Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 4:11-12

"And Chelub the brother of Shuhah begat Mehir, who was the father of Eshton. And Eshton begat Beth-rapha, and Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah." — 1 Chronicles 4:11-12 (ASV)

A fragment relating to the “men of Rechah,” a name which occurs nowhere else, and for which Rechab appears a plausible correction. The Vatican manuscript also supports this, and the Septuagint reads Ρηχάβ. Compare to 1 Chronicles 2:55, where the Sopherim of Jabez are called Rechabites (see Notes on the passage).

These Rechabites united with the Salmaite branch of Hurites; Hur was a son of Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:19). Therefore, it is likely that the Chelub of 1 Chronicles 4:11 is identical with the Caleb-Chelubai of 1 Chronicles 2:0, who represents a main division of the Hezronites.

Others suppose that the epithet “brother of Shuah” (Shuhah) is meant to obviate this identification. The other names in this short section are entirely unknown, but their form shows at once that Beth-rapha and Ir-nahash (serpent city) are towns.

Paseah (lame; compare Latin Claudius as a family name) recurs in Nehemiah 3:6; and as the name of a clan of Nethinim, in Ezra 2:49 and Nehemiah 7:51. The subscription, “These are the men of Rechah” (Rechab), probably looks back as far as 1 Chronicles 4:8.

(13–15) The sons of Kenaz — i.e., the Kenizzite element in Judah. Kenaz was the name of an Edomite clan (1 Chronicles 1:53) and of an old Canaanite race.

Othniel. — In Judges 1:13, he is one of the heroes of the conquest; in Judges 3:9, he vanquishes Chushan-rishathaim, king of Aram-naharaim. In both passages he is called “son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.” The Kenizzites, who cast in their lot with the Calebites of Judah, were naturally called “younger brothers” of their new kindred.

Seraiah is unknown.

The sons of Othniel, Hathath. — Hathath means dread (Job 6:21). Compare the name Hittites, from the same root. The sons of Othniel (lion of God) would be a terror to their foes.

And Meonothai has perhaps been accidentally omitted at the end of this verse, before the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 4:14. Or the genealogist may have purposely omitted it, as implied by what follows in 1 Chronicles 4:14. Meonothai is apparently a gentilic name, i.e., Meonothites. The name Maon occurs in Joshua 15:55 as a Judaean town; and Maon was the residence of the Calebite Nabal (1 Samuel 25:2–3).

Ophrah. — This name occurs several times for a town: in Judges 6:11 as the city of Gideon, who belonged to Manasseh; in Joshua 18:23, as a place in Benjamin. The latter may be meant here, as the boundaries of the tribes varied at different epochs.

Joab, father of the valley of Charashim. — Charashim means workers in wood, metal, or stone (1 Chronicles 14:1; 2 Chronicles 24:12; 1 Chronicles 22:15). This valley of craftsmen (Val-aux-forges, as Reuss translates it) is mentioned again in Nehemiah 11:35. Lod, that is Lydda-Diospolis of Roman times, was situated here; a place occupied by Benjamites after the return. In Nehemiah 7:11 and Ezra 2:6, in a list of those who returned with Zerubbabel, mention is made of some “sons of Joab.” For the term father in this connection, compare Genesis 4:20-21.

They — i.e., the sons of Joab, were craftsmen or smiths.