Introduction to the Hagiographic Historical Books of the Old Testament

Besides the prophetico-historic writings - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings - which describe from a prophetic point of view the development of the kingdom of God established by means of the mediatorial office of Moses, from the time of the bringing of the tribes of Israel into the land promised to the fathers till the Babylonian exile, the Old Testament contains five historical books - Ruth, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These latter stand in the Hebrew canon among the כּתוּבים, i.e., in the hagiography, and are at once distinguished from the above-mentioned prophetico-historic writings by this characteristic, that they treat only of single parts of the history of the covenant people from individual points of view. The book of Ruth gives a charming historical picture from the life of the ancestors of King David. The Chronicles, indeed, extend over a very long period of the historical development of the Israelite kingdom of God, embrace the history from the death of King Saul till the Babylonian exile, and go back in the genealogies which precede the narrative of the history to Adam, the father of the human race; yet neither in the genealogical part do they give a perfect review of the genealogical ramifications of the twelve tribes of the covenant people, nor in their historical portion contain the history of the whole people from the death of Saul till the exile. Besides the tables of the first progenitors of humanity and the tribal ancestors of the people of Israel, borrowed from Genesis, the genealogical part contains only a collection of genealogical and topographical fragments differing in plan, execution, and extent, relating to the chief families of the most prominent tribes and their dwelling-places. The historical part contains, certainly, historical sketches from the history of all Israel during the reigns of the kings David and Solomon; but from the division of the kingdom, after the death of Solomon, they contain only the history of the kingdom of Judah, with special reference to the Levitical worship, to the exclusion of the history of the kingdom of the ten tribes. From a comparison of the manner of representing the history in the Chronicles with that in the books of Samuel and the Kings, we can clearly see that the chronicler did not purpose to portray the development of the Israelitic theocracy in general, nor the facts and events which conditioned and constituted that development objectively, according to their general course. He has, on the contrary, so connected the historical facts with the attitude of the kings and the people to the Lord, and to His law, that they teach how the Lord rewarded fidelity to His covenant with blessing and success both to people and kingdom, but punished with calamity and judgments every faithless revolt from His covenant ordinances. Now since Israel, as the people and congregation of Jahve, could openly show its adherence to the covenant only by faithful observance of the covenant laws, particularly of the ordinances for worship, the author of the Chronicles has kept this side of the life of the people especially in view, in order that he might hold up before his contemporaries as a mirror the attitude of the fathers to the God-appointed dwelling-place of His gracious presence in the holy place of the congregation. He does this, that they might behold how the faithful maintenance of communion with the covenant God in His temple would assure to them the fulfilment of the gracious promises of the covenant, and how falling away into idolatry, on the contrary, would bring misfortune and destruction. This special reference to the worship meets us also in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which describe the deliverance of the Jews from exile, and their restoration as the covenant people in the land of their fathers. The book of Ezra narrates, on the one hand, the return out of the Babylonian exile into the land of their fathers of a great part of the Jews who had been led away by Nebuchadnezzar, - partly in the first year of the reign of Cyrus over Babylon, with Zerubbabel, a prince of the royal race of David, and Joshua the high priest as leaders; partly at a later period with the scribe Ezra, under Artaxerxes. On the other hand, it relates the restoration of the altar of burnt-offering, and of the divine service; together with the re-erection of the temple, and the effort of Ezra to regulate the affairs of the community according to the precepts of the Mosaic law, by doing away with the illegal marriages with heathen women. And Nehemiah describes in his book what he had accomplished in the direction of giving a firm foundation to the civil welfare of the newly-founded community in Judah: in the first place, by building the walls of Jerusalem so as to defend the city and holy place against the attacks and surprises of the hostile peoples in the neighbourhood; and secondly, by various measures for the strengthening of the capital by increasing the number of its inhabitants, and for the more exact modelling of the civil, moral, and religious life of the community on the precepts of the law of Moses, in order to lay enduring foundations for the prosperous development of the covenant people. In the book of Esther, finally, it is recounted how the Jewish inhabitants of the various parts of the great Persian kingdom were delivered by the Jewess Esther (who had been raised to the position of queen by a peculiar concatenation of circumstances) from the destruction which the Grand Vizier Haman, in the reign of King Ahashverosh (i.e., Xerxes), had determined upon, on account of the refusal of adoration by the Jew Mordecai.

