1 Chronicles 2:21

1Ch 2:21. The father of Gilead — It is doubtful whether the word Gilead is here the name of a man, or of the country so called: if it be the latter, the expression means, the prince of Gilead, as the word father often signifies: if the former, the Gilead intended must have been a person of noted valour, probably the great champion in those parts.

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

2:21-23 Some of the families of Gilead, listed elsewhere as members of the tribe of Manasseh (cp. Num 32:39-42), also had a connection with the tribe of Judah.

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

Who was prince of mount Gilead, read Num. 32:40.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Hezron . . . daughter of Machir the father of Gilead--that is, chief of that town, which with the lands adjacent was no doubt the property of Machir, who was so desirous of a male heir. He was grandson of Joseph. The wife of Machir was of the tribe of Manasseh (Num 26:29).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(21) And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir.—This appears to mean, after the birth of the three sons mentioned in 1Ch_2:9.

Machir.—The firstborn of Manasseh (Gen_1:23), to whom Moses gave the land of Gilead (Num_32:40; Deu_3:15). This explains the term “father of Gilead.” The great clan of Machir was the ruling clan in Gilead. Comp. Num_26:28, which mentions the clan of the Machirites, and adds that “Machir begat Gilead,” which perhaps means to say that the Israelite settlers in Gilead were of the clan Machir.

Whom he married when he was threescore.—It is possible to see here a metaphorical statement of the fact that a branch of Hezronites amalgamated with the Machirites of Gilead. The “daughter of Machir” would then mean the clan so named. Comp. the expressions, “daughter of Zion” (Isa_37:22), “daughter of Judah” (Lam_1:15), “daughter of Babylon” (Isa_47:1).

(21-24) This short section, concerning other Hezronites than those of the house of Caleb, is a parenthesis relating to a Hezronite element in Manassite Gilead.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel,.... By his first wife:

were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker; of whom no other notice is taken; perhaps they left no children.

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

Machir, grandson of Joseph, whose descendants occupied part of Galaad, (Haydock) of which he is styled the father, or prince. (Menochius) --- The daughter of Machir was probably an heiress, and Segub dwelt with his mother’s tribe. (Calmet)

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).

Went in, i.e. lay with her, as that phrase is commonly used, as Gen 4:1; 6:4.

The father of Gilead; of a man so called. Or if Gilead be the name of that known country, father is put for head or governor, as it is used 1Sa 24:11; 2Ki 5:13; 16:7; Isa 22:21; or for protector or curator, as father is used Job 29:16; Jer 2:27; Lam 5:3; this man being a man of noted valour, and the great champion in those parts.

Whom, he married, Heb. and he took her, to wit, to wife. Or, after he had taken her; for so the particle vau is used, as hath been formerly noted.

When he was threescore years old, Heb. and he was, to wit, when he went in unto her, or when he married her.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 21-24. The first interruption to the record of Caleb"s posterity is now occasioned by a resumed reference to Hezron, who at the age of threescore took to wife (as it seems from ver. 24) Abiah, sister to Gilead, daughter of the eminent man Machir, who was Manasseh"s oldest son by an Aramitess concubine. (1Ch_7:14) Two sons of Hezron by Abiah are given (the latter of them a posthumous child), but the elder having a son called Jair tracked, no doubt as one who became famous by the number of cities he took. He was thus connected on the father"s side with a great family of Judah, and on the mother"s with a great family of Manasseh. He is probably not the Jair of Jud_1:10:3, with his "thirty sons, thirty ass colts, and thirty cities." And ryaiy (jIaeizov, Mar_5:22) is not dyiy; of 2Sa_21:19; 1Ch_20:5. Evident stress is laid on his maternal descent. Thus (Num_32:41) he is styled son of Manasseh, and hence also the explanation of the last clause of ver. 23, infra, all these belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead. Some of the cities alluded to are the Havoth-Jair (Deu_3:14; Jos_13:30) Englished as the "groups of dwellings of Jair," on which see interesting note in Stanley"s "Sinai and Palestine" (edit. 1866), vocabulary, pp. 526, 527. They lay in the trans-Jordanic district Trachonitis, the modern El-leyah and Jebel-Hauran. It is not possible to harmonize exactly the numbers of the cities given here with those in passages quoted above; nor is the translation of ver. 23, Authorized Version, very certainly the correct one. E. Bertheau, in his "Die Bucher der Chronik erklart; 15. Kurzgef. exegetisches Handbuch. z. A.T.," translates, "And Geshur and Aram took the Havvoth-Jair from them with Kenath and her daughter-towns, sixty cities." "Took" is supposed to mean here "retook," or "recovered." Though this suits the Hebrew syntax better, it does not suit so well our immediate context; nor have we any other information of such re, covering of them. Vers. 21-35. The Authorized Version is not justified in substituting children for the Hebrew "sons;" the object evidently being to make this statement reconcilable with ver. 34, which says that Sheshan had only daughters. The difficulty can be removed, possibly, by supposing that Ahlai died (yet see, 1Ch_11:41) or that, at the time to which ver. 34 refers, only daughters were in question. Wall"s conjecture, that Ahlai of ver. 31 is the same with Attai of ver. 35, would have more probability if aleph were not the initial letter of the one, and ayin of the other. Still, as all the other "sons" of this passage mean sons strictly, it would be unlikely that sons of Sheshan only should mean "grandsons." The genealogy now proceeds through Sheshan"s daughter, name not given (unless possibly Ahlai), married to his Egyptian servant Jarha, down to (ver. 41) Elishama, at the twentieth generation from Jerahmeel. To this, however, the Septuagint (Juxta Exemplar Originals Vaticanum, of 1657), adds one generation more, kai jElismannhse tol. The Egyptian servant Jarha is not heard of elsewhere; that he was enfranchised before his marriage with Sheshan"s daughter is likely enough. (Deu_23:8; 1Sa_30:11) The language of the end of ver. 33, These were the sons of Jerahmeel, would seem to exclude the following thirteen descendants of Jarha and Sheshan"s daughter from the genealogy. Yet this is scarcely likely to be the intention, which perhaps was satisfied with simply marking a distinction by the pause.

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

Gilead - Of a man so called: a man of noted valour, and the great champion in those parts.

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

And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel,.... By his first wife:

were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker; of whom no other notice is taken; perhaps they left no children.

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 names in this list are the names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

bore him

"gave birth to"

land of Gilead

People gave the land the name of the man.

translationWords

Gilead

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

And afterwards Hezron came to the daughter of Machir This was because of David’s honor, because Hezron came to the daughter of Machir, taking her as a concubine, not for matrimony, similar to (Ps. 51:2): “... when he came to Bathsheba,” and he was sixty years old, thus making two uncomplimentary qualities for Machir’s daughter: one, that he did not take her for the purpose of matrimony, and one, that he was old, but because of the esteem of the families of Judah, they gave her to him, and when Jair begot [children], Machir’s sons gave him twenty-three cities to take one of his daughters as a wife.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.