Numbers 26:21

And the sons of Pharez were; of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) Of Hezron . . . —Judah had five sons, but inasmuch as Er and Onan died childless, Hezron and Hamul were substituted in their place. (Comp. Genesis 46:12.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

26:1-51 Moses did not number the people but when God commanded him. We have here the families registered, as well as the tribes. The total was nearly the same as when numbered at mount Sinai. Notice is here taken of the children of Korah; they died not, as the children of Dathan and Abiram; they seem not to have joined even their own father in rebellion. If we partake not of the sins of sinners, we shall not partake of their plagues.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The children of Korah died not - Compare Numbers 26:58. Samuel the prophet was of this family, and Heman, "the king's seer" 1 Chronicles 6:22, 1 Chronicles 6:33; 1 Chronicles 25:5. Several of the Psalms appear from the titles to have been composed for the sons of Korah: compare titles of Psalm 42:1-11; 44; 45, etc.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. The sons of Simeon—It is supposed that this tribe had been pre-eminent in the guilt of Baal-peor and had consequently been greatly reduced in numbers.

Thus God's justice and holiness, as well as His truth and faithfulness, were strikingly displayed: His justice and holiness in the sweeping judgments that reduced the ranks of some tribes; and His truth and faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the posterity of Israel continued a numerous people.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The sons of Pharez, though Judah’s grandchildren, are here mentioned among his sons, because they are put in the stead of Er and Onan, which died before.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the sons of Judah were Er and Onan,.... And besides these he had Shelah, Pharez, and Zerah, from whom families sprang, but none from the two first: for

Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan; where they were born; and that because of their sins, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, see

Genesis 38:7-10 so that there were but three families sprang from Judah, the Shelanites, Pharzites, and Zarhites; only the family of the Pharzites was divided into two families, the Hesronites and the Hamulites, so called from two sons of Pharez; the number of these families amounted to 76,500, so that there was an increase of 1900 since the last muster, which answers to Jacob's blessing, that he should be a praise among his brethren, Genesis 49:8.

Geneva Study Bible

And the sons of Pharez were; of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Numbers 26:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The sons and families of Judah agree with Genesis 46:12 (cf. Genesis 38:6.); also with 1 Chronicles 2:3-5.