Now, if we look somewhat more narrowly at the relation of these five historical books to the prophetico-historic writings, more especially in the first place in reference to their contents, we see that the books of Ruth and the Chronicles furnish us with not unimportant additions to the books of Samuel and Kings. The book of Ruth introduces us into the family life of the ancestors of King David, and shows the life-spring from which proceeded the man after God's own heart, whom God called from being a shepherd of sheep to be the shepherd of His people, that He might deliver Israel out of the power of his enemies, and found a kingdom, which received the promise of eternal duration, and which was to be established to all eternity through Christ the Son of David and the Son of God. The Chronicles supplement the history of the covenant people, principally during the period of the kings, by detailed accounts of the form of the public worship of the congregation; from which we see how, in spite of the continual inclination of the people to idolatry, and to the worship of heathen gods, the service in the temple, according to the law, was the spiritual centre about which the pious in Israel crowded, to worship the Lord their God, and to serve Him by sacrifice. We see, too, how this holy place formed throughout a lengthened period a mighty bulwark, which prevented moral and religious decay from gaining the upper hand, until at length, through the godless conduct of the kings Asa and Manasseh, the holy place itself was profaned by the idolatrous abomination, and judgment broke in upon the incorrigible race in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the driving out of Judah from the presence of the Lord. But the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are the only historical writings we possess concerning the times of the restoration of the covenant people after their emancipation from the captivity, and their return into the promised land; and even in this respect they are very valuable component parts of the Old Testament canon. The first two show how God the Lord fulfilled His promise, that He would again receive His people into favour, and collect them out of their dispersion among the heathen, if they should, in their misery under the oppression of the heathen, come to a knowledge of their sins, and turn unto Him; and how, after the expiry of the seventy years of the Babylonian exile which had been prophesied, He opened up to them, through Cyrus the king of Persia, their return into the land of their fathers, and restored Jerusalem and the temple, that He might preserve inviolate, and thereafter perfect, by the appearance of the promised David who was to come, that gracious covenant which He had entered into with their fathers. But the providence of God ruled also over the members of the covenant people who had remained behind in heathen lands, to preserve them from the ruin which had been prepared for them by the heathen, in order that from among them also a remnant might be saved, and become partakers of the salvation promised in Christ. To show this by a great historical example is the aim of the book of Esther, and the meaning of its reception into the canon of the Holy Scriptures of the old covenant.

If, finally, we consider the style of historical writing found in these five books, we can scarcely characterize it in its relation to the prophetic books by a fitting word. The manner of writing history which is prevalent in the hagiography has been, it is true, called the national (volksthmlich) or annalistic, but by this name the peculiarity of it has in no respect been correctly expressed. The narrative bears a national impress only in the book of Esther, and relatively also in the book of Ruth; but even between these two writings a great difference exists. The narrative in Ruth ends with the genealogy of the ancestors of King David; whereas in the book of Esther all reference to the theocratic relation, any, even the religious contemplation of the events, is wholly wanting. But the books of the Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, have no national impress; in them, on the contrary, the Levitico-priestly manner of viewing history prevails. Still less can the hagiographic histories be called annalistic. The books of Ruth and Esther follow definite aims, which clearly appear towards the end. Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah contain, it is true, in the genealogical, geographical, and historical registers, a mass of annalistic material; but we find this also in the prophetico-historic works, and even in the books of Moses. The only thing which is common to and characteristic of the whole of the hagiographic historical books, is that the prophetic contemplation of the course of history according to the divine plan of salvation which unfolds itself in the events, either falls into the background or is wanting altogether; while in its place individual points of view appear which show themselves in the pursuit of paraenetico-didactic aims, which have acted as a determining influence on the selection and treatment of the historical facts, as the introduction to the individual writings will show.

The Book of 1Chronicles

Introduction

1. Name, Contents, Plan, and Aim of the Chronicles.

The two books of the Chronicles originally formed one work, as their plan at once makes manifest, and were received into the Hebrew canon as such. Not only were they reckoned as one in the enumeration of the books of the Old Testament (cf. Joseph. c. Apion, i. 8; Origen, in Euseb. Hist. eccl. vi. 25; and Hieronym. Prolog. galeat.), but they were also regarded by the Masorites as one single work, as we learn from a remark of the Masora at the end of the Chronicle, that the verse 1 Chronicles 27:25 is the middle of the book. The division into two books originated with the Alexandrian translators (lxx), and has been transmitted by the Latin translation of Hieronymus (Vulgata) not only to all the later translations of the Bible, but also, along with the division into chapters, into our versions of the Hebrew Bible. The first book closes, 1 Chronicles 29:29., with the end of the reign of David, which formed a fitting epoch for the division of the work into two books. The Hebrew name of this book in our Bible, by which it was known even by Hieronymus, is הימים דברי, verba, or more correctly res gestae dierum, events of the days, before which ceper is to be supplied (cf. e.g., 1 Kings 14:19, 1 Kings 14:29; 1 Kings 15:7, 1 Kings 15:23).

