Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 2

The sons of Israel. —The list is apparently taken from Genesis 35:23-26, where the heading is, Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The chronicler omits the mothers, and puts Dan before instead of after Joseph and Benjamin, as if to hint that Dan was considered Rachel’s elder son. (See Genesis 30:6.) In the list at Genesis 46:9-23, Gad and Asher follow Zebulun, and Dan follows Joseph and Benjamin. Of course accident may have caused the transposition of Dan with Joseph and Benjamin in our list, especially as it otherwise agrees with Genesis 35:3-4.

THE FIVE SONS OF JUDAH, FROM Genesis 38 .

The daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. —Shua was the father of Judah’s wife.

Er, the firstborn of Judah, was (became, proved) evil. —Word for word from Genesis 38:7. Suppressing other details relating to the sons of Judah, the chronicler copies this statement intact from Genesis, because it thoroughly harmonizes with the moral he wishes to be drawn from the entire history of his people.

Tamar. —Wife of Er. The story of her incest with Judah, the fruit of which was the twins Pharez (Hebrew, Perez) and Zerah (called Zarah, Genesis 38:30; and Zara, Matthew 1:3), is told in Genesis 38:8-30.

The sons of Pharez. —From Genesis 46:12, which also names the five sons of Judah. Numbers 26:21 mentions the clans (mishpahath) of the Hezronites and Hamulites, as registered in a census held by Moses.

Zimri. — This name is probably a merely accidental variant of Zabdi. Both are genuine Hebrew names occurring elsewhere. But the fact that Zimri here, and Zabdi at Joshua 7:1, are both called sons of Zerah, seems to prove their identity, especially as m is often confused with b, and d with r.

Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara. — It is stated (1 Kings 4:31) that Solomon was “wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol.” It will be seen that the first three names coincide with those of our text, and that Dara is only one letter different from Darda. Further, many manuscripts of Chronicles, as well as the Syriac and Arabic versions and the Targum, actually have Darda. The Vatic. Septuagint reads Darad. There is thus a virtual repetition of these four names in the passage of Kings, and it is difficult to suppose that the persons intended are not the same there and here. Ethan is called an Ezrahite in Kings, but Ezrah and Zerah are equivalent forms in Hebrew; and the Vatic. Septuagint actually calls Ethan a Zarhite—i.e., a descendant of Zerah (Numbers 26:13).

The designation of the four as “sons of Mahol” presents no difficulty. Mahol is a usual word for the sacred dance (Psalms 149:3; Psalms 150:4), and the four Zarhites are thus described as “sons of dancing”—that is, sacred musicians. It is likely, therefore, that these famous minstrels of Judah were adopted into the Levitical clans in which sacred music was the hereditary profession. (See Psalms 88 and Psalms 89, titles.) Whether Ethan and Heman are the persons mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:33, 1 Chronicles 6:44, 1 Chronicles 15:17, and 1 Chronicles 15:19 as the recognised heads of two of the great guilds of temple musicians is not clear. The Levitical ancestry ascribed to them in 1 Chronicles 6:0 would not be opposed to this assumption, as adoption would involve it.