his
own strength or because he resolved to devote himself entirely to God. He does, as it
were, give God a blank paper, let him write what he pleases: “Lord, if thou wilt bless me
and keep me, do what thou wilt with me, I will be at thy command and disposal for
ever.” (2.) As the text reads it, it was the language of a most ardent and affectionate
desire: O that thou wouldst bless me!
3. What was the matter of his prayer. Four things he prayed for: - (1.) That God would
bless him indeed: “That, blessing, thou wilt bless me, bless me greatly with manifold and
abundant blessings.” Perhaps he had an eye to the promise God made to Abraham
(Gen_22:17), In blessing, I will bless thee. “Let that blessing of Abraham come upon
me.” Spiritual blessings are the best blessings, and those are blessed indeed who are
blessed with them. God's blessings are real things and produce real effects. We can but
wish a blessing: he commands it. Those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. (2.) That he
would enlarge his coast, that he would prosper his endeavours for the increase of what
fell to his lot either by work or war. That God would enlarge our hearts, and so enlarge
our portion in himself and in the heavenly Canaan, ought to be our desire and prayer.
(3.) That God's hand might be with him. The prayer of Moses for this tribe of Judah was,
That his own hands might be sufficient for him, Deu_33:7; but Jabez expects not that
this can be the case, unless he have God's hand with him and the presence of his power.
God's hand with us, to lead us, protect us, strengthen us, and to work all our works in us
and for us, is indeed a hand sufficient for us, all-sufficient. (4.) That he would keep him
from evil, the evil of sin, the evil of trouble, all the evil designs of his enemies, that they
might not hurt him, nor grieve him, nor make him a Jabez indeed, a man of sorrow: in
the original there is an allusion to his name. Father in heaven, deliver me from evil.
4. What was the success of his prayer: God granted him that which he requested,
prospered him remarkably, and gave him success in his undertakings, in his studies, in
his worldly business, in his conflicts with the Canaanites, and so he became more
honourable than his brethren. God was of old always ready to hear prayer, and his ear is
not yet heavy.
JAMISON, "1Ch_4:1-8. Posterity of Judah by Caleb the Son of Hur.
the sons of Judah — that is, “the descendants,” for with the exception of Pharez,
none of those here mentioned were his immediate sons. Indeed, the others are
mentioned solely to introduce the name of Shobal, whose genealogy the historian
intended to trace (1Ch_2:52).
K&D, "1Ch_4:1 is evidently intended to be a superscription to the genealogical
fragments which follow. Five names are mentioned as sons of Judah, of whom only
Pharez was his son (1Ch_2:4); the others are grandchildren or still more distant
descendants. Nothing is said as to the genealogical relationship in which they stood to
each other; that is supposed to be already known from the genealogies in 1 Chron 2.
Hezron is the son of Pharez, and consequently grandson of Judah, 1Ch_2:8. Carmi, a
descendant of Zerah, the brother of Pharez, see on 1Ch_2:6-7. Hur is a son of Caleb, the
son of Hezron, by Ephratah (see on 1Ch_2:19 and 1Ch_2:50); and Shobal is the son of
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Hur, who has just been mentioned (1Ch_2:50). These five names do not denote here,
any more than in 1 Chron 2, “families of the tribe of Judah” (Berth.), but signify persons
who originated or were heads of families. The only conceivable ground for these five
being called “sons of Judah,” is that the families registered in the following lists traced
their origin to them, although in the enumeration which follows the genealogical
connection of the various groups is not clearly brought out. The enumeration begins,
BENSON, "1 Chronicles 4:1. The sons of Judah — The posterity: for only Pharez
was his immediate son. But they are all mentioned here only to show Shobal’s
descent from Judah.
COFFMAN,"The first paragraph here (1 Chronicles 4:1-23) gives further
genealogies connected with the tribe of Judah. It is by no means clear why these
particular genealogies were kept or considered important enough to be included
here.
ELLICOTT, "1 Chronicles 4. comprises (1) a compilation of fragmentary notices
relating to the clans of Judah, their settlements and handicrafts, at an epoch which
is not determined: this section serves at once as a supplement to the account of
Judah already given in 1 Chronicles 1, 3, and as a first instalment of the similar
survey of the other tribes which follows (1 Chronicles 4:24-27); (2) similar notices
relating to the tribe of Simeon (24-38).
Verse 1
(1) The sons of Judah.—Pharez only of these five was literally a son of Judah, 1
Chronicles 2:3-4. We have, however, seen that all these names, with the possible
exception of Carmi, represent great tribal divisions or clans; and as such they are
called sons of Judah. For Carmi it is proposed to read the more famous name of
Chelubai (1 Chronicles 2:9). This would give a line of direct descendants from
Judah to the fifth generation, according to the genealogical presentation of 1
Chronicles 2:4; 1 Chronicles 2:9; 1 Chronicles 2:18-19. But the result thus obtained
is of no special value. It has no bearing on the remainder of the section. Moreover,
Carmi is mentioned (1 Chronicles 2:7) among the great Judean houses, and might
have been prominent in numbers and influence at the unknown period when the
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original of the present list was drafted.
POOLE, "The posterity of Judah by Caleb the son of Hur, 1 Chronicles 4:1-4. By
Ashur, 1 Chronicles 4:5-8. By Jabez: his prayer, 1 Chronicles 4:9-20. The posterity
of Shelah, 1 Chronicles 4:21-23. The posterity and cities of Simeon: their conquest of
Gedor; and of the Amalekites in Mount Seir, 1 Chronicles 4:24-43.
The sons of Judah, i.e. the posterity; for only Pharez was his immediate son. But
they are all mentioned here only to show Shobal’s descent from Judah, of whom he
intended to speak more particularly.
PULPIT, "1 Chronicles 4:1-23
After the large space given to the "sons of David," of the tribe of Judah, in the
previous chapter, this chapter returns for twenty-three verses to group together a
few additional ramifications of the same tribe, whose registers were for some
reasons, perhaps not very evident, preserved and known. The first verses follow in
the direction already indicated in 1 Chronicles 2:1-55; near the end of which we
were left with Shobal and Haroeh, probably the same with Reaiah (the same name
as Reaia, 1 Chronicles 5:5, though not the same person).
1 Chronicles 4:1, 1 Chronicles 4:2
The Carrot of 1 Chronicles 4:1 is considered to lie doubtful between the Carmi of 1
Chronicles 2:7 or the Chelubai of 1 Chronicles 2:9, in which last alternation the five
names of this verse would repeat the line of descent with which chrii, had made us
familiar. Even then the object or advantage of repeating the first four of these, so
far as what follows is concerned, is not evident. We keep near the close of 1
Chronicles 2:1-55. also in respect of another allusion to the Zorathites (1 Chronicles
2:53), whose families were replenished by the two sons of Jahath, Ahumai and
Lahad, of all of whom this is all we know.
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BI 1-43, "The sons of Judah.
Survey of the genealogy
I. How great the obscurity of most men!
II. What folly to seek place and power only here!
III. How needful to secure renown hereafter! “Rejoice that your names are written in
heaven,” said the dying Haller, when friends congratulated him on the honour of
receiving a visit from the Emperor Joseph II. (James Wolfendale.)
2 Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath,
and Jahath the father of Ahumai and Lahad.
These were the clans of the Zorathites.
GILL, "And Reaiah the son of Shobal begat Jahath,.... Reaiah is the same with
Haroeh, 1Ch_2:52 the names are of the same signification:
and Jahath begat Ahumai, and Lahad. These are the families of the
Zorathites; who inhabited Zoreah, as the Targum, at least part of it; see 1Ch_2:53.
K&D, "1Ch_4:2, with the descendants of Shobal. As to Reaiah the son of Shobal, see
1Ch_2:52. He begat Jahath, a name often occurring in Levite families, cf. 1Ch_6:5, 1Ch_
6:28; 1Ch_23:10., 1Ch_24:22, 2Ch_34:12; but of the descendant of David who bore this
name nothing further is known. His sons Ahumai and Lahad founded the families of the
Zorathites, i.e., the inhabitants of Zora, who also, according to 1Ch_2:53, were
descended from sons of Shobal. Our verse therefore gives more detailed information
regarding the lineage of these families.
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BENSON, "1 Chronicles 4:2-3. The families of the Zorathites — So denominated,
not from a man, but a place named Zoreah, (1 Chronicles 2:53, and Joshua 15:33,)
situated in the tribe of Judah. Here several families of that tribe settled; who were
descended from Jahath, Ahumai, and Lahad, the sons and grandsons of Shobal. Of
the father of Etam — Descended from the proprietor or chief man of a place, called
Etam, which was in this tribe, 1 Chronicles 4:32.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Reaiah (or Jehoraah) the son of Shobal . . .—See 1 Chronicles
2:52, which also calls Shobal “father of Kirjath-jearim.” 1 Chronicles 2:53 adds that
the Zorathites (Authorised Version, Zareathites) came of the clans of Kirjath-
jearim. The present verse supplements the data of 1 Chronicles 2, by putting the
clans of Zorah in immediate genealogical connection with Shobal. Their names—
Ahumai and Lahad—occur nowhere else.
POOLE, "Verse 2
Reaiah; called Haroeh, 1 Chronicles 2:52; of whom see there.
The families of the Zorathites; of whom see on 1 Chronicles 2:53.
3 These were the sons[a] of Etam:
Jezreel, Ishma and Idbash. Their sister was
named Hazzelelponi.
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BARNES, "Read, “These are the sons of the father (i. e. chief) of Etam” 2Ch_11:6, a city
of Judah, not far from Bethlehem.
CLARKE, "These were of the father of Etam - “And these are the rabbins
(doctors) living at Etam, Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash.” - T.
GILL, "And these were of the father of Etam,.... Or of the prince of Etam: or, as
the Targum, these are princes that dwelt in Etam, a place not far from Zorah, Jdg_15:8
and is mentioned with Bethlehem and Tekoa in the tribe of Judah, 2Ch_11:6, namely,
which follow:
Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash; these were the sons of the governor of Etam:
and the name of their sister was Hazelelponi; who, perhaps, was a person of
great note in those days, though now unknown; indeed, a Jewish chronologer (w) tells
us, that the mother of Samson was Hazalelponith, of the tribe of Judah.
K&D, "1Ch_4:3 and 1Ch_4:4 contain notices of the descendants of Hur. The first
words of the third verse, “these, father of Etam, Jezreel,” have no meaning; but the last
sentence of the second verse suggests that ‫ת‬ ‫ח‬ ְ‫פּ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫מ‬ should be supplied, when we read,
“and these are the families of (from) Abi-Etam.” The lxx and Vulgate have ‫עיטם‬ ‫בני‬ ‫,אלה‬
which is also to be found in several codices, while other codices read ‫בני‬ ‫אלה‬ ‫עיטם‬ ‫.אבי‬
Both readings are probably only conjectures. Whether ‫עיטם‬ ‫אבי‬ is to be taken as the
name of a person, or appellatively, father = lord of Etam, cannot be decided. ‫ם‬ ָ‫יט‬ֵ‫ע‬ is in
1Ch_4:32, and probably also in Jdg_15:8, Jdg_15:11, the name of a town of the
Simeonites; and in 2Ch_11:6, the name of a little town in the highlands of Judah, south
of Jerusalem. If ‫עיטם‬ be the name of a place, only the lest named can be here meant. The
names Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash denote persons as progenitors and head of families or
branches of families. For ‫אל‬ֶ‫ע‬ ְ‫ר‬ְ‫ז‬ִ‫י‬ as the name of a person, cf. Hos_1:4. That these names
should be those of persons is required by the succeeding remark, “and their sister
Hazelel-poni.” The formation of this name, with the derivative termination i, seems to
express a relationship of race; but the word may also be an adjective, and as such may be
a proper name: cf. Ew. §273, e.
COKE, "1 Chronicles 4:3. These were of the father of Etam— These are the race of
Etam. Houbigant. The Hebrew may be rendered, says Kennicott, these or those are
the father of Etam. The ancient versions read sons instead of father. At the end of
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the 7th verse Houbigant reads, and Coz, and so, at the end of the 8th, and Jabez.
ELLICOTT, " (3) And these were of the father of Etam.—Heb., And these (were)
the father of Etam. Some MSS., the LXX., and the Vulg. read “and these (were) the
sons of Etam;” other MSS., with the Syriac and Arabic versions, have “the sons of
the father of Etam.” Both variants look like evasions of a difficulty. The unusual
expression “and these—Abi-Etam” may be a brief way of stating that the clans
whose names are given were the dominant houses of Etam (or Abi-etam; compare
Abiezer, Judges 7:11; Judges 8:2). Etam is known from the history of Samson
(Judges 15:8, and 2 Chronicles 11:6); Jezreel—not Ahab’s capital—from Joshua
15:56, and as the city of Ahinoam, wife of David, from 1 Chronicles 3:1. Both places
were in the hill-country of Judah. The other three names are unknown.
Their sister.—Their sister-town (see 1 Chronicles 1:39; 1 Chronicles 1:52, and
Notes).
Hazelelponi.—Means “make shadow, O thou that regardest me!”
POOLE, "Etam is the name either of a man, or of a place; of which see below, 1
Chronicles 4:32 2 Chronicles 11:6; whose inhabitants descended from him. The
name of his father is not here expressed.
4 Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the
father of Hushah.
These were the descendants of Hur, the firstborn
of Ephrathah and father[b] of Bethlehem.
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GILL, "And Penuel the father of Gedor,.... The prince of that place, according to
some, and the same with Hareph, 1Ch_2:51,
and Ezer the father of Hushah: thought to be the same with Shuah, 1Ch_4:11,
these are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah: Caleb's wife, 1Ch_2:19 the
Targum adds, the same with Miriam; and so other Jewish writers (x) say, Miriam had
two names, and one was Ephratah; though Josephus makes (y) Hur to be her husband,
and not her son, as here:
who was the father of Bethlehem; of the inhabitants of that city, at least part of
them, or prince of that place, as his grandson Salma also was, 1Ch_2:51.
K&D, "1Ch_4:4
Penuel, in Gen_32:31., Jdg_8:8, name of a place in the East-Jordan land, as here, and
in Jdg_8:25 the name of a man. Gedor is, we may suppose, the town of that name in the
mountains of Judah, which is still to be found in the ruin Jedur (see on Jos_15:58).
Penuel is here called father of Bedor, while in 1Ch_4:18 one Jered is so called, whence
we must conclude that the inhabitants of Gedor were descended from both. Ezer (Help)
occurs in 1Ch_7:21; 1Ch_12:9; Neh_3:19, of other men; father of Hushah, i.e., according
to the analogy of Abi-Gedor, also the name of a place not elsewhere mentioned, where
the hero Sibbecai had his birth, 1Ch_11:29; 2Sa_23:27. Those thus named in 1Ch_4:3
and 1Ch_4:4 are sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah (1Ch_2:19), the father of
Bethlehem. The inhabitants of Bethlehem then, according to this, were descended from
Hur through his son Salma, who is called in 1Ch_2:51 father of Bethlehem. The
circumstance, too, that in our 1Ch_4:3, 1Ch_4:4 other names of persons are enumerated
as descendants of Hur than those given in 1Ch_2:50-55 gives rise to no discrepancy, for
there is no ground for the supposition that in 1Ch_2:50-55 all the descendants of Hur
have been mentioned.
BENSON, "1 Chronicles 4:4. Penuel the father of Gedor — In 1 Chronicles 4:18,
Jered is said to be the father, that is, the founder or lord of Gedor. It is probable
they were both concerned in building or governing it. The sons of Hur — By some
other wife than her by whom he had the children, mentioned 1 Chronicles 2:20. The
father of Beth-lehem — In 1 Chronicles 2:51, Salma is said to be the father of Beth-
lehem. But this may be understood as in the foregoing clause of this verse.
ELLICOTT, " (4) And Penuel the father of Gedor.—Penuel occurs as a trans-
Jordan town in Judges 8:8, and elsewhere. Here a Judean town or clan is meant.
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Gedor.—See 1 Chronicles 2:51, and Note; Joshua 15:58. Now the ruin called Jedur.
Ezer the father of Hushah.—Ezer occurs as a name of clans and localities, as well as
of persons. (Comp. Judges 7:24, Abi-ezri; 1 Chronicles 8:2, Abi-ezer; and 1 Samuel
4:1, Eben-ezer.) In 1 Chronicles 12:9 and Nehemiah 3:19 it is a man’s name.
Hushah.—The place is unknown, but several celebrated persons are called
Hushathites—e.g., Sibbechai, one of David’s heroes, 1 Chronicles 11:29.
These are the sons of Hur.—A subscription to the short list of 1 Chronicles 4:2-4.
‘Both the Shobalite clans of Zorah (1 Chronicles 4:2) and those enumerated in 1
Chronicles 4:3-4 were sons of Hur.
The firstborn of Ephratah.—See 1 Chronicles 2:19; 1 Chronicles 2:50.
The father of Beth-lehem.—At 1 Chronicles 2:51, Salma, son of Hur, is called father
of Bethlehem.
POOLE, " Either they are other sons besides those mentioned 1Ch 2, or there is
some variation in their names, which is most frequent among the Hebrews, as hath
been oft proved.
The father of Beth-lehem: this title is here given to the father, and 1 Chronicles 2:51,
to Salma, his son, who had it either with or after his father. See Poole "1 Chronicles
2:51", See Poole "1 Chronicles 2:52".
PULPIT, "PULPIT, ", 1 Chronicles 4:4
Etam is, with little doubt, the name of a place (2 Chronicles 11:6) in Judah, south of
Jerusalem. It was near Tekoah (1 Chronicles 4:5, and 1 Chronicles 2:24) and
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Bethlehem (next verse). The hiatus in the first clause may possibly be supplied by
"the families of" from the last verse, or, more fitly, by "the sons of," inasmuch as
some manuscripts have it so. The Septuagint, however, and Vulgate displace "the
father of" (i.e. chief of), replacing it by "the sons of." The Syriac Version leaves out
any notice of the sister, Hazelelponi, and gives the former part of the verse thus:
"These are Amina-dab's sons, Ahizareel, Nesma, and Dibas, Pheguel and Husia;
These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratha, who was the father," etc. With
this the Arabic Version is partly in agreement, but closes the verse with the words,
"These are the sons of Hur, son of Ephratha, the father of whom [plural] was of
Bethlehem." The Chronicle Targum translates, "the rabbis dwelling at Etam." This
variety indicates the difficulty felt by each in turn. The verse, however, purports to
give the names of three brothers and one sister (Hazelel-poni, i.e. the shadow
looking at me, Gesenius) connected with Etam, as in the following verse Penuel with
Gedor (1 Chronicles 2:51) and Ezer with Hushah (1 Chronicles 11:29; 2 Samuel
23:27). Of no one of these, in all six other descendants of Hur, additional to those
found at the close of 1 Chronicles 2:1-55; is anything distinct known. It is to be
noted that Hut himself is here called father of Bethlehem, while (1 Chronicles 2:51)
his son Salma is so called.
5 Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives,
Helah and Naarah.
GILL, "nd Ashur the father of Tekoa,.... A son of Hezron by Abiah, 1Ch_2:24.
had two wives, Helah and Naarah; as Lamech had, polygamy not being reckoned
unlawful in those times.
K&D, "Sons of Ashur, the father of Tekoa, who, according to 1Ch_2:24, was a
posthumous son of Hezron. Ashur had two wives, Helah and Naarah. Of the latter came
four sons and as many families: Ahuzam, of whom nothing further is known; Hepher,
also unknown, but to be distinguished from the Gileadite of the same name in 1Ch_11:36
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and Num_26:32. The conjecture that the name is connected wit the land of Hepher
(1Ki_4:10), the territory of a king conquered by Joshua (Jos_12:17) (Berth.), is not very
well supported. Temani (man of the south) may be simply the name of a person, but it is
probably, like the following, the name of a family. Haahashtari, descended from
Ahashtar, is quite unknown.
ELLICOTT, "Verses 5-7
FAMILIES THAT CAME OF ASH-HUR (1 Chronicles 4:5-7).
(5) And Ashur the father of Tekoa.—See 1 Chronicles 2:24, and Notes. If Ashur
means the Hurites, the two wives, Helah and Naarah, may designate two settlements
of this great clan.
(6) Hepher.—A district of southern Judah, near Tappuach (Joshua 12:17; 1 Kings
4:10).
Temeni is a Gentilic name, formed from the word Têmân, “the south.” This clan
was called “the Southrons,” and doubtless lived with the others in the south of
Judah.
Haahashtari is another nomen gentilicium, meaning the Ahashtarites (“muleteers;”
comp. Esther 8:10).
(7) The sons of Helah are unknown from other sources.
Jezoar should be Zohar, according to the Hebrew margin. The Heb. text has Izhar.
Ethnan.—Harlot’s hire (Hosea 9:1). There may have been a foreign element in this
clan or township.
13

Another before-mentioned person (1 Chronicles 2:24) is brought forward, viz.
Ashur, the posthumous son of Hezron by Abia, now again, as there, styled father, or
chief, of Tekoa, a town, as above, near Etam, Bethlehem, etc. He is brought forward
that the names of his two wives, with four children to the latter of them and three to
the former, may be given. The Roman Septuagint unaccountably gives different
names to the mothers, and reverses the groups of the four and three children.
Nothing else is known of these nine persons. The last two names of the group of four
more resemble in form the name of the head of a family than an individual name;
and for Jezoar, the middle name of the group of three, the easy Keri of "and Zohar"
is followed by the Septuagint, and was followed by our 1611 Authorized Version.
TRAPP, " And Ashur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.
Ver. 5. And Ashur.] Who was the posthumous son of Hezron. [1 Chronicles 2:24]
6 Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni
and Haahashtari. These were the descendants of
Naarah.
GILL, "And Naarah bare him Ahuzam, and Hepher, and Temeni, and
Haahashtari,.... Of whom we have no account elsewhere:
these were the sons of Naarah; the second wife of Ashur.
14

7 The sons of Helah:
Zereth, Zohar, Ethnan,
CLARKE, "And Ethnan - After this word we should, with the Targum, read Coz,
whose posterity is mentioned in the next verse. Coz was probably the same as Kenaz.
GILL, "And the sons of Helah,.... The other wife:
were Zereth, and Zoar, and Ethnan: nowhere else mentioned.
K&D, "The first wife, Helah, bore three sons, Zereth, Jezoar, and Ethnan, who are
not elsewhere met with. For the Kethibh ‫יצחר‬ there is in the Keri ‫ר‬ ַ‫ֹח‬‫צ‬ ְ‫,ו‬ the name of a
son of Simeon (Gen_46:10), and of a Hittite chief in the time of the patriarchs (Gen_
23:8), with whom the son of Helah has nothing to do.
POOLE, " Understand here,
and Coz, out of the beginning of the following verse. The like ellipses we have in the
end of 2 Chronicles 4:13, and of 2 Chronicles 7:18.
8 and Koz, who was the father of Anub and
Hazzobebah and of the clans of Aharhel son of
15

Harum.
CLARKE, "The son of Harum - Jabez should be mentioned at the end of this
verse, else he is as a consequent without an antecedent.
GILL, "And Coz,.... Another son of Helah, and brother of the before mentioned:
begat Anub, and Zobebah; of whom we nowhere else read:
and the families of Aharhel, the son of Harum; these were of the posterity of Coz;
the Targum is,
"and the family of Aharhel, this is Hur, the firstborn of Miriam;''which is not at all
probable.
K&D, "1Ch_4:8-10 contain a fragment, the connection of which with the sons of
Judah mentioned in 1 Chron 2 is not clear. Coz begat Anub, etc. The name ‫ץ‬ ‫ק‬ occurs
only here; elsewhere only ‫ץ‬ ‫קּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ is found, of a Levite, 1Ch_24:10, cf. Ezr_2:61 and Neh_
3:4 - in the latter passage without any statement as to the tribe to which the sons of
Hakkoz belonged. The names of the sons begotten by Coz, 1Ch_4:8, do not occur
elsewhere. The same is to be said of Jabez, of whom we know nothing beyond what is
communicated in 1Ch_4:9 and 1Ch_4:10. The word ‫ץ‬ ֵ‫בּ‬ ְ‫ַע‬‫י‬ denotes in 1Ch_2:55 a town or
village which is quite unknown to us; but whether our Jabez were father (lord) of this
town cannot be determined. If there be any genealogical connection between the man
Jabez and the locality of this name or its inhabitants (1Ch_2:55), then the persons
named in 1Ch_4:8 would belong to the descendants of Shobal. For although the
connection of Jabez with Coz and his sons is not clearly set forth, yet it may be
conjectured from the statements as to Jabez being connected with the preceding by the
words, “Jabez was more honoured than his brethren.” The older commentators have
thence drawn the conclusion that Jabez was a son or brother of Coz. Bertheau also
rightly remarks: “The statements that he was more honoured than his brethren (cf.
Gen_34:19), that his mother called him Jabez because she had borne him with sorrow;
the use of the similarly sounding word ‫ב‬ֶ‫צ‬ֹ‫ע‬ along with the name ‫ץ‬ ֵ‫בּ‬ ְ‫ַע‬‫י‬ (cf. Gen_4:25;
Gen_19:37., Gen_29:32-33, Gen_29:35; Gen_30:6, Gen_30:8, etc.); and the statement
that Jabez vowed to the God of Israel (cf. Gen_33:20) in a prayer (cf. Gen_28:20), - all
bring to our recollection similar statements of Genesis, and doubtless rest upon primeval
tradition.” In the terms of the vow, ‫י‬ ִ‫בּ‬ ְ‫צ‬ָ‫ע‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫,ל‬ “so that sorrow may not be to me,”
there is a play upon the name Jabez. But of the vow itself only the conditions proposed
16

by the maker of the vow are communicated: “If Thou wilt bless me, and enlarge my
coast, and Thy hand shall be with me, and Thou wilt keep evil far off, not to bring sorrow
to me,” - without the conclusion, Then I vow to do this or that (cf. Gen_28:20.), but with
the remark that God granted him that which he requested. The reason of this is probably
that the vow had acquired importance sufficient to make it worthy of being handed down
only from God's having so fulfilled his wish, that his life became a contradiction of his
name; the son of sorrow having been free from pain in life, and having attained to
greater happiness and reputation than his brothers.
ELLICOTT, " (8) Coz begat Anub.—Coz (thorn) is unknown.
Anub.—LXX., ενωβ. Comp. Anâb, (Joshua 11:21; Joshua 15:50), a town in the hill-
country near Debir (Kirjathsepher). The word appears to mean “grape-town” so
that “Coz begat Anub” reminds us of Matthew 7:16. Comp. Isaiah 5:6; Isaiah 7:23.
Zobebah.—Heb., ha-zobebah, “she that goeth (or floweth) softly.” Perhaps so called
from a neighbouring brook. Comp. Isaiah 8:6.
The families of Aharhel the son of Harum.—The word Aharhel signifies “behind the
rampart;” Harum, “the elevated.” Perhaps Harum ( ἡ ἄκρα) was the citadel of the
clans of Aharhel. Notice the expression, “Coz begat the clans of Aharhel son of
Harum,” which is hardly intelligible if taken literally.
(9–10) And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren.—Jabez (Heb., Ia‘bêç)
was a town of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:55), inhabited by certain clans of Sopherim, of
the lineage of Salma son of Hur (1 Chronicles 2:50; 1 Chronicles 2:54-55). This is
important, as giving a clue to the connection here, which is by no means clear upon
the surface. It seems to prove that 1 Chronicles 4:8-10 are to be regarded as part of
the list which begins at 1 Chronicles 4:5 : we may thus fairly assume, although the
chronicler does not expressly state it, that 1 Chronicles 4:8 also concerns some clans
of the Hurites (or Ash-hurites). Coz is not put into genealogical connection with the
other Hurite houses; but it is reasonable to suppose that at the date of the present
list the name was well known among the Hurites. “And Coz” may have fallen out of
the Heb. text, as the same expression follows immediately (1 Chronicles 4:8).
17

POOLE, " Jabez; one of the fathers of the families of Aharhel last mentioned.
More honourable than his brethren, for courage, and especially for true and fervent
piety, expressed in the following petition.
PULPIT, "1 Chronicles 4:8
The link of connection between the persons named in this verse and the tribe of
Judah is utterly unknown. The introduction of them, abrupt as it is, is, however,
paralleled by many others ira-mediately following in this chapter, as well as
elsewhere. Nothing has yet been produced in elucidation of any one of the persons
designated by these names, or of their relation to the context.
TRAPP, "1 Chronicles 4:8 And Coz begat Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of
Aharhel the son of Harum.
Ver. 8. And Coz begat Anub.] Who this Coz was, we read not anywhere: Videntur
lacunae quaedam esse in hoc capite. Some think he was one of the sons of Ashur by
his wife Helah: though he be not reckoned with the rest. [1 Chronicles 4:7]
9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.
His mother had named him Jabez,[c] saying, “I
gave birth to him in pain.”
18

BARNES, "It is remarkable that Jabez should be introduced without description, or
patronymic, as if a well-known personage. We can only suppose that he was known to
those for whom Chronicles was written, either by tradition, or by writings which have
perished. In 1Ch_4:10 Jabez alludes to his name, “sorrowful” (margin): “Grant that the
grief implied in my name may not come upon me!”
CLARKE, "And Jabez was more honorable - This whole account is variously
understood by some of the principal versions. I shall subjoin a translation of each.
Septuagint. -
“And Igabes was more glorious than his brethren; and his mother
called his name Igabes, saying, I have brought thee forth as Gabes. And
Igabes invoked the God of Israel, saying, If in blessing thou wilt bless me,
and enlarge my borders, and thy hand be with me, and wilt give me
understanding not to depress me: and God brought about all that he
requested.”
Syriac. -
“And one of these was dear to his father and to his mother; and he
called his name ainai, My Eye. And he said to him, In blessing may the
Lord bless thee, and enlarge thy boundary; and may his hand be with
thee; and may he preserve thee from evil, that it may not rule over thee;
and may he give to thee whatsoever thou shalt request of him!”
Arabic. -
“And this one (Hastahar or Harum) was beloved of his father and his
mother: and they called his name aina, My Eye; and they said unto him,
May the Lord bless thee, and multiply thy people, and may his hand be
present with thee, because thou wast born in Beth-lehem!”
These two latter versions seem to have copied each other, and the Vulgate is nearly,
like ours, a literal rendering of the Hebrew; but the Chaldee is widely different from all
the rest: -
Chaldee. -
“And Jabets also, he is Othniel, honorable and skilled in the law beyond
his brethren, whose mother called his name Jabets, because she had
borne him with sorrow. And Jabets prayed to the God of Israel, saying, O
that in blessing thou wouldest bless me with children, and enlarge my
borders with disciples; and that thy hand may be with me in business,
that thou mayest make me like to my companions, that evil concupiscence
19

may the less grieve me! And the Lord granted that which he prayed for.”
Of this honorable person we know nothing but what is here mentioned, nor does the
name occur in any other part of Scripture except in 1Ch_2:55, where it appears to be the
name of a place, but is understood by the Chaldee to be the name of a person, as here.
Though I have noticed this particularly in the note on that place, yet I think it right to
add the Chaldee here, that all that concerns this worthy person may be seen at one
view: -
1Ch_2:55 : “The families of the Rechabites, the son of Eliezer, the son of Moses, the
disciples of Jabets; he was Othniel, the son of Kenaz. And he was called Jabets, ‫יעבץ‬
Yabets, because in his counsel [‫בעיצתיה‬ beqtsatih, from ‫יעץ‬ yaats, he counselled,
advised, etc.] he instituted a school for disciples. They were called Tirathim, ‫,תרעתים‬
because in their hymns their voices were like trumpets, [from ‫רע‬ ra, to sound like a
trumpet; see Num_10:9; 2Ch_13:12], and Shimathim, ‫,שמעתים‬ because in hearing, they
lifted up their faces, i.e. in prayer, [from ‫שמע‬ shama, he heard, hearkened], and
Suchathim, ‫,שוכתים‬ because they were overshadowed with the spirit of prophecy, [from
‫שך‬ sach, a tabernacle, or extended covering].” For farther particulars, see at the end of
this chapter, 1Ch_4:43 (note).
GILL, "And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren,.... The Targum
adds,"and wiser in the law than his brethren;''or he might be a man of great wealth and
riches, or of great strength and courage, all which make a man honourable; or he may be
so called, because a praying man, as follows, a man of devotion and religion, a man of
God, see 1Sa_9:6, but who he was is not easy to say, probably a son or brother of Harum,
or however that belonged to one of the families of Aharhel, mentioned in the preceding
verse; for that he was Othniel, as say the Targumist and other Jewish writers (z), is not
probable, and besides is after spoken of distinct from him, 1Ch_4:13.
and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bare him with
sorrow; either with sorrow for her husband, being dead, or by reason of very sharp
pains she endured at the birth of him; he was another Benoni.
JAMISON, "1Ch_4:9-20. Of Jabez, and his prayer.
Jabez — was, as many think, the son of Coz, or Kenaz, and is here eulogized for his
sincere and fervent piety, as well, perhaps, as for some public and patriotic works which
he performed. The Jewish writers affirm that he was an eminent doctor in the law,
whose reputation drew so many scribes around him that a town was called by his name
(1Ch_2:55); and to the piety of his character this passage bears ample testimony. The
memory of the critical circumstances which marked his birth was perpetuated in his
name (compare Gen_35:15); and yet, in the development of his high talents or
distinguished worth in later life, his mother must have found a satisfaction and delight
that amply compensated for all her early trials. His prayer which is here recorded, and
which, like Jacob’s, is in the form of a vow (Gen_28:20), seems to have been uttered
20

when he was entering on an important or critical service, for the successful execution of
which he placed confidence neither on his own nor his people’s prowess, but looked
anxiously for the aid and blessing of God. The enterprise was in all probability the
expulsion of the Canaanites from the territory he occupied; and as this was a war of
extermination, which God Himself had commanded, His blessing could be the more
reasonably asked and expected in preserving them from all the evils to which the
undertaking might expose him. In these words, “that it may not grieve me,” and which
might be more literally rendered, “that I may have no more sorrow,” there is an allusion
to the meaning of his name, Jabez, signifying “grief”; and the import of this petition is,
Let me not experience the grief which my name implies, and which my sins may well
produce.
BENSON, "1 Chronicles 4:9. Jabez was more honourable, &c. — For courage and
fervent piety. His mother called his name Jabez — That is, sorrowful; saying,
Because I bare him with sorrow — She had hard labour when she was in travail
with him. She records this, that it might be a memorandum to herself, to be thankful
to God as long as she lived, for bringing her through that sorrow: and a
memorandum to him, that she bore him into a vale of tears, in which he might
expect few days and full of trouble. And the sorrow implied in his name might serve
to put a seriousness upon his spirit.
COFFMAN, ""Jabez ... named in sorrow" (1 Chronicles 4:9). The mother's
statement that she bore him in sorrow is "probably a reference to unusual suffering
in childbirth."[3] Jabez's prayer is one of the noblest found in the O.T., and has
often been used as a sermon text. Basing his criticism on an alleged meaning of the
word `evil,' Elmslie called this prayer un-Christian. "His prayer was crude and
selfish. His conscience was not troubled by the thought that others would suffer if he
gained his wishes."[4] We do not agree with such opinions, because God's answering
Jabez's prayer indicates the purity of the petitioner's motives.
"The sons of Simeon" (1 Chronicles 4:24). "The genealogy of Simeon is
fragmentary, reflecting the fact this tribe lost its identity quite early and was
absorbed into the tribe of Judah."[5]
ELLICOTT, " (9) More honourable than his brethren.—Comp. what is said of
Hamor son of Shechem in Genesis 34:19.
21

His brethren.—Perhaps the sons of Coz. The form of the Hebrew verb implies
connection with 1 Chronicles 4:8.
His mother called his name . . .—Comp. Genesis 29:32-35, and especially Genesis
35:18.
With sorrow.—Rather, pain.
This is not less true of the name of verses. 9, 10, which, however, has made its own
mark amid the whole scene. The episode of these two verses, offering itself amid
what should seem, superficially, a dry mass of dead names, is welcome and grateful
as the oasis of the desert, and it warns us that life lies hidden at our every footfall on
this ground, spread over though it is with monument and inscription, and hollow, as
we thought, with the deadest of the dead. But the glimpse of old real life given us in
this brief fragment of a biography is refreshing and is very suggestive. It seems an
insufficient and unnatural method of accounting for the suddenness of the
appearance of this episode to suppose ('Speaker's Commentary,' in loc.) that the
name of Jahez was well known, from any cause, to those for whom Chronicles may
be supposed to have been primarily intended. We prefer by far one account of it,
viz. that the work in our hands is not in its original complete state; or, variously put,
that it is in its uncompleted original state. No root corresponding to the characters
of this name in present order is known; it is possible that some euphonic reason
makes the name ‫בּץ‬ ְ‫ַﬠ‬‫י‬ out of the real word (future Kal) ‫ב‬ֵ‫צ‬ ִ‫ַﬠ‬‫י‬, i.e. he causes pains. We
cannot suppose there would be any "play" appreciable on a transposition of
alphabetical characters for mere play's sake. The resemblance that almost each part
of this brief and abruptly introduced narration bears to incidents recorded in
Genesis (Genesis 34:19; Genesis 33:20; Genesis 4:25; Genesis 29:32; Genesis 28:20)
and Exodus speaks for itself, and strongly countenances the supposition that it is a
genuine deposit of the genuinely olden history of Judah. The mother's reason for the
naming of the child; the language and matter and form (Genesis 20-17:18 ; Exodus
32:32) of the prayer of the child, when presumably he was no longer a child; and the
22

discriminating use of the words Elohim (verse. 10) of Israel, as comps, red with the
name Jehovah (1 Chronicles 2:3; 1 Chronicles 26-5:1 :41), generally found here,—
all help to produce this impression, although some of these particulars would carry
little conviction by themselves; e.g. a mother's reasons for assigning the name of her
child long outlived the earlier times alone. Upon the whole, and regarding the
passage in its present place, we may say that it must be very much misplaced, or else
must be understood to connect Jabez with some branch of the family of Coz. There
is the more room to assume this in the vagueness of the last preceding clause, "The
families of Aharhel the son of Harum." The origin of the theories of some of the
older Jewish writers, to the effect that Jabez was a doctor in the law, with a school
of scribes around him, is probably to be found in the desire to find a connection
between his proper name, Jabez, and the place so named (1 Chronicles 2:55), and
where, as we are told, "families of scribes dwelt," belonging to the Kenites. That
these were connected with Bethlehem, through Salma, and that Jabez of our present
passage was also of a family connected with Bethlehem, is worthy of notice, but is
not enough by a long way to countenance the thought, in spite of Targum and
Talmud (Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' sub vet.). The Targum, as well here as in 1
Chronicles 2:55, identifies Jabez with Othniel "son of Keuaz" (Joshua 15:17; 1:13;
3:9), or more probably "the Kenizzite" merely; but there is nothing to sustain such
an identification. The description, he was more honourable than his brethren, finds
a close parallel, so far as the word honourable goes, in Genesis 34:19; although the
honourableness of Shechem, the person there in question, does not come out to
anything like the same advantage with that of Jabez, nor at all in the same direction.
The word, however, is precisely the same, is often used elsewhere, and uniformly in
a good sense, although the range of its application is wide. The essential idea of the
root appears to be "weight." The phrase may therefore be supposed to answer to
our expressive phrase, a "man of weight"—the weight being sometimes due chiefly
to character, at other times to position and wealth in the first place, though not
entirely divorced from considerations of character. We may safely judge, from what
follows, that the intention in our present passage is to describe Jabez as a man of
more ability and nobility than his brethren. It can scarcely be doubted that the
meaning that lies on the surface is the correct interpretation, when it is said that his
mother named him Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. The sorrow
refers to unusual pains of travail, not to any attendant circumstances of domestic
trial, as e.g. that the time of his birth was coincident with her own widowhood, as
happened to the wife of Phinehas, when she named her offspring "Ichabod" (1
Samuel 4:19-22).
23

PULPIT, "1 Chronicles 4:9, 1 Chronicles 4:10. -A model prayer.
Of the man Jabez we have only this brief record. He is only known by his prayer.
Yet the prayer is a sufficient revelation of the man. His character is revealed in it, as
is the character of every man to him who is able to read man's prayers aright. His
name means "He causes pain," and it was attached to him on account of his
mother's sufferings at his birth; but it is designed to seal a certain gentleness, lack of
vigour and self assertion, and almost melancholy tone, which characterized his
whole life. From the occurrence of the same name in 1 Chronicles 2:55, it has been
assumed that this Jabez was the founder of the schools of colleges of the scribes. The
date at which he lived cannot be fixed with certainty. Possibly the sorrow of Jabez's
birth was, that his mother lost her husband when she gained her son. If so, she
might well name her fatherless boy "Sorrowful." Yet he rose above the sadness of
his birth; he belied his very name by becoming more honourable than his brethren.
The shadow which had fallen upon his birth was dispelled by the uprightness, the
nobility, the God-fearing, the prayerful spirit of his life. And God made to rest on
him gracious signs of his acceptance. Regarding the prayer as giving indications of
the character of Jabez, we may see —
I. THAT JABEZ WAS HUMBLE. Estimate the tone of the prayer. He has such a
sense of personal helplessness, and such a trembling fear of responsibility, that he
asks for guidance and keeping, and the true enrichment of the Divine blessing. He
prays for strength, preservation, success, and blessing, as though a very deep sense
of his own weakness and insufficiency rested upon him. Such "humility" is the
marked feature of every truly good and great and wise man; and it is sure to find its
fullest expression when, for purposes of prayer, he goes into the presence of God.
Illustrate from Abraham's intercession for Sodom, Solomon's prayer at the
dedication of the temple, and Daniel's and Nehemiah's prayers for their nation.
And, combined with other characteristics, the same "humility" is found in our
Lord's great intercessory prayer; and we know that it was a marked and striking
feature of his beautiful life. Such "humility" is a first and essential characteristic of
acceptable prayer; and the attitude of kneeling is the bodily expression of it.
II. THAT JABEZ WAS INTELLIGENT AND THOUGHTFUL. The prayer shows
that he had formed a sensible estimate of life. To him it was a scene of toil and
struggle and evil; it seemed to be full of work, duties, responsibilities, cares, and
24

trusts; and for it all he recognized the need of a guiding and upholding hand.
Illustrate by our Lord's figure of the man who proposed to build, sitting down first
and counting the cost. The man may discover no need for prayer who rushes
heedlessly into life, only intending to do the best he can under the various
circumstances that may arise. But he who looks thoughtfully out over life, and
intelligently anticipates its duties and cares, will be sure to feel the importance and
helpfulness of prayer, and, with Jabez, will turn to God, saying, "Oh that thou
wouldest bless me indeed!" Compare Moses praying, "If thy presence go not with
me, carry us not up hence;" and Joshua's resolve, "As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord."
III. THAT JABEZ WAS, IN A GOOD SENSE, AMBITIOUS. His piety did not
crush down the high imaginations and glowing hopes of his young heart. He prays
God to help him "enlarge his coast," or landed estate; to extend his possessions, to
increase his wealth, and to advance his influence. Religion seeks to sanctify our
ambitions, but not to crush them. We may pray to God about our plans and schemes
for worldly advancement, if only we keep the spirit of full loyalty to God and
submission to his will; and to pray freely and constantly about our common human
affairs is the best way to ensure our winning and keeping the right spirit whatever
we may attain.
IV. THAT JABEZ WAS HAPPY. In spite of the melancholy tone that was on him;
in spite of the sorrow clinging to him from his birth. This ensures our happiness—
the accomplishment of our life-aims, when those aims are right ones. "God granted
Jabez that which he requested." He had:
1. Success in life given him, so that he might add field to field, and become "more
honourable than his brethren."
2. Evil warded off from him. In "going out and coming in," the preserving hand of
God kept him safe.
3. God's blessing sanctifying his successes; by that term meaning the satisfying and
25

comforting sense of the Divine approval and acceptance. It may be impressed that
such a prayer indicates the personal piety of Jabez, and suggests that he made a full
consecration of himself to the God of his fathers in early life. Plead for such a
wholehearted decision, and such a spirit of prayerfulness, on the very threshold of
life. It is well if, before the foot falls on the first step of life, the heart goes up to God,
saying, "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed!"—R.T.
TRAPP, "1 Chronicles 4:9 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and
his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
Ver. 9. And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren.] Propter opes, saith
Piscator, for his wealth; for his holiness rather, {see Isaiah 43:4} or for his valour
and learning, tam Marte quam Mercurio, if he were that renowned Othniel, [ 1:13]
as some make him to be: others, Othniel’s brother. [1 Chronicles 4:13] In his city,
called by his name Jabez, dwelt scribes, [1 Chronicles 2:55] hence Vatablus
concludeth that he was doctor insignis. (a)
And his mother called him Jabez,] (b) i.e., Dolorificum; a dear, but doleful child to
her, a son of her sorrows, because she had a hard bargain, as they call it, when she
brought him forth; and haply died of him, as Rachel did of her Benoni. His father
might change his name to Othniel.
10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that
you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let
your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so
that I will be free from pain.” And God granted
his request.
26

GILL, "And Jabez called on the God of Israel,.... Or prayed to him, as the Targum;
though some understand it as a vow, promising what he would do if God would do thus
and thus for him; the Syriac and Arabic versions read in the third person, taking it to be
what others, his parents and friends, wished for him:
let him bless thee,.... but they are doubtless his own words, and a supplication of his
to the Lord:
saying, oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed; the Targum adds, with children;
but he no doubt prayed for greater blessings than any outward or temporal ones are,
even spiritual blessings, covenant blessings, the sure mercies of David, which are solid,
substantial, durable, and irreversible:
and enlarge my coast; the Targum is,"multiply my borders with disciples.''It may be
understood of an enlargement of the borders of his country, by expelling the Canaanites
that might dwell in it, and of an increase of his worldly substance for good ends and
purposes; or rather of a spiritual enlargement by deliverance from spiritual enemies, and
of grace as to exercise; and particularly of spiritual light and knowledge, and of the
affections and desires of the soul after divine things, see Psa_4:1.
and that thine hand might be with me; the Targum adds, in business, prospering
and succeeding him; the sense may be, that his hand of providence might be with him to
protect him, of grace and love to comfort and help him in every time of need, of wisdom
to direct him, and of power to keep him:
and that thou wouldest keep me from evil; from the evil of affliction, and
especially from the evil of sin, and from the evil one, Satan, and from all evil men and
evil company; the Targum is,"and make me companions such as I am:''that it may not
grieve me; alluding to his name Jabez, which he had from the sorrow and grief of his
mother; and nothing is more grieving to a good man than the evil of sin, so contrary to
the nature and will of God, being committed against a God of infinite love, grace, and
mercy, whereby the name, ways, and truths of Christ are dishonoured, and the Spirit of
God grieved, and saints are bereaved of much comfort; and therefore desire to be kept
from it, knowing they cannot keep themselves, but the Lord can and will, at least from
the tyranny of it, and destruction by it: the Targum is,"lest the evil figment (or
corruption of nature) should move or provoke me:"
and God granted him that which he requested; as he does whatever is asked in
faith, according to his will, and will make for his glory, and the good of his people; see
1Jo_5:14.
BENSON, "1 Chronicles 4:10. Jabez called on the God of Israel — The living and
27

true God, who alone can hear and answer prayer: and in prayer he had an eye to
him as the God of Israel, a God in covenant with his people, the God with whom
Jacob wrestled and prevailed, and was thence called Israel. Saying, O that thou
wouldest bless me indeed! — He did not say in what respect he desired God to bless
him, but leaves that to God, giving him, as it were, a blank paper, that he might
write what he pleased. Spiritual blessings are the best blessings, and those are
blessed indeed, who are blessed with them. God’s blessings are real things, and
produce real effects. We can but wish a blessing: he commands it. And enlarge my
coast — Prosper my endeavours for the increase of what has fallen to my lot: drive
out these Canaanites, whom thou hast commanded us to root out; and therefore I
justly beg and expect thy blessing in the execution of thy command. That thy hand
might be with me — The prayer of Moses for this tribe of Judah was, that his own
hands might be sufficient for him; but Jabez expects not that, unless he have God’s
hand with him, and the presence of his power. God’s hand with us to lead, protect,
strengthen us, and to work all our works in and for us, is indeed a hand sufficient
for us, yea, all-sufficient. And keep me from evil — The evil of sin, the evil of
trouble; all the evil designs of my enemies, and all disastrous events. That it may not
grieve me — That it may not oppress and overcome me. He uses this expression in
allusion to his name, which signifies grief: as if he had said, Lord, let me not have
that grief which my name implies, and which my sin deserves. God granted him that
which he requested — Prospered him remarkably in his undertakings, in his
worldly business, in his conflicts with the Canaanites, and his endeavours after
knowledge, and holiness, and other spiritual blessings.
ELLICOTT, " (10) Jabez called on the God of Israel.—Comp. Jacob’s vow at
Bethel, Genesis 28:20-22, and his altar, El-’elohë Israel, “El is the God of Israel,”
Genesis 33:20. Some have supposed that the peculiar phrase, “God of Israel,”
indicates that the original Canaanite population of Jabez proselytised.
Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed.—Literally, “if indeed thou wilt bless me.”
My coast.—My border or domain (fines).
And that thine hand.—Rather, and if thine hand will be with me, and thou wilt deal
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without (Heb. away from) evil, that I suffer not !—The prayer is expressed in the
form of a condition, with the consequence (“then will I serve thee,” comp. Genesis
28:22) suppressed.
The name Jabez is twice explained; in 1 Chronicles 4:9 it is made to mean “he
paineth,” in 1 Chronicles 4:10 Jabez prays to be saved from pain. Comp. the
frequent allusions in the book of Gen. to the meaning of the name Isaac (Yiçhâq, “he
laugheth”); Genesis 17:17, Abraham’s daughter; 1 Chronicles 18:12, Sarah’s
incredulous laughter; 1 Chronicles 21:6, Sarah’s joy at the birth; 1 Chronicles 26:8,
Isaac’s own mirth. These features of likeness to the language and thought of
Genesis, prove the originality and antiquity of the section.
And God granted.—Literally, and God brought (caused to come). Hence Jabez was
“honoured above his brethren,” 1 Chronicles 4:9. If the Sopherim of Jabez (1
Chronicles 2:55) were, as their name implies, writers or men of letters, we can
understand that Jabez, like Kirjath-sepher, was a place of books, and was honoured
accordingly. The art of writing among the peoples of Babylonia ascends to an
unknown antiquity. The oldest inscription we possess in the Phoenician character is
of the ninth century B.C., and the development of that character from its Egyptian
prototype must have occupied some centuries. Perhaps this very tradition
concerning their founder originally emanated from the “families of the scribes
which dwelt at Jabez.”
POOLE, " Jabez called on the God of Israel, when he was undertaking some great
and dangerous service.
Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed. I trust not to my own or people’s valour, but
only to thy blessing and help.
Enlarge my coast; drive out these wicked and cursed Canaanites, whom thou hast
commanded us to root out, and therefore I justly beg and expect thy blessing in the
execution of thy command.
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That thine hand might be with me, to protect and strengthen me against my
adversaries.
That thou wouldst keep me from evil, or work with (for so the Hebrew prefix mem
is sometimes used, as Song of Solomon 1:2 3:9 Isaiah 5:7,8), i.e. so-restrain and
govern it.
That it may not grieve me; that it may not oppress and overcome me, which will be
very grievous to me. The consequent put for the antecedent; and more is understood
than is expressed. He useth this expression in allusion to his name, which signifies
grief: q.d. Lord, let me not have that grief which my name implies, and which my
sin deserves.
When Jabez grew to manhood he has learnt to estimate rightly the value of God's
blessing. He invokes it, and depends upon it. His language implies the confidence
that he had in the reality of providential blessing. For the expression, enlarge my
coast, see Deuteronomy 12:20 : Deuteronomy 19:8; and though we know nothing as
matter of fact about the occasion of this prayer, we may assume that it was one
when not selfishness and greed of larger territory, but just opportunity, had
awakened a strong desire for enlargement of borders. It may have been a legitimate
occasion of recovering his own, lost or wrongfully taken from him or his
predecessors before him, or of expelling successfully from their hold upon it a
portion of the original inhabitants of the promised land of God's people. That thine
hand might be with me. Many are the beautiful parallels to be culled from the Word
of God for this expression, as e.g. Ezra 12:9; Psalms 80:17; Psalms 119:173; Psalms
139:5, Psalms 139:10; Isaiah 42:6. And that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it
may not grieve me! This, the last entreaty of the prayer, is the largest and most far-
seeing. Warned by his own name, forewarned by his mother's emphasizing of her
own pains in him, he thus concludes. Having begun in the evil of pain and excessive
sorrow, he prays that he and his career may not so determine and end. He does not
necessarily pray to be preserved from all suffering, but from such baneful touch of
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evil itself, its principle, its tyrannous, merciless hold, as might bring him to real and
irreparable grief. Thus closes the whole prayer, each succeeding clause of which has
been under the rule of the initial "if," translated with us, Oh that. This well-known
Hebrew form of prayer supposes a solemn engagement, and that the answered
prayer shall meet with the fulfilment of a vowed promise on the part of the
suppliant, according to the pattern of Genesis 28:20. In the absence of that
engagement here, we may notice, with Keil, the greater grace of the passage, in that
it closes with the statement of the readiness to hear, and the abounding readiness to
answer, on the part of Divine beneficence: And God granted him that which he
requested. Evidently the thing that he asked pleased the Lord (1 Kings 3:10, 1 Kings
3:12); although it was in this case some form of riches, and long life for self, and the
life of his enemies, that he asked, and was not altogether and in so many words "a
wise and understanding heart." Perhaps, also there was in the way of asking, and in
the exact occasion, unknown to us, something which quite justified the matter of the
prayer, and which thus pleased the Lord. The remarkable and arresting episode
could not have closed in more welcome or impressive way than when it is thus
briefly but conclusively said, "And God granted him that which he requested."
TRAPP, "1 Chronicles 4:10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that
thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be
with me, and that thou wouldest keep [me] from evil, that it may not grieve me! And
God granted him that which he requested.
Ver. 10. And Jabez called on the God of Israel.] Upon the point of some warlike
exploit: or in some great exigency. And hence he was "more honourable"; [1
Chronicles 4:9] he prayed earnestly, and sped accordingly.
Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed.] Heb., If blessing thou wilt bless me: q.d.,
then shalt thou have mine utmost service, and I will wholly devote myself to thy
fear. This was to "pray in the Holy Ghost"; this was to do, as afterwards Christ did,
who "being in an agony prayed more earnestly." [Luke 22:44]
And enlarge my coast.] Pray we with like fervency, And enlarge my heart.
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And that thine hand might be with me.] He labours in prayer lustily, and followeth
his suit close.
“ Una est in trepida mihi re medicina, Iehovae
Cot patrium, os verax, omnipotensque manus. ”
And that thou wouldest keep me from evil.] Or, Cause that evil grieve me not. He
seemeth in this request to allude to his own name, q.d., I have my name from
sorrow; but I would not be crushed with sorrow. This might be his prayer to God,
even while he was fighting against his enemies.
SIMEON, "THE PRAYER OF JABEZ
1 Chronicles 4:10. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou
wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with
me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God
granted him that which he requested.
REMARKABLE is the honour which God puts upon prayer, and numberless are
the instances which are recorded of its efficacy. Jabez is here mentioned in a long
catalogue of names; but while the names only of others are recorded, he is
particularly noticed: he is even declared to have been more honourable than all his
brethren. This distinction indeed might be given him on account of his
primogeniture, but it was certainly still more due on account of his piety; like the
patriarch Jacob, he “wrestled with God, and prevailed”—
I. The prayer he offered,
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1. The subject-matter of it—
[In its primary sense it evidently related to temporal blessings. God had promised
his people an inheritance in Canaan, but they were not able of themselves to drive
out the inhabitants. Jabez therefore, sensible of his insufficiency, prayed to God for
help. He begged for the blessing of God upon his own endeavours: he desired to be
preserved from the dangers to which his military exploits would expose him; and to
have, through the divine interposition, an enlarged inheritance in the promised
land. These requests he urged with a significant and earnest plea [Note: Almost all
Hebrew names had some peculiar signification. Jabez signifies sorrow: the name
was given him in remembrance of the unusual sorrows his mother endured in
childbirth. And it was in reference to this that he deprecated the evils to which he
was exposed; “Keep me,” &c. lest I be Jabez in my experience, as well as in my
name.].
But there is reason to think it had also a spiritual meaning. The earthly Canaan was
typical of the heavenly kingdom. The enemies also that were to be driven out, were
typical of the enemies with whom the Christian has to contend. Moreover, the
assistance, which God rendered to his people, was intended to shew us what aid we
might expect from him. And what evil will a child of God deprecate so much as sin?
Surely nothing is so “grievous” to him as the prevalence of corruption [Note:
Romans 7:24.]. Well therefore may Jabez be considered as looking beyond this
world, and as imploring a secure possession of his heavenly inheritance.]
2. The manner in which it was offered—
[It is the sentiment, rather than the expression, that gives excellence to prayer; but
in both respects we may admire that before us.
It was humble. He felt his entire dependence upon the power and grace of God. This
is intimated not merely in the petitions offered, but in the very manner in which
they were offered—“Oh that,” &c. Such humility is absolutely necessary to render
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prayer acceptable. The more we abase ourselves, the more will God exalt us. Let this
be remembered in all our addresses at the throne of grace.
It was importunate. He enforced his request with a very earnest plea. Nor, in
reference to sin, could any plea be more proper for him. But we may also properly
deprecate sin as “grievous” to our souls. Yea, a disposition to do this is both an
evidence of our sincerity, and a pledge of the divine acceptance.
It was believing. The title, by which he addressed the Deity, argued his faith in God.
It expressed a confidence in God as the hearer of prayer [Note: Genesis 32:28.]. It is
in this way that we also should approach the Deity. Without such faith our petitions
will have but little effect; but with it, they shall never go forth in vain [Note: Mark
11:24.].]
Prayer possessing such qualities could not fail of success:
II. The success with which it was attended—
We have no detailed account of God’s kindness towards him, but we are informed
that “God granted him all that he requested,” and this speaks loudly to us—
It shews us,
1. That we ought to spread all our wants before God in prayer—
[We have seen how comprehensive the prayer of Jabez was. And ours also should
include our every want, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. There is nothing so great,
but we are at liberty to ask it; nor any thing so small, but we must acknowledge our
entire dependence on God for it. In fact, there is nothing great or small, either
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before God, or in reference to ourselves: for, as all things are alike easy to him, who
formed the universe by his word, and watches over the very hairs of our heads, so
there is nothing, however minute, which may not prove of the utmost possible
importance to us, as every part of the inspired volume attests. The direction of God
to us is, “In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known unto God [Note: Philippians 4:6.].”]
2. We should urge our petitions with an importunity that will take no denial—
[So did Jacob; “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me [Note: Genesis 32:26.].”
And so it should be with us. We have, in fact, a better plea than Jabez was able to
offer. We may go in the name of Jesus Christ, and plead all that he has done or
suffered for us. We may look to him as our Advocate with the Father, and assure
ourselves of the acceptance both of our persons and our prayers through his
continued mediation and all-prevailing intercession. The conduct or King Joash
should be a warning to us. The Prophet Elisha told him that he should smite the
Syrians who had sorely oppressed the whole Jewish people: and he bade him to
smite the ground with the arrows which he had in his hand, and thereby to express
the desires and expectations which he felt in reference to this great event. The king
smote the ground only thrice, when he should have smitten it five or six times; and
thus by his own want of zeal he restrained the exertions of Almighty God in his
favour [Note: 2 Kings 13:29.]. And thus it is that we act. If we were more earnest in
our desires, and more enlarged in our expectations from God, there would be no
bounds to the mercy which God would exercise towards us. “We are not straitened
in him, but in our own bowels.” Were we to “open our mouth ever so wide, he would
fill it [Note: Psalms 81:10.].” We might ask what we would, and it should be done
unto us [Note: John 14:13-14.].]
3. We should ask in faith nothing doubting—
[A doubting mind will rob us of all blessings, and make our most urgent prayers of
no effect [Note: James 1:6-7.]. We must “believe not only that God is, but that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him [Note: Hebrews 11:6.].” Yea, we must
“believe that we do receive in order that we may receive.” And “according to our
35

