Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
These three names sit in the middle of a line that runs from Ephraim down to Joshua, the leader who brought Israel into the land. On their own they look like nothing, so why did God keep them?
One of these three names is not obscure at all. The record gives him a leading place in his tribe, and a grandson whose name everybody knows.
Son of Ammihud and grandfather of Joshua: he was a chief of Ephraim. Numbers 1:10; 2:18; 7:48, 53; 10:22; 1 Chronicles 7:26.
The first name in the verse is smaller still, with a single line of record attached to it:
Son of Tahan, an Ephraimite, 1 Chronicles 7:26.
Commentators who trace the meaning of the names read them as a picture of a people learning to depend on God.
Ephraim's prince is Elishama, which means "God has heard." The very "fruitfulness" that the name Ephraim speaks of can become a snare to us, if we have not learned to ascribe it reverently to the One who hears His people's prayer. The second name, Ammihud, means "the people of Majesty." It may point to that conscious relationship with the infinite Greatness which gives us the right to pray, and which stirs us to pray with success. All these names breathe a spirit of dependence and of nearness — of lowliness, yet of intimacy — things that must go together. There is abundant access for the humble-hearted… The nearest intimacy with God cannot feed pride, or go along with it.
This genealogy is not a roll of honour. One writer sums up the tribe's whole story:
1 Chronicles 7:20-28 speaks of the sons of Ephraim. Their history as a tribe begins and ends sadly, although they had such a notable place in their relationship with the tribe of Levi. At the beginning they had stolen from the Philistines of Gath, an act the Lord could in no way approve… God commits the carrying out of His plans to those more faithful than Ephraim. Those who should have been His instruments lose this honour in a very humbling way. This punishment had to take place, for man's unfaithfulness could not cancel God's decrees.
Yet the chapter does not end in loss. Another writer points to the children born after it:
After this Ephraim had a son, and his name, Beriah, was a memorial of their death, "because it went evil with his house." And there was blessing in his daughter Sherah, and he had other sons. This was a healing of the breach.
Ephraim's place in Israel was not earned by the tribe's behaviour. It was given when an old man crossed his hands over two boys — and the line that received it produced the one man everybody remembers.
Second son of Joseph and Asenath. The name is also given to the tribe he headed, and to the district of Palestine that fell to his lot. When Israel blessed Joseph's two sons he set Ephraim before his elder brother, saying he would be greater, and his offspring would become a multitude of nations. Scripture records little about Ephraim himself. Of his descendants, Joshua the son of Nun is the most renowned.
One writer follows that line to where the account stops, and then to readers now:
The God who had blessed Joseph in his son Ephraim, following the unchanging pattern of Chronicles, does not stop at the evil this man had earned. The account we are given ends with the name of Joshua, the picture of Christ in the Spirit, leading His people to the conquest of their inheritance. So it is for God's people today. We must accept that evil is in the house by our own fault. But we must never doubt for a moment that He who alone is worthy to enter Canaan will give us a possession in it.
Families carried these lists into exile and back, at a time when they looked useless.
These genealogies were imperfect. Israel's condition bore the mark of the ruin that had fallen on them. But it also bore the mark of the goodness of God. He had brought back a remnant, and He had preserved everything needed to place them in the record of His people… Happy the man who had preserved his own, and who valued the heritage of the Lord enough to care about it! It was a proof of faith; for it might have been said, What use are these genealogies in Babylon?
The same writer draws a wider rule from these chapters:
Although there was neither the power of the king nor the order of the kingdom, yet wherever there was faith, God blessed those of His people who trusted in Him.
- Named. The record names Elishama chief of Ephraim and grandfather of Joshua. The verse is a name chain with a destination.
- Meaning. "God has heard" and "the people of Majesty" breathe dependence and nearness. That is the opposite of a tribe that trusts its own fruitfulness.
- Failure. Ephraim's story begins and ends sadly. God gave His work to more faithful hands, because man's unfaithfulness cannot cancel His decrees.
- Grace. New sons healed the breach, and the blessing Israel spoke over Ephraim ran on through this list to Joshua.
- Kept. Families guarded these names through Babylon when they looked useless. That was proof of faith. And wherever there was faith, God blessed the person who trusted Him.
Nun his son, Joshua his son.
This verse gives the last two links in a family line that runs from Ephraim. It ends on a name everyone knows: Joshua. The names before it are obscure, so why keep the list at all — and why does it end with the man who led Israel into the land?
The verse names Joshua by his father. One writer gathers what Scripture tells us about him:
Joshua means "Jehovah is Saviour"; the Greek name for Joshua is Jesus. He was the son of Nun, an Ephraimite (Num. 13:8), grandson of Elishama (1 Chron. 7:26-27). In Exodus we saw him as the leader of Israel against Amalek. Scripture calls him Moses' servant and attendant (Ex. 24:13; 32:17-18); as the servant of Moses, he did not leave the tabernacle (Ex. 33:11).
His father appears in Scripture for one reason only:
An Ephraimite, father of Joshua, and referred to in scripture only to distinguish his son, who succeeded Moses.
Joshua did not start life with that name. Moses gave it to him:
This is the full form of the name Moses gave to Joshua. He "called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua," so changing his name from "Deliverance" to "Jehovah is Saviour." Num. 13:16; 1 Chr. 7:27.
So the line of Ephraim closes on a name that says who the real Saviour is. The quote uses older English spellings; modern translations write the names as Hoshea and Joshua.
The names just before this verse carry a painful story. Ephraim's sons went down to take Philistine cattle, and the men of Gath killed them:
At the beginning (we do not know exactly when), they had stolen from the Philistines of Gath, an act which the Lord could in no way approve... "The men of Gath born in the land killed them, because they came down to take their cattle" (v. 21)... The moral result of Ephraim's conduct came quickly: "Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. And he went in to his wife; and she conceived, and bore a son; and he called his name Beriah [in evil], for he was born when calamity was in his house."
That is where the list starts. This verse is where it arrives:
Before Beriah was born, things had gone badly for the house of Ephraim. The record names its descendants down to Joshua, who led Israel on to victory in the Land of Promise (1 Chron. 7:20-27).
These lists are not filler. One writer calls them a memorial of the people God has shown grace to:
At the same time He records the names of those who went through the trials mentioned in this history and were never blotted out of the book. Here it is only the outward picture of this blessed memorial of the people of His grace, but that is what we find here. All Israel is not there; and not all who are descended from Israel are truly Israel.
For the people who first read them after returning from exile in Babylon, they had a very practical use:
When they returned, these family records would be extremely important for the Israelites. They would keep them from seizing what was not theirs. They would keep them from being unjust. They would keep them content with what God had given them. And they would tie them to all that was great and glorious in God's sight in the past... In their weakness they needed every cheer and encouragement.
The name at the end of the list points past the man who bore it:
As we have said before in these notes, Joshua means "Jehovah is Saviour." Moses, the first leader, could not bring them in. Joshua, the second leader appointed by God, brought them in. Moses is a picture of Christ's first coming, and Joshua a picture of Christ's second coming. It is at the second coming of our Lord that Israel will receive the land. He will restore to them the God-given inheritance.
Commentators differ on how far to press this. Gaebelein ties Joshua to Christ's second coming. Another writer says only that Joshua is "a type of Christ as leader or Captain of His saints" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
- Recorded. God keeps names. The genealogy is "a blessed memorial of the people of His grace," which is why a verse of two bare names survives at all.
- Rescued. The line runs from Beriah, named for calamity, down to Joshua — a family history that starts in disgrace and is not abandoned there.
- Renamed. Moses changed Oshea, "Deliverance," to Jehoshua, "Jehovah is Saviour." The whole list ends on a confession of who saves.
- Reused. The exiles who came home needed these lists. The records kept them honest, content with what God gave, and tied to a glorious past.
- Revealed. Moses could not bring Israel in; Joshua did. The last name in Ephraim's line is the same name as Jesus in Greek.