Its full title therefore is, Book of the Events of the Time (Zeitereignisse), corresponding to the annalistic work so often quoted in our canonical books of Kings and Chronicles, the Book of the Events of the Time (Chronicle) of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Instead of this the lxx have chosen the name Baraleipo'mena, in order to mark more exactly the relation of our work to the earlier historical books of the Old Testament, as containing much historical information which is not to be found in them. But the name is not used in the sense of supplementa, - "fragments of other historical works," as Movers, die Bibl. Chron. S. 95, interprets it, - but in the signification "praetermissa;" because, according to the explanation in the Synopsis script. sacr. in Athanasii Opera, ii. p. 84, παραλειφθέντα πολλὰ ἐν ταῖς βασιλειαῖς (i.e., in the books of Samuel and Kings) περιέχεται ἐν τούτοις, "many things passed over in the Kings are contained in these." Likewise Isidorus, lib. vi. Origin. c. i. p. 45: Paralipomenon graece dicitur, quod praetermissorum vel reliquorum nos dicere possumus, quia ea quae in lege vel in Regum libris vel omissa vel non plene relata sunt, in isto summatim et breviter explicantur. This interpretation of the word παραλειπόμενα is confirmed by Hieronymus, who, in his Epist. ad Paulin. (Opp. ti. i. ed. Vallars, p. 279), says: Paralipomenon liber, id est instrumenti veteris epitome tantus et talis est, ut absque illo, si quis scientiam scripturarum sibi voluerit arrogare, seipsum irrideat; per singula quippe nomina juncturasque verborum et praetermissae in Regum libris tanguntur historiae et innumerabiles explicantur Evangelii quaestones. He himself, however, suggested the name Chronicon, in order more clearly to characterize both the contents of the work and at the same its relation to the historical books from Genesis 1 to 2 Kings; as he says in Prolog. galeat.: הימים דברי, i.e., verba dierum, quod significantius chronicon totius divinae historiae possumus appellare, qui liber apud nos Paralipomenon primus et secundus inscribitur. Through Hieronymus the name Chronicles came into use, and became the prevailing title.

Contents. - The Chronicles begin with genealogical registers of primeval times, and of the tribes of Israel (1 Chronicles 1-9); then follow the history of the reign of King David (1 Chronicles 10-29) and of King Solomon (2 Chronicles 1-9); the narrative of the revolt of the ten tribes from the kingdom of the house of David (2 Chronicles 10); the history of the kingdom of Judah from Rehoboam to the ruin of the kingdom, its inhabitants being led away into exile to Babylon (2 Chronicles 11-36:21); and at the close we find the edict of Cyrus, which allowed the Jews to return into their country (2 Chronicles 36:22-23). Each of the two books, therefore, falls into two, and the whole work into four divisions. If we examine these divisions more minutely, six groups can be without difficulty recognised in the genealogical part (1 Chronicles 1-9). These are: (1) The families of primeval and ancient times, from Adam to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and his sons Edom and Israel, together with the posterity of Edom (1 Chronicles 1); (2) the sons of Israel and the families of Judah, with the sons and posterity of David (1 Chronicles 2-4:23); (3) the families of the tribe of Simeon, whose inheritance lay within the tribal domain of Judah, and those of the trans-Jordanic tribes Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 4:24-5:26); (4) the families of Levi, or of the priests and Levites, with an account of the dwelling-places assigned to them (1 Chronicles 5:27 1 Chronicles 6:66); (5) the families of the remaining tribes, viz., Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, the half-tribe of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher (only Dan and Zebulun being omitted), with the genealogy of the house of Saul (7, 8); and (6) a register of the former inhabitants of Jerusalem (9:1-34), and a second enumeration of the family of Saul, preparing us for the transition to the history of the kingdom of Israel (1 Chronicles 9:35-44). The history of David's kingship which follows is introduced by an account of the ruin of Saul and his house (1 Chronicles 10:1-14), and then the narrative falls into two sections. (1) In the first we have David's election to be king over all Israel, and the taking of the Jebusite fort in Jerusalem, which was built upon Mount Zion (1 Chronicles 11:1-9); then a list of David's heroes, and the valiant men out of all the tribes who made him king (11:10-12:40); the removal of the ark to Jerusalem, the founding of his house, and the establishment of the Levitical worship before the ark in Zion (13-16); David's design to build a temple to the Lord (17); then his wars (18-20); the numbering of the people, the pestilence which followed, and the fixing of the place for the future temple (21). (2) In the second section are related David's preparations for the building of the temple (22); the numbering of the Levites, and the arrangement of their service (23-26); the arrangement of the military service (27); David's surrender of the kingdom to his son, and the close of his life (28 and 29). The history of the reign of Solomon begins with his solemn sacrifice at Gibeon, and some remarks on his wealth (2 Chronicles 1); then follows the building of the temple, with the consecration of the completed holy place (2 Chronicles 2-7). To these are added short aphoristic accounts of the cities which Solomon built, the statute labour which he exacted, the arrangement of the public worship, the voyage to Ophir, the visit of the queen of Sheba, and of the might and glory of his kingdom, closing with remarks on the length of his reign, and an account of his death (2 Chronicles 8-9). The history of the kingdom of Judah beings with the narrative of the revolt of the ten tribes from Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 10), and then in 2 Chronicles 11-36 it flows on according to the succession of the kings of Judah from Rehoboam to Zedekiah, the reigns of the individual kings forming the sections of the narrative.

Plan and Aim. - From this general sketch of the contents of our history, it will be already apparent that the author had not in view a general history of the covenant people from the time of David to the Babylonian exile, but purposed only to give an outline of the history of the kingship of David and his successors, Solomon and the kings of the kingdom of Judah to its fall. If, whoever, in order to define more clearly the plan and purpose of the historical parts of our book in the first place, we compare them with the representation given us of the history of Israel in those times in the books of Samuel and Kings, we can see that the chronicler has passed over much of the history. (a) He has omitted, in the history of David, not only his seven years' reign at Hebron over the tribe of Judah, and his conduct to the fallen King Saul and to his house, especially towards Ishbosheth, Saul's son, who had been set up as rival king by Abner (2 Samuel 1-4 and 2 Samuel 9:1-13), but in general has passed over all the events referring to and connected with David's family relations. He makes no mention, for instance, of the scene between David and Michal (2 Samuel 6:20-23); the adultery with Bathsheba, with its immediate and more distant results (2 Samuel 11:2-12); Amnon's outrage upon Tamar, the slaying of Amnon by Absalom and his flight to the king of Geshur, his return to Jerusalem, his rising against David, with its issues, and the tumult of Sheba (2 Samuel 13-20); and, finally, also omits the thanksgiving psalm and the last words of David (2 Samuel 22:1-23:7). Then (b) in the history of Solomon there have been left unrecorded the attempt of Adonijah to usurp the throne, with the anointing of Solomon at Gihon, which it brought about; David's last command in reference to Joab and Shimei; the punishment of these men and of Adonijah; Solomon's marriage with Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings 1:1-3:3); his wise judgment, the catalogue of his officials, the description of his royal magnificence and glory, and of his wisdom (1 Kings 3:16-5:14); the building of the royal palace (1 Kings 7:1-12); and Solomon's polygamy and idolatry, with their immediate results (1 Kings 11:1-40). Finally, (c) there is no reference to the history of the kingdom of Israel founded by Jeroboam, or to the lives of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, which are related in such detail in the books of Kings, while mention is made of the kings of the kingdom of the ten tribes only in so far as they came into hostile struggle or friendly union with the kingdom of Judah. But, in compensation for these omissions, the author of the Chronicle has brought together in his work a considerable number of facts and events which are omitted in the books of Samuel and the Kings.

For example, in the history of David, he gives us the list of the valiant men out of all the tribes who, partly before and partly after the death of Saul, went over to David to help him in his struggle with Saul and his house, and to bring the royal honour to him (1 Chronicles 12); the detailed account of the participation of the Levites in the transfer of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, and of the arrangements made by David for worship around this sanctuary (1 Chronicles 15 and 16); and the whole section concerning David's preparations for the building of the temple, his arrangements for public worship, the regulation of the army, and his last commands (1 Chronicles 22-29). Further, the history of the kingdom of Judah from Rehoboam to Joram is narrated throughout at greater length than in the books of Kings, and is considerably supplemented by detailed accounts, not only of the work of the prophets in Judah, of Shemaiah under Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 12:5-8), of Azariah and Hanani under Asa (2 Chronicles 15:1-8; 2 Chronicles 16:7-9), of Jehu son of Hanani, Jehaziel, and Ebenezer son of Dodava, under Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19:1-3; 2 Chronicles 20:14-20 and 2 Chronicles 20:37), and concerning Elijah's letter under Joram (2 Chronicles 21:12-15); but also of the efforts of Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:5-17), Asa (2 Chronicles 14:5-7), and Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:2, 2 Chronicles 17:12-19) to fortify the kingdom of Asa to raise and vivify the Jahve-worship (2 Chronicles 15:9-15), of Jehoshaphat to purify the administration of justice and increase the knowledge of the law (2 Chronicles 17:7-9 and 2 Chronicles 19:5-11), of the wars of Abijah against Jeroboam, and his victories (13:3-20), of Asa's war against the Cushite Zerah (2 Chronicles 14:8-14), of Jehoshaphat's conquest of the Ammonites and Moabites (20:1-30), and, finally, also of the family relations of Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:18-22), the wives and children of Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:21), and Joram's brothers and his sickness (2 Chronicles 21:2-4 and 2 Chronicles 21:18.). Of the succeeding kings also various undertakings are reported which are not found in the books of Kings. In this way we are informed of Joash's defection from the Lord, and his fall into idolatry after the death of the high priest Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24:15-22); how Amaziah increased his military power (2 Chronicles 25:5-10), and worshipped idols (2 Chronicles 25:14-16); of Uzziah's victorious wars against the Philistines and Arabs, and his fortress-building, etc. (2 Chronicles 26:6-15); of Jotham's fortress-building, and his victory over the Ammonites (2 Chronicles 27:4-6); of the increase of Hezekiah's riches (2 Chronicles 32:27-30); of Manasseh's capture and removal to Babylon, and his return out of captivity (2 Chronicles 33:11-17). But the history of Hezekiah and Josiah more especially is rendered more complete by special accounts of reforms in worship, and of celebrations of the passover (29:3-31, 2 Chronicles 30:21, and 2 Chronicles 35:2-15); while we have only summary notices of the godless conduct of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28) and Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:3-10), of the campaign of Sennacherib against Jerusalem and Judah, of Hezekiah's sickness and the reception of the Babylonian embassy in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32, cf. 2 Kings 28:13-20, 19); as also of the reigns of the last kings, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. From all this, it is clear that the author of the Chronicle, as Bertheau expresses it, "has turned his attention to those times especially in which Israel's religion had showed itself to be a power dominating the people and their leaders, and bringing them prosperity; and to those men who had endeavoured to give a more enduring form to the arrangements for the service of God, and to restore the true worship of Jahve; and to those events in the history of the worship so intimately bound up with Jerusalem, which had important bearings."

