1 Chronicles 7:6-12

10. THE DESCENDANTS OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN (1 Chronicles 7:6-12)

TEXT

1 Chronicles 7:6. The sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three. 7. And the sons of Bela: Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers-' houses, mighty men of Valor; and they were reckoned by genealogy twenty and two thousand and thirty and four. 8. And the sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jeremoth, and Abijah, and Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. 9. And they were reckoned by genealogy, after their generations, heads of their fathers-' houses, mighty men of valor, twenty thousand and two hundred. 10. And the sons of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tarshish, and Ahishahar. 11. All these were sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers-' houses, mighty men of valor, seventeen thousand and two hundred, that were able to go forth in the host for war. 12. Shuppim also, and Huppim, the sons of Ir, Hushim the sons of Aher.

PARAPHRASE

1 Chronicles 7:6. The sons of Benjamin were: Bela, Becher, Jedia-el, 7. The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, Iri. These five mighty warriors were chiefs of subclans and were the leaders of 22,034 troops (all of whom were recorded in the official genealogies). 8. The sons of Becher were: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Eli-o-enai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, Alemeth. 9. At the time of David there were 22,200 mighty warriors among their descendants; and they were led by their clan chiefs. 10. The son of Jedia-el was Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan were: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, Ahishahar. 11. They were the chiefs of the subclans of Jedia-el, and their descendants included 17,200 warriors at the time of King David. 12. The sons of Ir were Shuppim and Huppim. Hushim was one of the sons of Aher.

COMMENTARY

The indications here are that Benjamin had three sons, namely, Bela, Becher, and Jediael. The list in Genesis 46:21 names the sons of Benjamin. Some of these are to be identified as grandsons. At the time when this present enumeration was taken, Bela's descendants numbered 22,034. Becher's direct descendants numbered 20,200 (1 Chronicles 7:8-9), and Jedia-el's people numbered 17,200. Evidently these enumerations have to do with warriors. The total military strength of Benjamin at this time was 59,434.