Outline of Chapter 7:

       vv.    1–5        The Descendants of Issachar

       vv.    6–12       The Descendants of Benjamin

       v.     12 alt.     The Descendants of Dan

       v.     13           The Descendants of Naphtali

       vv.   14–19      The Descendants of Manasseh

       vv.   20–29      The Descendants of Ephraim

       vv.   30–40      The Descendants of Asher

Charts

       v.      1           The Line of Issachar, Son of Jacob

       v.      6           The Line of Benjamin, Son of Jacob

       v.      6           The Number of Sons and Grandsons Brought to Egypt

       v       7           The Huppim and Shuppim Chart

       v.      7           Who Is Aher?

       v.     12           The Line of Dan

       v.     13           The Genealogy of Naphtali, Son of Jacob

       v.     14           The Genealogy of Manasseh, Firstborn Son of Joseph, Son of Jacob

       v.     21b         The Raid on Ephraim by Gath

       v.     23           The Genealogical Line of Ephraim, Son of Joseph, Son of Jacob

       v.     30           The Line of Asher, Son of Israel

I ntroduction: With I Chron. 7, we stopped examining lines from Jacob to the exile, and concentrate on the general families. In this chapter, which is half the length of the previous chapter, we will examine six sons of Jacob: Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim and Asher. Some of these genealogies are going to be quite straightforward, e.g., that of Asher. There is no one to speak of in Asher’s line, so correlating this line with historical events and particular people is not a problem; it is in perfect sync with other passages that have Asher’s line in it. There are other lines, like Benjamin’s or Manasseh’s, that just want to make you pull your hair out. Surprisingly enough, in that case, there are no problems with previous genealogical lines, but internally, in this chapter alone. What appears to be the case is that small portions of this chapter have been severely compromised over its 2000+ year existence.

Also, interestingly enough, the tribes of Dan and Zebulun are not mentioned in this chapter or any other portion of I Chron. 1–9. Some speculate that the tribe of Dan should be the latter half of v. 12, which we will cover when we get there. However, Zebulun  is still missing entirely. Now, this does not mean that Zebulun is not mentioned at all in these chapters. He is mentioned as one of the sons of Jacob in I Chron. 2:1 and the cities which the tribe of Zebulun shared with the Levites is also recorded (I Chron. 6:63, 77). Additionally, the tribe of Zebulun is not ignored elsewhere in Chronicles, as we find them mentioned in I Chron. 12:33, 40 27:19 2Chron. 30:10–11, 18. However, the actual line of Zebulun is nowhere mentioned in any of these chapters. It is my personal opinion that is a textual error rather than an intentional leaving out of the tribe of Zebulun. Even that is surprising, as Zebulun had the second largest number of children to carry into Egypt; and that his tribe was the fourth largest tribe in the two numbering of Israel. Conversely, Zebulun received the smallest land grant under Joshua (the territories of Zebulun, Issachar and Benjamin are all roughly the same size).

There is an oddity in this chapter as well. These lines are mostly related to the Israelite military, probably during the time of David. In the lines of Issachar, Benjamin, and Asher (the first, second and sixth line), the number of men who were enrolled in military service are given. In most of the lines, particularly in these three, the end of the line is filled with names of people that we don’t know. In fact, what we have in general is that the lines begin with a handful of familiar names, as we would expect, and then rapidly move to a number of men whose names are found only here in this chapter. My guess is that, in general, we are dealing with (1) records from a partial military census, taken perhaps in the time of Saul (simply to determine how many men were of draft age); or, (2) a list of the great military families; or, (3) a list of the various heads of the military during the time of David. I would lean toward these options in the order that I gave them in, particularly as we do not find their names repeated anywhere else in Scripture as being among David’s (or, Solomon’s) mighty men.

The Descendants of Issachar

This verse begins and to sons of Issachar. Keil and Delitzsch believe the inclusion of the lâmed prefixed preposition to be a mistake, and a copyist error, as it was found in I Chron. 6:57, 61, 67.

Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter; his ninth son was Issachar. Jacob had four sons by Leah; then two sons by Rachel’s personal servant, Bilhah (Dan and Naphtali). Leah, decided to bring her personal servant into the act, and Zilpah then bore Jacob two sons, Gad and Asher. Then Leah began bearing more children, giving Jacob Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah (Gen. 29:32–30:21). Issachar has one of the weirdest names. Leah first bears four children to Jacob. Her younger sister Rachel, whom Jacob loved, could not have children, so she gave to Jacob her personal servant by which to bear two children. Leah followed suit and gave her personal servant to Jacob as well to bear more children. Then, when she bore Issachar, she said that it was because God was giving her recompense for giving her maid to Jacob. The word that Leah uses is sâkâr (רָכָ) [pronounced saw-KAWR], which means remuneration, hire, wages. Strong’s #7939 BDB #969. The idea was that she gave her maid to Jacob, the maid bore Jacob sons, and Leah is personally recompensed for the loan of her maid by giving birth to another son of Jacob. The name Issachar is the Hebrew name yis^esâkâr (רָכָ̣י) [pronounced yisê-saw-KAWR]. Strong’s #3485 BDB #441. Why exactly ZPEB says its meaning is unclear, when Leah flat out states the meaning, is unclear to me.

We know very little about the person of Issachar. He is only mentioned in those places where his brothers are also mentioned. In Genesis, he is only found being born and named (Gen. 30:18); in a list of the sons of Leah (Gen. 35:23); in the list of those who moved to Egypt with their sons (Gen. 46:13 Ex. 1:3) and in Jacob’s last address to his children. Similarly, Issachar is found in the line of Israel in I Chron. 2:1–2. On Jacob’s deathbed, his words to Issachar were rather bleak: “Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. When he saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens and became a slave to forced labor.” (Gen. 49:14–15).

We also know little about the tribe of Issachar. We find this tribe named only in passages where all of the tribes are named (there are a few exceptions to this). During the time of the census, it was led by Nethanel ben Zuar (Num. 1:8 2:5 10:15) and that there were 54,400 men over the age of twenty at their exodus from Egypt (Num. 1:28–29 2:6). Nethanel offered a sacrifice on behalf of the tribe he led (Num. 7:18), as did the other tribal leaders. The man sent out to spy out the land on behalf of Issachar was Igol (Num. 13:7; the ones who led the tribe originally were not the ones who were sent out into the land to spy out the land). The tribe increased slightly in size after the 38 silent years in the desert, to 64,300 (Num. 26:25). After gen X was removed from Israel, the new leader of Issachar was Paltiel ben Azzan.

Moses set Issachar as one of the six tribes that would stand on Mount Ebal, the mountain of blessing, to pronounce appropriate blessings to those who obey God’s Word. When Moses blesses Issachar, he does so in conjunction with the tribe of Zebulun, saying, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth, and Issachar, in your tents. They will call peoples to the mountain; there they will offer righteous sacrifices, for they will draw out the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.” (Deut. 33:18b–19).

Issachar is one of the tribes to border West Manasseh (Joshua 17:10–11). The land and cities apportioned Issachar is given in Joshua 19:17–23 (see also I Chron. 6:62, 72). They gave some of their cities (four) over to the family of Gershon, a sub-family of the Levites (Joshua 21:6, 28–29). Issachar is probably bordered by more sons of Israel than any other state. To the south is West Manasseh; to the north is Zebulun and Naphtali. On the east, Issachar is bordered by the Jordan River; on the north side of the Jordan is East Manasseh, and on the south side of the Jordan is Gad. The northeast tip of Issachar is at the exit point of the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee.

When Deborah and Barak went to war against Sisera and Jabin, Issachar is one of the tribes which was associated with this war, although it is only mentioned after the fact (Judges 5:15). One of the judges of Israel was Tola ben Puah, a son of Dodo, a man of Issachar (Judges 10:1–2). We know little about him other than he ruled over Israel (or a portion thereof) for 23 years.

The tribe of Issachar is mentioned only one time in all of Samuel and Kings. Under Solomon there was one leader and probably representative from the tribe of Issachar, Jehoshaphat ben Paruah (1Kings 4:17). One of the house of Issachar, Baasha ben Ahijah, struck down Nadab, one of the many evil kings over Northern Israel (1Kings 16:25–28). This was about 909 b.c. and Baasha ruled over Israel for a time. Baasha did evil as a king, as did the man he supplanted (1Kings 15:33–34). However, the tribe of Issachar is mentioned in I Chron. 13:32, and certain ones from that tribe were described as men who could discern the times and understood what Israel should do (this was when Saul ruled over Israel, although God had chosen David to supplant him). David had a great deal of support from the northern tribes in general during this time (see also I Chron. 12:40). One of David’s chief of staff came from the tribe of Issachar: Omri ben Michael (I Chron. 27:18). When Hezekiah reinstituted the Passover, several of the northern tribes, including Issachar, joined him (2Chron. 30:13–19).

Finally, the tribe of Issachar, along with the other tribes of Israel, is mentioned in what appears to be one of the millennial passages of Ezekiel (Ezek. 48:21–35). Its borders, walls, and gates (actually, gate) are given. In the Tribulation, there will be 12,000 evangelists from the tribe of Issachar (Rev. 7:7).

All four sons named in v. 1 were born to Issachar outside of Egypt and moved to Egypt with him. (Gen. 46:13). We really know nothing about these sons, as only their names appear in Gen. 46:13 Num. 25:23–24.

As you would no doubt expect, we do not know any of these men. They are described by the masculine plural construct of soldiers followed by the masculine singular noun chayil (ל̣יַח) [pronounced CHAH-yil ] and it means efficiency, army, strength, valour, power, might. Strong’s #2428 BDB #298. According to 2Sam. 24:9, there were 800,000 men in Israel (northern Canaan) during the time of David who could be drafted; and 500,000 men in Judah (southern Canaan). My guess is that northern Canaan would include those tribes east of the Jordan. The numbers themselves are possibly a problem. If there are eight tribes in northern Israel, then the average would be 100,000 soldiers per tribe; and 22,600 is far below that average. My thinking is that the 22,600 might be accurate, but that the 800,000 is too many. Many exegetes have, throughout the centuries, questioned the numbering that we find in Scripture—particularly the large numbers—and we do not know if we fully grasp how to properly translate large numbers from the ancient Hebrew.

What appears to be the case in I Chron. 27, is that under David, there was a monthly standing army of 24,000; apparently, those who were in the reserves trained and were active one month each year; and that the entire army, including reserves, during the time of David, would have been about 288,000.

One of the leaders of the tribe of Issachar under David’s reign is named Omri ben Michael—this is possibly a reference to the same Michael found in this verse. The five refers to the descendants of Uzzi named here, none of whom are mentioned elsewhere in Scripture (apart from Michael, of course). However, the chronicler recalls that they were all leaders (or, rather, heads of their families, which is probably the sense in which this should be taken).

We have in this verse a word we haven’t seen often: the masculine singular construct of g^edûwd (דד) [pronounced g^eDOOD], which means band, troop, division, detachment. Strong’s #1416 BDB #151. The 36,000, I assume, refers to the largest their portion of the army has been.

I’m not certain whether this means: (1) there were 87,000 soldiers from Issachar in the history of Israel; (2) there were 87,000 soldiers recorded by genealogy from Issachar; (3) there were 87,000 soldiers from Issachar from the three times that a head count of the soldiers was taken.

The Descendants of Benjamin

Of all the lines, Benjamin’s appears to be the most messtup. However, we will barely touch on this line or these people in this chapter. In I Chron. 8, Benjamin’s line is given again because of this, we will wait until then to examine it completely. However, we will have a look at Benjamin himself, as well as examine a few of his descendants not mentioned in I Chron. 8.

As you will recall, Jacob was tricked into marrying Leah, when he thought he was marrying Rachel, the woman that he was in love with. Then Rachel could not have children and Leah kept squeezing them out one after another. When Rachel brought her maid into the mix, Leah did the same with hers. Finally, Rachel bore two children to Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin—Benjamin being the youngest of all Jacob’s children (Gen. 29–30). Actually, Benjamin was born sometime later—Rachel named him Ben-oni (son of my sorrow) and Jacob named him Benjamin (son of my right hand). The birthing was difficult and Rachel died as she gave birth to Benjamin (Gen. 35).

