The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to take away their livestock. Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. He went in to his wife, and she conceived, and bore a son, and he named him Beriah, because there was trouble with his house. His daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth Horon the lower and the upper, and Uzzen Sheerah. Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, Tahan his son, Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, Nun his son, and Joshua his son.
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1 Chronicles 7:20-27 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, Shallum, and the sons of Bilhah. The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his concubine the Aramitess bore. She bore Machir the father of Gilead. Machir took a wife of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister’s name was Maacah. The name of the second was Zelophehad; and Zelophehad had daughters. Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she named him Peresh. The name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. The sons of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. His sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam. The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to take away their livestock. Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. He went in to his wife, and she conceived, and bore a son, and he named him Beriah, because there was trouble with his house. His daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth Horon the lower and the upper, and Uzzen Sheerah. Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, Tahan his son, Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, Nun his son, and Joshua his son. Their possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with its towns; Shechem also and its towns, to Azzah and its towns; and by the borders of the children of Manasseh, Beth Shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, and Dor and its towns. The children of Joseph the son of Israel lived in these. The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Serah was their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith. Heber became the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and Shua their sister. The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the children of Japhlet. The sons of Shemer: Ahi, Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. The sons of Helem his brother: 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, Pispa, and Ara. The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia. All these were the children of Asher, heads of the fathers’ houses, choice and mighty men of valor, chief of the princes. The number of them listed by genealogy for service in war was twenty-six thousand men.
Parallel Translations
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The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son,
Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to take away their livestock.
Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him.
He went in to his wife, and she conceived, and bore a son, and he named him Beriah, because there was trouble with his house.
His daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth Horon the lower and the upper, and Uzzen Sheerah.
Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, Tahan his son,
Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
Nun his son, and Joshua his son.
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And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,
And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.
And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.
And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.
(And his daughter was Sherah, who built Beth-horon the nether, and the upper, and Uzzen-sherah.)
And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son,
Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
Non his son, Jehoshua his son.
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And the sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah — and Bered was his son, and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Tahath his son,
and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son — and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in the land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.
And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.
And he went in to his wife, and she conceived, and bore a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.
And his daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth-horon the nether and the upper, and Uzzen-sheerah.
And Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son;
Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son;
Nun his son, Joshua his son.
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Cross-references (20)
- Numbers 13:16 (v27) These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
- Deuteronomy 31:23 (v27) He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which…
- Joshua 16:3 (v24) and it went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth Horon the lower, and on to Gezer; and ended at the sea.
- Joshua 16:5 (v24) This was the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families. The border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth Addar, to…
- Numbers 26:35-36 (v20) These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites;…
Show all 20 cross-references
- Numbers 27:18 (v27) Yahweh said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.
- Genesis 37:34 (v22) Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
- Exodus 17:9-14 (v27) Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my…
- Exodus 24:13 (v27) Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain.
- Numbers 13:8 (v27) Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.
- 2 Chronicles 8:5 (v24) Also he built Beth Horon the upper and Beth Horon the lower, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars;
- Job 2:11 (v22) Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad…
- Exodus 32:17 (v27) When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”
- Numbers 11:28 (v27) Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, “My lord Moses, forbid them!”
- Numbers 14:6 (v27) Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
- Joshua 10:10 (v24) Yahweh confused them before Israel. He killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth…
- 2 Samuel 23:5 (v23) Isn’t my house so with God? Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation,…
- 1 Kings 9:17 (v24) Solomon built in the land Gezer, Beth Horon the lower,
- Acts 7:45 (v27) which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out…
- Hebrews 4:8 (v27) For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv21, 22, 24, 25 Which was one of the five principal cities of…
Which was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines, slew the Ephraimites.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv20–24 1Ch 7:20 And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and…
1Ch 7:20 And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,
Ver. 20. And the sons of Ephraim,] The Ephraimites were famous for their wealth, power, and prowess; but withal they are noted for insolent, proud, and quarrelsome. See Jdg 8:1; Jdg 12:1.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24, 26 Bered his son; either,
Bered his son; either,
1. The son of
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Shuthelah; and so Tahath the son of Bered; and so the rest, which make up seven succeeding generations. Or,
2. The son of Ephraim; and so Tahath is the son not of Bered, but of Ephraim, and so forward. And thus all these were brethren, and sons or grandchildren of Ephraim, living together at one time with their father.
Object. This cannot be, because then Ephraim had two sons called Shuthelah, and two called Tahath.
Answ. That might easily happen, either because the first Shuthelah and Tahath were dead before the other two of those names were born; or because two of them were Ephraim’s sons, and two of them his grandchildren, called after their uncle’s names. For this is certain, the name of sons is promiscuously used concerning immediate children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v20 We have here an account,
We have here an account,
I. Of the tribe of Ephraim. Great things we read of that tribe when it came to maturity. Here we have an account of the disasters of its infancy, while it was in Egypt as it should seem; for Ephraim himself was alive when those things were done, which yet is hard to imagine if it were, as is here computed, seven generations off. Therefore I am apt to think that either it was another Ephraim or that those who were slain were the immediate sons of that Ephraim that was the son of Joseph. In this passage, which is related here only, we have, 1. The great breach that was made upon the family of Ephraim. The men of Gath, Philistines, giants, slew many of the sons of that family, because they came down to take away their cattle, Ch1 7:21. It is uncertain who were the aggressors here. Some make the men of Gath the aggressors, men born in the land of Egypt, but now resident in Gath, supposing that they came down into the land of Goshen, to drive away the Ephraimites' cattle, and slew the owners, because they stood up in the defence of them. Many a man's life has been exposed and betrayed by his wealth; so far is it from being a strong city. Others think that the Ephraimites made a descent upon the men of Gath to plunder them, presuming that the time had come when they should be put in possession of Canaan; but they paid dearly for their rashness and precipitation. Those that will not wait God's time cannot expect God's blessing. I rather think that the men of Gath came down upon the Ephraimites, because the Israelites in Egypt were shepherds, not soldiers, abounded in cattle of their own, and therefore were not likely to venture their lives for their neighbours' cattle: and the words may be read, The men of Gath slew them, for they came down to take away their cattle. Zabad the son of Ephraim, and Shuthelah, and Ezer, and Elead (his grandchildren), were, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, the men that were slain. Jacob had foretold that the seed of Ephraim should become a multitude of nations (Gen 48:19), and yet that plant is thus nipped in the bud. God's providences often seem to contradict his promises; but, when they do so, they really magnify the promise, and make the performance of it, notwithstanding, so much more illustrious. The Ephraimites were the posterity of Joseph, and yet his power could not protect them, though some think he was yet living. The sword devours one as well as another. 2. The great grief which oppressed the father of the family hereupon: Ephraim mourned many days. Nothing brings the aged to the grave with more sorrow than their following the young that descend from them to the grave first, especially if in blood. It is often the burden of those that live to be old that they see those go before them of whom they said, These same shall comfort us. It was a brotherly friendly office which his brethren did, when they came to comfort him under this great affliction, to express their sympathy with him and concern for him, and to suggest that to him which would support and quiet him under this sad providence. Probably they reminded him of the promise of increase which Jacob had blessed him when he laid his right hand upon his head. Although his house was not so with God as he hoped, but a house of mourning, a shattered family, yet that promise was sure, Sa2 23:5. 3. The repair of this breach, in some measure, by addition of another son to his family in his old age (Ch1 7:23), like Seth, another seed instead of that of Abel whom Cain slew, Gen 4:25. When God thus restores comfort to his mourners, makes glad according to the days wherein he afflicted, setting the mercies over against the crosses, we ought therein to take notice of the kindness and tenderness of divine Providence; it is as if it repented God concerning his servants, Psa 90:13, Psa 90:15. Yet joy that a man was born into his family could not make him forget his grief; for he gives a melancholy name to his son, Beriah - in trouble, for he was born when the family was in mourning, when it went evil with his house. It is good to have in remembrance the affliction and the misery, the wormwood and the gall, that our souls may be humbled within us, Lam 3:19, Lam 3:20. What name more proper for man that is born of a woman than Beriah, because born into a troublesome world? It is added, as a further honour to the house of Ephraim, (1.) That a daughter of that tribe, Sherah by name, at the time of Israel's setting in Canaan, built some cities, either at her own charge or by her own care; one of them bore her name, Uzzen-sherah, Ch1 7:24. A virtuous woman may be as great an honour and blessing to a family as a mighty man. (2.) That a son of that tribe was employed in the conquest of Canaan, Joshua the son of Nun, Ch1 7:27. In this also the breach made on Ephraim's family was further repaired; and perhaps the resentment of this injury formerly done by the Canaanites to the Ephraimites might make him more vigorous in the war.
