1 Chronicles 1:24

Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

TEN GENERATIONS FROM SHEM TO ABRAHAM; AN ABSTRACT OF Genesis 11:10-26, OMITTING ALL HISTORIC NOTICES (1Chronicles 1:24-27).

Between Arphaxad aud Shelah the LXX., at Genesis 11:12, insert Καίναν = Heb. Kênan (1Chronicles 1:2, above). The name is not contained in our present Hebrew text of Genesis. Kenan may have been dropped originally, in order to make Abraham the tenth from Shem, as Noah is tenth from Adam. The artificial symmetry of these ancient lists is evidently designed. Comp. the thrice fourteen generations in the genealogy of our Lord (Matthew 1).

1Chronicles 1:28-42 enumerate a second series of seventy tribes or peoples, derived from Abraham through the three representative names of Ishmael, Keturah, and Isaac; just as the seventy peoples of the former series are derived from Noah through Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And as, in the former list, the sons of Japheth and Ham were treated of before the Semitic stocks, so, in the present instance, the sons of Ishmael and Keturah precede Isaac, and of Isaac’s sons Esau precedes Israel (35, seq.); because the writer wishes to lead up to Israel as the climax of his presentation.

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 1:24. Shem, Arphaxad, &c. — Having given a brief and general account of the original of the world, and the people in it, he now returns to a more large and particular account of the genealogy of Shem, from whom the Jews were descended.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-27 This chapter, and many that follow, repeat the genealogies, or lists of fathers and children in the Bible history, and put them together, with many added. When compared with other places, there are some differences found; yet we must not therefore stumble at the word, but bless God that the things necessary to salvation are plain enough. The original of the Jewish nation is here traced from the first man that God created, and is thereby distinguished from the obscure, fabulous, and absurd origins assigned to other nations. But the nations now are all so mingled with one another, that no one nation, nor the greatest part of any, is descended entirely from any of one nation, nor the greatest part of any, is descended entirely from any of these fountains. Only this we are sure of, that God has created of one blood all nations of men; they are all descended from one Adam, one Noah. Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Mal 2:10.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The sons of Shem - i. e., descendants. Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech (or Mash), are stated to have been "sons of Aram" Genesis 10:23. Meshech is the reading of all the MSS., and is supported by the Septuagint here and in Genesis 10:23. It seems preferable to "Mash," which admits of no very probable explanation. Just as Hamites and Semites were intermingled in Arabia (Genesis 10:7, note; Genesis 10:29, note), so Semites and Japhethites may have been intermingled in Cappadocia - the country of the Meshech or Moschi (Genesis 10:2 note); and this Aramaean ad-mixture may have been the origin of the notion, so prevalent among the Greeks, that the Cappadocians were Syrians.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ch 1:24-28. Shem's Line to Abraham.

24-27. Shem, &c.—This comprises a list of ten, inclusive of Abraham.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Arphaxad: having given a brief and general account of the original of the world, and the people in it, he now returns to a more large and particular account of the genealogy of Shem, from whom the Jews were descended.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The sons of Japheth, Gomer,.... Here begins the genealogy of the sons of Noah after the flood; of the sons of Japheth the elder, in this and the two following verses; next of the sons of Ham, the younger brother, 1 Chronicles 1:8, then of Shem, whose posterity are mentioned last, because from him, in the line of Heber, sprang Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish nation, of whom the Messiah was to come, for whose sake this genealogy is given, 1 Chronicles 1:17. The whole is the same with the account in

Geneva Study Bible

{f} Shem, {g} Arphaxad, Shelah,

(f) He repeats Shem again because he would come to the stock of Abraham.

(g) Who came from Shem, and of him Shelah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24–27. The Descent of Abraham from Shem

These verses are compressed within the smallest limits from Genesis 11:10-26. For another example of this extreme compression compare 1 Chronicles 1:1-4.

1 Chronicles 1:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The patriarchs from Shem to Abraham. - The names of these, again, are simply ranged in order according to Genesis 11:10-26, while the record of their ages before the begetting and after the birth of sons is omitted. Of the sons of Terah only Abram is named, without his brothers; with the remark that Abram is Abraham, in order to point out to the reader that he was the progenitor of the chosen people so well known from Genesis (cf. 1 Chronicles 1:27).