This purpose appears much more clearly when we take into consideration the narratives which are common to the Chronicle and the books of Samuel and Kings, and observe the difference which is perceptible in the mode of conception and representation in those parallel sections. For our present purpose, however, those narratives in which the chronicler supplements and completes the accounts given in the books of Samuel and Kings by more exact and detailed information, or shortens them by the omission of unimportant details, come less into consideration.

(Note: Additions are to be found, e.g., in the list of David's heroes, 1 Chronicles 11:42-47; in the history of the building and consecration of Solomon's temple; in the enumeration of the candlesticks, tables, and courts, 2 Chronicles 4:6-9; in the notice of the copper platform on which Solomon kneeled at prayer, 2 Chronicles 6:12-13; and of the fire which fell from heaven upon the burnt-offering, 2 Chronicles 7:1. Also in the histories of the wars they are met with, 1 Chronicles 11:6, 1 Chronicles 11:8,1 Chronicles 11:23, cf. 2 Samuel 5:8-9; 2 Samuel 23:21; 1 Chronicles 18:8, 1 Chronicles 18:12, cf. 2 Samuel 8:8, 2 Samuel 8:13, etc. More may be found in my Handbook of Introd. 139, 5. Abridgments by the rejection of unimportant details are very frequent; e.g., omission of the Jebusites' mockery of David's attack on their fortress, 1 Chronicles 11:5-6, cf. 2 Samuel 5:6, 2 Samuel 5:8; of the details of the storming of Rabbah, 1 Chronicles 20:1-2, cf. 1 Chronicles 1:1

The patriarchs from Adam to Noah and his sons. - The names of the ten patriarchs of the primeval world, from the Creation to the Flood, and the three sons of Noah, are given according to Genesis 5, and grouped together without any link of connection whatever: it is assumed as known from Genesis, that the first ten names denote generations succeeding one another, and that the last three, on the contrary, are the names of brethren.

