Genesis 22:22

And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) Chesed.—He was not the ancestor of the ancient Chasdim or Chaldees, but possibly of the small tribe of robbers with the same name who plundered Job (Job 1:17). Of the rest, no trace remains in history.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:20-24 This chapter ends with some account of Nahor's family, who had settled at Haran. This seems to be given for the connexion which it had with the church of God. From thence Isaac and Jacob took wives; and before the account of those events this list is recorded. It shows that though Abraham saw his own family highly honoured with privileges, admitted into covenant, and blessed with the assurance of the promise, yet he did not look with disdain upon his relations, but was glad to hear of the increase and welfare of their families.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This family notice is inserted as a piece of contemporaneous history, to explain and prepare the way for the marriage of Isaac. "Milkah, she also," in allusion to Sarah, who has borne Isaac. So far as we know, they may have been sisters, but they were at all events sisters-in-law. The only new persons belonging to our histoy are Bethuel and Rebekah. Uz, Aram, and Kesed are interesting, as they show that we are in the region of the Shemites, among whom these are ancestral names Genesis 10:23; Genesis 11:28. Buz may have been the ancestor of Elihu Jeremiah 25:23; Job 32:2. Maakah may have given rise to the tribes and land of Maakah Deuteronomy 3:14; 2 Samuel 10:6. The other names do not again occur. "And his concubine." A concubine was a secondary wife, whose position was not considered disreputable in the East. Nahor, like Ishmael, had twelve sons, - eight by his wife, and four by his concubine.

- The Death of Sarah

2. ארבע קרית qı̂ryat-'arba‛, "Qirjath-arba', city of Arba." ארבע 'arba‛, "Arba', four."

8. עפרון ‛eprôn, "'Ephron, of the dust, or resembling a calf." צחר tshochar, "Tsochar, whiteness."

9. מכפלה makpêlâh, "Makpelah, doubled."

The death and burial of Sarah are here recorded. This occasions the purchase of the field of Makpelah, in the cave of which is her sepulchre.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13-19. Abraham lifted up his eyes … and behold … a ram, &c.—No method was more admirably calculated to give the patriarch a distinct idea of the purpose of grace than this scenic representation: and hence our Lord's allusion to it (Joh 8:56).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Chesed,.... From whom it is generally thought sprung the Chaldees, who are commonly called Chasdim; but mention is made of the Chaldees before this man was born, unless they are called so by anticipation; See Gill on Genesis 10:22,

and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel; of these men and their posterity we hear no more, excepting: the last, for whose sake the rest are mentioned. Hazo or Chazo settled in Elymais, a country belonging to Persia, where is now a city called Chuz after his name, and from whence the whole country is called Chuzistan; and the inhabitants of it are by the Assyrians called Huzoye or Huzaeans (r); the same which Strabo (s) makes mention of under the name of Cossaeans, who are described as a warlike people, inhabiting a barren and mountainous country, and given to spoil and robbery; and are mentioned by him along with Elymaeans, Medes, and Persians. Some Arabic writers say the Persians are from Pars, the son of Pahla; and Dr. Hyde (t) queries whether Pahla is not the same with Paldas, that is, Pildash, another of the sons of Nahor.

(r) Hyde's Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. c. 35. p. 415. (s) Geograph. l. 11. p. 359, 361. & l. 16, p. 512. (t) Ut supra, (Hyde's Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. c. 35) p. 419.

Geneva Study Bible

And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. Chesed] Presumably, not to be confounded with the ancestor of the S. Babylonian people, the Chasdim, or “Chaldees,” mentioned in Genesis 11:31 (P). More probably, the Bedouin tribe, mentioned in 2 Kings 24:2, Job 1:17, as “the Chaldeans,” quite distinct from the Chesed of Arpachshad (Genesis 10:22).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - And Chesed, - according to Jerome the father of the Chasdim or Chaldees (Genesis 11:28); but more generally regarded as the head of a younger branch or offshoot of that race (Keil, Murphy, Lange; cf. Job 1:17) - and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph (concerning whom nothing is known), and Bethnel - "man of God" (Gesenius); dwelling of God (Furst); an indication probably of his piety. Genesis 22:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Descendants of Nahor. - With the sacrifice of Isaac the test of Abraham's faith was now complete, and the purpose of his divine calling answered: the history of his life, therefore, now hastens to its termination. But first of all there is introduced quite appropriately an account of the family of his brother Nahor, which is so far in place immediately after the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, that it prepares the way for the history of the marriage of the heir of the promise. The connection is pointed out in Genesis 22:20, as compared with Genesis 11:29, in the expression, "she also." Nahor, like Ishmael and Jacob, had twelve sons, eight by his wife Milcah and four by his concubine; whereas Jacob had his by two wives and two maids, and Ishmael apparently all by one wife. This difference with regard to the mothers proves that the agreement as to the number twelve rests upon a good historical tradition, and is no product of a later myth, which traced to Nahor the same number of tribes as to Ishmael and Jacob. For it is a perfectly groundless assertion or assumption, that Nahor's twelve sons were the fathers of as many tribes. There are only a few names, of which it is probable that their bearers were the founders of tribes of the same name. On Uz, see Genesis 10:23. Buz is mentioned in Jeremiah 25:23 along with Dedan and Tema as an Arabian tribe; and Elihu was a Buzite of the family of Ram (Job 32:2). Kemuel, the father of Aram, was not the founder of the Aramaeans, but the forefather of the family of Ram, to which the Buzite Elihu belonged, - Aram being written for Ram, like Arammim in 2 Kings 8:29 for Rammim in 2 Chronicles 22:5. Chesed again was not the father of the Chasdim (Chaldeans), for they were older than Chesed; at the most he was only the founder of one branch of the Chasdim, possibly those who stole Job's camels (Knobel; vid., Job 1:17). Of the remaining names, Bethuel was not the founder of a tribe, but the father of Laban and Rebekah (Genesis 25:20). The others are never met with again, with the exception of Maachach, from whom probably the Maachites (Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 12:5) in the land of Maacah, a small Arabian kingdom in the time of David (2 Samuel 10:6, 2 Samuel 10:8; 1 Chronicles 19:6), derived their origin and name; though Maachah frequently occurs as the name of a person (1 Kings 2:39; 1 Chronicles 11:43; 1 Chronicles 27:16).