1 Chronicles 8: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter lists the family lines of Benjamin, naming Benjamin's sons and the households that came from them. It follows several branches through the places they settled: Geba, Manahath, the country of Moab, the towns of Ono and Lod, Aijalon, Jerusalem, and Gibeon. The last part traces the line of Ner down through Kish to King Saul and on through Saul's descendants for many generations, ending with the sons of Ulam, who were archers and fighting men.

Claim by Claim

1. 8:1
   • Benjamin fathered Bela as his firstborn.
   • Ashbel was Benjamin's second son.
   • Aharah was Benjamin's third son.
2. 8:2
   • Nohah was Benjamin's fourth son.
   • Rapha was Benjamin's fifth son.
3. 8:3
   • Bela had sons.
   • Addar was a son of Bela.
   • Gera was a son of Bela.
   • Abihud was a son of Bela.
4. 8:4
   • Abishua was a son of Bela.
   • Naaman was a son of Bela.
   • Ahoah was a son of Bela.
5. 8:5
   • Gera was a son of Bela.
   • Shephuphan was a son of Bela.
   • Huram was a son of Bela.
6. 8:6
   • These are the sons of Ehud.
   • These men were heads of ancestral houses of the inhabitants of Geba.
   • They were carried into exile to Manahath.
7. 8:7
   • Naaman was one of them.
   • Ahiah was one of them.
   • Gera was one of them.
   • Gera carried them into exile.
   • Gera fathered Uzza.
   • Gera fathered Ahihud.
8. 8:8
   • Shaharaim fathered children in the territory of Moab.
   • He fathered them after he sent his wives away.
   • Hushim was a wife of Shaharaim.
   • Baara was a wife of Shaharaim.
9. 8:9
   • Shaharaim fathered children by his wife Hodesh.
   • Jobab was his son by Hodesh.
   • Zibia was his son by Hodesh.
   • Mesha was his son by Hodesh.
   • Malcham was his son by Hodesh.
10. 8:10
    • Jeuz was his son.
    • Shachia was his son.
    • Mirma was his son.
    • These were Shaharaim's sons.
    • These sons were heads of ancestral houses.
11. 8:11
    • Shaharaim fathered Abitub by Hushim.
    • Shaharaim fathered Elpaal by Hushim.
12. 8:12
    • Eber was a son of Elpaal.
    • Misham was a son of Elpaal.
    • Shamed was a son of Elpaal.
    • Shamed built Ono.
    • Shamed built Lod with its surrounding villages.
13. 8:13
    • Beriah was a head of ancestral houses of the inhabitants of Aijalon.
    • Shema was a head of ancestral houses of the inhabitants of Aijalon.
    • They drove out the inhabitants of Gath.
14. 8:14
    • Ahio was among them.
    • Shashak was among them.
    • Jeremoth was among them.
15. 8:15
    • Zebadiah was among them.
    • Arad was among them.
    • Ader was among them.
16. 8:16
    • Michael was a son of Beriah.
    • Ispah was a son of Beriah.
    • Joha was a son of Beriah.
17. 8:17
    • Zebadiah was among them.
    • Meshullam was among them.
    • Hezeki was among them.
    • Heber was among them.
18. 8:18
    • Ishmerai was a son of Elpaal.
    • Jezliah was a son of Elpaal.
    • Jobab was a son of Elpaal.
19. 8:19
    • Jakim was among them.
    • Zichri was among them.
    • Zabdi was among them.
20. 8:20
    • Elienai was among them.
    • Zilthai was among them.
    • Eliel was among them.
21. 8:21
    • Adaiah was a son of Shimhi.
    • Beraiah was a son of Shimhi.
    • Shimrath was a son of Shimhi.
22. 8:22
    • Ishpan was among them.
    • Heber was among them.
    • Eliel was among them.
23. 8:23
    • Abdon was among them.
    • Zichri was among them.
    • Hanan was among them.
24. 8:24
    • Hananiah was among them.
    • Elam was among them.
    • Antothijah was among them.
25. 8:25
    • Iphedeiah was a son of Shashak.
    • Penuel was a son of Shashak.
26. 8:26
    • Shamsherai was among them.
    • Shehariah was among them.
    • Athaliah was among them.
27. 8:27
    • Jaresiah was a son of Jeroham.
    • Eliah was a son of Jeroham.
    • Zichri was a son of Jeroham.
28. 8:28
    • These men were heads of ancestral houses according to their genealogies.
    • These men were chief men.
    • These men dwelt in Jerusalem.
29. 8:29
    • The father of Gibeon dwelt at Gibeon.
    • His wife's name was Maachah.
30. 8:30
    • Abdon was his firstborn son.
    • Zur was his son.
    • Kish was his son.
    • Baal was his son.
    • Nadab was his son.
31. 8:31
    • Gedor was his son.
    • Ahio was his son.
    • Zacher was his son.
32. 8:32
    • Mikloth fathered Shimeah.
    • These also dwelt in Jerusalem with their kinsmen.
    • They dwelt opposite their kinsmen.
33. 8:33
    • Ner fathered Kish.
    • Kish fathered Saul.
    • Saul fathered Jonathan.
    • Saul fathered Malchishua.
    • Saul fathered Abinadab.
    • Saul fathered Eshbaal.
34. 8:34
    • Meribbaal was the son of Jonathan.
    • Meribbaal fathered Micah.
35. 8:35
    • Pithon was a son of Micah.
    • Melech was a son of Micah.
    • Tarea was a son of Micah.
    • Ahaz was a son of Micah.
36. 8:36
    • Ahaz fathered Jehoadah.
    • Jehoadah fathered Alemeth.
    • Jehoadah fathered Azmaveth.
    • Jehoadah fathered Zimri.
    • Zimri fathered Moza.
37. 8:37
    • Moza fathered Binea.
    • Rapha was Binea's son.
    • Eleasah was Rapha's son.
    • Azel was Eleasah's son.
38. 8:38
    • Azel had six sons.
    • Azrikam was a son of Azel.
    • Bocheru was a son of Azel.
    • Ishmael was a son of Azel.
    • Sheariah was a son of Azel.
    • Obadiah was a son of Azel.
    • Hanan was a son of Azel.
    • All these were the sons of Azel.
39. 8:39
    • Eshek was Azel's brother.
    • Ulam was Eshek's firstborn son.
    • Jehush was Eshek's second son.
    • Eliphelet was Eshek's third son.
40. 8:40
    • The sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor.
    • They were archers who drew the bow.
    • They had many sons and grandsons.
    • Their sons and grandsons numbered one hundred and fifty.
    • All these were of the sons of Benjamin.

