And the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron.
1 Chronicles 2 has already traced Judah's line down to David, and now it doubles back to a side branch: the sons of Caleb, named here by his brother Jerahmeel. Why does God keep such a broken record of men we never meet again?
Caleb has already appeared earlier in this chapter. His line turns up here a second time, now through his concubines rather than his two wives.
Caleb's genealogy is a striking example of this disorder, and of how the genealogical registers survived only in fragments. Caleb is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. I think there is a purpose in his being called Chelubai in verse 9. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, and the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath. In verses 42-49 we again find descendants of this same Caleb by his concubines. He is called the brother of Jerahmeel (the son of Hezron, verse 9).
Older translations read "Mesha" as the firstborn here, where the ESV reads "Mareshah"; reference works following the older text describe him simply:
Eldest son of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel.
This verse names Ziph and Hebron. One writer lists this very section of the chapter among those where the names may be places or families rather than single people.
Sometimes the genealogies of Chronicles contain names of very ancient origin, which we do not find elsewhere in the Old Testament. Many names are not those of single people, but of clans or families. Others are genealogies we might call geographic. For lack of any other source material, they include the names of tribes, districts and cities. We have mentioned this fact in our study of Ezra 2. We find it again in 1 Chronicles 2:18-24, 25-33, 42-55; 1 Chronicles 4:1-23, 28-33.
David did not descend from Caleb or from Jerahmeel, yet both get their paragraph. One writer sees in that a deliberate pause by the Spirit over relatives of the royal line.
The line has now been brought down to David. The Holy Spirit then pauses, so to speak, and notes the sons of Hezron other than Ram — that is, Jerahmeel, and Chelubai, who is also called Caleb (see verses 9 and 18). The honoured line passed through Ram, but his natural connections have a place in the archives of Judah. No doubt every one named here stood out for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given to him.
The Caleb of this verse is the son of Hezron. Another Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, had no claim to citizenship in Israel by birth — yet the chapter ties him into this same family.
By his origin Caleb had no right of citizenship in Israel. He received that right in the middle of Judah because of his faith, and he was brought into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron. We see this in 1 Chronicles 2:49 and in the passages already cited in Joshua. The surviving fragments of the genealogy of Caleb the son of Hezron confirm the place God gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. This substitution is one of the important points the Spirit of God calls our attention to here.
The name Caleb keeps returning in this chapter. It stands for a quality, not just a person.
To summarize, the name of Caleb is highlighted in this chapter. This name carries the thought of "virtue" — that is, of moral energy. With a goal in view, that energy enables the believer to overcome obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin that so easily entangles him. 2 Peter 1:5 tells us to "supplement your faith with virtue." Caleb is an example in this.
Calling Caleb "the brother of Jerahmeel" sets the two lines side by side, and their records do not read alike.
Unfruitfulness is the mark of Jerahmeel's line. Although he was Hezron's eldest son (verse 9), he is once again in last place here (verse 25). The features of the natural man pass down just as surely as the features of a man of faith like Caleb. The difference is that faith's features pass down only by grace. David's line does not descend from Jerahmeel, but from Ram, his younger brother.
- Fragments. Caleb's line turns up more than once in this chapter, in broken pieces. The registers survived only in fragments.
- Fragments kept. The Spirit of God still had the broken pieces written down. Where no other record survived, even the names of tribes, districts and cities were entered in.
- Fragments placed. David's line ran through Ram, not through Caleb or Jerahmeel. Their names still hold a place in the archives of Judah.
- Fragments filled. Caleb the son of Jephunneh had no claim in Israel by birth. Faith gave him a place inside this very family.
- Fragments that teach. Caleb's name carries moral energy that overcomes obstacles; Jerahmeel's line runs to unfruitfulness. Nature passes on its features; faith's features pass on only by grace.
And the sons of Hebron Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Shema begot Raham, the father of Jorkeam. And Rekem begot Shammai;
This verse is one line in the long register of Judah. It lists five names — Shema, Raham, Jorkeam, Rekem and Shammai — and nothing else. No story, no deed, no explanation. Why would God take care to preserve such a fragment, and what is it doing beside the royal line of David?
Most readers skip lists like this one. One commentator says why they should not.
If an Israelite was closely bound to his family, it was not a matter of vanity or pride, as it often is with us. In Israel it was bound up with the purpose of God. All was ordered by God. There were sad stains among them, and stains on the finest of them. Even so, something truly divine was at work among that poor people from the beginning onward. We can see, then, that these genealogies have a far higher character than they seem to have at first glance. I have no doubt that most of us have read them thinking it was high time to skip over them.
Verse 44 sits in a second run through Caleb's family. One commentator shows how broken that record is.
Caleb's family line is a striking example of the disorder in these lists, and of how patchy these family registers are. Caleb — called Chelubai in verse 9, and not by accident, I think — is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his line in verses 18-20, with the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath. In verses 42-49 we again find descendants of this same Caleb by his concubines.
"Fathered" here does not always mean a direct son. The state of the people who kept the record explains why.
In Chronicles the accuracy of the family lists depends largely on how much the Jews valued them during their captivity. The disorder these lists show matches the state of the remnant we meet in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Many among the people, and among the priests, could not prove their descent. They had no recorded head, yet people could still recognize them by the names of their families, groups and cities. Those names became, in effect, a "moral person," standing as the stem of their ancestry… The great disorder that set in also explains, at least in part, why people counted very distant descendants of a clan head as his sons.
The same blur shows up in Rekem's son, Shammai, the last name in the verse.
Son of Rekem, and father or founder of Maon.
So why keep a name with no story attached? One commentator answers from another name in this chapter, Segub.
No doubt every person named stood out for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given to him that made him more notable still… Yet even Segub is named, though he was only Ram's half-brother. Is that not because of his link with the ancestry of David? That line was always so precious to God that even the slightest connection with it earns a place in these genealogies… These are men of renown, and while the book of God is read, their names will stand out as the names of those whom God would honour.
If a family is known by its head, the head's character matters. One commentator draws out what Caleb's name carries.
To sum up, this chapter puts the name of Caleb in the foreground. That name carries the thought of "virtue" — that is, of moral energy. With a goal in view, that energy lets the believer overcome obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin that so easily entangles him.
A people just back from exile kept these lists, with much lost and little they could prove. One commentator asks what such a list was worth in Babylon.
These genealogies were imperfect. The state of Israel carried the mark of the ruin that had come upon them. It also carried the mark of the goodness of God, who had brought back a remnant, and who had kept all that was needed to place them in the record of His people… Happy is the man who kept his own record, and who valued the heritage of the Lord enough to treat it as precious! It was a proof of faith. Someone might have said: what use are these genealogies in Babylon?
- Recorded. Shema, Raham, Jorkeam, Rekem and Shammai stand in a second pass through Caleb's family, among the descendants listed in verses 42-49.
- Recorded in disorder. The gaps and odd links reflect a people back from captivity. Many could not prove their descent, so families, clans and towns stood in place of missing heads.
- Recorded by grace. A name kept its place through its link with the line God had chosen. Even the slightest tie to David's ancestry earned a mention.
- Recorded with character. Caleb's name shapes the whole chapter. It carries the thought of moral energy that presses past obstacles toward the goal.
- Recorded for faith. Keeping such lists after the ruin took faith. God Himself preserved all that was needed to place His people in His record.
and the son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur.
This verse gives only three names: Shammai, Maon, and Beth-zur. Two of them are also towns in Judah, and the family they belong to is the one commentators find most instructive in this chapter.
In this part of Chronicles, "father of" does not always mean what it means today. One reference work notes how the Hebrew word works in these lists:
In the Old Testament the word ab sometimes means 'founder': 1 Chronicles 4:4 calls one man the 'father' of Bethlehem.
Beth-zur is such a case — a town, not only a name in a family list:
A city in the mountains of Judah, which Maon seems to have founded. Rehoboam built or fortified it when the tribes divided. Joshua 15:58; 1 Chronicles 2:45; 2 Chronicles 11:7; Nehemiah 3:16. … It commanded the road from Beersheba to Jerusalem.
These lists come from scraps of older records. Some readers conclude that the result is worthless history. One writer answers that charge without pretending the lists are tidy:
Must we conclude from all this that Chronicles is a human compilation, put together at random, with no historical value at all? The rationalists say so. But thank God, their reason is always at fault when it attacks His Word. No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments gathered in a time of general confusion. Yet God sets His seal of approval on these documents.
These three names sit in the section tracing Caleb's descendants. The same writer treats Caleb's name as the key to the chapter:
The name of Caleb is highlighted in this chapter. This name carries the thought of "virtue" — that is, moral energy. With a goal to reach, that energy lets the believer get over obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin that so easily entangles him. 2 Peter 1:5 says, "In your faith have also virtue." Caleb is an example of this.
Caleb's own place in this tribe did not come to him by birth:
By his origin Caleb had no right of citizenship in Israel. His faith won him that right among Judah, and he was taken into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron. 1 Chronicles 2:49 shows this, and so do the passages already quoted in Joshua.
One writer reads the meaning of each name. Maon stands first:
Maon means "dwelling-place." Standing first, and with this emphasis, it speaks of God dwelling among His people. When that is a reality for Israel again, it will be the seal of their lasting blessing.
The town Maon founded carries a name of its own:
Beth-zur, "the house of the rock," is the firm shelter for faith which will not give way. Christ is of course this.
Maon turns up again later in Scripture, and the same writer draws a warning from it:
We are now introduced to a man of Israel who lives in Maon and whose possessions are in Carmel, but who is Nabal, "a fool," and is struck down for his folly. … Maon, "dwelling-place," the habitation of God, and Carmel, "vineyard," His place of fruit. But the man, though of the house of Caleb, has fallen away completely from the character of Caleb.
- Founder. In these lists the word ab can mean "founder." So "father of Beth-zur" marks Maon as the founder of a town, not only the parent of a child.
- Fragment. The record comes from scraps left by a time of general confusion, yet God set His seal of approval on those scraps.
- Grafted. The Caleb honoured in this section had no citizenship in Israel by birth. Faith won him his place among Judah.
- Dwelling. Maon means "dwelling-place." It points to God dwelling among His people — the seal of Israel's lasting blessing.
- Rock. Beth-zur, "the house of the rock," is the shelter that does not give way. Yet Maon later housed Nabal, a man of Caleb's house who had lost Caleb's character. A good name and a good address guarantee nothing.
And Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, and Moza, and Gazez; and Haran begot Gazez.
Ephah is called Caleb's concubine, and her three sons appear almost nowhere else in the Bible. So why does God keep such scraps of family record, and what is He doing with them?
The verse falls in the second of three lists of Caleb's family in this chapter. It even names Gazez twice — once as Caleb's son, once as Haran's. One writer traces all three lists and points out the disorder in them.
Caleb's genealogy is a striking example of this disorder, and of how the genealogical records survived only in fragments. Caleb... is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, and the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath. In verses 42-49 we again find descendants of this same Caleb by his concubines... In verses 50-55, for the third time in this chapter, we meet the descendants of Caleb, the son of Hezron, through Hur.
The same writer grants that these lists are only fragments, then names who stands behind them.
No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments collected while everything was in confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval. So many passages in these genealogies are very ancient, and no other book of the Old Testament mentions them.
Another writer suggests who collected the material.
Chronicles is a gathering up of the fragments that remain — very likely by Ezra, a priest, or by a Levite. The books take up the remnant that returned, but go back as far as possible to its connection with their original history.
Chronicles served people returning from captivity, when a family's record decided who could claim which land.
The Jews were disheartened by a destruction they never would believe till it came. They might have thought, "What is the use of a genealogy? What is the use of caring now about our lands or houses? Everything is ruined. All is gone." But the man who believed God knew that seventy years would see them return from their captivity. So care for God and confidence in His Word would make them guard their genealogies closely, ready to enter on the allotment of God when they did return. This was what made every homestead in Israel so precious — God gave it.
One writer explains why the chapter ends with Caleb's family.
At the end of the chapter, the Spirit of God singles out Caleb's family. Of all Judah in these early days, he was the man who answered to God's purpose... We see it in Numbers and in Joshua — the special place that Caleb and his daughter had, the father confident in God's purpose to give Israel the land... So here we find the result, for faithfulness is fruitful even in this world — much more to life everlasting.
One writer ties Caleb's name to a quality any believer needs.
The name of Caleb stands out in this chapter. With this name goes the thought of "virtue" — that is, moral energy. With a goal in view, it enables the believer to overcome obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin that so easily entangles him.
Commentators differ on which Caleb this chapter follows. One writer holds that two men named Caleb are in view, and that Caleb the son of Jephunneh had no claim on Israel by birth.
So Caleb, who by his origin had no right of citizenship in Israel, received this right among Judah because of his faith. He was brought into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron... The surviving fragments of the genealogy of Caleb the son of Hezron confirm the place God gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. This substitution is one of the important points the Spirit of God calls our attention to here.
Another writer is not persuaded that the chapter's Caleb descends from Hezron at all.
There is no proof that Caleb was the son of Hezron, son of Pharez. If he was the same Caleb as in Numbers, he was the son of Jephunneh... The idea that genealogies give every step has no foundation.
- Fragments. The Caleb lists, this verse included, are pieces salvaged from confusion — yet pieces God stamped with His approval.
- Selection. Very old records lie behind these names, and God set His seal on what was kept.
- Inheritance. Names like these let returning exiles claim the land God had given, so faith in His promise made men guard the records.
- Fruitfulness. The Spirit singles out Caleb's family because he answered to God's purpose, and faithfulness bears fruit even in this world.
- Grace. A Caleb with no birthright in Israel gained a place in Judah by faith, though commentators differ on how the two Calebs relate.
And the sons of Jehdai Regem, and Jotham, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph.
This verse sits inside a long list of Caleb's descendants, and gives only six names under one father, Jahdai. Why would God keep a fragment like this in His book?
Rossier ties the state of these lists to the state of the people who kept them.
In Chronicles the accuracy of the genealogies depends largely on how much the Jews valued them during their captivity. The disorder in these lists matches the state of the remnant, as we find them in Ezra and Nehemiah. Many among the people and among the priests could not prove their genealogy. The great disorder that came in also explains, at least in part, why very distant descendants of the head of a clan were counted as his sons. The same disorder explains why a family head whose name had never been mentioned before suddenly appears, counted as the head of a clan.
Gaps like these raise a question about the value of the whole record. Rossier holds two things together.
No thoughtful Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments gathered while everything was in confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval. Many passages in these genealogies are very old, and the other books of the Old Testament never mention them.
Two men named Caleb appear in this chapter. Jahdai's sons belong to the first.
Caleb (called Chelubai in verse 9 — not without purpose, I think) is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, with the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath. In verses 42-49 we find descendants of this same Caleb by his concubines... But right at the end of this list we meet Achsah, who, as we know, was the daughter of Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
A Bible dictionary places one of these six sons, Pelet, in that same household:
Son of Jahdai, a descendant of Caleb, brother of Jerahmeel. 1 Chr. 2:47.
Achsah's name at the end of the list is not a mistake. It is the point. Caleb the son of Jephunneh had no natural claim on Judah at all.
So Caleb, who by birth had no right of citizenship in Israel, received that right among Judah because of his faith. He was brought into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron. We see this in 1 Chronicles 2:49 and in the passages in Joshua already mentioned. The surviving fragments of the genealogy of Caleb the son of Hezron confirm the place God gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. This substitution is one of the important points the Spirit of God draws our attention to here.
Judah's royal line runs through Ram. The side branches are written down too, and one writer sees honour in that.
The honoured line passed through Ram, but his natural relatives have a place in the records of Judah. No doubt each man named here stood out for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given him that made him greater still. ... These are men of renown, and as long as the book of God is read, their names will stand out as the names of people God wanted to honour.
One writer turns this page of forgotten names on the reader.
It deeply sobers the soul to be allowed to read a record of names that people forgot long ago. God has remembered every one of them, with every detail of their path through this world. One day our own names will be lost to mankind too. But God will forget neither us nor our ways.
Rossier links the name Caleb with one quality.
This name carries the thought of "virtue" — moral energy. With a goal in view, that energy enables the believer to get over obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin that so easily entangles him.
Another writer traces Caleb's place here back to his confidence that God would give Israel the land.
We see it in Numbers and in Joshua — the special place that Caleb and his daughter had, the father confident in God's purpose to give Israel the land... the one difference that mattered was this: God was with Israel and against the Canaanites. So here we find the result, for faithfulness is fruitful even in this world — much more so for life everlasting.
- Fragments. Chronicles gathers up fragments from a time of confusion, yet God set His seal on them, gaps and all.
- Family. Jahdai's six sons belong to the household of Caleb son of Hezron, the branch beside Judah's royal line through Ram.
- Grafted. Into that household God writes Caleb son of Jephunneh, an outsider with no natural claim, given a place by faith.
- Fruit. Caleb stands for moral energy that clears obstacles. Faithfulness bears fruit even in this world.
- Forever. God keeps the names everyone else forgot, with every detail of the road they walked.
Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah;
This verse is one line in a long list: Maacah, a concubine of Caleb, and the two sons she bore him. It sits in a run of names (verses 42–49) that raises two questions: why does God keep a record like this, and which Caleb does it mean?
This chapter traces the Caleb of our verse three separate times, and never in full. One writer sets out the pieces:
Caleb's genealogy is a striking example of this disorder. It also shows how incompletely the genealogical registers were kept. Caleb (who, I believe, is called Chelubai in verse 9 for a reason) is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, and the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath. In verses 42-49 we again find descendants of this same Caleb by his concubines. But at the very end of this list we are suddenly brought face to face with Achsah, who, as we know, is the daughter of Caleb the son of Jephunneh (Joshua 15:16). In verses 50-55 we meet the descendants of Caleb the son of Hezron for the third time in this chapter, this time through Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah. Part of that genealogy was already given to us in verse 20.
Nothing else is ever said in Scripture about Maacah, Sheber, or Tirhanah. Yet the chapter pauses over the branches of Hezron's family that never carried the royal line. One writer suggests why:
The honoured line passed through Ram. Yet Ram's natural relations also have a place in the records of Judah. No doubt every one named here stood out for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given to him that made him more notable still... Is it not because of his link with the ancestors of David? That line was always so precious to God that even the slightest tie to it earns a place in these genealogies.
The record is selective, and its purpose decides which failures appear:
These books were written or drawn up after the captivity (see 1 Chron. 6:15). They preserve God's history of His people, recorded by the Holy Spirit, as He loved to remember it. They show only those faults we need to know if we are to understand the lessons of His grace.
The Caleb best known in the rest of the Bible was the son of Jephunneh, not of Hezron. God did not treat the two men alike:
Many passages of Scripture (Num. 13:6; Num. 14:30, 38; Num. 32:12; Num. 34:19; Deut. 1:36; Joshua 14:13) show what favour Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, won from God. He won it by his perseverance, moral courage, faithfulness, and eagerness to win a share in the land of Canaan. The Lord's approval rested on him. Caleb, the son of Hezron and of Judah, had many descendants, yet is never named as the object of God's special favour.
That one name, dropped in just after Maacah's sons, changes how the whole list reads:
So Caleb, who by birth had no right of citizenship in Israel at all, received that right among Judah because of his faith. God brought him into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron, as we see in 1 Chronicles 2:49 and in the passages already quoted from Joshua. The surviving fragments of the genealogy of Caleb the son of Hezron confirm the place God gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. This substitution is one of the important points the Spirit of God draws our attention to here.
A crowded family tree is not the same as a blessed one. What a line passes on, and on what terms, is not the same in every family:
The features of the natural man are passed on just as surely as the features of a man of faith like Caleb. The difference is that the features of faith are passed on by grace. David's line does not descend from Jerahmeel, but from Ram, his younger brother (vv. 9-16).
reason: unsupported claims removed; long bullets split; bullets reordered into one frame ending on grace
and she bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbena and the father of Gibea. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.
Verse 49 ends a run of names born to Caleb's concubine — men remembered as the founders of towns — and then names Achsah, the daughter of a different Caleb. Why is the record so patchy, and why is a woman from another family line dropped into the middle of it?
Some of these names are towns, not people. A dictionary entry on Sheva shows what "father of" means here:
Sheva. Son of Caleb the son of Hezron, and father or founder of Machbenah and Gibea.
This chapter lists Caleb's descendants three times. Verse 49 sits where one list ends and a stranger's name appears.
Caleb's genealogy offers a striking example of this disorder and of how the genealogical registers survived only in fragments. Caleb is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, and the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath. In verses 42-49 we again find descendants of this same Caleb by his concubines. But at the very end of this list we suddenly meet Achsah — the daughter, as we know, of Caleb the son of Jephunneh (Joshua 15:16). In verses 50-55, for the third time in this chapter, we meet the descendants of Caleb the son of Hezron, through Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah.
Some read this untidiness as proof that the book is a careless human scrapbook.
Must we conclude from all this that the text of Chronicles is a human and random compilation, with no historical value at all? That is what critics claim, but thank God, their reasoning always fails when it attacks His Word. No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made of fragments gathered up in a time of general confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval.
Two men in this chapter are called Caleb, and Scripture does not treat them alike.
Many Scripture passages (Num. 13:6; 14:30, 38; 32:12; 34:19; Deut. 1:36; Joshua 14:13) show what favour Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, won from God. He won it by his perseverance, moral courage, faithfulness, and zeal to conquer a portion in the land of Canaan. The Lord's approval was upon him. Caleb, the son of Hezron and of Judah, had many descendants, but he is not mentioned as the object of God's special favour. Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, is the one whom God has in view, and the one whom He introduces in such a remarkable way into the genealogy of the son of Hezron (1 Chron. 2:49). Because of him, this genealogy stands next to that of David, as part of the tribe of Judah, from which the royal line comes.
Why does the daughter of that Caleb stand in this list? His family line began outside Israel.
Caleb the son of Jephunneh was not originally of the people of Judah. He is called Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite (Numbers 32:12; Joshua 14:6, 14). In Genesis 36:11 we learn that Kenaz is an Edomite name. So at some point the family of Kenaz, and with it the family of Caleb the son of Jephunneh, was brought into the tribes of Israel, just like other foreigners such as Jethro, Rahab, and Ruth, who by their faith became members of the people of God.
That outsider's place is written into this verse.
So Caleb, who by birth had no right of citizenship in Israel, received that right among Judah because of his faith. He became part of the family of Caleb the son of Hezron, as we see in 1 Chronicles 2:49 and in the passages already cited in Joshua. The surviving fragments of the genealogy of Caleb the son of Hezron confirm the place God gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. This substitution is one of the important points the Spirit of God calls our attention to here.
Caleb's name, made prominent in this chapter, stands for a particular quality — and Achsah is grouped with him as sharing it.
With this name is associated the thought of "virtue," that is, of moral energy which, in view of a goal to be attained, enables the believer to surmount obstacles, separating him from every weight and the sin which so easily entangles him. 2 Peter 1:5 says, "In your faith have also virtue." Caleb is an example in this. With this name are associated characters of the same caliber as the son of Jephunneh: Othniel, Achsah (1 Chron. 4:13; 1 Chron. 2:49); Hur... the house of Rechab.
The verse gives Achsah's name and nothing else. Her story comes elsewhere, and it is a story of asking for more than dry ground.
Daughter of Caleb. He promised her as wife to the man who would capture Kirjath-sepher. Othniel, Caleb's nephew, took it, and Achsah became his wife. When she asked for springs of water, Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs, to bring life to dry ground. Joshua 15:16-19; Judges 1:12-15; 1 Chr. 2:49. The springs are symbolical of Christ in glory, and the Holy Spirit here — object and power of life with God.
- Register. This verse sits inside a list of Caleb's descendants given three times over. Here "father of" means the founder of a town, such as Machbenah or Gibea.
- Seal. The pieces come from a time of confusion, yet God sets His seal of approval on them — untidy to us, deliberate to Him.
- Outsider. Caleb the son of Jephunneh was a Kenizzite, an outsider with no birthright in Israel. Faith, not birth, gained him citizenship in Judah.
- Placed. God writes this man of faith into another man's family line, next to David's — the one point the Spirit is pressing in verse 49.
- Springs. Achsah asked for more than dry ground. She received both the upper and the lower springs — symbols of Christ in glory and the Holy Spirit, life with God.
These are the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim,
One line of names closes a long family list: Caleb, Hur the firstborn of Ephratah, and Shobal, called the father of a town. It reads like dry record-keeping. Yet it raises two real questions: why is a man named the father of a town, and why does Caleb's family keep coming back in this chapter?
Many families in Israel could no longer prove who their ancestors were. One writer explains what the record fell back on, and points to this verse as an example.
Many of them had no family head left to name. Even so, they could still be recognized by the names of their families, groups, and cities. A name like that became, in effect, a "moral person," recognized as the stem of their ancestry (compare Ezra 1 and here 1 Chronicles 2:50, 54-55; 1 Chronicles 4:4). The great disorder that came in also explains, at least in part, why very distant descendants of the head of a clan were counted as his sons. Take Shobal, for example, the great-grandson of one of Judah's grandsons (compare 1 Chronicles 2:50; 1 Chronicles 4:1).
So "father of Kiriath-jearim" marks the head of a clan tied to a town, and "son" can reach far down a line.
Two men in Scripture carry the name Caleb. The one traced in these verses is the son of Hezron.
In verses 50-55, for the third time in this chapter, we meet the descendants of Caleb, the son of Hezron, through Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah. Part of that line was already given to us in verse 20.
The other Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, was not born with a place in Israel. One writer explains how he gained one.
By his birth, Caleb had no right of citizenship in Israel at all. He received that right among the people of Judah because of his faith, and he was brought into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron. You can see this in 1 Chronicles 2:49 and in the passages already cited in Joshua.
The same writer reads the name Caleb as standing for a quality, and finds it in others listed nearby — Hur among them.
The name Caleb carries the thought of "virtue" — moral energy. With a goal in view, it lets the believer get past obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin that so easily entangles him. 2 Peter 1:5 says, "supplement your faith with virtue." Caleb is an example of this. Others of the same calibre as the son of Jephunneh belong with this name: Othniel, Achsah (1 Chronicles 4:13; 1 Chronicles 2:49); Hur (1 Chronicles 2:19, 50; 1 Chronicles 4:1, 4).
Hur is called the firstborn of Ephratah. That name belongs to a place as well as a person.
It seems the town was first called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; Genesis 48:7), and later Ephratah (Ruth 4:11; Psalm 132:6). Once it is called Bethlehem Ephratah, that is, the fruitful, for the ruler of Israel was to come from there. Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4, 15; John 7:42.
Another writer weighs which of the two names comes first:
The power of nature fails to uphold anything; it must be by the gift of grace and mercy. "Ephratah, Bethlehem" is man's order — fruitfulness before blessing (Genesis 35:19). "Bethlehem-Ephratah" (Micah 5:2) is God's way — blessing first, then fruitfulness.
Kiriath-jearim, the town named in this verse, is where the ark later rested. One writer ties both places in this verse to David's own history.
It seems clear that David, from his earliest days living with his father at Bethlehem, was marked by attachment to the ark, and that his bringing it to Zion was only the expression of that early love. At Ephratah they had only heard of the ark. They found it when David was king and set on bringing it to Zion. It lay in the fields of the wood, that is, in Kirjath-jearim, "city of the woods." The ark had been taken there after the Lord struck the men of Beth-shemesh for looking into it, when the Philistines sent it back. (1 Samuel 6:19-21.)
- Fragment. The record is patchy. Whole families could no longer name their head, so clan and town names stood in their place.
- Faith. Caleb had no birthright in Israel. Faith won him a place in Judah, and God wrote an outsider into Judah's own family record.
- Family. This line passes on a character, not only blood. Caleb, Hur and their relatives stand for moral energy that keeps a goal in view and pushes past obstacles.
- Fruitfulness. Ephratah is the older name of Bethlehem and means the fruitful. From there the ruler of Israel would come.
- Fulfilment. Kiriath-jearim, the town named here, sheltered the ark until David brought it to Zion. A dry list of names ends up pointing to the king and the ark.
Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Beth-gader.
This verse names two men and two towns: Salma with Bethlehem, Hareph with Beth-gader. These names belong to Caleb's line inside the tribe of Judah. The verse raises two questions. What does it mean to call a man a town's "father"? And why keep such scraps of family record at all?
Here the word is not about fatherhood in the usual sense.
In 1 Chronicles 2:51, 54 and 1 Chronicles 4:4, "father of Bethlehem" may mean "prince of Bethlehem." The town is Beit Lahm, six miles south of Jerusalem. It stands on a narrow ridge that runs out from the central range of hills.
The second half of the verse works the same way.
This seems to be a place near Bethlehem, and Hareph was its founder. 1 Chronicles 2:51.
This explains why the list reads so strangely.
