1 Chronicles 5:10

“And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites, etc.] Not with the Hungarians, as the Targum, a people not then in being; but the Ishmaelites, so called because they descended from Hagar f42, Sarah’s maid; the same that are placed by Pliny f43 and Ptolemy f44 in Arabia, near the Batanaeans, or inhabitants of Bashan; with those the Reubenites made war, in conjunction with the Gadites and half tribe of Manasseh, (<130518>1 Chronicles 5:18,19), perhaps this war might be much about the time Saul relieved Jabeshgilead, and beat the Ammonites, (<091101>1 Samuel 11:1-14) by which the tribes on that side Jordan might be encouraged to it: who fell by their hand; were worsted and conquered…”

“The “Hagarites” or “Hagarenes” are generally regarded as descendants of Hagar, and a distinct branch of the Ishmaelites 1 Chronicles 27:30-31; Psalms 83:6. They appear to have been one of the most wealthy 1 Chronicles 5:21 and widely-spread tribes of the Syrian Desert, being found on the side of the Euphrates in contact with the Assyrians, and also in the Hauran, in the neighborhood of Palestine, in contact with the Moabites and Israelites. If identical with the Agraei of the Classical writers, their name may be considered as still surviving in that of the district called Hejer or Hejera in northeastern Arabia, on the borders of the Persian Gulf. A full account of the war is given in 1…”

“They made war - Thus God did for his people, as he promised them. He cast out the enemy from before them by little and little, and gave them their land as they had occasion for it. 1 Chronicles 5:14”

“5:10 The tribes of Transjordan, including the Reubenites, expanded their settlements to the north and east in conjunction with their war with the Hagrites in the days of Saul (see 5:18-22; Ps 83:6). Later, the Hagrites were among David’s men (see 1 Chr 11:38; 27:31).”

“am 2944, bc 1060 the Hagarites: i.e. fugitives, Ch1 5:19, Ch1 5:20; Gen 21:9, Gen 25:12; Sa2 24:6; Psa 83:6, Hagarenes, \[Strong's H1905\], Ch1 5:10, Ch1 5:19, Ch1 5:20; Psa 83:6, Also, Ch1 11:38, Haggeri, Ch1 27:31 throughout: etc. Heb. upon all the face of the East 1 Chronicles 5:11”

“"In the days of Saul they made war upon the Hagarites, and they fill into their hands, and they dwelt in their tents over the whole east side of Gilead." The subject is not determined, so that the words may be referred either to the whole tribe of Reuben or to the family of Bela ( Ch1 5:8). The circumstance that in Ch1 5:8 and Ch1 5:9 Bela is spoken of in the singular (יושׁב הוּא and ישׁב), while here the plural is used in reference to the war, is not sufficient to show that the words do not refer to Bela's family, for the narrative has already fallen into the plural in the last clause of Ch1 5:9. We therefore think it better to refer Ch1 5:10 to the family of Bela, seeing that the wide…”