Words Worth Explaining

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

8:1

Benjamin was the youngest of Jacob's twelve sons, and his descendants made up one of Israel's twelve tribes. Lists like this one mattered because land, clan membership and family rights passed down through the male line; a family that could not show its line could lose its claim. This chapter follows the tribe of Benjamin down to the family of Saul, Israel's first king, who came from it.

8:6

The King James phrase "heads of the fathers" is short for "heads of fathers' houses", the leaders of extended family groups, the unit that sat between a single household and a whole tribe. Geba was a town a few miles north of Jerusalem. The verb behind "removed them" is the one normally used for deporting a population; the text does not say who forced the move or why.

8:7

The Hebrew here is compressed and unclear about which man is being spoken of, so translations differ over who carried out the removal and whose sons Uzza and Ahihud were.

8:8

"Sent them away" is the ordinary Hebrew expression for divorcing a wife. Moab was the territory east of the Dead Sea, outside Israel, so this family line ran for a time on foreign soil.

8:10

"Heads of the fathers" is shorthand for heads of ancestral houses. Israelite society was built in layers: the tribe, then the clan, then the "father's house", an extended family of several generations living and farming together. The head of such a house spoke for it in legal disputes, controlled its land, and represented it to the wider tribe. Listing a man as a head is a statement about rank, not just parenthood.

8:11

Long ago some men had more than one wife at a time. That is why this man has children by different wives.

8:12

The Hebrew word translated "built" covers founding a town, rebuilding one, and fortifying one, and the text does not specify which is meant. Ono and Lod stood on the coastal plain northwest of Jerusalem. The King James "towns thereof" translates a word that literally means "daughters", the smaller villages that depended on a larger town.

8:13

Aijalon lay in a valley west of Jerusalem, on the route between the hill country and the coastal plain. Gath was one of the five main cities of the Philistines, the people who controlled that coastal plain and were Israel's chief rivals in this period.

8:28

Jerusalem sat right on the boundary between the territory of Benjamin and that of Judah, which is why Benjaminite families are recorded as living there.

8:29

"The father of Gibeon" means the founder or leading ancestor of the town, not the parent of a person named Gibeon; Hebrew uses "father of" this way for the originator of a settlement. The King James has no name here because it has dropped out of the text; the matching list at 1 Chronicles 9:35 calls him Jeiel. Gibeon was a town about six miles northwest of Jerusalem.

8:30

Baal simply meant "lord" or "master" in ordinary Hebrew, and parents used it in names without a second thought. It only became unusable later, once Baal was firmly identified as the name of the Canaanite storm god that Israel's prophets attacked. Names like this one are a sign of how old the list is.

8:32

The King James "over against them" means facing or alongside, the sense is that these families lived close by their relatives rather than opposite them in any hostile sense.

8:33

Saul was Israel's first king. The name Eshbaal ends in baal, a word meaning "lord" or "master" that was also the name of a Canaanite god. In 2 Samuel this same son of Saul is called Ish-bosheth, with bosheth, "shame," swapped in for baal, a substitution scribes made to avoid writing the god's name. Chronicles keeps the older forms.

8:34

Meribbaal is the man called Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel, the same name with "shame" substituted for the baal ending.

8:40

"Mighty men of valour" is a fixed Hebrew phrase for men fit and equipped for war, and often carries a further sense of standing and substance in the community. Benjaminite fighters had a particular reputation for skill with the bow and the sling.