Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite. 20And the sons of Shimon; Amnon, and Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. And the sons of Ishi; Zoheth, and Ben-zoheth. The sons of 21Shelah the son of Judah; Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea; 22and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had dominion in Moab, and Jashubi-lehem. And the [1]records are ancient. 23These were the potters, and [2]the inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah: there they dwelt with the king for his work.
19. Keilah] a town of the Shephelah (Josh. xv. 44), the scene of one of David's exploits (1 Sam. xxiii. 1—5).
Eshtemoa the Maacathite] The epithet distinguishes this Eshtemoa from that of ver. 17. The Maacathite may mean the descendant of Maacah (ii. 48), the concubine of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel.
21—23. These verses purport to give some fragmentary information of the descendants of Shelah. It must be owned that they are most obscure, and much more difficult than they appear at first. In the P. E. F. S., 1905, pp. 243 ff., 328 ff., R. A. S. Macalister gives a highly ingenious reinterpretation of this passage in the light of certain jar handles inscribed with names similar to those mentioned here and in certain other passages of the Chronicler's genealogies; and conjectures that throughout the chapter we have a (mutilated) genealogy of a family of craftsmen, tracing descent from two individuals, a Jerahmeel and a Caleb. In a text so obscure it is no objection that the theory involves several textual emendations, and is too intricate for further treatment here. It is rejected by Driver, Modern Research, p. 77.
21. Shelah] mentioned in ii. 3 as a son of Judah. As there is no reference to him in iv. 1, perhaps these difficult verses are an addition. For other references to his descendants, see ix. 5, Neh. xi. 5.
Mareshah] ii. 42; 2 Chr. xi. 8; Josh. xv. 44 (mentioned with Keilah). A town in the south of Judah.
the house of Ashbea] Nothing is known of such a family. Render perhaps Beth-Ashbea, but the place is otherwise unknown.
22. and Joash, and Saraph, who, etc.] We find no other trace of these two as rulers of Moab. The Targ. fancifully identified them with Mahlon and Chilion of Ruth i. 2, 4. For a conjecture as to the cause of their presence in Moab, see Macalister, loc. cit. p. 340.
and Jashubi-lehem] render, with Vulg., who returned to Bethlehem, a translation which requires only an easy emendation of the present Hebrew text.
23. there they dwelt with the king for his work] In the days of the
