1 Chronicles 4:18

1Ch 4:18. Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took — That is, married. But it is not likely that he married the daughter of the king of Egypt, unless some natural daughter; but rather of some other person called by that name, who might either be an Israelite, or one brought by force out of Egypt by way of spoil.

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

4:18 Through Mered’s wife Bithia, a daughter of Pharaoh, the descendants of Judah included children of Egyptian heritage.

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

Or, she bare, meaning, the second wife of Ezra.

Or, of whom he had Mered.

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

Jehudijah--"the Jewess," to distinguish her from his other wife, who was an Egyptian. This passage records a very interesting fact--the marriage of an Egyptian princess to a descendant of Caleb. The marriage must have taken place in the wilderness. The barriers of a different national language and national religion kept the Hebrews separate from the Egyptians; but they did not wholly prevent intimacies, and even occasional intermarriages between private individuals of the two nations. Before such unions, however, could be sanctioned, the Egyptian party must have renounced idolatry, and this daughter of Pharaoh, as appears from her name, had become a convert to the worship of the God of Israel.

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

Verse 18. And his wife Jehudijah] The Targum considers the names in this verse as epithets of Moses: "And his wife Jehuditha educated Moses after she had drawn him out of the water: and she called his name Jered, because he caused the manna to descend upon Israel; and Prince Gedor, because he restored the desolations of Israel; Heber also, because he joined Israel to their heavenly Father; and Prince Socho, because he overshadowed Israel with his righteousness, and Jekuthiel, because the Israelites waited on the God of heaven in his time, forty years in the desert; and prince Zanoah, because God, on his account, had passed by the sins of Israel. These names Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, called him by the spirit of prophecy, for she became a proselyte; and Mered took her to himself to wife: he is Caleb, and was so called because he opposed the counsel of the spies." - T. A similar explanation is given by Jarchi.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) And his wife Jehudijah [Margin is right, the Jewess] bare Jered.—It is obvious that a contrast with the sons of some non-Jewish wife is intended, and these latter ought already to have been mentioned. Clearly, therefore, the sentence “And these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took”—a sentence which is meaningless in its present position—must be restored to its original place after the first statement of 1Ch_4:17. We thus get the sense: “And the sons of Ezra were Jepher and Mered, and Epher and Jalon. And these [the following] are the sons of Bithiah, daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took [to wife]; she conceived Miriam and Shammai and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa. And his [Mered’s] wife the Jewess bare Jered . . . Zanoah.” Thus the house of Mered son of Ezra bifurcates into a purely Judæan and a mixed Egyptian group of families. Eshtemoa (1Ch_4:17) lay south of Hebron, in the hil-country (Jos_15:50).

Gedor.—See 1Ch_4:4, where Penuel is called father of Gedor. The two lists may, and probably do, refer to different epochs.

Socho.—Jos_15:35; in the Shephelah, south-west of Jerusalem.

Zanoah.—Two Judæan towns were so named, one in the Shephelah, the other in the highlands (Jos_15:34; Jos_15:56).

Jekuthiel occurs here only; but comp. Joktheel (Jos_15:38), a town in the Shephelah.

Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh.—Bithiah is apparently Hebrew, “daughter of Iah,” that is, a convert to the religion of Israel. It may be a Hebraized form of Bent-Aah, daughter of the Moon, or some like native name. Daughter of Pharaoh, if the nomenclature be tribal, need only mean an Egyptian clan which amalgamated with that of Mered. On the other hand, comp. 2Ch_8:11 and 1Ki_9:24, where the phrase is used in its literal sense.

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

18. his wife] the wife of Mered, if the transposition mentioned in the last note be accepted.

his wife Jehudijah] R.V. his wife the Jewess (so called in contrast to his Egyptian wife).

Gedor] Cp. 1Ch_4:4, where a different person is perhaps by a different tradition called father of Gedor. Gedor is to be identified with the ruins of Jedur on the road between Jerusalem and Hebron (Bädeker, p. 135)

Socho] R.V. Soco.

Socho … Zanoah] The two places are mentioned in the reverse order in Jos_15:34-35 as situated in the lowland (Shephelah). Zâbû‘a still exists (Bädeker, p. 161).

these are the sons of Bithiah] See note on 1Ch_4:17.

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.