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II. Of the tribe of Asher. Some men of note of that tribe are here named. Their militia was not numerous in comparison with some other tribes, only 26,000 men in all; but their princes were choice and mighty men of valour, chief of the princes (Ch1 7:40), and perhaps it was their wisdom that they coveted not to make their trained bands numerous, but rather to have a few, and those apt to the war and serviceable men.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv20–25 And Rephah was his son,.... The son of Beriah,…
And Rephah was his son,.... The son of Beriah, whose genealogy from him is traced down to Joshua in this and the two following verses, and stands thus: after Rephah, Resheph, Telah, Tahan, Laadan, Ammihud, Elishama, who was prince of the tribe of Ephraim in the wilderness, Num 1:10, then Non or Nun, whose son was Jehoshua or Joshua.
, then Non or Nun, whose son was Jehoshua or Joshua.
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1 Chronicles 7:28
ch1 7:28
ch1 7:28
ch1 7:28And their possessions and habitations,.... That is, of the sons of Ephraim, when come into the land of Canaan:
were Bethel, and the towns thereof; the villages belonging to it, which was formerly called Luz, and was the border of Ephraim, Jos 16:7.
and eastward Naaran: the same with Naarath, Jos 16:7.
and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; of which see Jos 16:3,
and Shechem also, and the towns thereof; which was a city of refuge in Mount Ephraim, Jos 20:7
unto Gaza, and the towns thereof; not Gaza, a city of the Philistines, for the tribe of Ephraim did not reach so far; the Targum calls it Aiah; it may be read Adaza, as in the margin of our Bibles.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv21, 23 Slew - This history is not recorded else where…
Slew - This history is not recorded else where in scripture, but it is in the ancient Hebrew writers. The Philistines (one of whose cities Gath was) and the Egyptians were next neighbours; and in those ancient times it was usual for such to make inroads one into another's country, and to carry thence what prey they could take. And as the Philistines had probably made such inroads formerly into Egypt, and particularly into the land of Goshen, which was the utmost part of Egypt bordering upon the Philistines land; so the Israelites might requite them in the like kind: and particularly the children of Ephraim, to their own loss. And this seems to have happened a little before the Egyptian persecution, and before the reign of that new king mentioned Exod. i, 8. And this clause, that were born in that land, may be added emphatically, as the motive which made them more resolute in their fight with the Ephraimites, because they fought in, and for their own land, wherein all their wealth and concerns lay.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv21, 24 Verse 21. Whom the men of Gath - slew]…
Verse 21. Whom the men of Gath - slew] We know nothing of this circumstance but what is related here. The Targum paraphrases the whole thus: "These were the leaders of the house of Ephraim; and they computed their period [or boundary, כיצא kitsa] from the time in which the Word of the Lord of the universe spake with Abraham between the divisions, [i.e., the separated parts of the covenant sacrifice; see Ge 15:9-21,] but they erred, for they should have counted from the time in which Isaac was born; they went out of Egypt therefore thirty years before the period: for, thirty years before the birth of Isaac the Word of the Lord of the universe spake with Abraham between the divisions. And when they went out of Egypt, there were with them two hundred thousand warriors of the tribe of Ephraim, whom the men of Gath, the natives of the land of the Philistines, slew, because they came down that they might carry away their cattle. 22. - And Ephraim their father mourned for them many days, and all his brethren came to comfort him. 23. - And he went in to his wife, and she conceived and bare a son, and called his name Beriah, (בריעה in evil,) because he was born in the time in which this evil happened to his house."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv21, 23, 24 1Ch 7:21. Whom the men of Gath slew —…
1Ch 7:21. Whom the men of Gath slew — This history is not recorded elsewhere in Scripture, but it is in the ancient Hebrew writers. The Philistines (one of whose cities Gath was) and the Egyptians were next neighbours; and in those ancient times it was usual for such to make inroads one into another’s country, and to carry thence what prey they could take. And as the Philistines had probably made such inroads formerly into Egypt, and particularly into the land of Goshen, which was the utmost part of Egypt bordering upon the Philistines’ land; so the Israelites might requite them in the like kind: and particularly the children of Ephraim, to their own loss. And this seems to have happened a little before the Egyptian persecution, and before the reign of that new king mentioned Exo 1:8. And this clause, that were born in the land, may be added emphatically, as the motive which made them more resolute in their fight with the Ephraimites, because they fought in and for their own land, wherein all their wealth and concerns lay.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv20, 24 The sons of Ephraim - The genealogy is difficult.…
The sons of Ephraim - The genealogy is difficult. It is perhaps best to consider Ezer and Elead 1Ch 7:21 as not sons of Zabad and brothers of the second Shuthelah, but natural sons of Ephraim. The passage would then run thusly:
“And the sons of Ephraim, Shuthelah (and Bered was his son, and Tahath his son and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son, and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son) and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath slew” (i. e. the settled inhabitants, as contrasted with the nomadic Hebrews, Amalekites, etc.).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 23, 24, 25 Bared, Thahath, probably called Becher and Theken, in Numbers.…
Bared, Thahath, probably called Becher and Theken, in Numbers. Three alone are there mentioned, though the other thirteen, whose names are given, seem to have been all the immediate sons of Ephriam, (Calmet) since he mourns for them, (ver. 22.; Menochius) and his other children afterwards. (Haydock) --- The dreadful slaughter made them, is perhaps the reason why only three are mentioned in Numbers, and none in Genesis.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v21 whom the men of Gath . . . slew,…
whom the men of Gath . . . slew, &c.--This interesting little episode gives us a glimpse of the state of Hebrew society in Egypt; for the occurrence narrated seems to have taken place before the Israelites left that country. The patriarch Ephraim was then alive, though he must have arrived at a very advanced age; and the Hebrew people, at all events those of them who were his descendants, still retained their pastoral character. It was in perfect consistency with the ideas and habits of Oriental shepherds that they should have made a raid on the neighboring tribe of the Philistines for the purpose of plundering their flocks. For nothing is more common among them than hostile incursions on the inhabitants of towns, or on other nomad tribes with whom they have no league of amity. But a different view of the incident is brought out, if, instead of "because," we render the Hebrew particle "when" they came down to take their cattle, for the tenor of the context leads rather to the conclusion that "the men of Gath" were the aggressors, who, making a sudden foray on the Ephraimite flocks, killed the shepherds including several of the sons of Ephraim. The calamity spread a deep gloom around the tent of their aged father, and was the occasion of his receiving visits of condolence from his distant relatives, according to the custom of the East, which is remarkably exemplified in the history of Job (Job 2:11; compare Joh 11:19).
Next: 1 Chronicles Chapter 8
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 23, 24, 27 20–27. The Line of Ephraim to Joshua
20–27. The Line of Ephraim to Joshua
20. Shuthelah … Bered … Tahath … Eladah] These four names are taken from Num_26:35-36, where they appear to correspond with Shuthelah … Becher … Tahan … Eran.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv21–27 THE TRIBE OF EPHRAIM (1Ch_7:20-29).
THE TRIBE OF EPHRAIM (1Ch_7:20-29).
Shuthelah (Numbers 26, 35) was head of the first of the four Ephraimitic clans (mishpehôth). The names of six successive chieftains of his line appear to be given in 1Ch_7:20-21, ending with his namesake Shuthelah. It is likely, however, that these names really represent clans, as in other similar cases. (Comp. Num_26:29-33.) “Bered” (Gen_16:14) is a local name, a place in the desert of Shûr. But Bered may be a mistake for Becher. So “Tahath” (Num_33:26) was a desert station of Israel. But Tahath may well be a corruption of Tahan, son of Ephraim (1Ch_7:25, and Num_26:35).
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(21) Ezer and Elead.—Apparently these names are coordinated with the Shuthelah of 1Ch_7:20, as sons of Ephraim. Elead is a masculine form of Eleadah.
Whom the men of Gath. . . .—Literally, and the men of Gath who were born in the land slew them; for they had come down to take their cattle.
Born in the land—That is, aborigines of Canaan as contrasted with the Ephraimites, who were foreign invaders. Others think the real aborigines of Philistia, the Avim of Deu_2:23, are meant. In 1Ch_7:21-22 we have a brief memorial of an ancient raid of two Ephraimite clans upon the territory of Gath, for the purpose of lifting cattle, much as the Highland freebooters used to drive off the herds of their Lowland neighbours.
They came down.—The reference of the pronoun is not quite clear. Conceivably the Gittites were the aggressors. The expression “carne down” is often used of going from Canaan to Egypt, but not vice versa. It can hardly, therefore, apply to an invasion of Gath by Ephraimites from Egypt. And the phrase “born in the land” excludes an expedition of Gittites to Goshen. It seems, then, that the descent was made upon Philistia from the hill country of Ephraim, in the early days of the settlement of the tribe in Canaan.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27 Vers. 20-27. The chief difficulty of this passage lies…
Vers. 20-27. The chief difficulty of this passage lies in reconciling the points of chronology which it forces to the surface. Vers. 20, 21, purport to contain the line of descent from Ephraim through his son Shu-thelah to the seventh generation, viz. to another Shuthelah. The remaining two names, Ezer and Elead, may perhaps be two brothers of the first Shuthelah, i.e. own sons of Ephraim. If it be so, these two must not be supposed to correspond with Becher and Tahan, called "sons of Ephraim" in Num_26:35; for it is evident that they were generations succeeding Shuthelah. Now, Ephraim was born in Egypt, (Gen_46:20) so that, on the above showing, the actual sons of Ephraim must have made some incursion from Egypt into the territories of the settled or possibly aboriginal inhabitants of Gath, and met the fate over which Ephraim so mourned. Such excursions on the part of the Israelites out of Egypt have very little collateral evidence. But there would seem to be no impossibility in the matter, considering Gen_50:13-23. Next, vers. 23-27 seem to say that in his sorrow Ephraim has another son, whom he names Beriah, and of whose line in the ninth descent comes Joshua, the son of Nun. This also is very doubtful. It may very possibly be that the parenthesis continues to the end of ver. 23 or 24, and that vers. 25-27 carry on the generations from ver. 21. Meantime welcome light breaks in at the stage (ver. 26) at which Ammihud and Elishama are mentioned. For we find these immediate ancestors of the great Joshua repeatedly mentioned at the period of the Exodus; (Num_1:10 Num_2:18 Num_7:48, etc.) yet none of these places assist us to say that he did or did not come through Beriah. It is impossible to solve with any certainty the involved question of chronology and genealogy presented by this section. The passage is evidently mutilated and corrupt, though vindicating a high antiquity. Avery original presentation of the whole section, as ingenious as it is conjectural, by Lord A.C. Hervey, may be found in the art. "Shuthclah," Smith"s "Bible Dictionary," 3:1305. It is well worthy of attention that a great point is made in bringing Joshua to the place of the eighth generation from Joseph, in near analogy with the numbers in so many other known cases, of the generations that intervened from the descent into Egypt to the entrance into Canaan. There also may be found the most and best that can be said against the literal reading of what is here written respecting the men of Gath and the cattle.
Vers. 20-24.
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Divine compensations.
We have, in brief, a story of family life which still has its interest and application to us in our domestic relations. We gather
I THAT GRIEVOUS AFFLICTION SOMETIMES FALLS ON A HUMAN HOME WITH OVERWHELMING SUDDENNESS. Several sons of one house" were slain in one day. Whichever party was the aggressor, and whether the Israelites were guilty or unfortunate, the blow fell with terrible effect on the elders of the family. "Ephraim their father mourned many days" (ver. 22). "Misfortunes never come alone" is only a hasty and false generalization: they generally do come alone. It is far truer to say, "One by one our sorrows meet us." For usually God tempers our griefs by sending them singly and with more or less of interval as also of preparation. More often than not the evil which awaits us" casts its shadow before it," and we prepare our hearts for the coming trouble. But sometimes it is otherwise. Occasionally, awful, aggravated, multiplied sorrows surge around us, and all the waves and billows of distress go over us without forewarning; from the height of prosperity and joy we go down, in one bitter hour, to the dark depth of loss and woe. No man can tell what tragedy is at hand for himself and his house. The holiest, the most beloved of God, may be standing, at any moment, in immediate peril of an almost unendurable calamity.
