For Teaching

1 Chronicles 4: What the Passage Says

207 claims across 43 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What 1 Chronicles 4 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter continues the family records of Israel, listing more clans that came from Judah, including the households of Hur, Ashur, Kenaz, Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Shelah, along with groups known for their trades, such as linen workers and potters who worked for the king. Set inside these lists is a short account of Jabez, who prayed to the God of Israel for blessing, wider land, God's hand with him, and protection from harm, and received what he asked. The chapter then turns to the family of Simeon, naming their towns and villages and their clan leaders, and closes with two expeditions: one into the valley near Gedor in search of pasture in the days of Hezekiah, and one by five hundred men to Mount Seir, where they struck down the Amalekites who had escaped.

Claim by Claim

4:1
- Judah had sons.
- Perez was a descendant of Judah.
- Hezron was a descendant of Judah.
- Carmi was a descendant of Judah.
- Hur was a descendant of Judah.
- Shobal was a descendant of Judah.
4:2
- Reaiah was the son of Shobal.
- Reaiah fathered Jahath.
- Jahath fathered Ahumai.
- Jahath fathered Lahad.
- These were the families of the Zorathites.
4:3
- These were the sons of the father of Etam.
- Jezreel was one of them.
- Ishma was one of them.
- Idbash was one of them.
- Their sister was named Hazzelelponi.
4:4
- Penuel was the father of Gedor.
- Ezer was the father of Hushah.
- These were the sons of Hur.
- Hur was the firstborn of Ephrathah.
- Hur was the father of Bethlehem.
4:5
- Ashhur was the father of Tekoa.
- Ashhur had two wives.
- One wife was named Helah.
- The other wife was named Naarah.
4:6
- Naarah bore Ahuzzam to Ashhur.
- Naarah bore Hepher to Ashhur.
- Naarah bore Temeni to Ashhur.
- Naarah bore Haahashtari to Ashhur.
- These were the sons of Naarah.
4:7
- Helah had sons.
- Zereth was a son of Helah.
- Zohar was a son of Helah.
- Ethnan was a son of Helah.
4:8
- Koz fathered Anub.
- Koz fathered Zobebah.
- Koz fathered the families of Aharhel.
- Aharhel was the son of Harum.
4:9
- Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.
- Jabez's mother named him Jabez.
- His mother said she bore him in pain.
4:10
- Jabez called on the God of Israel.
- Jabez asked that God would indeed bless him.
- Jabez asked that God would enlarge his territory.
- Jabez asked that God's hand would be with him.
- Jabez asked that God would keep him from harm so that it would not cause him pain.
- God granted what Jabez asked.
4:11
- Chelub was the brother of Shuhah.
- Chelub fathered Mehir.
- Mehir was the father of Eshton.
4:12
- Eshton fathered Beth-rapha.
- Eshton fathered Paseah.
- Eshton fathered Tehinnah.
- Tehinnah was the father of Ir-nahash.
- These were the men of Recah.
4:13
- Kenaz had sons.
- Othniel was a son of Kenaz.
- Seraiah was a son of Kenaz.
- Othniel had sons.
- Hathath was a son of Othniel.
4:14
- Meonothai fathered Ophrah.
- Seraiah fathered Joab.
- Joab was the father of the Valley of Craftsmen.
- The valley was so called because its people were craftsmen.
4:15
- Caleb was the son of Jephunneh.
- Caleb had sons.
- Iru was a son of Caleb.
- Elah was a son of Caleb.
- Naam was a son of Caleb.
- Elah had sons.
- Kenaz was a son of Elah.
4:16
- Jehallelel had sons.
- Ziph was a son of Jehallelel.
- Ziphah was a son of Jehallelel.
- Tiria was a son of Jehallelel.
- Asarel was a son of Jehallelel.
4:17
- Ezra had sons.
- Jether was a son of Ezra.
- Mered was a son of Ezra.
- Epher was a son of Ezra.
- Jalon was a son of Ezra.
- She conceived and bore Miriam.
- She bore Shammai.
- She bore Ishbah.
- Ishbah was the father of Eshtemoa.
- The text does not name the woman who bore these children.
4:18
- His Judean wife bore Jered.
- Jered was the father of Gedor.
- She bore Heber.
- Heber was the father of Soco.