The peoples and races descended from the sons of Noah. - These are enumerated according to the table in Genesis 10; but our author has omitted not only the introductory and concluding remarks (Genesis 10:1, Genesis 10:21, Genesis 10:32), but also the historical notices of the founding of a kingdom in Babel by Nimrod, and the distribution of the Japhetites and Shemites in their dwelling-places (Genesis 10:5, Genesis 10:9-12, Genesis 10:18-20, and Genesis 10:30 and Genesis 10:31). The remaining divergences are partly orthographic, - such as תּבּת, 1 Chronicles 1:5, for תּוּבל, Genesis 10:2, and רעמא, 1 Chronicles 1:9, for רעמה, Genesis 10:7; and partly arising from errors of transcription, - as, for example, דּיפת, 1 Chronicles 1:6, for ריפת, Genesis 10:3, and conversely, רודנים, 1 Chronicles 1:7, for דּדנים, Genesis 10:4, where it cannot with certainty be determined which form is the original and correct one; and finally, are partly due to a different pronunciation or form of the same name, - as תּרשׁישׁה, 1 Chronicles 1:7, for תּרשׁישׁ, Genesis 10:4, the aa of motion having been gradually fused into one word with the name, לוּדּיּים, 1 Chronicles 1:11, for לוּדים, Genesis 10:13, just as in Amos 9:7 we have כּוּשׁיּים for כּוּשׁים; in 1 Chronicles 1:22, עיבל for עובל, Genesis 10:28, where the lxx have also Εὐάλ, and משׁך, 1 Chronicles 1:17, for משׁ, Genesis 10:23, which last has not yet been satisfactorily explained, since משׁך is used in Psalm 120:5 with קדר of an Arabian tribe. Finally, there is wanting in 1 Chronicles 1:17 ארם וּבני before עוּץ, Genesis 10:23, because, as in the case of Noah's sons, 1 Chronicles 1:4, where their relationship is not mentioned, so also in reference to the peoples descended from Shem, the relationship subsisting between the names Uz, Hul, etc., and Aram, is supposed to be already known from Genesis. Other suppositions as to the omission of the words ארם וּבני are improbable. That this register of seventy-one persons and tribes, descended from Shem, Ham, and Japhet, has been taken from Genesis 10, is placed beyond doubt, by the fact that not only the names of our register exactly correspond with the table in Genesis 10, with the exception of the few variations above mentioned, but also the plan and form of both registers is quite the same. In 1 Chronicles 1:5-9 the sections of the register are connected, as in Genesis 10:2-7, by וּבני; from 1 Chronicles 1:10 onwards by ילד, as in Genesis 10:8; in 1 Chronicles 1:17, again, by בּני, as in Genesis 10:22; and in 1 Chronicles 1:18 by ילד, and 1 Chronicles 1:19 by ילּד, as in Genesis 10:24 and Genesis 10:25. The historical and geographical explanation of the names has been given in the commentary to Genesis 10. According to Bertheau, the peoples descended from the sons of Noah amount to seventy, and fourteen of these are enumerated as descendants of Japhet, thirty of Ham, and twenty-six of Shem. These numbers he arrives at by omitting Nimrod, or not enumerating him among the sons of Ham; while, on the contrary, he takes Arphaxad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, and Joktan, all of which are the names of persons, for names of people, in contradiction to Genesis, according to which the five names indicate persons, viz., the tribal ancestors of the Terahites and Joktanites, peoples descended from Eber by Peleg and Joktan.

The patriarchs from Shem to Abraham. - The names of these, again, are simply ranged in order according to Genesis 11:10-26, while the record of their ages before the begetting and after the birth of sons is omitted. Of the sons of Terah only Abram is named, without his brothers; with the remark that Abram is Abraham, in order to point out to the reader that he was the progenitor of the chosen people so well known from Genesis (cf. 1 Chronicles 1:27).

The sons of Abraham. - In 1 Chronicles 1:28 only Isaac and Ishmael are so called; Isaac first, as the son of the promise. Then, in 1 Chronicles 1:29-31, follow the posterity of Ishmael, with the remark that Ishmael was the first-born; in 1 Chronicles 1:32 and 1 Chronicles 1:33, the sons of Keturah; and finally in 1 Chronicles 1:34, the two sons of Isaac.

The names of the generations (תּולדות) of Ishmael (Hebr. Yishma'el) correspond to those in Genesis 25:12-15, and have been there explained. In 1 Chronicles 1:32. also, the names of the thirteen descendants of Abraham by Keturah, six sons and seven grandsons, agree with Genesis 25:1-4 (see commentary on that passage); only the tribes mentioned in Genesis 25:3, which were descended from Dedan the grandson of Keturah, are omitted. From this Bertheau wrongly concludes that the chronicler probably did not find these names in his copy of the Pentateuch. The reason of the omission is rather this, that in Genesis the great-grandchildren are not themselves mentioned, but only the tribes descended from the grandchildren, while the chronicler wished to enumerate only the sons and grandsons. Keturah is called פּילגשׁ after Genesis 25:6, where Keturah and Hagar are so named.

The two sons of Isaac. Isaac has been already mentioned as a son of Abram, along with Ishmael, in 1 Chronicles 1:28. But here the continuation of the genealogy of Abraham is prefaced by the remark that Abraham begat Isaac, just as in Genesis 25:19, where the begetting of Isaac the son of Abraham is introduced with the same remark. Hence the supposition that the registers of the posterity of Abraham by Hagar and Keturah (1 Chronicles 1:28-33) have been derived from Genesis 25, already in itself so probable, becomes a certainty.

The posterity of Esau and Seir. - An extract from Genesis 36:1-30. 1 Chronicles 1:35. The five sons of Esau are the same who, according to Genesis 36:4., were born to him of his three wives in the land of Canaan. יעוּשׁ is another form of יעישׁ, Genesis 36:5 (Kethibh).