Jacob was a father who clearly played favorites. He was tricked into marrying Leah, and he never got over that (he had to wait a total of 14 years in order to marry Rachel). His sons by Rachel were his favorite sons. He lavished so much more love on Joseph, that Joseph’s brothers despised him and eventually sold him into slavery, telling their father that he had died. When there was a famine in Israel and Jacob’s sons had to go to Egypt for provisions, Jacob insisted on keeping Benjamin behind, so that he would not lose him (he possibly did not trust his other sons) (Gen. 37, 42).

When Jacob’s sons—Joseph’s older brothers—came to Egypt for grain and other provisions, Joseph had become prime minister over Egypt and was in charge of the grain silos as well as the rationing of the grain. When they asked to buy grain, Joseph agreed, but also accused them of being spies, forcing them to say that they were twelve sons in all, of the same man; one was no more (Joseph, whom they had sold into slavery) and one was still at home. Joseph demanded that they bring the youngest son, Benjamin, from home, and kept Simeon as hostage. Realize that Benjamin would have been Joseph’s younger brother and he would have been, at an early age, responsible for his younger brother (Gen. 43.

When the ten sons returned, Joseph had them come to his house, and he prepared a meal for them. Eventually, he revealed himself to them as their brother and asked them to move to Egypt for the next five years of famine which were expected. The number of sons and grandsons that were brought with the eleven sons were as follows:

From the chart, it is obvious that Benjamin, although the youngest of all the children of Jacob, brought with him the most children. Now, with regards to the children of Benjamin, we have a lot to sort out. In the lines of Judah and Asher, their grandsons were clearly noted in Gen. 46. No other grandsons are mentioned. Our problem is this: with Benjamin being the youngest, we would not expect him to have grandchildren in this move to Egypt (although such a thing would be possible). In Gen. 46:21, Benjamin has a son named Ard; in Num. 26:40, there is also an Ard mentioned who is the son of Bela, the grandson of Benjamin (this is not repeated in I Chron. 7). In the Greek of Gen. 46:21, Ard (actually Arad in the Greek and Addar in I Chron. 8:3) is the great grandson of Benjamin. Since we have another line of Benjamin given in the next chapter, we will wait until then to sort out his line and to cover most of these descendants in whatever detail is possible.

Bela will be covered in the next chapter. However, these men are found only in this chapter, and they do not appear to be his actual sons, but later descendants of Bela, men who were officers in Israel’s Army. Uzzi may also be named in I Chron. 9:8. Iri may be equivalent to Ir in v. 12.

Why Becher is found here, but not in the next chapter is unknown to me (although I will discuss this problem in much greater detail in the coming chapter). These are likely officers of Israel’s army as well, who names are found only in this verse as a memorial. Again, these are probably men who were late descendants of Becher.

It is possible that Abijah (also known as Abiah) is equivalent to Aphiah of 1Sam. 9:1 (who is a near descendant of Benjamin in the line to Saul). The only problem with this identification is that a relatively unknown descendant of Benjamin (Abijah) is mentioned in 1Sam. 9:1, yet a better known descendant of Benjamin, Becher, the father of Abijah, is not.

There are two in this list whose names are also cities. Anathoth is also a city in Benjamin given over to the Levites (Joshua 21:18). ZPEB suggests that Anathoth is the plural of Anath, which is the name of a Canaanite goddess, suggesting that Anathoth may have been an area devoted to the worship of that deity prior to Hebrew occupation. Keil and Delitzsch suggest the city may have been named after the man. We really don’t know, although the connection is probably more than simply a coincidence (I would guess the man was named after the city—perhaps long after the name had any pagan meaning to the Israelites). We examined the city Anathoth in Joshua 18:24. Alemeth is also the name of a city in Benjamin, one given over to the Levites as well (it is Alemeth in I Chron. 6:60 and Almon in Joshua 21:18). Again, we do not really know which one came from the other. However, it does seem reasonable that a city would be named after the head of the families who inhabited it.

These men of v. 8 were the primary heads of the family of Becher and the number of soldiers descended from them (apparently at the time of writing? Maybe in the previous census?) Was 20,200. A possibility that occurs to me is that Israel kept a list of male names—a census of sorts, if you will—in order to determine which men could be called upon in times of war and to which family they belonged. In this chapter, Issachar, Benjamin and Asher’s records appear to be related to the military, and therefore possibly came from a military census.

