1 Chronicles 1:28 Komentář

This chapter and many that follow it repeat the genealogies we have hitherto met with in the sacred history, and put them all together, with considerable additions. We may be tempted, it may be, to think it would have been well if they had not been written, because, when they come to be compared with other parallel places, there are differences found, which we can scarcely accommodate to our satisfaction; yet we must not therefore stumble at the word, but bless God that the things necessary to salvation are plain enough. And since the wise God has thought fit to write these things to us, we should not pass them over unread. All scripture is profitable, though not all alike profitable; and we may take occasion for good thoughts and meditations even from those parts of scripture that do not furnish so much matter for profitable remarks as some other parts. These genealogies, 1. Were then of great use, when they were here preserved, and put into the hands of the Jews after their return from Babylon; for the captivity, like the deluge, had put all into confusion, and they, in that dispersion and despair, would be in danger of losing the distinctions of their tribes and families. This therefore revives the ancient landmarks even of some of the tribes that were carried captive into Assyria. Perhaps it might invite the Jews to study the sacred writings which had been neglected, to find the names of their ancestors, and the rise of their families in them. 2. They are still of some use for the illustrating of the scripture-story, and especially for the clearing of the pedigrees of the Messiah, that it might appear that our blessed Saviour was, according to the prophecies which went before of him, the son of David, the son of Judah, the son of Abraham, the son of Adam. And, now that he has come for whose sake these registers were preserved, the Jews since have so lost all their genealogies that even that of the priests, the most sacred of all, is forgotten, and they know not of any one man in the world that can prove himself of the house of Aaron. When the building is reared the scaffolds are removed. When the promised Seed has come the line that was to lead to him is broken off. In this chapter we have an abstract of all the genealogies in the book of Genesis, till we come to Jacob. I. The descents from Adam to Noah and his sons, out of Gen. 5, (Ch1 1:1-4). II. The posterity of Noah's sons, by which the earth was repeopled, out of Gen. 10, (v. 5-23). III. The descents from Shem to Abraham, out of Gen. 11, (Ch1 1:24-28). IV. The posterity of Ishmael, and of Abraham's sons by Keturah, out of Gen. 25, (Ch1 1:29-35). V. The posterity of Esau, out of Gen. 36, (v. 36-54). These, it is likely, were passed over lightly in Genesis; and therefore, according to the law of the school, we are made to go over that lesson again which we did not learn well.

All nations but the seed of Abraham are already shaken off from this genealogy: they have no part nor lot in this matter. The Lord's portion is his people. Of them he keeps an account, knows them by name; but those who are strangers to him he beholds afar off. Not that we are to conclude that therefore no particular persons of any other nation but the seed of Abraham found favour with God. It was a truth, before Peter perceived it, that in every nation he that feared God and wrought righteousness was accepted of him. Multitudes will be brought to heaven out of all nations (Rev 7:9), and we are willing to hope there were many, very many, good people in the world, that lay out of the pale of God's covenant of peculiarity with Abraham, whose names were in the book of life, though not descended from any of the following families written in this book. The Lord knows those that are his. But Israel was a chosen nation, elect in type; and no other nation, in its national capacity, was so dignified and privileged as the Jewish nation was. That is the holy nation which is the subject of the sacred story; and therefore we are next to shake off all the seed of Abraham but the posterity of Jacob only, which were all incorporated into one nation and joined to the Lord, while the other descendants from Abraham, for aught that appears, were estranged both from God and from one another. I. We shall have little to say of the Ishmaelites. They were the sons of the bondwoman, that were to be cast out and not to be heirs with the child of the promise; and their case was to represent that of the unbelieving Jews, who were rejected (Gal 4:22, etc.), and therefore there is little notice taken of that nation. Ishmael's twelve sons are just named here (Ch1 1:29-31), to show the performance of the promise God made to Abraham, in answer to his prayer for him, that, for Abraham's sake, he should become a great nation, and particularly that he should beget twelve princes, Gen 17:20. II. We shall have little to say of the Midianites, who descended from Abraham's children by Keturah. They were children of the east (probably Job was one of them), and were separated from Isaac, the heir of the promise (Gen 25:6), and therefore they are only named here, Ch1 1:32. The sons of Jokshan, the son of Keturah, are named also, and the sons of Midian (Ch1 1:32, Ch1 1:33), who became most eminent, and perhaps gave denomination to all these families, as Judah to the Jews. III. We shall not have much to say of the Edomites. They had an inveterate enmity to God's Israel; yet because they descended from Esau, the son of Isaac, we have here an account of their families, and the names of some of their famous men, Ch1 1:35 to the end. Some slight differences there are between some of the names here, and as we had them in Gen. 36, whence this whole account is taken. Three of four names that were written with a Vau there are written with a Jod here, probably the pronunciation being altered, as is usual in other languages. we now write many words very differently from what they were written but 200 years ago. Let us take occasion, from the reading of these genealogies, to think, 1. Of the multitudes that have gone through this world, have acted their part in it, and then quitted it. Job, even in his early day, saw not only every man drawing after him, but innumerable before him, Job 21:33. All these, and all theirs, had their day; many of them made a mighty noise and figure in the world; but their day came to fall, and their place knew them no more. The paths of death are trodden paths, but vestigia nulla retrorsum - none can retrace their steps. 2. Of the providence of God, which keeps up the generations of men, and so preserves that degenerate race, though guilty and obnoxious, in being upon earth. How easily could he cut it off without either a deluge or a conflagration! Write but all the children of men childless, as some are, and in a few years the earth will be eased of the burden under which it groans; but the divine patience lets the trees that cumber the ground not only grow, but propagate. As one generation, even of sinful men, passes away, another comes (Ecc 1:4; Num 32:14), and will do so while the earth remains. Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.

This chapter gives us the genealogy of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah, Ch1 1:1 of the sons of Noah, and their posterity, to Abraham, Ch1 1:5 of the sons of Abraham and their posterity, Ch1 1:28 and of the sons of Esau, Ch1 1:35 and of the kings and dukes that reigned in Edom, Ch1 1:43.

The sons of Abraham,.... The famous and well known ancestor of the Jews; of Ishmael his firstborn, and his posterity; of his sons by Keturah; and of Isaac and his sons, an account is given from hence to the end of Ch1 1:34 entirely agreeing with that in Gen 25:1. . 1 Chronicles 1:35 ch1 1:35 ch1 1:35 ch1 1:35The sons of Esau,.... The firstborn of Isaac; his posterity are named in this and the two following verses, as in Gen 36:1 only it should be observed, that Timna, Ch1 1:36 is not the name of a man, but was the concubine of Eliphaz, the eldest son of Esau, and the mother of Amalek, Gen 36:12, and so in the Arabic version it is read,"and Timna, which was the concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, bare him Amalek;''and so the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint.

The genealogy of Adam to Noah, Ch1 1:1-3. Of Noah to Abraham, vv. 4-27. The sons of Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, Ch1 1:28. The sons of Ishmael, Ch1 1:29, Ch1 1:33. The sons of Esau, Ch1 1:34-42. A list of the kings of Edom, Ch1 1:43-50. A list of the dukes of Edom, Ch1 1:51-54.

ADAM'S LINE TO NOAH. (1Ch. 1:1-23) Adam, &c.--"Begat" must be understood. Only that one member of the family is mentioned, who came in the direct order of succession.

This chapter gives us the genealogy of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah, Ch1 1:1 of the sons of Noah, and their posterity, to Abraham, Ch1 1:5 of the sons of Abraham and their posterity, Ch1 1:28 and of the sons of Esau, Ch1 1:35 and of the kings and dukes that reigned in Edom, Ch1 1:43.

The sons of Abraham,.... The famous and well known ancestor of the Jews; of Ishmael his firstborn, and his posterity; of his sons by Keturah; and of Isaac and his sons, an account is given from hence to the end of Ch1 1:34 entirely agreeing with that in Gen 25:1. . 1 Chronicles 1:35 ch1 1:35 ch1 1:35 ch1 1:35The sons of Esau,.... The firstborn of Isaac; his posterity are named in this and the two following verses, as in Gen 36:1 only it should be observed, that Timna, Ch1 1:36 is not the name of a man, but was the concubine of Eliphaz, the eldest son of Esau, and the mother of Amalek, Gen 36:12, and so in the Arabic version it is read,"and Timna, which was the concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, bare him Amalek;''and so the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint.