1 Chronicles 2:42-45

I. — 1 Chronicles 2:42 : Caleb brother of Jerahmeel = Caleb son of Hezron (1 Chronicles 2:18) = Chelubai (1 Chronicles 2:9).

(42) Mesha. — The name of a king of Moab (2 Kings 3:4), whose monument of victory, the famous Moabite stone, was found in 1868 at Dibou. Here the name is probably that of a principal Calebite clan, settled at Ziph, near Hebron (Joshua 15:54; 1 Samuel 23:14).

Father of Ziph. — Comp. 1 Chronicles 2:21, “father of Gilead,” and 24.

And the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron. — The statement of the verse is, “the sons of Mareshah were sons of Caleb,” that is, the Mareshathites, or people of Mareshah (Joshua 15:44), a town in the Shephelah, were a Calebite clan. This branch of Caleb is called “father of Hebron,” because it had the chief part in colonising that old Canaanite city.

(43) Korah. — Elsewhere the name of a subdivision of the Kohathite Levites; in 1 Chronicles 1:35 it was a tribe of Edomites. In this place, therefore, it may be a clan of Hebronites.

Tappuah. — A town in the Shephelah (Joshua 15:34; Joshua 16:8).

Rekem. — A Benjamite city (Joshua 18:27); in 1 Chronicles 7:16, a Machirite chieftain or clan.

Shema. — Occurs several times in the chronicle. In 1 Chronicles 5:8; 1 Chronicles 8:13 it appears to be the name of a clan; in 1 Chronicles 11:44 and Nehemiah 8:4 a person is meant.

(44) Jorkoam. — Occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. The LXX. (Alex.) has Ἰεκλάν, Jeklan. Probably, therefore, the correct reading is Jokdeam. (For the change of Hebrew d to Greek l see 1 Kings 5:11, where Hebrew Darda is represented by Δαραλά.) Jokdeam was a town in the hill-country of Judah (Joshua 15:56). The chief or clan Raham is here called its father or founder.

Rekem. — The LXX. (Alex.) again has Jeklan (Jokdeam), which is as likely to be right as Rekem.

Shammai. — See 1 Chronicles 2:28.

(45) Maon ... Beth-zur. — Towns in the hill-country of Judah (Joshua 15:55; Joshua 15:58). Maon, now Main, south of Hebron. Beth-zur (2 Chronicles 11:7), now Beit-sûr. In Judges 10:12 Midianites, not Maonites, is the better reading.