II THAT GOD HAS MERCIFUL COMPENSATIONS IN STORE FOE HIS STRICKEN CHILDREN. He wounds that he may heal; and that, as he heals, he may bless and save. It may be that he will send:
1. Human sympathy. Ephraim"s "brethren came to comfort him." Though the sympathy of human hearts cannot "do" anything for us, as men of coarse minds say, it can and does introduce into our hearts a soothing balm which is very precious to sensitive and responsive souls. It is seldom wasted; it is generally appreciated, and is often most highly esteemed. Or God may provide:
2. That which replaces the loss. To the bereaved Ephraim he gave another child, whose name, Beriah, was pathetically suggestive of this sad breach, but whose presence in the home must have gone no small way to repair it. And now it often happens that, instead of the child that is taken, comes the infant who is sent to fill its parents" hearts as well as its mother"s arms; or instead of the fortune that is lost the competency that is gained. Or God may send:
3. Some other compensating gift. From this stricken house he took away some parental love by the death of sons, but he gave a large measure of parental joy by the enterprising spirit of a daughter (ver. 24). It may be well for us that God should exchange one source of happiness for another. Long-continued enjoyment of one satisfaction often begets a false and guilty notion of independence, and even right of possession in the human heart. So God withdraws his gift which is ceasing to be a blessing; but he gives in place of it some other good which will work no evil to the soul.
4. Spiritual acquisition. When Ephraim was" mourning many days," his heart was tender, his mind docile, his soul receptive. Then, we may venture to say, he looked up to God with special earnestness, with filial submission, with peculiar devotion. Great sorrows, sweeping away earthly satisfactions and revealing our own helplessness, make the aid and arm of man seem but feebleness and cast us back on God. Then we hide in him; then we find that he is the Refuge and the Strength of his people, the true Dwelling-place of the human soul in all generations. In great and deep affliction, as at no other time, we
(1) see the meaning and feel the force of sacred truths;
(2) come into close fellowship with the Father, the Friend, the Comforter of the human spirit;
(3) realize the littleness of earthly life and the preciousness of the heritage which is beyond. Bereft of human wealth, we are "rich towards God.
C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v21 Whom the men of Gath that wore born in…
1Ch_7:21-22
Whom the men of Gath that wore born in that land slew.
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The massacre of Ephraims children
In the mines of Peru, there are veins of peculiar richness; but the very rubbish is valuable. In the Bible there are passages of peculiar importance, but there is nothing trifling, nothing useless. To be able to extract from the more barren portions of Scripture the instructions they were intended to communicate is a talent which every Christian should cultivate. This passage teaches us--
I. That there is no individual or society secure from sudden and severe misfortune. Oh! it is natural for us, when we are happy, to cherish the thought that we shall continue to be happy. And we may be placed in circumstances in which such an anticipation seems not only natural but reasonable. Our worldly substance may be abundant; our bodily constitution may be sound and strong, promising us a long and healthy life; our children may be growing up around us, with every appearance of being the support and comfort of our declining years. We may enjoy the affection of our friends. Very few persons have ever been so prosperous, or had equal ground to presume on the permanence of their prosperity as Ephraim. We have reason to hope that Ephraim was a good man. He was certainly the son of a very good man. We cannot doubt that his father Joseph gave him a religious education. We know that Ephraim was a wealthy man. It was, indeed, his great wealth that excited the cupidity of these Philistine robbers. It is obvious that he had reached a good old age, and he had gathered around him children and childrens children, and the children of childrens children. You can easily suppose the good old man retiring to rest happy in his possessions, and happier still in his anticipations, for he had reason to anticipate coming prosperity. God had spoken good of all the descendants of Israel, but of none had He spoken so much good as of Ephraim. In his numerous descendants he probably pleased himself with the thought, that he saw the begun accomplishment of the promise that his seed should become a multitude of nations. But what a fearful and sudden reverse was he destined to experience! This affecting incident reads a lesson to us all. It tells those who are afflicted, in patience to possess their souls; and it bids those who are happy, join trembling with their mirth. It tells those who are in affliction to give God thanks that they have not been afflicted as Ephraim was. We may have been bereaved of much, it may be, but where is any of us that can for a moment compare his bereavements with those of Ephraim?
