Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Chronicles 9:4
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
In the same place there dwelt, of the sons of Judah, three chiefs of the three most important families of Judah, that of Pharez, that of Shelah, and that of Zerah; cf. Ch1 2:3-4. Of the family of Pharez was Uthai, whose descent is traced back in Ch1 9:4 to Bani, of the children of Pharez. The Kethibh בן־בנימן־בּני is clearly to be read according to the Keri מן־בּני בן־בּני. The name Bani occurs, Ch1 6:31, among the Merarites; while in the genealogies of Judah, 1 Chron 2-4, neither Bani nor Uthai, nor any one of his ancestors who are here named, is mentioned. In Neh 11:4, on the contrary, there is named of the sons of Pharez, Athaiah (עתיה, perhaps only another form of עוּתי), with quite other ancestors; while not a single one of the five names of the persons through whom his race is traced back to Mahalaleel, of the sons of Pharez, coincides with the ancestors of Uthai. Ch1 9:5 Of the family of Shelah, Asaiah the first-born, and his other) sons. בּנין, after הבּכור, can only be understood of the other sons or descendants. But the epithet give to Asaiah, השּׁילני, is surprising, for it is a formation from שׁילה or שׁילן, and appears to denote a native of Shiloh, a well-known city of Ephraim. This derivation, however, is not suitable, since here the sons (descendants) of Judah are enumerated; and no connection between the inhabitants of Judah and the Ephraimite city Shiloh can either be proved or is at all likely. The older commentators, therefore, have suggested the reading השּׁלני, as in Num 26:20, where the family of Shelah, the third sons of Judah, is so called. This suggestion is doubtless correct, and the erroneous punctuation השּׁילני has probably arisen only from the scriptio plena of the word שׁילה instead of שׁלה. This supposition is confirmed by the fact that the form השּׁלני is found in Neh 11:5, although it also is pointed השּׁלני. In Neh. loc. cit., instead of Asaiah, Maaseiah is introduced as בּן־השּׁלני in the seventh generation, while no ancestors whatever of our Asaiah are mentioned. The name עשׂיה, moreover, is not unfrequent, and occurs in Ch1 4:36 among the Simeonites; in Ch1 6:15; Ch1 15:6, Ch1 15:11, among the Levites; in Kg2 22:12, Kg2 22:14 and Ch2 34:20, as עבד of the King Josiah. מעשׁיה is the name of many persons, e.g., in Ch1 15:18, Ch1 15:20, and likewise in Ch2 23:1; Jer 21:1; Jer 29:21; Jer 35:4; and elsewhere it is used of men of other tribes: so that even should Maaseiah have been written instead of Asaiah merely by an error of transcription, we are not warranted in identifying our Asaiah with the Maaseiah of Nehemiah. Ch1 9:6 "Of the sons of Zerah, Jeuel;" also the name of various persons; cf. Ch1 5:7; Ch2 26:11 : the register in Neh 11 notices no descendants of Zerah. "And their brethren, 690 (men)." The plural suffix in אחיהם cannot be referred, as Bertheau thinks, to Jeuel, for that name, as being that of the head of a father's-house, cannot be a collective. The suffix most consequently refer to the three heads mentioned in Ch1 9:4-6, Uthai, Asaiah, and Jeuel, whose brethren are the other heads of fathers'-houses of the three families descended from Judah; cf. Ch1 9:9, where the number of the אחים mentioned refers to all the heads who had formerly been spoken of. 1 Chronicles 9:7
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