1 Chronicles 1

¹Adam, Sheth, Enosh,

Commentary by Robert Jamieson CHAPTER 1 1Ch 1:1-23. Adam’s Line to Noah. 1. Adam, &c.--“Begat” must be understood. Only that one member of the family is mentioned, who came in the direct order of succession.

⁴Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

⁵The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

⁶And the sons of Gomer; Ashchenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁷And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

⁸The sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

⁹And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

¹⁰And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be mighty upon the earth.

¹¹And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

¹²And Pathrusim, and Casluhim,(of whom came the Philistines,) and Caphthorim.

¹³And Canaan begat Zidon his firstborn, and Heth,

¹⁴The Jebusite also, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,

¹⁵And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,

¹⁶And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite.

¹⁷The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech.

¹⁸And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber.

¹⁹And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother's name was Joktan.

²⁰And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,

²¹Hadoram also, and Uzal, and Diklah,

²²And Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

²³And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

4-23. Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth--The three sons of this patriarch are enumerated, partly because they were the founders of the new world, and partly because the fulfilment of Noah’s prophecy (Ge 9:25-27) could not otherwise appear to have been verified.

²⁴Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,

²⁵Eber, Peleg, Reu,

²⁶Serug, Nahor, Terah,

²⁷Abram; the same is Abraham.

24-27. Shem, &c.--This comprises a list of ten, inclusive of Abraham. 1Ch 1:29-31. Sons of Ishmael.

²⁹These are their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

29. These are their generations--the heads of his twelve tribes. The great northern desert of Arabia, including the entire neck, was colonized by these tribes; and if we can recover, in the modern geography of this part of the country, Arab tribes bearing the names of those patriarchs, that is, names corresponding with those preserved in the original catalogue of Scripture, we obtain at once so many evidences, not of mere similarity, but of absolute identification [Forster]. Nebaioth--gave rise to the Nabathæans of the classic, and the Beni Nabat of Oriental writers. Kedar--the Arab tribe, El Khedeyre, on the coast of Hedgar. Abdeel--Abdilla, the name of a tribe in Yemen.

³⁰Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema,

30. Dumah--Dumah and Tema, the great Arab tribes of Beni Teman. Thus this writer [Historical Geography of Arabia] traces the names of all the heads of the twelve tribes of Ishmael as perpetuated in the clans or tribes of the Arabs in the present day. 1Ch 1:32, 33. Sons of Keturah.

³²Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan.

32. sons of Keturah--These became founders of nomadic tribes in the north of Arabia and Syria, as Midian of the Midianites (Ge 36:35; Jud 6:2). and Shuah--from whom Bildad sprang (Job 2:11). 1Ch 1:34-42. Posterity of Abraham by Esau.

³⁶The sons of Eliphaz; Teman, and Omar, Zephi, and Gatam, Kenaz, and Timna, and Amalek.

36. sons of Eliphaz--the tribe Adites, in the center country of the Saracens, so called from his mother, Adah (Ge 36:10). Teman--gave rise to the land of Teman, near the head of the Red Sea. Omar--the tribe Beni-Amma, settled at the northern point of Djebel Shera (Mount Seir). Zephi--the tribe Dzaf. Gatam--Katam, inhabited by the tribe Al Saruat, or “people of Sarah.” Kenaz--the tribe Aenezes, a tribe whose settlement lies in the neighborhood of Syria. Amalek--the Beni Malak of Zohran, and the Beni Maledj of the Shat el Arab.

³⁷The sons of Reuel; Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

37. Reuel--a powerful branch of the great Aeneze tribe, the Rowalla Arabs. Shammah--the great tribe Beni Shammar. In the same way, the names of the other kings and dukes are traced in the modern tribes of Arabia. But it is unnecessary to mention any more of these obscure nomads, except to notice that Jobab (1Ch 1:44), one of the kings of Edom, is considered to be Job, and that his seat was in the royal city of Dinahab (Ge 36:32; 1Ch 1:43), identified with O’Daeb, a well-known town in the center of Al Dahna, a great northern desert in the direction of Chaldea and the Euphrates [Forster].