faith it shall be done unto us.” In fact, there is a kind of omnipotence in the prayer
of faith, and, if I may so speak, God himself cannot, I may surely say, will not, reject
it. He speaks as if it had a commanding power [Note: Isaiah 45:22.]. Of course, this
idea must not be pressed too far: but we are sure that, as God never did, so he never
will, say to any of the seed of Jacob, “Seek ye my face in vain.”]
Application—
[Is there then any Jabez, any son of sorrow, here? Go to God, the God of Israel, and
say, “Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed! Let me be strengthened by thee for all
my spiritual conflicts. Let mine enemies, my indwelling corruptions, be slain before
me.” And let me be put into full possession of the heavenly Canaan, where I shall
rest from my labours, and be for ever happy in the bosom of my God.” Then,
brethren, shall your every request come up with acceptance before God, and return
in blessings upon you to the full extent of your necessities.]
11 Kelub, Shuhah’s brother, was the father of
Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.
BARNES, "It has been conjectured from the strangeness of all the names in this list,
that we have here a fragment of Canaanite record, connected with the family of the
“Shua,” whose daughter Judah took to wife 1Ch_2:3; Gen_38:2, and whose family thus
became related to the tribe of Judah.
GILL, "And Chelub the brother of Shuah begat Mehir,.... If Shuah is the same
with Hushah, 1Ch_4:4, then Chelub was the son of Ezer:
which was the father of Eshton; not the prince of a place called Eshton, as Vatablus;
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for it is the name of a man, the son of Mehir, and who in the next verse is said to beget
sons.
HENRY 11-23, "We may observe in these verses, 1. That here is a whole family of
craftsmen, handicraft tradesmen, that applied themselves to all sorts of manufactures, in
which they were ingenious and industrious above their neighbours, 1Ch_4:14. There was
a valley where they lived which was, from them, called the valley of craftsmen. Those
that are craftsmen are not therefore to be looked upon as mean men. These craftsmen,
though two of a trade often disagree, yet chose to live together, for the improving of arts
by comparing notes, and that they might support one another's reputation. 2. That one
of these married the daughter of Pharaoh (1Ch_4:18), which was the common name of
the kings of Egypt. If an Israelite in Egypt before the bondage began, while Joseph's
merits were yet fresh in mind, was preferred to be the king's son-in-law, it is not to be
thought strange: few Israelites could, like Moses, refuse an alliance with the court. 3.
That another is said to be the father of the house of those that wrought fine linen, 1Ch_
4:21. It is inserted in their genealogy as their honour that they were the best weavers in
the kingdom, and they brought up their children, from one generation to another, to the
same business, not aiming to make them gentlemen. This Laadah is said to be the father
of those that wrought fine linen, as before the flood Jubal is said to be the father of
musicians and Jabal of shepherds, etc. His posterity inhabited the city of Mareshah, the
manufacture or staple commodity of which place was linen-cloth, with which their kings
and priests were clothed. 4. That another family had had dominion in Moab, but were
now in servitude in Babylon, 1Ch_4:22, 1Ch_4:23. (1.) It was found among the ancient
things that they had the dominion in Moab. Probably in David's time, when that country
was conquered, they transplanted themselves thither, and were put in places of power
there, which they held for several generations; but this was a great while ago, time out of
mind. (2.) Their posterity were now potters and gardeners, as is supposed in Babylon,
where they dwelt with the king for his work, got a good livelihood by their industry, and
therefore cared not for returning with their brethren to their own land, after the years of
captivity had expired. Those that now have dominion know not what their posterity may
be reduced to, nor what mean employments they may be glad to take up with. But those
were unworthy the name of Israelites that would dwell among plants and hedges rather
than be at the pains to return to Canaan.
K&D, "The genealogy of the men of Rechah. - As to their connection with the larger
families of Judah, nothing has been handed down to us. Chelub, another form of the
name Caleb or Chelubai (see 1Ch_2:9 and 1Ch_2:18), is distinguished from the better
known Caleb son of Hezron (1Ch_2:18 and 1Ch_2:42), and from the son of Jephunneh
(1Ch_4:15), by the additional clause, “the son of Shuah.” Shuah is not met with
elsewhere, but is without reason identified with Hushah, 1Ch_4:4, by the older
commentators. Mehir the father of Eshton is likewise unknown. Eshton begat the house
(the family) of Rapha, of whom also nothing further is said; for they can be connected
neither with the Benjamite Rapha (1Ch_8:2) nor with the children of Rapha (1Ch_20:4,
1Ch_20:6, 1Ch_20:8). Paseah and Tehinnah are also unknown, for it is uncertain
whether the sons of Paseah mentioned among the Nethinim, Ezr_2:49; Neh_7:51, have
any connection with our Paseah. Tehinnah is called “father of the city of Nahash.” The
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latter name is probably not properly the name of a town, but rather the name of a person
Nahash, not unlikely the same as the father of Abigail (2Sa_17:25), the step-sister of
David (cf. 1Ch_2:16). The men (or people) of Rechah are unknown.
ELLICOTT, "Verse 11-12
(11-12) A fragment relating to the “men of Rechah,” a name which occurs nowhere
else, and for which Rechab appears a plausible correction. So the Vat., LXX. ρηχάβ.
Compare 1 Chronicles 2:55, where the Sopherim of Jabez are called Rechabites, and
see Notes on the passage. These Rechabites united with the Salmaite branch of
Hurites; and Hur was a son of Caleb, 1 Chronicles 2:19. Hence it is likely that the
Chelub of 1 Chronicles 4:11 is identical with the Caleb-Chelubai of 1 Chronicles 2,
who represents a main division of the Hezronites. Others suppose that the epithet,
“brother of Shuah” (Shuhah), is meant to obviate this identification. The other
names in this short section are wholly unknown. But their form shows at once that
Beth-rapha and Ir-nahash (serpent city) are towns.
Paseah (lame; comp. Latin Claudius as a family name) recurs Nehemiah 3:6; and as
the name of a clan of Nethinim, Ezra 2:49, Nehemiah 7:51. The subscription, “these
are the men of Rechah” (Rechab), probably looks back as far as 1 Chronicles 4:8.
(13–15) The sons of Kenaz—i.e., the Kenizzite element in Judah. Kenaz was the
name of an Edomite clan, 1 Chronicles 1:53, and of an old Canaanite race.
Othniel.—Judges 1:13, one of the heroes of the conquest; Judges 3:9, he vanquishes
Chushan-rishathaim, king of Aram-naharaim. In both passages he is called “son of
Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.” The Kenizzites, who cast in their lot with the
Calebites of Judah, were naturally called “younger brothers” of their new kindred.
Seraiah is unknown.
The sons of Othniel, Hathath.—Eathath means dread, Job 6:21. Comp. the name
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Hittites, from the same root. The sons of Othniel (lion of God) would be a terror to
their foes.
“And Meonothai” has perhaps been accidentally omitted at the end of this verse,
before the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 4:14. Or the genealogist may have purposely
omitted it, as implied by what follows 1 Chronicles 4:14. Meonothai is apparently a
gentilic name, i.e., Meonothites. The name Maon occurs Joshua 15:55 as a Judcan
town; and Maon was the residence of the Calebite Nabal, 1 Samuel 25:2-3.
Ophrah.—Occurs several times as the name of a town; in Jude 1:7 as the city of
Gideon, who belonged to Manasseh; in Joshua 18:23, as a place in Benjamin. The
latter may be meant here, as the boundaries of the tribes varied at different epochs.
Joab, father of the valley of Charashim.—Charashim means workers in wood, or
metal, or stone, 1 Chronicles 14:1, 2 Chronicles 24:12, 1 Chronicles 22:15. This
valley of craftsmen (Val-aux-forges, as Reuss translates it) is mentioned again,
Nehemiah 11:35. Lod, that is Lydda-Diospolis of Roman times, was situate here; a
place occupied by Benjamites after the return. In Nehemiah 7:11, Ezra 2:6, in a list
of those who returned with Zerubbabel, mention is made of some “sons of Joab.”
For the term father in this connection, comp. Genesis 4:20-21.
They—i.e., the sons of Joab, were craftsmen or smiths.
PULPIT, "1 Chronicles 4:11, 1 Chronicles 4:12
Of the whole of the group of names, contained in these two verses, it must be said
that we are in the dark. The suggestion of Grove, in his art. "Ir-enahash" (Smith's
'Bible Dictionary'), is worth notice, that possibly the versos may be a reminiscence
of some Canaanitish graft on Judah—the Shuah ( ‫ה‬ָ‫שׁוּח‬ ) of verse. 11 pointing to the
Shua ( ‫ַע‬‫וּ‬‫)שׁ‬of 1 Chronicles 2:3; Genesis 38:2. Beth-rapha (the house of the giant)
looks more like the name of a place than of a person, though the text needs a person,
and such may be covered possibly by this name, though it be of a place. Ir-nahash
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(the city of the serpent). Jerome, in his 'Quaestiones Hebraicae in Parah,' asserts or
repeats the assertion of some one else that this is no other place than Bethlehem;
taking Nahash as a synonym with Jesse. Unlikely as this is, no place of the name is
known.
TRAPP, "1 Chronicles 4:11 And Chelub the brother of Shuah begat Mehir, which
[was] the father of Eshton.
Ver. 11. Brother of Shuah.] Called Hushah. [1 Chronicles 4:4]
12 Eshton was the father of Beth Rapha, Paseah
and Tehinnah the father of Ir Nahash.[d] These
were the men of Rekah.
CLARKE, "These are the men of Rechah - “These are the men of the great
Sanhedrin.” - T.
GILL, "And Eshton begat Bethrapha,.... Or the family of Rapha:
and Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Irnahash; or the city of Nahash;
Tehinnah seems to have been the prince or governor of a city, so called:
these are the men of Rechah; these sons of Eshton dwelt in a place called Rechah;
the Targum, without any reason, says, these are the men of the great sanhedrim.
BENSON, "Verses 12-14
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1 Chronicles 4:12-14. These are the men of Rechah — From these sprung the
inhabitants of Rechah, a town not mentioned elsewhere. The sons of Kenaz — Who
was the son, either of Chelub, (1 Chronicles 4:11,) or of his son Eshton, (1
Chronicles 4:12,) and the father of Jephunneh, and consequently Caleb’s
grandfather, (1 Chronicles 4:15,) whence Caleb is called a Kenezite, Numbers 32:12.
Hathath — Understand, and Meonothai, out of the beginning of the following verse,
as in 1 Chronicles 4:7, where Coz must be supplied from the next verse. And similar
ellipses we meet with elsewhere. Joab, the father of the valley — Of the inhabitants
of the valley.
TRAPP, "1 Chronicles 4:12 And Eshton begat Bethrapha, and Paseah, and
Tehinnah the father of Irnahash. These [are] the men of Rechah.
Ver. 12. These are the men of Rechah.] This, Lyra taketh to be the name of a place:
others render it teneros vel nobiles, these were gentlemen or nobles.
13 The sons of Kenaz:
Othniel and Seraiah.
The sons of Othniel:
Hathath and Meonothai.[e]
41

K&D, 13-14, "Descendants of Kenaz. - ‫ַז‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ק‬ is a descendant of Hezron the son of Pharez,
as may be inferred from the fact that Caleb the son of Jephunneh, a descendant of
Hezron's son Caleb, is called in Num_32:12 and Jos_14:6 ‫י‬ִ‫זּ‬ִ‫נ‬ ְ‫,ק‬ and consequently was
also a descendant of Kenaz. Othniel and Seraiah, introduced here as ‫ַז‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ק‬ ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫,בּ‬ are not sons
(in the narrower sense of the word), but more distant descendants of Kenaz; for Othniel
and Caleb the son of Jephunneh were, according to Jos_15:17 and Jdg_1:13, brothers.
(Note: The words used in Jdg_1:13, cf. Jos_15:17, of the relationship of Othniel
and Caleb, ‫ן‬ ‫ט‬ ָ‫קּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ב‬ֵ‫ל‬ָ‫כ‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫ֲח‬‫א‬ ‫ַז‬‫נ‬ ָ‫ן־ק‬ ֶ‫,בּ‬ may be, it is true, taken in different senses, either
as signifying filius Kenasi fratris Caleb, according to which, not Othniel, but Kenaz,
was a younger brother of Caleb; or in this way, filius Kenasi, frater Calebi minor, as
we have interpreted them in the text, and also in the commentary on Jos_15:17. This
interpretation we still hold to be certainly the correct one, notwithstanding what
Bachmann (Buch der Richter, on 1Ch_1:13) has brought forward against it and in
favour of the other interpretation, and cannot see that his chief reasons are decisive.
The assertion that we must predicate of Othniel, if he be a younger brother of Caleb,
an unsuitably advanced age, is not convincing. Caleb was eighty-five years of age at
the division of the land of Canaan (Jos_14:10). Now if we suppose that his younger
or youngest brother Othniel was from twenty-five to thirty years younger, as often
happens, Othniel would be from sixty to sixty-one or fifty-five to fifty-six years of age
at the conquest of Debir, - an age at which he might well win a wife as the reward of
valour. Ten years later came the invasion of the land by Cushan Rishathaim, which
lasted eight years, till Othniel had conquered Cushan R., and there were judges in
Israel. This victory he would thus gain at the age of seventy-eight or seventy-three;
and even if he filled the office of judge for forty years-which, however, Jdg_3:11 does
not state - he would have reached no greater age than 118 or 113 years, only three or
eight years older than Joshua had been. If we consider what Caleb said of himself in
his eighty-fifth year, Jos_14:11, “I am still strong as in the day that Moses sent me
(i.e., forty years before); as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for
war, both to go out and to come in,” we cannot think that Othniel, in the seventy-
third or seventy-eighth years of his age, was too old to be a military leader. But the
other reason: “that Caleb is always called son of Jephunneh, Othniel always son of
Kenaz, should cause us to hesitate before we take Othniel to be the proper brother of
Caleb,” loses all its weight when we find that Caleb also is called in Num_32:12 and
Jos_14:6 ‫קנזי‬ = ‫ַז‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ן־ק‬ ֶ‫,בּ‬ and it is seen that Caleb therefore, as well as Othniel, was a
son of Kenaz. Now if the Kenazite Caleb the son of Jephunneh were a brother of
Kenaz, the father of Othniel, we must suppose an older Kenaz, the grandfather or
great-grandfather of Caleb, and a younger Kenaz, the father of Othniel. This
supposition is certainly feasible, for, according to 1Ch_4:15 of our chapter, a
grandson of Caleb again was called Kenaz; but if it be probable is another question.
For the answering of this question in the affirmative, Bachmann adduces that,
according to 1Ch_4:13, Othniel is undoubtedly the son of Kenaz in the proper sense
of the word; but it might perhaps be difficult to prove, or even to render probable,
this “undoubtedly.” In the superscriptions of the single genealogies of the Chronicle,
42

more than elsewhere, ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫בּ‬ has in general a very wide signification. In 1Ch_4:1 of our
chapter, for instance, sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons of Judah are all grouped
together as ‫ה‬ ָ‫הוּד‬ְ‫י‬ ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫.בּ‬ But besides this, the ranging of the sons of Caleb the son of
Jephunneh (1Ch_4:15) after the enumeration of the sons of Kenaz in 1Ch_4:13 and
1Ch_4:14, is clearly much more easily explicable if Caleb himself belonged to the ‫ַז‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ק‬
‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫בּ‬ mentioned in 1Ch_4:13, than if he was a brother of Kenaz. In the latter case we
should expect, after the analogy of 1Ch_2:42, to find an additional clause ‫ַז‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ק‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫ֲח‬‫א‬
after ‫ֶה‬‫נּ‬ֻ‫פ‬ְ‫ן־י‬ ֶ‫בּ‬ ‫ב‬ֵ‫ל‬ָ‫;כּ‬ while if Caleb was a brother of Othniel, his descent from Kenaz,
or the fact that he belonged to the ‫ַז‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ק‬ ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫,בּ‬ might be assumed to be known from
Num_32:12.)
Kenaz, therefore, can neither have been the father of Othniel nor father of Caleb (in the
proper sense of the word), but must at least have been the grandfather or great-
grandfather of both. Othniel is the famous first judge of Israel, Jdg_3:9. Of Seraiah
nothing further is known, although the name is often met with of different persons.
The sons of Othniel are Hathath. The plural ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫,בּ‬ even when only one name follows, is
met with elsewhere (vide on 1Ch_2:7); but the continuation is somewhat strange, “and
Meonothai begat Ophrah,” for as Meonothai is not before mentioned, his connection
with Othniel is not given. There is evidently a hiatus in the text, which may most easily
be filled up by repeating ‫י‬ ַ‫ת‬ֹ‫נ‬ ‫ע‬ ְ‫וּמ‬ at the end of 1Ch_4:13. According to this conjecture two
sons of Othniel would be named, Hathath and Meonothai, and then the posterity of the
latter is given. The name ‫י‬ ַ‫ת‬ֹ‫נ‬ ‫ע‬ ְ‫מ‬ (my dwellings) is not met with elsewhere. It is not at all
probable that it is connected with the town Maon, and still less that it is so in any way
with the Mehunim, Ezr_2:50. Ophrah is unknown, for of course we must not think of
the towns called Ophrah, in the territory of Benjamin, Jos_18:23, and in that of
Manasseh, Jdg_6:11, Jdg_6:24. Seraiah, who is mentioned in 1Ch_4:13, begat Joab the
father (founder) of the valley of the craftsmen, “for they (i.e., the inhabitants of this
valley, who were descended from Joab) were craftsmen.” The valley of the ‫ים‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫חֲר‬
(craftsmen) is again mentioned in Neh_11:35, whence we may conclude that it lay at no
great distance from Jerusalem, in a northern direction.
GILL, "And the sons of Kenaz,.... Who was either the son of Chelub, or of Eshton:
Othniel, and Seraiah; the first of these is he who is mentioned, Jos_15:17 and was the
first judge in Israel:
and the son of Othniel, Hathath; and the next mentioned.
JAMISON, "the sons of Kenaz — the grandfather of Caleb, who from that
relationship is called a Kenezite (Num_32:12).
43

POOLE, " Kenaz; the son either of Chelub, 1 Chronicles 4:11, or of his son Eshton,
1 Chronicles 4:12, and the father of Jephunneh, and consequently Caleb’s
grandfather, 1 Chronicles 4:15; whence Caleb is called a Kenezite, Numbers 32:12.
Hathath; understand, and Meonothai, out of 1 Chronicles 4:14. See Poole "1
Chronicles 4:7".
We return here to the neighbourhood of names not quite strange. From comparison
of the many passages in Numbers, Joshua, and Judges, which contain references to
Othniel and Caleb (son of Jephunneh), the stronger conclusion to which we are led
is that Othniel was younger brother of Caleb (probably not by both the same
parents) and Kenaz a forefather, of course not literally father. The conclusion is not
arrived at without difficulty, or with any real certainty. In the present instance, e.g;
why should Othniel, if the younger brother and so expressly and repeatedly
mentioned, be taken first? For the possible Kenaz of this passage, we might then
refer to 1 Chronicles 1:53; Genesis 36:42. Hathath. The marginal reading, which
joins Meonothai at once to Hathath, and then supplies "who" before "begat
Ophrah," is decidedly to be adopted. Joab son of Seraiah is not to be assumed to be
one with Joab son of Zeruiah. The valley of the Charashim (see also Nehemiah
11:35), i.e. smiths, or craftsmen, lay east of Jaffa, and behind the plain of Sharon;
and is said by Jerome, in his 'Quaestiones Hebraicae in Paral.,' to have been,
according to tradition, named so because the architects of the temple came thence.
Iru. Perhaps the real name is It, and the final vau rather an initial for the next
name. Elah. Probably another name is wanting after this, which the vau will then
join to Kenaz; otherwise, as vau will not translate "even," the following name will
become, as in the margin, Uknaz. The wanting name might be the Jehalaleel of the
next verse. This last name is in the Hebrew identical with the Jehalelel of our
Authorized Version (2 Chronicles 29:12).
TRAPP, "1 Chronicles 4:13 And the sons of Kenaz; Othniel, and Seraiah: and the
sons of Othniel; Hathath.
44

Ver. 13. Othniel.] See on 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.
14 Meonothai was the father of Ophrah.
Seraiah was the father of Joab,
the father of Ge Harashim.[f] It was called this
because its people were skilled workers.
BARNES, "The words “and Meonothai” should he added to the end of 1Ch_4:13; but
they should be retained also at the commencement of 1Ch_4:14. Or, see the marginal
note.
GILL, "And Meonothai,.... Another son of Othniel:
begat Ophrah; and Seraiah, the brother of Othniel, begat Joab; not David's
general, but another of the same name, who lived long before him, see 1Ch_2:54.
the father of the valley of Charashim: of the inhabitants of the valley, or the prince
of them, called the valley of craftsmen, Neh_11:35 the reason of which is here given:
for they were craftsmen; that dwelt in it, carpenters and smiths, both which the
word signifies, men that wrought in stone, wood, and iron.
JAMISON, "Joab, the father of the valley of Carashim — literally, “the father
of the inhabitants of the valley” - “the valley of craftsmen,” as the word denotes. They
45

dwelt together, according to a custom which, independently of any law, extensively
prevails in Eastern countries for persons of the same trade to inhabit the same street or
the same quarter, and to follow the same occupation from father to son, through many
generations. Their occupation was probably that of carpenters, and the valley where they
lived seems to have been in the neighborhood of Jerusalem (Neh_11:35).
TRAPP, "1 Chronicles 4:14 And Meonothai begat Ophrah: and Seraiah begat Joab,
the father of the valley of Charashim; for they were craftsmen.
Ver. 14. For they were craftsmen.] Opifices Deo curae sunt. God takes notice of, and
care for poor handicraftsmen, who live by their hard labour, who get it and eat it.
Yea, the apostle Peter showeth that a poor servant, when he suffereth hard words
and ill usage from his master, doth herein find acceptance with God. [1 Peter
2:19-20]
WHEDON, "14. The father of the valley of Charashim — That is, father of those
who dwelt there, and founder, so to speak, of the institution which gave the place its
name. The inhabitants of this valley were craftsmen, and were descended from
Joab, the son of Seraiah; so the business of engraving and working in wood and
metals was the institution of the place. The location of this valley is unknown, but
Nehemiah 11:35, and the Talmud, would seem to place it in the vicinity of Lod, or
Lydda.
15 The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh:
Iru, Elah and Naam.
46

The son of Elah:
Kenaz.
CLARKE, "Caleb the son of Jephunneh - We have already met with this eminent
person in Num_13:6, Num_13:30; Num_14:24, and elsewhere; and seen his courageous
piety and inflexible integrity. The Targum says here, “They called him Caleb, the son of
Jephunneh, because he had purged his soul from the counsel of the spies.
GILL, "And the sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh,.... Jephunneh is not the
same with Hezron, as the Targum, but another son of Kenaz, hence called the Kenezite,
Jos_14:6 and brother of Othniel; and Caleb his son is the same that was sent one of the
spies of the land of Canaan by Moses, see Num_13:6.
his sons were Iru, Elah, and Naam; of whom we nowhere else read:
and the sons of Elah, even Kenaz; another Kenaz, or rather it should be read Uknaz;
so Jarchi and Kimchi.
K&D, "Of Iru, Elah, and Naam, the sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh (cf. on 1Ch_
4:13), nothing more is known. To connect Elah with the Edomite chief of that name
(1Ch_1:52) is arbitrary. Of Elah's sons only “and Kenaz” is mentioned; the ‫ו‬ copul. before
‫ַז‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ק‬ shows clearly that a name has been dropped out before it.
COFFMAN, ""Caleb the son of Jephunneh" (1 Chronicles 4:15). This man, along
with Joshua, was one of the faithful spies sent out by Moses to spy out the land of
Canaan.
ELLICOTT, " (15) The sons of Caleb, son of Jephunneh.—Caleb son of Jephunneh
is called the Kenizzite, Joshua 14:6-14. He obtained “a part among the children of
Judah” (Joshua 15:13), “because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel”
(Joshua 14:14). If Caleb the Kenizzite and his clan were received among the
47

Hezronite houses of Judah, this new division of the Hezronites would henceforth be
known as “the house of Caleb,” 1 Samuel 25:3; or simply “Caleb” (= Chelubai, the
Calebite). (See Notes on 1 Chronicles 2:42; 1 Chronicles 2:49.)
Elah occurred 1 Chronicles 1:52, as an Edomite princedom, like Kenaz in 1
Chronicles 1:53.
Naam is perhaps Naamah, Joshua 15:41, a town in the Shephelah.
And the sons of Elah, even Kenaz.—The Heb. is, and the sons of Mah and Kenaz,
that is, two clans of Calebites called Elah and Kenaz. Comp. 1 Chronicles 4:13, and
1 Chronicles 2:42; 1Ch_3:21. Some MSS., the LXX., Vulg., and Targum omit and
before Kenaz. But the word Elah, with different points, might be read elleh, “these.”
It may be suggested, therefore, that we have in this last sentence the subscription to
the list begun at 1 Chronicles 4:13, ’çlleh bnê Qnaz, “these are the sons of Kenaz.”
Others suppose a name omitted, and render: “and the sons of Elah . . . and Kenaz.”
Jehaleleel may have dropped out after the like-sounding Elah.
POOLE, "Another Kenaz, differing from that Kenaz 1 Chronicles 4:13. Or his
name might be Uknaz.
TRAPP, "1 Chronicles 4:15 And the sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh; Iru, Elah,
and Naam: and the sons of Elah, even Kenaz.
Ver. 15. Caleb the son of Jephunneh.] And grandson of Kenez: whence Caleb is
called the Kenezite, [Numbers 32:12] saith Diodate.
48

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