but it is now impossible to determine which is the original and correct form of the name. Eleven names are introduced as those of the sons of Zophah (1Ch 7:36, 1Ch 7:37); and in 1Ch 7:38 we have, besides, three sons of Jether (יתר), who is called in 1Ch 7:38 יתרן. In 1Ch 7:39 there follow three names, those of the sons of Ulla; on which Bertheau rightly remarks, the whole character of our enumeration would lead us to conjecture that עלּא had already occurred among the preceding names, although we find neither this name nor any similar one, with which it might be identified, in the preceding list.
Verse 40
1Ch 7:40 1Ch 7:40 contains a comprehensive concluding statement as to the descendants of Asher: “All these (those just mentioned by name) were heads of fathers'-houses, chosen valiant heroes (חילים, as in 1Ch 7:5), chief of the princes,” Vulg. duces ducum, i.e., probably leaders of the larger divisions of the army, under whom were other נשׂיאים. “And their genealogical register is for service of the host in war,” i.e., was prepared with reference to the men capable of bearing arms, and had not, like other registers, reference to the number of inhabitants of the various localities; cf. 1Ch 9:22. It amounted to 26,000 men. According to Num 1:41, Asher numbered 41,500, and according to Num 26:47, 53,000 men. But we must observe that the number given in our verse is only that of the men capable of bearing arms belonging to one of the greater families of Asher, the family of Heber, of which alone a register had been preserved till the time of the chronicler. The families of Benjamin enumerated in this chapter were probably separated from those in 1Ch 7:6-11, merely on the ground that all the registers which are grouped together in 1 Chron 7 were taken from another genealogical document than that from which the registers in our chapter, which form a supplement to the short fragments in 1Ch 7:6-11, have been derived.
Chap. 8
Verses 1-2
1Ch 8:1-2The sons of Benjamin and Bela. - The manner in which the five sons begotten by Benjamin are enumerated is remarkable, “Bela his first-born, Ashbel the second,” etc., since, according to Gen 46:21, after the first-born Bela, Becher follows as the second son, and Ashbel is the third; while Aharah, Nohah, and Rapha are not met with there, quite other
