1 Chronicles 1:28

1Ch 1:28. The sons of Abraham — All nations but the seed of Abraham are already shaken off from this genealogy. Not that we conclude, no particular persons of any other nation but this found favour with God; multitudes will be brought to heaven out of every nation, and we may hope there were many, very many people in the world, whose names were in the book of life, though they did not spring from the loins of Abraham.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:28-33 Using the same pattern as the author of Genesis, the Chronicler traces separately the descendants of Abraham apart from Isaac, listing the sons of Ishmael (1:29-31; cp. Gen 25:12-15) and the sons of Keturah (1 Chr 1:32-33; cp. Gen 25:1-3) before detailing the descendants in the chosen family line.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

All nations but the seed of Abraham are already shaken off from this genealogy: they have no part nor lot in this matter. The Lord's portion is his people. Of them he keeps an account, knows them by name; but those who are strangers to him he beholds afar off. Not that we are to conclude that therefore no particular persons of any other nation but the seed of Abraham found favour with God. It was a truth, before Peter perceived it, that in every nation he that feared God and wrought righteousness was accepted of him. Multitudes will be brought to heaven out of all nations (Rev 7:9), and we are willing to hope there were many, very many, good people in the world, that lay out of the pale of God's covenant of peculiarity with Abraham, whose names were in the book of life, though not descended from any of the following families written in this book. The Lord knows those that are his. But Israel was a chosen nation, elect in type; and no other nation, in its national capacity, was so dignified and privileged as the Jewish nation was. That is the holy nation which is the subject of the sacred story; and therefore we are next to shake off all the seed of Abraham but the posterity of Jacob only, which were all incorporated into one nation and joined to the Lord, while the other descendants from Abraham, for aught that appears, were estranged both from God and from one another.

I. We shall have little to say of the Ishmaelites. They were the sons of the bondwoman, that were to be cast out and not to be heirs with the child of the promise; and their case was to represent that of the unbelieving Jews, who were rejected (Gal 4:22, etc.), and therefore there is little notice taken of that nation. Ishmael's twelve sons are just named here (Ch1 1:29-31), to show the performance of the promise God made to Abraham, in answer to his prayer for him, that, for Abraham's sake, he should become a great nation, and particularly that he should beget twelve princes, Gen 17:20.

II. We shall have little to say of the Midianites, who descended from Abraham's children by Keturah. They were children of the east (probably Job was one of them), and were separated from Isaac, the heir of the promise (Gen 25:6), and therefore they are only named here, Ch1 1:32. The sons of Jokshan, the son of Keturah, are named also, and the sons of Midian (Ch1 1:32, Ch1 1:33), who became most eminent, and perhaps gave denomination to all these families, as Judah to the Jews.

III. We shall not have much to say of the Edomites. They had an inveterate enmity to God's Israel; yet because they descended from Esau, the son of Isaac, we have here an account of their families, and the names of some of their famous men, Ch1 1:35 to the end. Some slight differences there are between some of the names here, and as we had them in Gen. 36, whence this whole account is taken. Three of four names that were written with a Vau there are written with a Jod here, probably the pronunciation being altered, as is usual in other languages. we now write many words very differently from what they were written but 200 years ago. Let us take occasion, from the reading of these genealogies, to think, 1. Of the multitudes that have gone through this world, have acted their part in it, and then quitted it. Job, even in his early day, saw not only every man drawing after him, but innumerable before him, Job 21:33. All these, and all theirs, had their day; many of them made a mighty noise and figure in the world; but their day came to fall, and their place knew them no more. The paths of death are trodden paths, but vestigia nulla retrorsum - none can retrace their steps. 2. Of the providence of God, which keeps up the generations of men, and so preserves that degenerate race, though guilty and obnoxious, in being upon earth. How easily could he cut it off without either a deluge or a conflagration! Write but all the children of men childless, as some are, and in a few years the earth will be eased of the burden under which it groans; but the divine patience lets the trees that cumber the ground not only grow, but propagate. As one generation, even of sinful men, passes away, another comes (Ecc 1:4; Num 32:14), and will do so while the earth remains. Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The sons of Abraham,.... The famous and well known ancestor of the Jews; of Ishmael his firstborn, and his posterity; of his sons by Keturah; and of Isaac and his sons, an account is given from hence to the end of Ch1 1:34 entirely agreeing with that in Gen 25:1.

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1 Chronicles 1:35

ch1 1:35

ch1 1:35

ch1 1:35The sons of Esau,.... The firstborn of Isaac; his posterity are named in this and the two following verses, as in Gen 36:1 only it should be observed, that Timna, Ch1 1:36 is not the name of a man, but was the concubine of Eliphaz, the eldest son of Esau, and the mother of Amalek, Gen 36:12, and so in the Arabic version it is read,"and Timna, which was the concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, bare him Amalek;''and so the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Isaac and Ishmael - Isaac, though younger than Ishmael, is placed first, as the legitimate heir, since Sarah alone was Abraham’s true wife (compare the 1Ch 1:36 note).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 28-37. E. LIST OF THE SONS, GRANDSONS, AND OTHER DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM. In the first of these verses the new form of the name of Abraham is at once used in place of the old form. And the names of two of his sons are given, Isaac the son by Sarah, and Ishmael the son by Hagar, his Egyptian bondwoman. That these stand in the inverse order of their birth and age requires no explanation. The distinct and separate mention of these two sons, apart from all the others, is of course in harmony with Gen_21:12, 13 "In Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed." Although stated in the first place in the order of importance, and Isaac takes precedence of Ishmael, the name of this latter and of his posterity are treated of first. To note each clear instance of this kind will guard us against inferring, in cases not clear, anything positive, one way or the other, respecting seniority merely from order. The order either of age or of historic importance may be given in the first instance, to be immediately reversed in favour of the order which shall enable the writer to clear out of his way the less important.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sons of Abraham - All nations but the seed of Abraham are already shaken off from this genealogy. Not that we conclude, no particular persons of any other nation but this found favour with God. Multitudes will be brought to heaven out of every nation, and we may hope there were many, very many people in the world, whose names were in the book of life, tho' they did not spring from the loins of Abraham.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The sons of Abraham,.... The famous and well known ancestor of the Jews; of Ishmael his firstborn, and his posterity; of his sons by Keturah; and of Isaac and his sons, an account is given from hence to the end of Ch1 1:34 entirely agreeing with that in Gen 25:1.

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1 Chronicles 1:35

ch1 1:35

ch1 1:35

ch1 1:35The sons of Esau,.... The firstborn of Isaac; his posterity are named in this and the two following verses, as in Gen 36:1 only it should be observed, that Timna, Ch1 1:36 is not the name of a man, but was the concubine of Eliphaz, the eldest son of Esau, and the mother of Amalek, Gen 36:12, and so in the Arabic version it is read,"and Timna, which was the concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, bare him Amalek;''and so the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

All of the names here are names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

Isaac

Ishmael

firstborn

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.