1 Chronicles 5:17

All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 5:17. In the days of Jotham king of Judah — Who, reigning long, partly in his father’s days, and partly by himself, and being at leisure from wars and troubles, thought this a fit season to examine the state of his people. And in the days of Jeroboam — Probably Jeroboam the second, of whom see 2 Kings 13:13-14. This does not imply that Jotham and Jeroboam reigned at the same time; but only that in their several reigns this account was taken.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:1-26 Genealogies. - This chapter gives some account of the two tribes and a half seated on the east side of Jordan. They were made captives by the king of Assyria, because they had forsaken the Lord. Only two things are here recorded concerning these tribes. 1. They all shared in a victory. Happy is that people who live in harmony together, who assist each other against the common enemies of their souls, trusting in the Lord, and calling upon him. 2. They shared in captivity. They would have the best land, not considering that it lay most exposed. The desire of earthly objects draws to a distance from God's ordinances, and prepares men for destruction.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The writer refers here to two registrations, one made under the authority of Jeroboam II when he was king and Israel flourishing, the other made under the authority of Jotham, king of Judah, during the troublous time which followed on the great invasion of Tiglath-pileser. There is nothing surprising in a king of Judah having exercised a species of lordship over the trans-Jordanic territory at this period.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. All these were reckoned … in the days of Jotham—His long reign and freedom from foreign wars as well as intestine troubles were favorable for taking a census of the people.

and in the days of Jeroboam—the second of that name.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the days of Jotham king of Judah; who reigning long, partly in his father’s days, and partly by himself, 2Ki 15, and being at leisure as to wars or troubles, thought this a fit season to examine the state of his people.

In the days of Jeroboam; either the second of that name, of whom see 2 Kings 13:13. Or rather the first Jeroboam; partly because he is called simply Jeroboam, without any addition; which shows that he speaks of the most famous of the two; and partly because this work of taking an account of the people doth far better agree to the times of Jeroboam the First, when the kingdom of Israel was first erected and established, and broken off from that of Judah, when it was necessary for Jeroboam to know his own strength, and the numbers of his people, than to the times of Jeroboam the Second, when the kingdom of Israel was broken, and near to its ruin.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

All these were reckoned by genealogies,.... All before mentioned:

in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel; not that those two kings reigned at the same time, and one and the same reckoning is meant; but, as Dr. Lightfoot (y) observes, there were two reckonings; his words are,"in the days of Jotham there was an account taken of the families of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, 1 Chronicles 5:17 and so had there been in the days of Jeroboam the second; then at their restoring by Jeroboam out of the hands of Hamath and Syria, and now at their arming against the Assyrian, under whom they fell in the time of Pekah, and are never again restored to Israel.''

(y) Works, vol. 1. p. 100.

Geneva Study Bible

All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. reckoned by genealogy] A specimen of this kind of reckoning is given in Nehemiah 7:5-65.

in the days of Jotham … and in the days of Jeroboam] “Reckoning by genealogy” is a phrase used only in the writings of the Chronicler (Chron., Ezra, Neh.), but the practice probably resembled what is called in other books “numbering the people.” The object however was different and corresponded with the circumstances of the returned exiles, who found themselves in the midst of a Gentile population in Judaea. The people were “reckoned by genealogy” not so much to take a census of them, as to inquire into the purity of their Israelite descent. The ancient term “numbering” would probably be a more suitable description of a transaction belonging to the days of Jotham. For Jotham see 2 Chronicles 27 and for Jeroboam 2 Kings 14:23-29. The last years of the reign of Jeroboam II. synchronized with part at least of the reign of Jotham.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - The very form of the language of this verse would indicate that two genealogies are intended. This quite tallies with the fact that there were two chronicles, one for each division of the nation, i.e. "the chronicles of the kings of Judah" (2 Kings 15:6) and "the chronicles of the kings of Israel" (2 Kings 15:11), in which same chapter both Jeroboam (II.) of Israel and Jotham of Judah are spoken of, the latter beginning to reign in Judah some twenty years (the exact chronology is very confused here) after the death of the former. Although presumably it would be an object of closer interest with Israel than with Judah to effect the registration of the Gadite genealogy, yet it was most just that Judah should do so as well. This would both vindicate Judah's own right place and be a happy omen of the continued predominance of her position compared with that of Israel. Independently of the question of effecting the actual registration, however, it is quite possible that, so long as history ran by the side of history. Israel would gather and keep all it could of Judah, and Judah all it could of Israel. 1 Chronicles 5:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"And these (כּלּם, all the families of Gad, not merely those mentioned in 1 Chronicles 5:13.) were registered in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel." These two kings did not reign contemporaneously, for Jotham ascended the throne in Judah twenty-five years after the death of Jeroboam of Israel. Here, therefore, two different registrations must be referred to, and that carried on under Jotham is mentioned first, because Judah had the legitimate kingship. That set on foot by Jeroboam was probably undertaken after that king had restored all the ancient boundaries of the kingdom of Israel, 2 Kings 14:25. King Jotham of Judah could prepare a register of the Gadites only if a part of the trans-Jordanic tribes had come temporarily under his dominion. As to any such event, indeed, we have no accurate information, but the thing in itself is not unlikely. For as the death of Jeroboam II was followed by complete anarchy in the kingdom of the ten tribes, and one ruler overthrew the other, until at last Pekah succeeded in holding the crown for ten years, while in Judah until Pekah ascended the throne of Israel Uzziah reigned, and raised his kingdom to greater power and prosperity, the southern part of the trans-Jordanic land might very well have come for a time under the sway of Judah. At such a time Jotham may have carried out an assessment and registration of the Gadites, until his contemporary Pekah succeeded, with the help of the Syrian king Rezin, in taking from the king of Judah the dominion over Gilead, and in humbling the kingdom of Judah in the reign of Ahaz.