And his wife Jehudijah,.... Another wife of Ezra; or, according to Kimchi, of Mered; a Jewess, as the word is by some rendered, to distinguish her from another wife, an Egyptian, in the latter part of the verse:

bare Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Socho, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah; who were princes, as Jarchi seems rightly to observe; of several cities of these names in the tribe of Judah, as of Gedor, see Jos 15:58, of Socoh, Jos 15:35, of Zanoah, Jos 15:34, the Targum interprets the names of all these men of Moses, whom Pharaoh's daughter brought up; and so other Jewish writers (a), into which mistake they were led by what follows:

and these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took; that is, to wife; this Mered was one of the sons of Ezra, Ch1 4:17 the Targum, and other Jewish writers (b), say this was Caleb, called Mered, because he rebelled against the counsel of the spies; but this contradicts their other notion of Jehudijah, or Bithiah, Pharaoh's daughter, whom he married, the one who brought up Moses, since Moses was elder than Caleb; but Bithiah, whom Mered married, was not a daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt, but of an Israelite of this name; her sons are supposed to be those in the latter part of Ch1 4:17.

(a) T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 13. 1. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 146. 3. (b) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 19. 2. & Megillah, fol. 13. 1.

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

His wife - i. e. Mered’s. Mered, it would seem, had two wives, Bithiah, an Egyptian woman, and a Jewish wife (see the margin), whose name is not given. If Mered was a chief of rank, Bithlah may have been married to him with the consent of her father, for the Egyptian kings often gave their daughters in marriage to foreigners. Or she may have elected to forsake her countrymen and cleave to a Jewish husband, becoming a convert to his religion. Her name, Bithiah, “daughter of Yahweh,” is like that of a convert.

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

Judaia, a second wife, of his own nation. By the first, from Egypt, Mered had Miriam, &c. Some words seem to be lost, which render it doubtful to whom Judaia was married.

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).

His wife; either Ezra’s wife, or rather, another wife of Mered. Jehudijah; or, the Jewess; so called to distinguish her from his Egyptian wife here following.

These are the sons, to wit, Miriam, and the rest following, 1Ch 4:17.

The daughter of Pharaoh; either

1. Of Pharaoh king of Egypt for Mered might be a person of great estate and quality; or this might be only Pharaoh’s illegitimate daughter. Or,

2. Of some other Egyptian or Israelite called by that name; which might easily happen upon divers occasions.

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

And his wife Jehudijah,.... Another wife of Ezra; or, according to Kimchi, of Mered; a Jewess, as the word is by some rendered, to distinguish her from another wife, an Egyptian, in the latter part of the verse:

bare Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Socho, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah; who were princes, as Jarchi seems rightly to observe; of several cities of these names in the tribe of Judah, as of Gedor, see Jos 15:58, of Socoh, Jos 15:35, of Zanoah, Jos 15:34, the Targum interprets the names of all these men of Moses, whom Pharaoh's daughter brought up; and so other Jewish writers (a), into which mistake they were led by what follows:

and these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took; that is, to wife; this Mered was one of the sons of Ezra, Ch1 4:17 the Targum, and other Jewish writers (b), say this was Caleb, called Mered, because he rebelled against the counsel of the spies; but this contradicts their other notion of Jehudijah, or Bithiah, Pharaoh's daughter, whom he married, the one who brought up Moses, since Moses was elder than Caleb; but Bithiah, whom Mered married, was not a daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt, but of an Israelite of this name; her sons are supposed to be those in the latter part of Ch1 4:17.

(a) T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 13. 1. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 146. 3. (b) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 19. 2. & Megillah, fol. 13. 1.

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.)

And his wife the Judahitess Caleb’s wife, who was born of Judah.

Jered, the father of Gedor, etc. the leaders of the cities, as it is written in Josh. (15:56): “and Jokdeam and Zanoah...,” (v. 58): “Halhul, Beth Zur, and Gedor,” (v. 36): “Jarmuth and Adullam, Soco and Azekah.”

And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh The “vav” separates between the sons of the Judahitess and the sons of Bithiah.

whom Mered married Caleb is Mered, who rebelled (שֶׁמָרַד) against the counsel of the spies, and so is the manner of the genealogy, that even for one, he says, “the sons of,” like (verse 15): “and the sons of Elah: Uknaz.”

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.