Jediael shows up only in the genealogy in this chapter. He does not have to be the actual son of Benjamin. Being that he does not show up in any other line means that (1) he is a later, but important descendant of Benjamin or that (2) he is equivalent to one of the other sons of Benjamin. Jediael’s name is y^edîy׳ăêl (ל̤א ֲעי.די) [pronounced y^edee-ģuh-ALE]. Strong’s #3043 BDB #396. With the double consecutive gutturals, this is one difficult name to pronounce. I would guess, but not stake my theological reputation on his being equivalent to Ashbel, who occurs in every line of Benjamin except for this one as the second or third son named. The name of Ashbel in the Hebrew is ash^ebêl (ל̤ש-א) [pronounced ahsh^e-BAYL], which is transliterated Ashbel. Strong’s #788 BDB #78. There is obviously no way one could be confounded with the other, having a guttural sound and an l in common. However, Jediael’s name, in the Hebrew, is tough to say, making it reasonable that one is the shortened version or nickname of the other (this is pure conjecture on my part). Ashbel’s descendants are not mentioned anywhere else (although, it would not matter, as these lists do not match any others).

Ehud is a name found only in the line of Benjamin. He is mentioned here as a descendant of Jediael. In I Chron. 8:6, there is an Ehud who appears to be in the line of Bela (although it is quite unclear at that point). Then we have Ehud of the judges, who is found in the latter half of Judges 3, who is a descendant of Gera.

Tarshish is also the name of a precious stone; obviously, his mother named him.

The other men are not found anywhere else, and are probably later descendants of the tribe of Benjamin. Barnes suggests that these were soldiers who were named in David’s army when he took a census of the people.

Let’s just see how a couple of others handled this verse:

NASB                                    All these were sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers’ household. 17,200 mighty men of valor, who were ready to go out [lit., going out] with the army to war.

Young's Lit. Translation All these are sons of Jediael, even heads of the fathers, mighty in valour, seventeen thousand and two hundred going out to the host for battle.

After the number, we have the masculine plural, Qal active participle construct of the very common verb yâtsâ (א ָצ ָי) [pronounced yaw-TZAWH], which means to go out, to come out, to come forth. Strong's #3318 BDB #422. Here, it means a going out of. This is followed by the masculine singular construct of tsâbâ (א ָב ָצ) [pronounced tsaw^b-VAW], and it can mean army, war, or warfare. Strong's #6635 BDB #838. This is followed by the lâmed prefixed preposition, a definite article and mil^echâmâh (ה ָמ ָח  ׃ל  ̣מ) [pronounced mil-khaw-MAW], which means battle, war. Strong’s #4421 BDB #536.

Let’s see what other translations have done with this verse:

JPS (Tanakh)                        And Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir; Hushim the sons of Aher.

NAB                                       The sons of Dan: Hushim.

NASB                                    And Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir; Hushim was the son [lit., sons] of Aher.

NEB                                       The sons of Dan: Hushim and the sons of Aher.

REB                                       The sons of Dan: Hushim and the sons of Aher.

The Septuagint                      And Sappin and Apphin, and the sons of Or, Asom, his son [was] Aor.

Young's Literal Translation    And Shuppim and Huppim are sons of Ir; Hushim son of Aher.

Now, this is odd—the line of Benjamin seemed to come to a halt, and then, all of a sudden, we seem to be in this line once again. At least, according to most translations. After I deal with Shuppim and Huppim, I will offer you an alternative to this.

Throughout the line of Benjamin, we have men whose names are Shuppim and Huppim or very similar. However, these men are not necessarily equivalent—not that it makes any difference. There is an Iri in this chapter (a descendant of Bela); this could be the same as Ir; however, these men are located, more or less, in the line of Jediael (although I would be hard-pressed to explain exactly how). Since they appear to show up out of nowhere in this verse, they could be in Bela’s line (this would be according to only the Greek of Gen. 46). They could be early descendants of Benjamin. My original thinking is that these two are found much later in the line of Jediael and were well-known to the writer of Chronicles and to those who would have read Chronicles at that time. However, the NIV Study Bible offers a better solution, rendering some of these names in the gentilic adjective: The Shuppites and Huppites were the descendants of Ir, and the Hushites the descendants of Aher. We might do well to just see in a chart, the various men whom are often said to be equivalent: