Verses 9, 10. And he begat of Hodesh his wife,.... That is, he, I say, begat, namely, Shaharaim; the Targum makes this Hodesh to be the same with Baara, called so because she was newly espoused; but wrongly: the sons begotten of her were the seven following;
Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcham, Jeuz, Shachia, and Mirma. These were his sons; the sons of Shaharaim by his wife Hodesh:
heads of the fathers; of the houses or families of their father.
Verse 11. And of Hushim he begat Abitub, and Elpaal. Before he sent her away, or divorced her, 1 Chronicles 8:8.
Verse 12. The sons of Elpaal; Eber, and Misham, and Shamed,.... Besides those in 1 Chronicles 8:14
who built Ono, and Lod, with the towns thereof; not Shamed, but Elpaal his father, so the Targum; and the Talmudists say {o}, these were walled cities from the days of Joshua the son of Nun, and were destroyed in the days of the concubine in Gibea, and Elpaal came and rebuilt them; they were inhabited by the Benjaminites, upon their return from the Babylonish captivity, Nehemiah 11:35 they were near to each other; according to a Jewish chronologer {p}, it was three miles from the one to the other; Lod is the same with Lydda, in Acts 9:32.
{o} T. Hieros. Megillah, fol. 70. 1. & T. Bab Megillah, fol. 4. 1. So the Targum. {p} Juchasin, fol. 39. 2.
Verse 13. Beriah also, and Shema,.... These were sons of Elpaal:
who were heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Aijalon; which, though in the tribe of Dan, Joshua 19:42 might afterwards come into the possession of Benjamin; or this may be another place of the same name in Benjamin; or, however, might be inhabited by Benjaminites, upon the return from captivity, who descended from those men:
who drove away the inhabitants of Gath; dispossessed them of their city, in revenge for what they had done to the Ephraimites, 1 Chronicles 7:21.
Verse 14. And Ahio, Shashak, and Jerimoth. These were also sons of
Elpaal.
Verses 15, 16. And Zebadiah,.... And all that follow in this and the next verse were the sons of Beriah the son of Elpaal; namely,
Arad, Ader, Michael, Ispah, and Joha.
Verses
17, 18. And Zebadiah, and Meshullam,.... These, with those that follow,
Hezeki, Heber, Ishmerai, Jezliah, and Jobab, were the sons of Elpaal
Verses 19-21. And Jakim,.... With all the rest in these verses, namely,
Zichri, Zabdi, Elienai, Zilthai, Eliel, Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath, were the sons of Shimhi, the same with Shema brother of Beriah, and son of Elpaal, 1 Chronicles 8:13.
Verses 22-25. And Ishpan, and Heber,.... And all that follow to the end of these verses,
Eliel, Abdon, Zichri, Hanan, Hananiah, Elam, Antothijah, Iphedeiah, and Penuel, were the sons of Shashak, another son of Elpaal, 1 Chronicles 8:14.
Verses
26, 27. And Shamsherai,.... Who, with those next mentioned,
Shehariah, Athaliah, Jaresiah, Eliah, and Zichri, [were the sons of] Jeroham, who perhaps is the same with Jerimoth, another son of Elpaal, 1 Chronicles 8:14 who makes a considerable figure in this genealogy. Kimchi observes that it is a tradition {q} that this Eliah is Elijah the prophet, who was of the seed of Rachel.
{q} Shemoth Rabba, sect. 40. fol. 138. 4.
Verse 28. These were heads of the fathers, by their generations, chief [men],.... All from 1 Chronicles 8:14, the sons of Elpaal and their sons:
these dwelt in Jerusalem; part of which always belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, see Joshua 15:63.
Verse 29. And at Gibeon dwelt the father of Gibeon,.... The builder of the city, and prince of the inhabitants of it, which was in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:25 whose name was Jehiel, 1 Chronicles 9:35,
(whose wife's name was Maachah;) of which name were many, see 1 Chronicles 2:48.
Verses
30, 31. And his firstborn son Abdon,.... That is, Jehiel's, the father or prince of Gibeon; other sons follow:
Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab, Gedor, Ahio, and Zacher; called Zechariah, 1 Chronicles 9:37 and between Baal and Nadab, Ner is placed, 1 Chronicles 9:36 and another son is added at the end of 1 Chronicles 9:37, Mikloth next mentioned.
Verse 32. And Mikloth begat Shimeah,.... Called Shimeam, 1 Chronicles 9:38
and these also dwelt with their brethren in Jerusalem, over against them; in another part of the city, right beside them.
Verse 33. And Ner begat Kish,.... Who also is called Abiel, as the Targum here adds; for Ner had two names, as other Jewish writers likewise say {r}, see 1 Samuel 9:1,
and Kish begat Saul; the first king of Israel, for whose sake chiefly the genealogy of Benjamin is revised and enlarged in this chapter:
and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal, see 1 Samuel 31:2. Abinadab is called Ishui, 1 Samuel 14:49 and Eshbaal is the same with Ishbosheth, 2 Samuel 2:8, so Baal and Bosheth are used of the same idol of which they are names, Hosea 9:10.
{r} Vajikra Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 152. 4.
Verse 34. And the son of Jonathan was Meribbaal,.... The same with Mephibosheth, 2 Samuel 4:4 so Jerubbaal is called Jerubbesheth, Judges 6:32
and Meribbaal begat Micah; called his young son in David's time, 2 Samuel 9:12.
Verse 35. And the sons of Micah were, Pithon, and Melech, and Tarea, and Ahaz. The last but one is called Tahrea, 1 Chronicles 9:41, where Ahaz is left out, though supplied in our version.
Verse 36. And Ahaz begat Jehoadah,.... Called Jarah, 1 Chronicles 9:42
and Jehoadah begat Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begat Moza; the same account is given, 1 Chronicles 9:42.
Verse 37. And Moza begat Binea; Rapha was his son,.... Called Rephaiah, 1 Chronicles 9:43.
Elasah his son; whose name is Eleasah, 1 Chronicles 9:43.
Azel his son.
Verse 38. And Azel had six sons, whose names are these, Azrikam, Bochim, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan,.... Which make the said number:
all these were the sons of Azel; his family was large.
Verse 39. And the sons of Eshek his brother,.... The brother of Azel; who he was is not known, unless he is the same with Elasah, as is conjectured:
[were] Ulam his firstborn, Jehush the second, and Eliphelet the third.
Verse 40. And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valour,.... Men of great fortitude and courage, though their names are not expressed:
archers; skilful in the use of the bow and arrows, as the Benjaminites formerly were famous for slinging stones:
and had many sons, and sons' sons, an hundred and fifty; so that the posterity of Jonathan, whose genealogy is drawn down from 1 Chronicles 8:34 hither, were very great; and greater still, according to the Vulgate Latin version, in which the number is 150,000 in the edition of Sixtus the fifth, and so in most MSS of that version {s}
all these are of the sons of Benjamin; his posterity, whose names are given in this chapter.
{s} See James of the Contrariety of the Popish Bibles, p. 294.
