Charles Ellicott Commentary


Charles Ellicott Commentary
"And the sons of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tarshish, and Ahishahar." — 1 Chronicles 7:10 (ASV)
Eight sons of Jediael.
Bilhan. — 1 Chronicles 1:42, a son of Seir. Perhaps an Edomite element in Benjamin. (Compare to 1 Chronicles 2:34; 1 Chronicles 4:18; 1 Chronicles 2:46, and especially the case of Caleb the Kenizzite.)
Jeush. — So Hebrew, margin. Text, Jeish; a son of Esau (1 Chronicles 1:35).
Benjamin. — It is curious that a Benjamite clan should have borne the tribal name. (Compare to 1 Chronicles 4:16, Asareel and Note.)
Ehud. — A namesake of Ehud the judge, who slew Eglon the Moabite oppressor of Israel (Judges 3:15). Ehud the judge was a son of Gera, and Gera was a division of Bela (1 Chronicles 8:3; 1 Chronicles 8:5).
Chenaanah (Canaanitess) is perhaps a Canaanite house which had amalgamated with the sons of Jediael.
Tharshish. — Elsewhere the name of a famous Phoenician colony in Spain. The name occurs once again as a personal name (Esther 1:14, one of the seven Persian princes). In Exodus 28:20, and six other places, it is the name of a gem.
Ahishahar. — Brother of dawn. (Compare to Shaha-raim— double dawn, 1 Chronicles 8:8, and Isaiah 14:12, ben-shahar— son of dawn.) Perhaps the common Arab designation bnê qedem —“sons of the east”—is similar.