Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 2:42-45

"And the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were Mesha his first-born, who was the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron. And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema. And Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkeam; and Rekem begat Shammai. And the son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur." — 1 Chronicles 2:42-45 (ASV)

I.— 1 Chronicles 2:42–45: Caleb brother of Jerahmeel = Caleb son of Hezron (1 Chronicles 2:18) = Chelubai (1 Chronicles 2:9).

Mesha. —The name of a king of Moab (2 Kings 3:4), whose monument of victory, the famous Moabite stone, was found in 1868 at Dibou. Here the name is probably that of a principal Calebite clan, settled at Ziph, near Hebron (Joshua 15:54–55; 1 Samuel 23:14).

Father of Ziph. —Compare 1 Chronicles 2:21, father of Gilead, and 1 Chronicles 2:24.

And the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron. —The statement of the verse is that the sons of Mareshah were sons of Caleb. That is, the Mareshathites, or people of Mareshah (Joshua 15:44), a town in the Shephelah, were a Calebite clan. This branch of Caleb is called father of Hebron because it had the chief part in colonizing that old Canaanite city.

Korah. —Elsewhere the name of a subdivision of the Kohathite Levites; in 1 Chronicles 1:35 it was a tribe of Edomites. In this place, therefore, it may be a clan of Hebronites.

Tappuah. —A town in the Shephelah (Joshua 15:34; Joshua 16:8).

Rekem. —A Benjamite city (Joshua 18:27); in 1 Chronicles 7:16, a Machirite chieftain or clan.

Shema. —Occurs several times in the chronicle. In 1 Chronicles 5:8; 1 Chronicles 8:13 it appears to be the name of a clan; in 1 Chronicles 11:44 and Nehemiah 8:4 a person is meant.

Jorkoam. —This name occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. The Septuagint (Alex.) has Ἰεκλάν, Jeklan. Probably, therefore, the correct reading is Jokdeam. (For the change of Hebrew d to Greek l, see 1 Kings 5:11, where the Hebrew Darda is represented by Δαραλά.) Jokdeam was a town in the hill-country of Judah (Joshua 15:56). The chief or clan Raham is here called its father or founder.

Rekem. —The Septuagint (Alex.) again has Jeklan (Jokdeam), which is as likely to be right as Rekem.

Shammai. —See 1 Chronicles 2:28.

Maon ... Beth-zur. —Towns in the hill-country of Judah (Joshua 15:55; Joshua 15:58). Maon, now Main, south of Hebron. Beth-zur (2 Chronicles 11:7), now Beit-sûr. In Judges 10:12 Midianites, not Maonites, is the better reading.