Page:03.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.B.vol.3.LaterProphets.djvu/83

 these two issue the numerous families which took Jair's-life. To these, therefore, must we refer the כּל־אלּה.

Verse 24
After the death of Hezron there was born to him by his wife Abiah (the third wife, cf. 1Ch 2:9 and 1Ch 2:21) another son, Ashur, the father of Tekoa, whose descendants are enumerated in 1Ch 4:5-7. Hezron's death took place אפרתה בּכלב, “in Caleb Ephrathah.” This expression is obscure. According to 1Sa 30:14, a part of the Negeb (south country) of Judah was called Negeb Caleb, as it belonged to the family of Caleb. According to this analogy, the town or village in which Caleb dwelt with his wife Ephrath may have been called Caleb of Ephrathah, if Ephrath had brought this place as a dower to Caleb, as in the case mentioned in Jos 15:18. Ephrathah, or Ephrath, was the ancient name of Bethlehem (Gen 33:19; Gen 48:1), and with it the name of Caleb's wife Ephrath (1Ch 2:19) is unquestionably connected; probably she was so called after her birthplace. If this supposition be well founded, then Caleb of Ephrathah would be the little town of Bethlehem. Ashur is called father (אבי) of Tekoa, i.e., lord and prince, as the chief of the inhabitants of Tekoa, now Tekua, two hours south of Bethlehem (vide on Jos 15:59). 1 Chronicles 2:25-41The family of Jerahmeel, the first-born of Hezron, which inhabited a part of the Negeb of Judah called after him the south of the Jerahmeelites (1Sa 27:10; 1Sa 30:29).

Verse 25
Four sons were born to Jerahmeel by his first wife. Five names indeed follow; but as the last, אחיּה, although met with elsewhere as a man's name, is not ranged with the others by ו copul., as those that precede are with each other, it appears to be the name of a woman, and probably a מ has fallen out after the immediately preceding ם. So Cler., J. H. Mich., Berth. This conjecture gains in probability from the mention in 1Ch 2:26 of another wife, whence we might expect that in 1Ch 2:25 the first wife would be named.

Verses 26-27
Only one son of the second wife is given, Onam, whose posterity follows in 1Ch 2:28-33; for in 1Ch 2:27 the three sons of Ram, the first-born of Jerahmeel, are enumerated.

Verse 28
Onam had two sons, Shammai and Jada; the second of these, again, two sons, Nadab and Abishur.

Verses 29-31
To Abishur his wife Abihail bore likewise two sons, with whom his race terminates. - In 1Ch 2:30, 1Ch 2:31, Nadab's posterity follow, in four members, ending with Ahlai, in the fourth generation. But Ahlai cannot well have been a son, but must have been a daughter, the heiress