The grandchildren of Esau. In 1 Chronicles 1:36 there are first enumerated five sons of his son Eliphaz, as in Genesis 36:11, for צפי is only another form of צפו (Gen.). Next to these five names are ranged in addition ועמלק ותמנע, "Timna and Amalek," while we learn from Genesis 36:12 that Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, who bore to him Amalek. The addition of the two names Timna and Amalek in the Chronicle thus appears to be merely an abbreviation, which the author might well allow himself, as the posterity of Esau were known to his readers from Genesis. The name Timna, too, by its form (a feminine formation), must have guarded against the idea of some modern exegetes that Timna was also a son of Eliphaz. Thus, then, Esau had through Eliphaz six grandchildren, who in Genesis 36:12 are all set down as sons of Adah, the wife of Esau and the mother of Eliphaz. (Vide com. to Genesis 36:12, where the change of Timna into a son of Eliphaz is rejected as a misinterpretation.)

To Reuel, the son of Esau by Bashemath, four sons were born, whose names correspond to those in Genesis 36:13. These ten (6 + 4) grandsons of Esau were, with his three sons by Aholibamah (Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah, Genesis 36:35), the founders of the thirteen tribes of the posterity of Esau. They are called in Genesis 36:15 עשׂו בּני אלּוּפי, heads of tribes (φύλαρχοι) of the children of Esau, i.e., of the Edomites, but are all again enumerated, Gen. 3615-19, singly.

(Note: The erroneous statement of Bertheau, therefore, that "according to Genesis the Edomite people was also divided into twelve tribes, five tribes from Eliphaz, four tribes from Reuel, and the three tribes which were referred immediately to Aholibamah the wife of Esau. It is distinctly stated that Amalek was connected with these twelve tribes only very loosely, for he appears as the son of the concubine of Eliphaz," - must be in so far corrected, that neither the Chronicle nor Genesis knows anything of the twelve tribes of the Edomites. Both books, on the contrary, mention thirteen grandsons of Esau, and these thirteen grandsons are, according to the account of Genesis, the thirteen phylarchs of the Edomite people, who are distributed according to the three wives of Esau; so that the thirteen families may be grouped together in three tribes. Nor is Amalek connected only in a loose way with the other tribes in Genesis: he is, on the contrary, not only included in the number of the sons of Adah in Genesis 36:12, probably because Timna stood in the same relationship to Adah the wife of Esau as Hagar held to Sarah, but also is reckoned in Genesis 36:16 among the Allufim of the sons of Eliphaz. Genesis therefore enumerates not five but six tribes from Eliphaz; and the chronicler has not "completely obliterated the twelvefold division," as Bertheau further maintains, but the thirteen sons and grandsons of Esau who became phylarchs are all introduced; and the only thing which is omitted in reference to them is the title עשׂו בּני אלּוּפי, it being unnecessary in a genealogical enumeration of the descendants of Esau.)

When Esau with his descendants had settled in Mount Seir, they subdued by degrees the aboriginal inhabitants of the land, and became fused with them into one people. For this reason, in Genesis 36:20-30 the tribal princes of the Seirite inhabitants of the land are noticed; and in our chapter also, 1 Chronicles 1:38, the names of these seven שׂעיר בּני, and in 1 Chronicles 1:39-42 of their sons (eighteen men and one woman, Timna), are enumerated, where only Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, also mentioned in Genesis 36:25, is omitted. The names correspond, except in a few unimportant points, which have been already discussed in the Commentary on Genesis. The inhabitants of Mount Seir consisted, then, after the immigration of Esau and his descendants, of twenty tribes under a like number of phylarchs, thirteen of whom were Edomite, of the family of Esau, and seven Seirite, who are called in the Chronicle שׂעיר בּני, and in Genesis חרי, Troglodytes, inhabitants of the land, that is, aborigines.

If we glance over the whole posterity of Abraham as they are enumerated in 1 Chronicles 1:28-42, we see that it embraces (a) his sons Ishmael and Isaac, and Isaac's sons Israel and Esau (together 4 persons); (b) the sons of Ishmael, or the tribes descended from Ishmael (12 names); (c) the sons and grandsons of Keturah (13 persons or chiefs); (d) the thirteen phylarchs descended from Esau; (e) the seven Seirite phylarchs, and eighteen grandsons and a granddaughter of Seir (26 persons). We have thus in all the names of sixty-eight persons, and to them we must add Keturah, and Timna the concubine of Eliphaz, before we get seventy persons. But these seventy must not by any means be reckoned as seventy tribes, which is the result Bertheau arrives at by means of strange calculations and errors in numbers.

