1 Chronicles 4:24

The sons of Simeon were, Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

III.—THE TRIBE OF SIMEON: ITS CLANS, AND THEIR SETTLEMENTS AND CONQUESTS (1Chronicles 4:24-43).

(24) The sons of Simeon.—The Pentateuch contains three lists of sons of Simeon, viz., Genesis 46:10, Exodus 6:15, and Numbers 26:12. Genesis and Exodus name six sons; Numbers agrees with the Chronicles in naming five, the Ohad of Genesis and Exodus being omitted. In place of our Jarib Numbers has Jachin; the other names are the same. Genesis and Exodus read Jemuel and Zohar for Nemuel and Zerah. Exodus 6:15 calls Shaul “son of a Canaanitess.” The mixed race of Shaul was the only Simeonite clan that became populous (1Chronicles 4:25-27). The other clans are not further noticed by this genealogy.

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 4:24. The sons of Simeon were Nemuel, &c. — These are here joined with Judah, because their possession was taken out of Judah’s portion, Joshua 19:1. This account seems to differ from that in Genesis 46:10, both in the number and names of the persons; which is not strange, considering how customary it was among the Hebrews for one person to have two or three names given to him upon different occasions. And for Ohad, he may be omitted here, because he left no posterity after him as the rest did.

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

Among plants and hedges - Rather, "in Netaim and Gederah" Joshua 15:36.

With the king - Or, probably, "on the king's property." Both David and several of the later kings had large territorial possessions in various parts of Judaea 1 Chronicles 27:25, 1 Chronicles 27:31; 2 Chronicles 26:10; 2 Chronicles 27:4; 2 Chronicles 32:28-29.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ch 4:24-43. Of Simeon.

24. The sons of Simeon—They are classed along with those of Judah, as their possession was partly taken out of the extensive territory of the latter (Jos 19:1). The difference in several particulars of the genealogy given here from that given in other passages is occasioned by some of the persons mentioned having more than one name [compare Ge 46:10; Ex 6:15; Nu 26:12].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The sons of Simeon: these are here joined with Judah, because their possession was taken out of Judah’s portion, Joshua 19:1. This account seems to differ from that Ge 46, both in the number and names of the persons, which is not strange, considering how customary it was amongst the Hebrews for one person to have two or three names given to him upon several occasions. And for Ohad, Genesis 46:10, he may be omitted here, because he left no posterity or family after him, as the rest did.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The sons of Simeon,.... The account of whom, next to the tribe of Judah, is given before Reuben, because its inheritance lay in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 19:1 his sons were Nemuel, the same with Jemuel, Genesis 46:10.

and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul; who, in the place referred to, is said to be the son of a Canaanitish woman; and Jarib and Zerah are the same with Jachin and Zohar there: and Obed is here omitted, it may be because he died without issue; see Numbers 26:12.

Geneva Study Bible

The sons of Simeon were, Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and {h} Shaul:

(h) His son Obed is omitted here.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24–27. The Genealogy of Simeon

24. The sons of Simeon] in Genesis 46:10 and Exodus 6:15 we have six sons of Simeon named as against five here;—Jemuel (here Nemuel), Jamin (as here), Ohad (not mentioned here), Jachin (here Jarib), Zohar (here Zerah), and Shaul (as here). In Numbers 26:12-13 the same list is given as here (except that Jachin stands for Jarib), and descendants are ascribed to the five. Ohad is omitted from Num. and Chron., perhaps as having no children.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 24-27. - The second of the twelve tribes is now taken, and occupies but small space as compared with Judah preceding, or Levi and Benjamin when their turn comes. The comparison of the enumeration of the sons of Simeon here with that in Genesis 46:10, Exodus 6:15, is helpful in detaching the idea that the compiler of Chronicles copied direct from Genesis and Exodus, or that he depended exclusively on identical sources of information. That comparison shows six names in both of those passages for only five here, and it shows also difference in three of the names, viz. Jemuel, Zohar, and Jachin, for Nemuel, Zeta, and Jarib. On the other hand, the list of Numbers 26:12 is in exact agreement with our list here (the omission of Ohad in both being sufficiently accounted for by one and the same reason), with the exception of Jarib here for Jachin still there; and this solitary difference may justly be suspected to be nothing but an early corruption of resh for caph and beth for nun (see Kennicott, 'Diss.,' 1:178; Barrington's 'Genealogies,' 1:55). Ver. 25 contains three descents from one of these - Shaul. Of Shallum, the first, it may be noted that there are fourteen others of the same name in the Old Testament; and of Mibsam and Mishma (whom some call brothers, surely in error), that there were others of the same name (and certainly given as brothers), viz. the sons of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13; ch. 1:29). Ver. 26 adds apparently another three descents, viz. from Mishma. Of the first-named of these, Hamuel, it may be noted that the name appears in many Hebrew manuscripts as Chammuel; of the second-named, Zacchur, that six others of the same name (though the Authorized Version gives them Zaccur) are found in Numbers, the First Book of Chronicles, and Nehemiah; while on the third, Shimei (of which name the Old Testament contains fifteen others), our attention is especially detained as father of sixteen sons and six daughters, though it is observed that his brethren (query Hammuel and Zacchur) had not large families. The smallness of the whole tribe relatively to Judah, was only saved from being smaller by him. With this agrees the census of Numbers 1:23, 27; Numbers 2:4, 13; Numbers 26:14. It is possible that this Shimei is the same with Shemaiah of ver. 37. 1 Chronicles 4:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The families of Simeon. - Of the six sons of Simeon, Genesis 46:10 and Exodus 6:15, only the five are here named who, according to Numbers 26:12-14, founded the families of this tribe. The third son, Ohad, is omitted even in Numbers 26:12 in the list of the families of Simeon, at the numbering of the people in the fortieth year of the journey through the wilderness, clearly only because the posterity of Ohad had either died out, or had so dwindled away that it could form no independent family. The names of the five sons agree with the names in Numbers 26:12-14, except in the case of Jarib, who in Numbers 26:12, which coincides here with Genesis 46:10 and Exodus 6:15, is called Jachin; יריב, consequently, must be looked upon as a transcriber's error for יכין. Nemuel and Zerah (זרח, the rising of the sun) are called in Genesis and Exodus Jemuel (a different form of the same name) and Zohar (צחר, i.e., candor), another name of similar meaning, which, at first used only as a by-name, afterwards supplanted the original name.