Chapter 5

1 The line of Reuben (who lost his birthright) unto the captivity. 9 Their habitation and conquest of the Hagarites. 11 The chief men and habitations of Gad. 18 The number and conquest of Reuben, Gad, and the half of Manasseh. 23 The habitations and chief men of that half tribe. 25 Their captivity for their sin.

1. Sons of Reuben. Chapter 5 deals with the tribes that settled east of the Jordan: Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Verses 3 to 10 give the genealogy of Reuben. Reuben was the first-born son of Leah, who was also the mother of Judah and Simeon (Gen. 35:23), whose genealogies have already been given.

Sons of Joseph. As the eldest son of Jacob, Reuben would have been entitled to the rights of the first-born. The inheritance of a double portion (Deut. 21:15–17), which Reuben had forfeited by his sin (Gen. 35:22; 49:4), was given to the sons of Joseph (Gen. 48:21, 22).

After the birthright. As the first-born, Reuben should have appeared first in the genealogical list. But that place went to Judah.

2. Judah prevailed. See Gen. 49:8–12 for the special blessings pronounced upon Judah. Although Joseph received a double portion, the chief blessings among the sons of Jacob went to Judah.

Chief ruler. This refers to the royal line of David (see 1 Sam. 13:14; Micah 5:2).

3. Hanoch. These names are also listed in Gen. 46:9; Ex. 6:14; Num. 26:5–7. Such names as Hezron and Carmi are also prominent among the descendants of Judah (1 Chron. 2:7, 9; 4:1).

4. Sons of Joel. The line of Joel is traced in vs. 4–6 to the time of Tiglath-pileser (745–727 b.c.). Since only eight generations are given, there must be large gaps in this genealogical line.

6. Tilgath-pilneser. Tiglath-pileser III, who came against Israel in the days of Pekah (2 Kings 15:29).

8. Aroer. A city on the northern bank of the Arnon River (see on Num. 32:34).

Nebo. A site east of the north end of the Dead Sea (Num. 32:38; Deut. 34:1).

Baal-meon. A city 4 mi. (6.4 km.) southwest of Medeba. The preceding three cities are mentioned by Mesha on the famous Moabite Stone (see Vol. II, pp. 864, 865).

9. The wilderness. As the Reubenites increased they continued to push to the east, to the great desert between Transjordan and the Euphrates.

10. The days of Saul. See vs. 18–22.

Hagarites. An Aramaean people referred to as the HagaraЖnu in Assyrian inscriptions of Sennacherib, as living in Syria. Their proximity to Moab may be suggested in Ps. 83:6.

11. Children of Gad. Verses 11 to 17 present the posterity of Gad, the first-born son of Zilpah, handmaid of Leah (Gen. 35:26).

Over against them. That is, adjoining the Reubenites, on the east of Jordan. Compare Joshua 13:24–28.

Bashan. The ancient dominion of Og (Num. 21:33–35; Deut. 3:1–12). “All Bashan” was originally given to Manasseh (Deut. 3:13; Joshua 13:30), with Gad receiving the territory of Gilead (Joshua 13:24, 25). Bashan was north of Gilead (see v. 16), but the towns of Jair are mentioned as belonging to both regions (see Joshua 13:30, 31; Judges 10:3, 4; Deut. 3:14).

13. Heber, seven. Genesis 46:16 also lists seven sons of Gad, but the names are not the same as the ones given here. These may be the names of the heads of clans at the time of the settlement in Transjordan.

14. Children of Abihail. The clans mentioned in v. 13 were sons of Abihail. Abihail’s descent is then traced back to Buz. The name Buz occurs in Gen. 22:21 as a son of Nahor, and Buzite appears in Job 32:2 describing the clan of Elihu.

17. Jotham. King of Judah from about 750 to 731 b.c.

Jeroboam. King of Israel from about 793 to 753 b.c. Jeroboam was the vigorous ruler who restored the territory of Israel “from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain” (2 Kings 14:25). The phrase, “reckoned by genealogies,” suggests that he probably took a census of the tribes east of the Jordan. In the chaotic period following Jeroboam, Jotham may have taken over the territory of Israel across the Jordan, for he “fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them” (2 Chron. 27:5).

18. Valiant men. The exact number, 44,760, is evidently based on an official census. Immediately after the Exodus (Num. 1:21, 25, 35), Reuben had 46,500 soldiers, Gad had 45,650, and all Manasseh 32,200, and in the days of Joshua the number of men of war from these tribes totaled 43,730, 40,500, and 52,700 respectively (Num. 26:7, 18, 34).

19. The Hagarites. See on v. 10.

22. Until the captivity. The Hagarites were completely dispossessed of their territories, and the Israelites held the land till the captivity, in the days of Tiglath-pileser (see vs. 6, 26).

24. Heads of the house. Nothing further is known concerning these heroes, or “famous men.”

25. They transgressed. The chronicler constantly points out the sad results of sin, hoping thus to awaken Israel to the dangers of transgression and the blessings of obedience.

26. Pul. Contemporary documents from Babylon identify Pulu, or Pul, as the Babylonian name of Tiglath-pileser. In the Canon of Ptolemy, Tiglath-pileser bears the name of Poros, a Greek modification of the Babylonian Pulu and the Biblical Pul (see Vol. II, pp. 61, 156, 157, 159). The singular form of the Hebrew verb here translated, “and he carried them away,” suggests that only one king and not two were involved. It is possible to translate the Hebrew word for “and” as “even.” This permits the rendering, “The God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, even the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he carried them away.” Thus translated this text supports what is believed to be convincing evidence from ancient documents that the Assyrian ruler, Tiglath-pileser, was the same king as Pul.

Reubenites. The subjugation and deportation of the ten northern tribes was accomplished in successive stages. The deportation of the Transjordanic tribes by Tiglath-pileser is here described. The same Assyrian king also invaded the territory of the northern tribes and carried its peoples into captivity (2 Kings 15:29). When Shalmaneser made his final assault on Samaria (2 Kings 18:9), only a feeble remnant remained (see on 2 Chron. 30:6).

Unto Halah, and Habor. These same places are mentioned in 2 Kings 17:6 as localities to which the Israelites were taken after the capture of Samaria in 722 b.c. Habor is believed to be another name for the river Khabur, which flows into the Euphrates. The Khabur Valley was the temporary residence of Abraham on his way to Canaan (see on Gen. 11:31).

Gozan. A city of Mesopotamia called by the Assyrians Guzanu. It is on the upper reaches of the Khabur River, about midway between Nineveh and Haran and is known today as Tell HalaЖf.

Ellen G. White comments

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