II. That the dispensations of Divine providence are often apparently in direct opposition to the declarations of the Divine promise. It is difficult to conceive a more striking illustration of this general principle than that furnished by the remarkable incident recorded in the passage before us. Ephraim, as a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had an interest in all the promises made to his illustrious ancestors. I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, said Jehovah to Abraham; as the number of the stars, so shall thy seed be. Ephraim was one of the sons of Joseph, and of course Ephraim had his share in the remarkable blessing that was pronounced on his father. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. Nor was this all; Ephraim had a share in that blessing which Jacob pronounced on himself, and on his brother Manasseh. When Joseph heard that his father was sick, apparently to death, he went to visit him, and he took along with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob having been told that his son Joseph was coming to see him, strengthened himself, and sat upon his bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, etc. There was more even than this. There was a great peculiarity in the manner in which Jacob pronounced this blessing. He crossed his hands, and laid his right hand on Ephraim, the youngest, and his left hand on Manasseh, the eldest; and when Joseph attempted to alter the position of the old mans hands, he replied, I know it, my son, I know it, etc. Such was the promise; and in the narrative before us, you see the providence. Can two things be more apparently in direct opposition? Here is a promise that Ephraim shall be more prosperous than all his brethren; and here is a providence that deprives Ephraim at once of all his property, and, as it would seem, of all his children also. Nor is this at all an unparalleled or even an uncommon case, so far as apparent contrariety between the providence and promise of God is concerned. Was it like a fulfilment of a promise made to Israel that Jehovah would give them a good and large land, flowing with milk and honey, to lead them directly into the depths of the Arabian wilderness and keep them wandering there for forty years? Was it like a fulfilment of the promise which God had made to David, that he would make him the ruler of his people, when he drove him from the court of Saul, and exposed him to imminent hazard of his life on the mountains of Israel from the persecutions of his infuriated enemy? I can appeal to the experience of every Christian. Is it not distinctly stated in Gods Word that no evil shall happen to the righteous? Is it not distinctly said, what is good God will give His people? Now, I put it to every Christian, if he has not in the course of his life met with much which at the time he could not help thinking evil for him? The reason of this apparent inconsistency of the providence with the promises of God, is by no means that there is a real opposition between them. It is the same God who speaks in His Word that works in His providence--and He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. His Word and His work are really perfectly harmonious; and in many eases those dispensations, which are apparently frustrating the promise are, in reality, fulfilling it. The reason why the promise and the providence of God often seem to us to be at variance, is our ignorance of the extent and of the particular design of the Divine dispensations. If we could see the commencement, and progress, and issue of all Gods dispensations, we would gladly say, He is doing all things well, as we shall by and by be constrained to say, He has done all things well. But in the present state this must be a matter of faith, not of sense. It is the Divine appointment, that here we must walk by faith.
III. That the dissolution of those connections that bind us together in a variety of relations in human life, occasions to all rightly constituted minds severe suffering and permanent sorrow. It would be a miserable world--at least I am sure it would not be a happy one--if there were no husbands and wives, parents and children, and brothers and sisters, relative and friends. That man must be deplorably selfish, who, on reflecting on the various sources of his happiness, does not find social relation and affection one of the most copious. In proportion to the happiness springing from these relations, is the pain that is occasioned when they are dissolved, especially when they are unexpectedly and violently dissolved. Not merely are our friends the proper objects of a much stronger kind of affection than any other species of property; but their loss is of all other earthly losses the most irreparable. Our property, our reputation, our health, may be lost and regained. But a friend whom we have lost by death, we never can bring back again from the grove. (J. Brown, D. D.)
Family sorrow
I. The Cause Of Sorrow.
II. The Sympathy In The Sorrow.
III. The Remembrance Of The Sorrow.
1. Perpetuated in joy.
2. Perpetuated in sorrow. (J. Wolfendale.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20, 23, 25 General Information:
General Information:
All of the names here except Gath are the names of men. Gath is the name of a place. (See: How to Translate Names)
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Ezer and Elead were killed by men of Gath, natives in the land
This can be translated in active form. AT: "Men of Gath, the natives in the land, killed Ezer and Elead" (See: Active or Passive)
they went to steal their cattle
"the brothers went to steal the cattle from the people of Gath"
translationWords
Ephraim
Gath
mourn
comfort
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20, 22 7:20-27 The genealogy of the descendants of Ephraim includes…
7:20-27 The genealogy of the descendants of Ephraim includes a story illustrating the circumstances of the tribe’s settlement in Canaan (7:21-24). The genealogy ends with Joshua son of Nun, who led Israel into the Promised Land.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.