and of Jerioth: and these were her sons; Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon. 19And Azubah died, and Caleb took unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur. 20And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezalel. 21And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead; whom he took to wife when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub. 22And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead. 23And Geshur and Aram took [1]the towns of Jair from them, with Kenath, and the
20. Bezalel] the Chronicler is naturally pleased to give prominence in his list to Bezalel, who in Ex. xxx. (P) is mentioned as the artificer of the Tabernacle.
21. The table of Caleb is broken off at this point to introduce vv. 21-23 a statement of further descendants of Hezron (ver. 9) by another wife, the daughter of Machir. The interruption is not unnatural, for it is convenient to refer to Hezron's "son of old age" immediately before the notice of his death (ver. 24).
Machir] the most important clan of Manasseh (cp. Num. xxvi. 29; Jud. v. 14). The affinity of Judean Hezronites with members of the tribe of Manasseh, implied by this verse, is surprising. Whether the tradition has a basis in fact, or arose through some genealogical confusion, cannot as yet be determined. There is however considerable evidence in favour of the view that the relationship between Machir and Caleb is at least "no isolated detail, still less is it the invention of the Chronicler's age," and there may be real historical ground for a tradition that besides the northern movement of the Hezronites upwards to Judah there was also at some time a movement across the northern end of Edom into the lands east of Jordan, ending in the settlements of Machir and Jair in Gilead here recorded; cp. Num. xxxii. 39, and for discussion of the problem see Cook, Notes on O.T. History, pp. 92, 93, etc.
22. Jair] one of the Judges (Judg. x. 3, 4 where thirty cities, not twenty-three, are assigned him).
the land of Gilead] This name is sometimes restricted to that part of the land E. of Jordan which lies S. of the wady Yarmuk. Here, as often, it is applied to all the land E. of Jordan occupied by Israel.
23. And Geshur and Aram] Geshur was an Aramean kingdom E. of Jordan on the N.E. border of Manasseh. Aram, commonly translated "Syria" or "the Syrians," probably here signifies the kingdom of which Damascus was the capital. The conquest of Manassite territory by the Arameans ("Syrians") here described probably took place before the days of Ahab, for in his reign they were already established as far south as Ramoth-gilead (1 Kin. xxii. 3).
the towns of Jair] note marg. Havvoth-jair, cp. Deut. iii. 14; Judg.
- ↑ Or, Havvoth-jair