(Note: That the Chronicle gives no countenance to this view appears from Bertheau's calculation of the 70 tribes: from Ishmael, 12; from Keturah, 13; from Isaac, 2; from Esau, 5 sons and 7 grandchildren of Eliphaz (Timna, 1 Chronicles 1:36, being included in the number), and 4 grandsons by Reuel - 16 in all; from Seir 7 sons, and from these 20 other descendants, 27 in all, which makes the sum of 70. But the biblical text mentions only 19 other descendants of Seir, so that only 26 persons came from Seir, and the sum is therefore 12 + 13 + 2 + 16 + 26 equals 69. But we must also object to other points in Bertheau's reckoning: (1) the arbitrary change of Timna into a grandchild of Esau; (2) the arbitrary reckoning of Esau and Israel ( equals Jacob) without Ishmael. Was Esau, apart from his sons, the originator of a people? Had the author of the Chronicle cherished the purpose attributed to him by Bertheau, of bringing the lists of names handed down by tradition to the round or significant number 70, he would certainly in 1 Chronicles 1:33 not have omitted the three peoples descended from Dedan (Genesis 25:3), as he might by these names have completed the number 70 without further trouble.)

Upon this conclusion he founds his hypothesis, that as the three branches of the family of Noah are divided into seventy peoples (which, as we have seen before is not the case), so also the three branches of the family of Abraham are divided into seventy tribes; and in this again he finds a remarkable indication "that even in the time of the chronicler, men sought by means of numbers to bring order and consistency into the lists of names handed down by tradition from the ancient times."

The kings of Edom before the introduction of the kingship into Israel. - This is a verbally exact repetition of Genesis 36:31-39, except that the introductory formula, Genesis 36:32, "and there reigned in Edom," which is superfluous after the heading, and the addition "ben Achbor" (Genesis 36:39) in the account of the death of Baal-hanan in 1 Chronicles 1:50, are omitted; the latter because even in Genesis, where mention is made of the death of other kings, the name of the father of the deceased king is not repeated. Besides this, the king called Hadad (v. 46f.), and the city פּעי (v. 50), are in Genesis Hadar (Genesis 36:35.) and פּעוּ (Genesis 36:39). The first of these variations has arisen from a transcriber's error, the other from a different pronunciation of the name. A somewhat more important divergence, however, appears, when in Genesis 36:39 the death of the king last named is not mentioned, because he was still alive in the time of Moses; while in the Chronicle, on the contrary, not only of him also is it added, הדד ויּמת, because at the time of the writing of the Chronicle he had long been dead, but the list of the names of the territories of the phylarchs, which in Genesis follows the introductory formula שׁמות alum ואלּה, is here connected with the enumeration of the kings by ויּהיוּ, "Hadad died, and there were chiefs of Edom." This may mean that, in the view of the chronicler, the reign of the phylarchs took the place of the kingship after the death of the last king, but that interpretation is by no means necessary. The ו consec. may also merely express the succession of thought, only connecting logically the mention of the princes with the enumeration of the kings; or it may signify that, besides the kings, there were also tribal princes who could rule the land and people. The contents of the register which follows require that ויּהיוּ should be so understood.

The princes of Edom. - The names correspond to those in Genesis 36:40-43, but the heading and the subscription in Genesis are quite different from those in the Chronicle. Here the heading is, "and the Allufim of Edom were," and the subscription, "these are the Allufim of Edom," from which it would be the natural conclusion that the eleven names given are proper names of the phylarchs. But the occurrence of two female names, Timna and Aholibamah, as also of names which are unquestionably those of races, e.g., Aliah, Pinon, Teman, and Mibzar, is irreconcilable with this interpretation. If we compare the heading and subscription of the register in Genesis, we find that the former speaks of the names "of the Allufim of Edom according to their habitations,

(Note: So it is given by the author, "nach ihren Wohnsitzen;" but this must be a mistake, for the word is משׁפּחותם equals their families, not משׁבתם, as it is in the subscription. - Tr.)

according to their places in their names," and the latter of "the Allufim of Edom according to their habitations in the land of their possession." It is there unambiguously declared that the names enumerated are not the names of persons, but the names of the dwelling-places of the Allufim, after whom they were wont to be named. We must therefore translate, "the Alluf of Timna, the Alluf of Aliah," etc., when of course the female names need not cause any surprise, as places can just as well receive their names from women as their possessors as from men. Nor is there any greater difficulty in this, that only eleven dwelling-places are mentioned, while, on the contrary, the thirteen sons and grandsons of Esau are called Allufim. For in the course of time the number of phylarchs might have decreased, or in the larger districts two phylarchs may have dwelt together. Since the author of the Chronicle has taken this register also from Genesis, as the identity of the names clearly shows he did, he might safely assume that the matter was already known from that book, and so might allow himself to abridge the heading without fearing any misunderstanding; seeing, too, that he does not enumerate אלּוּפי of Esau, but אדום אלּוּפי, and Edom had become the name of a country and a people.