Sometimes the genealogies of Chronicles hold very ancient names that we find nowhere else in the Old Testament. Many of the names are not people but clans or families. Other genealogies we might call geographic. With no other records to draw on, they list the names of tribes, districts and cities.
There was a reason the records took this shape.
The accuracy of the genealogies in Chronicles depends largely on the value the Jews placed on them during their captivity. Many among the people and among the priests could not prove their family line. They had no named head, yet people could still recognise them by the names of their families, their groups and their cities. Those names became, in effect, a "moral person," recognised as the stem of their ancestry (compare Ezra 1, and here 1 Chronicles 2:50, 54-55; 1 Chronicles 4:4).
Critics have used the broken state of these lists to attack the book.
Must we conclude from all this that the text of Chronicles is a human patchwork, put together at whim, and that the book therefore has no historical value? That is what the rationalists claim. But thank God, their reasoning always fails when it attacks His Word. No clear-sighted Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments picked up in a time of general confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval.
Our verse sits in the third run of Caleb's descendants in this one chapter.
In verses 50-55 we meet the descendants of Caleb the son of Hezron for the third time in this chapter. The line runs through Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah. Part of this genealogy was already given to us in verse 20.
The name Caleb stands out in this chapter, and one writer draws a lesson from it.
This name carries the thought of "virtue" — that is, of moral energy. With a goal in view, that energy lets the believer get past obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin that so easily entangles him.
The name Bethlehem itself points forward.
Bethlehem means "the House of Bread." It was a fitting birthplace, long afterward, for Him who as the "Bread of God" came down from heaven to give life to the world. Judah means "praise," and it is the royal tribe through which, in grace, the King was to come.
God had a reason for keeping this tribe through the captivity.
So God keeps the tribe the King was to come from until the appointed time, when Jesus is born in Bethlehem. This tribe is kept while the other ten tribes lie hidden in the dust of the earth. It holds the leading and only place in the books of Chronicles, and within it the family of David stands first.
- Father — "father of Bethlehem" means founder or prince of the town. Hareph stands the same way behind Beth-gader, a place near Bethlehem.
- Fragments — many names here are clans, districts and cities, not single men. After the captivity whole families could no longer prove their descent.
- Sealed — these gathered scraps are still documents on which God set His seal of approval, whatever critics say of them.
- Founders — the line runs through Caleb, a name tied to the moral energy that presses past obstacles toward its goal.
- Fulfilment — tribe, family and village were all kept safe for one appointed moment. In the House of Bread the King was born, the One who came down from heaven to give life to the world.
And Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim had sons Haroeh, Hazi-Hammenuhoth.
This verse is one line in a long family register. Shobal is called the "father" of a town, not of a person, and his sons have names that sound like clans. Two questions follow. Why does Scripture keep such fragments? And how can a city have a father?
Caleb's line is not set out once and finished. One writer traces how this verse got here.
Caleb's genealogy is a striking example of this disorder. It shows how the genealogical registers survived only in fragments. Caleb (called Chelubai in verse 9 — not without purpose, I think) is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah... In verses 50-55 we meet the descendants of Caleb, the son of Hezron, for the third time in this chapter. They come through Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, and part of his genealogy has already been given to us in verse 20.
The verse calls Shobal the father of a town. It then lists a group, "the Menuhoth", as though it were a son. The same writer ties this way of recording names to the people who came home from captivity.
In Chronicles the accuracy of the genealogies depends in large measure on the value the Jews placed on them during their captivity. The disorder these lists show matches the state of the remnant, as we find them in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Quite a number among the people and among the priesthood could not prove their genealogy. They had no family head to point to. Even so, the names of their families, groups, and cities could still identify them. In this way such a name became in essence a "moral person," recognized as the stem of their ancestry.
The same group reappears two verses later under a different spelling. Translators have handled it in different ways.
These are families descended from Shobal and Salma, the sons of Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:52, 54). The Hebrew is different in the two verses. In 1 Chronicles 2:52 the Revised Version has "Menuhoth." Mr. Darby treats "half of" as part of the proper name. So he gives Hazi-Hammenuhoth in 1 Chronicles 2:52, and Hazi-Hammanahethites in 1 Chronicles 2:54.
Shobal's branch is not the royal line. One writer asks why such branches appear at all, and recalls what the head of this line did for Israel.
The honoured line passed through Ram, but his natural relatives have a place in the archives of Judah. No doubt every one named here stood out for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given to him... Hur is the son of Caleb. This is the Hur who held up the hands of Moses along with Aaron, when Israel fought and overcame Amalek. He also shared with Aaron the care of the people when Moses went up the mountain (Exodus 17:12)... Is it not because of his connection with the ancestry of David? That line was always so choice with God that even the least link with it entitles a man to a place in these genealogies.
Kiriath-jearim is more than a place name. The ark — God's throne in Israel — later rested there. A boy from Ephratah, the district named in this same line, set his heart on recovering it.
Ephratah in that verse seems to stand for Bethlehem, and "the fields of the wood" for Kirjath-Jearim. Since this is so, the little verse sheds a flood of light on the matter. David was only a boy at Ephratah, long before he became famous, when he heard of the ark and all it had gone through. He saw that if God was to have His right place in Israel, the ark, which was His throne, must be recovered and properly set up again. As soon as he was settled on the throne he went to Kirjath-Jearim to bring it up to Zion.
Haroeh and the Menuhoth left no story behind them. Only the names remain.
It touches the soul deeply to go over a record of names that people forgot long ago. God has remembered every one of them, with every detail of their pathway through this world. Some day our names will be lost to mankind too. But God will forget neither us nor our ways.
- Fragment. The verse sits in the third, broken run of Caleb's descendants in this chapter, traced through Hur. The register came down in pieces, not as a tidy family tree.
- Family. When no one could trace a family head, families, clans and towns stood in as the recognised stem of a person's ancestry.
- City. The verse makes Shobal the father of a town, Kiriath-jearim. Even the spelling of the Menuhoth shifts by verse 54, so translations differ.
- Ark. That town later sheltered the ark. David, from the same Ephratah district named in this line, brought it up to Zion.
- Remembered. God keeps these storyless names because they link to David's line, and because He forgets no one. He will not forget our names either.
And the families of Kirjath-jearim were the Jithrites, and the Puthites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; of them came the Zoreathites and the Eshtaolites.
This verse sits inside a long list of Judah's descendants. It names four clans from one small town, plus two groups that came out of them — so why does God keep a record like this, and what did these forgotten families ever do?
Many of the names in this part of the record are not persons but groups. One writer explains how a family or a town could stand in place of a missing ancestor when the records themselves had been damaged by exile.
In Chronicles, how accurate the family records are depends largely on how much the Jews valued them during their captivity. The disorder these records show matches the state of the remnant that we find in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Many of the people, and many of the priests, could not prove their line. They had no named head, yet they could still be known by the names of their families, groups and cities. Those names in this way became, in effect, a single "person" who stood as the stem their line grew from. The great disorder that came in also explains, at least in part, why very distant descendants of the head of a clan were counted as his sons.
The last two groups in the verse carry the names of towns. One dictionary entry ties the first of them, the Zorathites, both to a father in Judah's line and to the town of Zorah.
Family descended from Shobal, son of Judah: probably so called because of inhabiting Zorah. 1 Chr. 4:2. Called ZAREATHITES in 1 Chr. 2:53.
(Older translations read "Zareathites"; the ESV reads "Zorathites.")
Eshtaol, the other town in the verse, is not an empty name either.
Town in the lowlands of Judah, allotted to Dan. It was near to this town that Samson spent his early life, and there he was buried.
Kirjath-jearim, the town whose clans this verse lists, is not an unknown village. It mattered to Israel for one reason: the ark of God, the chest that marked His presence among them.
A city on the border of Judah and Benjamin. Its earlier name was Kirjath-baal. Joshua 15:60; Joshua 18:14. The ark was moved to the hill of the city and stayed there many years.
The first clan on the list, the Ithrites, turns up again in the roll of David's warriors. The connection made in this verse is what ties those two men to Judah.
This is the name given to Ira and Gareb, two of David's mighty men. They are described as among "the families of Kirjath-jearim," which links them with Judah. 2 Sam. 23:38. 1 Chr. 2:53; 1 Chr. 11:40.
So why did family lines matter so much in Israel? One writer sets Israel's care for them against the way people elsewhere prize their ancestry.
So if an Israelite was closely tied to his family, that was not vanity or pride, as it so often is among us. In Israel it was tied to the purpose of God... in Israel, God arranged everything. It was God's appointment, and the worthy men there were men who were worthy in God's sight — men who, by what their faith achieved, had won a place for Israel according to the will of God... So a family line held on to from the earliest times had a divine character in Israel that it has in no other country under the sun.
A list of four clan names can feel like dead text. One writer found it sobering instead.
There is something deeply sobering to the soul in being allowed to go over a record of names that people forgot long ago — yet God has remembered every one of them, along with every detail of their path through this world. One day our names too will be lost to mankind, but God will forget neither us nor our ways.
- Remembered as clans. After the exile many could not prove their descent. So families, groups and towns stood in for the missing head and were counted as the stem of the line.
- Remembered by place. The Zorathites and Eshtaolites carry the names of towns. Samson spent his early life near Eshtaol, and he was buried there.
- Remembered near the ark. These clans belonged to Kirjath-jearim. The ark of God, the sign of His presence, stayed on the hill of that city for years.
- Remembered for faith. From the first clan here came Ira and Gareb, two of David's mighty men. What made a name worth recording in Israel was not rank but what faith achieved.
- Remembered by God. Names the world has lost are still on God's page. One day ours will be lost too, and He will forget neither us nor our ways.
The sons of Salma Bethlehem, and the Netophathites. Atroth-Beth-Joab, and the Hazi-Hammana-hethites, the Zorites;
One line of names in Judah's register: the sons of Salma, starting with Bethlehem, then a string of clans and settlements. Why does Scripture keep such a list, and what is it building toward?
This verse sits in the last part of Judah's genealogy. It comes back once more to a name this chapter keeps repeating.
In verses 50-55 we meet the descendants of Caleb, the son of Hezron, for the third time in this chapter. They come through Hur, the first-born of Ephratah. Verse 20 has already given us part of that genealogy.
Salma is not said to have fathered a child called Bethlehem. The phrase carries a different sense.
In 1 Chr. 2:51, 54; 1 Chr. 4:4, 'father of Bethlehem' may signify 'prince of Bethlehem.'
That small town, named here in passing, carries both a history and a meaning.
David was anointed in the house of Jesse the Bethlehemite, so it seems this was the place of David's birth (1 Sam. 16:4; 1 Sam. 17:12, 15). That is why Luke 2:11 calls it the 'city of David.' It was also the birthplace of Jesus. It was "too little to be among the clans of Judah," and that suited His humiliation all the better. Bethlehem means 'house of bread.' It is a very fitting name for a place from which the Saviour should come as a man — He who was the living bread that came down from heaven.
The Netophathites, the Manahathites and the Zorites are groups, not single people. One commentator explains how a family or a town could take the place of a missing line of fathers.
Quite a number among the people and among the priesthood could not prove their genealogy. They had no heads on record. Even so, they could still be recognized by the names of their families, groups, and cities. Those names became, in effect, a "moral person," recognized as the stem of their ancestry (compare Ezra 1 and here 1 Chron. 2:50, 54-55; 1 Chron. 4:4).
Translators also differ over the phrase "half of the Manahathites."
Families descended from Shobal and Salma, sons of Caleb. 1 Chr. 2:52, 54. The Hebrew is different in the two verses. Mr. Darby treats 'half of' as part of the proper name, giving Hazi-Hammenuhoth in 1 Chr. 2:52, and Hazi-Hammanahethites in 1 Chr. 2:54.
