Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 7:15

"and Machir took a wife of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister`s name was Maacah; and the name of the second was Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters." — 1 Chronicles 7:15 (ASV)

And Machir took to wife. —The Hebrew cannot mean this. Translate it as: now Machir took a wife of Huppim and of Shuppim (the two Benjamite clans of 1 Chronicles 7:12); and the name of the first (Hebrew: ‘ahath) was Maachah, and the name of the second (Hebrew: shçnîth) was ...”(the name is omitted).

It is tempting to make Zelophehad the other wife, who had only daughters, whereas Maachah bore a son (1 Chronicles 7:16). However, Numbers, in the place cited, and Joshua, in the place cited, establish that Zelophehad was a man.

We must, therefore, suppose a lacuna (a gap in the text) of a few words, which would have given the name of Machir’s second wife and the descent of Zelophehad from her.

The expression “of Huppim and of Shuppim” is literally “to Huppim and to Shuppim,” that is, belonging to. This is similar to the phrasing “of Tola” (1 Chronicles 7:2).

We have no means of further clarifying the significance of this curious tribal record. That it relates to West Manasseh is inferred from its position here, as well as from the fact that 1 Chronicles 5:23–24 treated East Manasseh . The name of Gilead, however, points to the Transjordanian half of the tribe. The whole passage seems to assert an Aramean and a Benjamite element in the population of Western Manasseh.