I Chronicles 7, The Descendants of the Seven Remaining Sons of Jacob

In the past few chapters, the author of the scroll of Chronicles has traced the descendants of Judah and Levi, along with those who came from the transjordan tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. In this chapter we concentrate on Issachar, Naphtali, Manasseh (west of the Jordan), Ephraim and Asher. (And maybe Dan?) We also look briefly at some descendants of Benjamin.

1 Chronicles 7: 1-5, The descendants of Issachar
The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron--four in all.

  The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam and Samuel--heads of their families. During the reign of David, the descendants of Tola listed as fighting men in their genealogy numbered 22,600.

  The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel and Isshiah. All five of them were chiefs. According to their family genealogy, they had 36,000 men ready for battle, for they had many wives and children. 

  The relatives who were fighting men belonging to all the clans of Issachar, as listed in their genealogy, were 87,000 in all.
 

Payne argues that the Hebrew word eleph, translated here as "thousands" should really be translated "clans" or "chiefs", so that, for example, the clans of Issachar included 87 chiefs, not 87000.

1 Chronicles 7: 6-12, The descendants of Benjamin

Three sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker and Jediael.

  The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth and Iri, heads of families--five in all. Their genealogical record listed 22,034 fighting men.

  The sons of Beker: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Beker. Their genealogical record listed the heads of families and 20,200 fighting men.

  The son of Jediael: Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Kenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish and Ahishahar. All these sons of Jediael were heads of families. There were 17,200 fighting men ready to go out to war.

  The Shuppites and Huppites were the descendants of Ir, and the Hushites the descendants of Aher.

The next chapter, chapter 8, will concentrate further on the descendants of Benjamin. In verse 7, Payne argues that the correct translation of "22,034 fighting men" is "22 chiefs, 34 men." Payne suggests that the names Ir and Aher are shortened form of Iri (see verse 7, above) and Aharah (see 1 Chronicles 8: 1.)

The tribe of Dan is not seem to be in these genealogies. One rendering of the last phrase of verse 12, instead of "descendants of Aher" is "descendants of other [tribe]." Payne agrees with the NIV translation (italicized in blue, above) while Corduan thinks that Hushim (of whom the Hushites were named) was of the tribe of Dan and so sees this as a brief statement about that tribe. There seems to be little known about the descendants of Dan. In Numbers 26: 42-43 all we have is that they became Shuhamite clans with a total of 64,400 people (or 64 chiefs, 400 people.)

1 Chronicles 7: 13, The sons of Naphtali

The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem--the descendants of Bilhah.

This passage merely repeats information from Genesis 46: 24. For some reason we go no further in the Naphtali line.

1 Chronicles 7: 14-19, The descendants of Manasseh

The descendants of Manasseh: Asriel was his descendant through his Aramean concubine. She gave birth to Makir the father of Gilead.

  Makir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. His sister's name was Maacah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only daughters. Makir's wife Maacah gave birth to a son and named him Peresh.  His brother was named Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.

  The son of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh.

  His sister Hammoleketh gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer and Mahlah.

  The sons of Shemida were: Ahian, Shechem, Likhi and Aniam.

We have a complicated description of the descendants of Manasseh, with some names of wives and concubines.

1 Chronicles 7: 20-29, The descendants of Ephraim

The descendants of Ephraim: Shuthelah, 

  Bered his son, 

  Tahath his son, 

  Eleadah his son, 

  Tahath his son,  

  Zabad his son 

and 

  Shuthelah his son. 

Ezer and Elead were killed by the native-born men of Gath, when they went down to seize their livestock. Their father Ephraim mourned for them many days, and his relatives came to comfort him. Then he lay with his wife again, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. He named him Beriah, because there had been misfortune in his family.

  His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth Horon as well as Uzzen Sheerah.

  Rephah was his son, 

  Resheph his son, 

  Telah his son, 

  Tahan his son,
  Ladan his son, 

  Ammihud his son, 

  Elishama his son,

  Nun his son

and 

  Joshua his son.

Their lands and settlements included Bethel and its surrounding villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages all the way to Ayyah and its villages. Along the borders of Manasseh were Beth Shan, Taanach, Megiddo and Dor, together with their villages. The descendants of Joseph son of Israel lived in these towns.
 

The killing of Ezer and Elead in verse 21 is unique to 1 Chronicles. We find in verses 24 to 27 the lineage of Joshua.

1 Chronicles 7: 30-40, The descendants of Asher

The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah. Their sister was Serah.

  The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel, who was the father of Birzaith.
  Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer and Hotham and of their sister Shua.

  The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal and Ashvath. These were Japhlet's sons. The sons of Shomer: Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah and Aram. The sons of his brother Helem: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh and Amal.
  The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran and Beera.
  The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispah and Ara.
  The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel and Rizia.

All these were descendants of Asher--heads of families, choice men, brave warriors and outstanding leaders. The number of men ready for battle, as listed in their genealogy, was 26,000.

 

We have here five or more generations of descendants of Asher. It is not clear how Jether and Ulla fit into the genealogy; Payne suggests that Ulla is a variant of Ara, one line above.

Sons of Asher and Beriah, along with Beriah's sister, Serah, appear in Genesis 46: 17.