Some say the gaps and repetitions in these lists make the book worthless as history. One commentator meets that charge head on.
Must we conclude from all this that the text of Chronicles is a human compilation, put together at random, and that the book has no historical value at all? That is what the rationalists claim. But thank God, their reason is always at fault when it attacks His Word. No informed Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are fragments gathered in a time of general confusion. Yet God sets His seal of approval on these documents.
Two men named Caleb stand behind this part of the list. One of them was not born an Israelite at all.
Caleb the son of Jephunneh was not originally one of the people of Judah. In Numbers 32:12 and Joshua 14:6, 14 he is called Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Genesis 36:11 shows us that Kenaz is an Edomite name. So at some point his family was brought into the tribes of Israel, just like other foreigners such as Jethro, Rahab, and Ruth, who became members of the people of God because of their faith. By birth, then, Caleb had no right of citizenship in Israel. His faith won him that right among Judah, and he was taken into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron, as 1 Chronicles 2:49 and the passages already quoted from Joshua show. The surviving fragments of the genealogy of Caleb the son of Hezron confirm the place God gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. This substitution is one of the important points the Spirit of God calls our attention to here.
So why open a history of Israel with pages of names? Chronicles is tracing one line down to one Person.
In Chronicles the ruin is as clear as it is in the earlier books. But the point here is God's settled purpose to bring in His Only-begotten through a human line — a human line, yet His only begotten Son. In other words, His purpose stands out more in Chronicles. The genealogy proves this, and gives the key to the book.
- Purpose. The genealogy is the key to Chronicles: God bringing in His Son through a human line.
- Place. Verses 50-55 come back a third time to Caleb's line. This verse lists the families that came from Salma.
- Prince. "Father of Bethlehem" may mean prince of the town. The other names are clans and settlements that stand in for lost family records.
- Preserved. The lists are fragments gathered in a time of confusion, yet they are documents on which God set His seal.
- Promise. Faith brought Caleb, an outsider, into Judah. And little Bethlehem, the house of bread, is where the living bread came from.
and the families of the scribes who dwelt at Jabez the Tireathites, the Shimeathites, the Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.
The genealogy of Judah ends by naming families of scribes at a town called Jabez. It then calls them Kenites — a people not born Israelites at all. Why does a family register of Judah end with outsiders? And what became of "the house of Rechab" named here?
The Kenites came out of Midian and tied themselves to Moses. One writer traces their path from there to the Rechabites named in this verse:
The history of this family, which came out of Midian and was allied to Moses, is full of interest. Jethro visited Israel in the desert and then went home to his own land. Moses asked Jethro's son Hobab to be eyes for the children of Israel, and to lead them as they camped in the wilderness. Hobab refused. Yet his sons, like Caleb, followed the people of God faithfully. They were the children of a stranger among the nations, and like Rahab they went up out of Jericho, the city of palm trees, to throw in their lot with Israel. They held to Judah for good, and in that they were like Ruth. And like Othniel, they allied themselves with the family of Caleb. The Rechabites came from the Kenites. When their history closes in the Bible, they are praised as true Nazarites in the middle of the ruin of Israel.
Jabez here is a town, not the man of the same name. No one today knows where it stood.
The city in which the various families of the scribes lived. 1 Chr. 2:55. Not identified.
A man named Jabez prays in the next chapter, and God answers him. One writer asks whether this town was named after that man:
Was that "border," which the Lord enlarged in answer to his prayer, named after him? If so, 1 Chronicles 2:55 supports the impression that he belonged to the family of the Kenites. They descended from Hobab, a Cushite, who came with Israel at Moses' own invitation, and Hobab's children lived among the people of Judah. A Kenite could not claim a share in Israel on the ground that he was an Israelite. Yet he could call on the God of Israel, and ask to be blessed with Israel.
Caleb's name runs through this chapter, and one writer sets the house of Rechab in that company:
To sum up, this chapter highlights the name of Caleb. That name carries the thought of "virtue" — that is, of moral energy. With a goal in view, this energy lets the believer get over obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin that so easily entangles him… The same name links people of the same calibre as the son of Jephunneh: Othniel; Achsah; Hur; Jair (though Jair later lost everything his energy had first gained); the house of Rechab.
The house of Rechab shows up again in a man called Jehonadab. A Nazarite was a person set apart to God, and one writer shows what that meant for him:
Jehonadab was of the race of the Kenites, who had entered into Canaan with Israel. They split into several branches. The smallest lived far to the north at Kedesh in Naphtali. The strongest lived in the desert of Judah, south of Arad. A third branch divided into several families near Jabez, a town that belonged to Judah… He had no link with the evil around him. He lived by complete separation to God, as a true Nazarite. He could not teach these principles in the corrupt world around him, so he had at least taught them in his family and in his house. The circle of his testimony was small… but it was still a testimony, and God approved it.
Another writer points to what that family later received:
Notice the special reward granted to the house of Rechab for obeying their father.
One writer sees God's own choice behind the outsiders in these lists:
How sovereign the grace which will not overlook the outcast Gentile! … God would not be limited to Israel when it was a question of showing grace; He was as to law, but even under the old covenant, which was special to Israel, He chooses from among the Gentiles whom He will bless.
- Outsiders. The Kenites came out of Midian and tied themselves to Moses. They had no birthright in Israel. They chose to throw in their lot with God's people and held to Judah.
- Welcomed. A Kenite could not claim a share in Israel by birth. He could still call on the God of Israel and ask to be blessed with Israel. God answered Jabez, who may well have been a Kenite.
- Enrolled. Grace put them in the register beside Caleb, among names marked by moral energy that gets over obstacles.
- Separated. Their line ran on to Jehonadab. He kept complete separation to God, and taught it in his own house when he could teach it nowhere else.
- Rewarded. God approved that small circle of testimony. Their story ends with a special reward for obeying their father.