Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Numbers 26:26-41
'The sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. These are the families of the Zebulunites according to those that were numbered of them, threescore thousand and five hundred.'
The tribe of Zebulun was listed by its three sub-tribes, the Seredites, the Elonites, and the Jahleelites. As we have seen this ‘numbering' could signify sixty leaders/champions, and five ‘hundreds'. (Or sixty wider families).
‘The sons of Joseph after their families; Manasseh and Ephraim. The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites; and Machir begat Gilead; of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites. These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the family of the Iezerites; of Helek, the family of the Helekites; and of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites; and of Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the family of the Hepherites. And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. These are the families of Manasseh; and they that were numbered of them were fifty and two thousand and seven hundred.'
The tribe of Joseph was split into two tribes, those of Manasseh and Ephraim. We are here given details of the tribe of Manasseh. They were listed by their sub-tribe, the Machirites who then seemingly subdivided into the sub-tribes of the Machirites and the Gileadites, the latter dividing into the clans of the Iezerites, the Helekites, the Asrielites, the Shechemites, the Shemidaites, and the Hepherites. As we know from what follows later the tribe of Manasseh was complicated and split into two sections, one in Transjordan inheriting Gilead and Bashan, and one in Canaan itself. Jair who is referred to later in connection with Gilead was the grandson of Machir's daughter through her marriage to Hezron of Judah and is called a son of Machir (1 Chronicles 2:21).
So eight clans were descended from Manasseh; one from his son Machir, the second from Machir's son (Manasseh's grandson) Gilead, and the other six from six descendants of Gilead. The genealogical information in 27:1; 36:1 and Joshua 17:1 is in harmony with this, except that Iezer is called Ab-iezer (Iezer is father) in Joshua 17:2. Only a part of the names mentioned here occur in the genealogical fragments in 1 Chronicles 7:14, which also actually demonstrate how complicated these relationships were. In Numbers 26:33 a son of Hepher, named Zelophehad, is also mentioned. He had no sons, but only daughters, whose names are given here in order to prepare the way for the legal regulations mentioned in Numbers 27 and num 39, to which this fact gave rise.
‘These are the sons of Ephraim after their families; of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites. These are the families of the sons of Ephraim according to those that were numbered of them, thirty and two thousand and five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph after their families.'
The tribe of Ephraim was listed by its three sub-tribes, the Shuthelahites, the Becherites, and the Tahanites, together with the clan of the Eranites, descended from Shuthelah. As we have seen this ‘numbering' could signify thirty two leaders/champions, and five ‘hundreds'. (Or thirty two wider families).
‘The sons of Benjamin after their families; of Bela, the family of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites; of Shephupham, the family of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the family of the Huphamites. And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites; of Naaman, the family of the Naamites. These are the sons of Benjamin after their families; and they that were numbered of them were forty and five thousand and six hundred.'
The tribe of Benjamin was listed by its five sub-tribes, the Belaites, the Ashbelites, the Ahiramites, the Shuphamites, and the Huphamites, together with its clans of the Ardites and the Naamites.. As we have seen this ‘numbering' could signify forty five leaders/champions, and six ‘hundreds'. (Or forty five wider families).
In Genesis 46:21 we find mentioned Bela and Ashbel, Naaman and Ard (‘sons' has a wide meaning and includes descendants). Ahiram ('hrm) is probably there as Ehi ('h -dropping the ‘ram', the name of a god). Hupham is probably there as Huppim and Shephupham probably Muppim (Shuppim in 1 Chronicles 7:12). That Shephupham is minimised to Shuphamites demonstrates the fluidity of the name. Some of Benjamin's offspring clearly died childless. In ancient times names were fluid and even pet names would be used.