Genesis 46:12

Gen 46:12 And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.

Ver. 12. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron.] Hezron and Hamul, not yet born, are reckoned instead of Er and Onan, who were dead before the descent into Egypt. See Funccius’s Chronolog. Comment., A.M. 2273.

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.

Verse 12. The sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.] It is not likely that Pharez was more than ten years of age when he came into Egypt, and if so he could not have had children; therefore it is necessary to consider Hezron and Hamul as being born during the seventeen years that Jacob sojourned in Egypt, See Clarke on Ge 46:8: and it appears necessary, for several reasons, to take these seventeen years into the account, as it is very probable that what is called the going down into Egypt includes the seventeen years which Jacob spent there.

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

(12) Judan has five sons, of whom Er and Onan die prematurely. The names of the other three are Shelah. Pharez, and Zarah (spelt correctly Zerah in Num_26:20; 1Ch_2:4). So also the right spelling is Pherez, and not Pharez. In 1Ch_4:1 Judah has five sons: Pharez, Hezron, Carini, Hur, and Shobal, and Shelah is also mentioned there in Gen_46:21, but see Note there.

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

12. As Num_26:20 f.

Er … Onan] See Gen_38:3-10. The note, in this verse, on their death is probably a later insertion for the purpose of harmonizing the numerical computation in Gen_46:15.

Shelah] See Gen_38:5.

Perez … Zerah] See Gen_38:29-30.

Hezron] See note on Gen_46:9.

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.

These are the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram,.... Which must be restrained to the six sons only, who were properly Leah's, and not to their sons' sons, for they were not born in Padanaram, but in Canaan:

with his daughter Dinah; who also was by Leah:

all the souls of his sons and daughters were thirty and three; that is, together with himself, or otherwise it will be difficult to give the exact number; if all before mentioned are to be reckoned there will be thirty four, wherefore some are for excluding Dinah; but she is not only expressly mentioned, but is the only one intended by his daughters here, the plural being put for the singular; and there is as much reason for retaining her here, as Sarah the daughter of Asher hereafter: some think Er and Onan are to be excluded, as indeed they are, because they died in the land of Canaan, and then there will be but thirty two; wherefore some are for adding Jochebed the daughter of Levi, but she is neither mentioned in the genealogy, nor did she go with Jacob into Egypt, but was born in Egypt long after: it seems best therefore to take Jacob himself into the account, as several Jewish writers do (w), and who is expressly named and set at the head of this account, Gen 46:8, which will make thirty three.

(w) Aben Ezra, Gersom, & Abarbinel.

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

Were born, afterwards. (Menochius)

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).

Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan, and therefore are not contained in the following number, Gen 46:15.

Hezron and Hamul, though they seem to have been born in Egypt, yet are here set down amongst those who came into Egypt, because they came thither in their father’s loins, as Levi is said to pay tithes in Abraham, Heb 7:9. And the children may as well be said to come thither in their parents, as their father Jacob is said to return from thence, Gen 46:4, in his children.

Object. If this be the sense, why should these two be mentioned rather than the grandchildren of the other brethren, who came into Egypt in the same manner?

Answ. This may be done either,

1. From some special excellency or eminency in them above the rest, as Hezron was eminent for being the progenitor of the Messiah, and Hamul might be so for some other cause, though unknown to us. Or,

2. Because they were the first grandchildren that were born in Egypt, and it may be all that were born whilst Jacob lived there, and therefore are not unfitly named with Jacob, and allotted to him; as Joseph’s two eldest sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were by Jacob appropriated to himself, and reckoned as his immediate sons, when all the rest of Joseph’s sons were excluded from that privilege, Gen 48:5,6. And the like may be said of the other two grandchildren mentioned Gen 46:17.

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

12. Hezron and Hamul — The probable reason for reckoning these among the seventy (Gen_46:27) was, that they were adopted by Judah in place of the deceased Er and Onan, who died in the land of Canaan. This appears from the fact that in the later registers (Numbers xxvi and 1 Chronicles ii) they appear as permanent heads of families in Judah. Heber and Malchiel, grandsons of Asher, (Gen_46:17,) are also reckoned among the seventy, and probably for the reason that they were born before the migration into Egypt. They also appear in the later lists as heads of families in Israel.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, (vide Gen_38:3) and Pharos, and Zarah (Gen_38:29; 1Ch_2:4) but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan (Gen_8:7, Gen_8:10) And the sons of Pharez were Hezron (vide on ver. 9) and Hamul, who has experienced mercy" (Gesenius).

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

Er, Onan, Shelah

These were the sons of Judah by his wife, Shua. See how you translated these names in Genesis 38:3-5.

Perez, and Zerah

These were the sons of Judah by his daughter-in-law, Tamar. See how you translated these names in Genesis 38:29-30.

Hezron ... Hamul ... Tola, Puah, Lob ... Shimron ... Sered, Elon ... Jahleel

These are all names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

Dinah

This is the name of Leah's daughter. See how you translated this name in Genesis 30:21. (See: How to Translate Names)

His sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three

Here "sons" and "daughters" refer to Jacob's sons, daughters, and grandchildren related to Leah. AT: "Altogether he had 33 sons, daughters, and grandchildren" (See: Numbers)

translationWords

son

Judah

Issachar

Zebulun

Leah

Jacob

Paddan Aram

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