1 Chronicles 4:1

The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(1) The sons of Judah.—Pharez only of these five was literally a son of Judah, 1Chronicles 2:3-4. We have, however, seen that all these names, with the possible exception of Carmi, represent great tribal divisions or clans; and as such they are called sons of Judah. For Carmi it is proposed to read the more famous name of Chelubai (1Chronicles 2:9). This would give a line of direct descendants from Judah to the fifth generation, according to the genealogical presentation of 1Chronicles 2:4; 1Chronicles 2:9; 1Chronicles 2:18-19. But the result thus obtained is of no special value. It has no bearing on the remainder of the section. Moreover, Carmi is mentioned (1Chronicles 2:7) among the great Judean houses, and might have been prominent in numbers and influence at the unknown period when the original of the present list was drafted.

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 4:1. The sons of Judah — The posterity: for only Pharez was his immediate son. But they are all mentioned here only to show Shobal’s descent from Judah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-43 Genealogies. - In this chapter we have a further account of Judah, the most numerous and most famous of all the tribes; also an account of Simeon. The most remarkable person in this chapter is Jabez. We are not told upon what account Jabez was more honourable than his brethren; but we find that he was a praying man. The way to be truly great, is to seek to do God's will, and to pray earnestly. Here is the prayer he made. Jabez prayed to the living and true God, who alone can hear and answer prayer; and, in prayer he regarded him as a God in covenant with his people. He does not express his promise, but leaves it to be understood; he was afraid to promise in his own strength, and resolved to devote himself entirely to God. Lord, if thou wilt bless me and keep me, do what thou wilt with me; I will be at thy command and disposal for ever. As the text reads it, this was the language of a most ardent and affectionate desire, Oh that thou wouldest bless me! Four things Jabez prayed for. 1. That God would bless him indeed. Spiritual blessings are the best blessings: God's blessings are real things, and produce real effects. 2. That He would enlarge his coast. That God would enlarge our hearts, and so enlarge our portion in himself, and in the heavenly Canaan, ought to be our desire and prayer. 3. That God's hand might be with him. God's hand with us, to lead us, protect us, strengthen us, and to work all our works in us and for us, is a hand all-sufficient for us. 4. That he would keep him from evil, the evil of sin, the evil of trouble, all the evil designs of his enemies, that they might not hurt, nor make him a Jabez indeed, a man of sorrow. God granted that which he requested. God is ever ready to hear prayer: his ear is not now heavy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Six - There are only five names in the Hebrew text. The Syriac anti Arabic versions supply "Azariah" between Neariah and Shaphat.

The question of the proper arrangement of the genealogy of the descendants of Zerubbabel 1 Chronicles 3:19-24 is important in its bearing on the interesting point of the time at which the canon of the Old Testament was closed. Assuming the average of a generation to be 20 years in the East, the genealogy of the present chapter, drawn out according to the Hebrew text, does not descend below about 410 B.C., and thus falls within the probable lifetime of Nehemiah.

If, further, we regard it as most probable that Ezra died before 431 B.C., and that this passage in question was not wholly written by him, this does not disprove the theory (see the introduction to Chronicles), that Ezra was the author of Chronicles. Deuteronomy is by Moses, though the last chapter cannot be from his hand. The "dukes of Edom" might he an insertion into the text of Genesis Gen 36:40-43 without the authorship of the remainder of the work being affected by it. So here; Nehemiah, or Malachi, may have carried on the descent of the "sons of David" as far as it had reached in their time, adding to the account given by Ezra one, or at the most two verses.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 4

1Ch 4:1-8. Posterity of Judah by Caleb the Son of Hur.

1. the sons of Judah—that is, "the descendants," for with the exception of Pharez, none of those here mentioned were his immediate sons. Indeed, the others are mentioned solely to introduce the name of Shobal, whose genealogy the historian intended to trace (1Ch 2:52).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

1 CHRONICLES Chapter 4

The posterity of Judah by Caleb the son of Hur, 1 Chronicles 4:1-4. By Ashur, 1 Chronicles 4:5-8. By Jabez: his prayer, 1 Chronicles 4:9-20. The posterity of Shelah, 1 Chronicles 4:21-23. The posterity and cities of Simeon: their conquest of Gedor; and of the Amalekites in Mount Seir, 1 Chronicles 4:24-43.

The sons of Judah, i.e. the posterity; for only Pharez was his immediate son. But they are all mentioned here only to show Shobal’s descent from Judah, of whom he intended to speak more particularly.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The sons of Judah: Pharez,.... The posterity of Judah in the line of Pharez, for he only is mentioned:

Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal. Hezron was the son of Pharez, and Carmi is supposed to be Chelubai, or Caleb, the son of Hezron; and Hur the son of Caleb; and Shobal was the son of the second Caleb the son of Hur; see 1 Chronicles 2:5.

Geneva Study Bible

The {a} sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.

(a) Meaning, they came from Judah, as nephews and kinsmen: for only Pharez was his natural son.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ch. 1 Chronicles 4:1-23. A Genealogy of the Tribe of Judah (cp. 1 Chronicles 2:3 ff.)

1. As Hezron was the son of Perez (ch. 1 Chronicles 2:5) and (if the LXX. be right) Shobal was the son of Hur (1 Chronicles 2:50, note), we have in this verse five, if not six, generations.

Pharez] R.V. Perez.

Carmi] if a descendant of Hezron, then probably not the person mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 1-23. - After the large space given to the "sons of David," of the tribe of Judah, in the previous chapter, this chapter returns for twenty-three verses to group together a few additional ramifications of the same tribe, whose registers were for some reasons, perhaps not very evident, preserved and known. The first verses follow in the direction already indicated in ch. 2, near the end of which we were left with Shobal and Haroeh, probably the same with Reaiah (the same name as Reaia, 1 Chronicles 5:5, though not the same person). Verses 1, 2. - The Carrot of ver. 1 is considered to lie doubtful between the Carmi of 1 Chronicles 2:7 or the Chelubai of 1 Chronicles 2:9, in which last alternation the five names of this verse would repeat the line of descent with which chrii, had made us familiar. Even then the object or advantage of repeating the first four of these, so far as what follows is concerned, is not evident. We keep near the close of ch. 2. also in respect of another allusion to the Zorathites (1 Chronicles 2:53), whose families were replenished by the two sons of Jahath, Ahumai and Lahad, of all of whom this is all we know. 1 Chronicles 4:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

1 Chronicles 4:1 is evidently intended to be a superscription to the genealogical fragments which follow. Five names are mentioned as sons of Judah, of whom only Pharez was his son (1 Chronicles 2:4); the others are grandchildren or still more distant descendants. Nothing is said as to the genealogical relationship in which they stood to each other; that is supposed to be already known from the genealogies in 1 Chronicles 2. Hezron is the son of Pharez, and consequently grandson of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:8. Carmi, a descendant of Zerah, the brother of Pharez, see on 1 Chronicles 2:6-7. Hur is a son of Caleb, the son of Hezron, by Ephratah (see on 1 Chronicles 2:19 and 1 Chronicles 2:50); and Shobal is the son of Hur, who has just been mentioned (1 Chronicles 2:50). These five names do not denote here, any more than in 1 Chronicles 2, "families of the tribe of Judah" (Berth.), but signify persons who originated or were heads of families. The only conceivable ground for these five being called "sons of Judah," is that the families registered in the following lists traced their origin to them, although in the enumeration which follows the genealogical connection of the various groups is not clearly brought out. The enumeration begins,