- She bore Jekuthiel.
- Jekuthiel was the father of Zanoah.
- These were the sons of Bithiah.
- Bithiah was the daughter of Pharaoh.
- Mered took Bithiah as wife.
4:19
- The wife of Hodiah had sons.
- She was the sister of Naham.
- Naham was the father of Keilah the Garmite.
- Eshtemoa was a Maacathite.
4:20
- Shimon had sons.
- Amnon was a son of Shimon.
- Rinnah was a son of Shimon.
- Ben-hanan was a son of Shimon.
- Tilon was a son of Shimon.
- Ishi had sons.
- Zoheth was a son of Ishi.
- Ben-zoheth was a son of Ishi.
4:21
- Shelah was the son of Judah.
- Shelah had sons.
- Er was a son of Shelah.
- Er was the father of Lecah.
- Laadah was a son of Shelah.
- Laadah was the father of Mareshah.
- The families of the house of the linen workers belonged to the house of Ashbea.
4:22
- Jokim was among them.
- The men of Cozeba were among them.
- Joash was among them.
- Saraph was among them.
- Joash and Saraph ruled in Moab.
- Jashubi-lehem was among them.
- These records are ancient.
4:23
- These were the potters.
- They dwelt among plants and hedges.
- They dwelt there with the king for his work.
4:24
- Simeon had sons.
- Nemuel was a son of Simeon.
- Jamin was a son of Simeon.
- Jarib was a son of Simeon.
- Zerah was a son of Simeon.
- Shaul was a son of Simeon.
4:25
- Shallum was his son.
- Mibsam was his son.
- Mishma was his son.
4:26
- Mishma had sons.
- Hammuel was his son.
- Zaccur was his son.
- Shimei was his son.
4:27
- Shimei had sixteen sons.
- Shimei had six daughters.
- Shimei's brothers did not have many children.
- Their whole family did not multiply as much as the sons of Judah.
4:28
- They dwelt at Beersheba.
- They dwelt at Moladah.
- They dwelt at Hazar-shual.
4:29
- They dwelt at Bilhah.
- They dwelt at Ezem.
- They dwelt at Tolad.
4:30
- They dwelt at Bethuel.
- They dwelt at Hormah.
- They dwelt at Ziklag.
4:31
- They dwelt at Beth-marcaboth.
- They dwelt at Hazar-susim.
- They dwelt at Beth-biri.
- They dwelt at Shaaraim.
- These were their cities until David reigned.
4:32
- Their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan.
- There were five towns.
4:33
- All their villages surrounded those cities as far as Baal.
- These were their dwelling places.
- They had a genealogical record.
4:34
- Meshobab was among them.
- Jamlech was among them.
- Joshah was among them.
- Joshah was the son of Amaziah.
4:35
- Joel was among them.
- Jehu was among them.
- Jehu was the son of Joshibiah.
- Joshibiah was the son of Seraiah.
- Seraiah was the son of Asiel.
4:36
- Elioenai was among them.
- Jaakobah was among them.
- Jeshohaiah was among them.
- Asaiah was among them.
- Adiel was among them.
- Jesimiel was among them.
- Benaiah was among them.
4:37
- Ziza was among them.
- Ziza was the son of Shiphi.
- Shiphi was the son of Allon.
- Allon was the son of Jedaiah.
- Jedaiah was the son of Shimri.
- Shimri was the son of Shemaiah.
4:38
- These men listed by name were leaders in their families.
- The house of their fathers increased greatly.
4:39
- They went to the entrance of Gedor.
- They went as far as the east side of the valley.
- They went to seek pasture for their flocks.
4:40
- They found rich and good pasture.
- The land was wide.
- The land was quiet.
- The land was peaceable.
- Descendants of Ham had dwelt there formerly.
4:41
- These written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah.
- They struck their tents.
- They struck the dwellings found there.
- They destroyed them utterly to this day.
- They dwelt in their place.
- They did so because there was pasture there for their flocks.
4:42
- Some of the sons of Simeon went to Mount Seir.
- They were five hundred men.
- Pelatiah led them.
- Neariah led them.
- Rephaiah led them.
- Uzziel led them.
- These leaders were the sons of Ishi.
4:43
- They struck down the remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped.
- They dwelt there to this day.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

4:1: In Hebrew family lists, "son of" can mean any descendant, not only a direct child. These five are not brothers: Pharez was Judah's own son, Hezron was Pharez's son, and the others come further down the same line. (Pharez is the same name spelled Perez in most modern Bibles; Chronicles' older spellings often differ from those used elsewhere.) Lists like this one were compiled after the Judeans returned from exile in Babylon, when proving which clan and which town a family belonged to was how people established who they were and what land they could claim.
4:2: "Families" here translates a word meaning clan, a group of related households larger than a family but smaller than a tribe. Israel's social structure ran tribe, then clan, then household, and clans were usually tied to a particular town or district.
4:3: Throughout this chapter, calling a man "the father of" a place means he was regarded as the town's founder, or as the ancestor of the people who lived there. The Hebrew uses the ordinary word for father in both senses, so many of the names in these lists are at once persons and settlements.
4:4: Ephratah (also spelled Ephrath) is used in the Bible both as a woman's name and as an old name for the district around Bethlehem, and it is not always possible to tell which is meant. The firstborn son held a recognized legal position: a double share of the inheritance and leadership of the family after the father's death.
4:5: Having two wives at once was legal and fairly ordinary for a man with land and money. Children of both wives were full heirs, so records like this one carefully note which wife each son came from.
4:6: "Bare" in the King James is an old spelling of "bore." It simply means she gave birth to them.
4:9: The name Jabez sounds in Hebrew like the word for pain or sorrow (the same consonants, with two of them swapped). The comment about his mother is a play on that sound, which is why the sentence about pain follows the name.
4:10: "Enlarge my coast" is 1611 English: coast then meant border or boundary, not seashore. He is asking for more territory. "Keep me from evil" translates a Hebrew word that covers harm, misfortune and disaster as well as moral wrongdoing; the request may mean protection from suffering, from doing wrong, or both.
4:13: Othniel appears elsewhere in the Bible as the first of the leaders called judges, who delivered Israel from a foreign king. The Hebrew text as the King James translators had it names only Hathath here, but some ancient copies add "and Meonothai", which would explain why Meonothai turns up without introduction at the start of the next verse.
4:14: Charashim is simply the Hebrew word for craftsmen or metalworkers, so the place name means "Valley of Craftsmen." That is the connection the verse is making between the name and the trade of the people there.
4:15: This is the Caleb who, in the account of the exodus, was one of the two scouts sent into Canaan who urged Israel to go in; the tribe of Judah's southern territory around Hebron was reckoned as his.
4:17: "And she bare" arrives with no woman named beforehand. The Hebrew of verses 17 and 18 appears to have become disordered at some point in copying; most modern translations move the clause about Pharaoh's daughter Bithiah up to this point, making her the mother of these three.
4:18: "Jehudijah" is not really a name but a Hebrew description, "the Judean woman", that is, Mered's Jewish wife, set in contrast with Bithiah, his Egyptian one. "Daughter of Pharaoh" may mean a member of the Egyptian royal house, or simply an Egyptian woman, since Egyptian kings were called Pharaoh generally.
4:21: Shelah was Judah's third son. The "house of Ashbea" linen workers were a guild: in the ancient Near East a craft such as fine-linen weaving or pottery was passed down within particular families, so a trade and a bloodline named the same group of people.
4:22: These lines are among the most obscure in the Hebrew Bible. "Had the dominion in Moab" is a guess at a phrase whose sense is uncertain, and "Jashubilehem" may be a name or may be a short sentence meaning "and they returned to Bethlehem." The closing remark is the compiler's own note that he is quoting records already ancient in his day.
4:23: "Plants and hedges" is the King James translators reading two Hebrew words as ordinary nouns; they are more likely the town names Netaim and Gederah. Either way the men are royal potters, craftsmen working on contract to the crown, a recognized arrangement in which a village supplied the palace with goods instead of other taxes.
4:24: Simeon was one of the twelve tribes, but its allotted towns lay inside the territory of Judah in the dry south, so its history is told here as part of Judah's. That is why a chapter about Judah turns to Simeon halfway through.
4:25: The King James repeats "his son" down the line. It means each man in the list was the son of the man named just before him.
4:27: The remark is a plain demographic observation. Simeon's numbers fell sharply between the two censuses recorded in the book of Numbers, and the tribe never regained its size or held land of its own apart from Judah.
4:28: These are towns of the Negev, the semi-desert country in the far south of Israel, suited to herding rather than farming, which is why flocks and pasture dominate the rest of the chapter.
4:30: Ziklag was the border town given to David by a Philistine ruler while David was a fugitive from King Saul; after David became king it belonged to the royal house rather than to the tribe. That is the kind of change the next verse's "up until the time David became king" refers to.
4:31: "Unto the reign of David" marks a cut-off point: these were Simeon's towns until David's reign, after which the monarchy reorganized the territory and the old tribal boundaries mattered less.
4:33: Baal here is a place name, not the god of that name. The Hebrew word means "lord" or "owner" and was commonly used in town names; this is probably the settlement called Baalath-beer elsewhere.
4:38: "Princes" in the King James does not mean sons of a king. It translates a word for chief or leader, here the heads of extended families within the tribe.
4:39: The Hebrew reads Gedor, but the ancient Greek translation reads Gerar, a known town in the same southern region; translators are divided on which was original. The men are herders looking for grazing beyond their own overcrowded land.
4:40: "They of Ham" means people counted as descendants of Ham, one of Noah's three sons, in the Bible's genealogy of the nations. Under that scheme Egyptians, Canaanites and various southern peoples were Hamites: that is, the previous occupants here were not Israelites.
4:41: "Destroyed them utterly" translates a term for placing a people or a place permanently under a ban, so that it could not be taken as ordinary plunder or resettled by its former owners. The word the King James renders "habitations" is spelled the same in Hebrew as Meunites, the name of a people; many translations read it that way. "Dwelt in their rooms" is 1611 English for took over their place.
4:42: Mount Seir is the rugged highland country southeast of the Dead Sea, the homeland of the Edomites.
4:43: The Amalekites were a nomadic people of the southern desert, remembered in Israel's traditions as its earliest enemy after the exodus and fought repeatedly by Saul and David. "The rest who had escaped" refers to survivors of those earlier campaigns.

Read 1 Chronicles 4