1 Chronicles 5:17

All these were reckoned by genealogies,.... All before mentioned: in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel; not that those two kings reigned at the same time,

All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel. All these were reckoned ... in the day of Jotham.

In the days of Jotham king of Judah; who reigning long, partly in his father’ s days, and partly by himself, 2 Kings 15, and being at leisure as to wars or troubles, thought this a fit season to examine the state of his people. In the days of Jeroboam; either the second of that name, of whom see . Or rather the first Jeroboam; partly because he is called simply Jeroboam, without any addition; which shows that he speaks of the most famous of the two; and partly because this work of taking an account of the people doth far better agree to the times of Jeroboam the First, when the kingdom of Israel was first erected and established, and broken off from that of Judah, when it was necessary for Jeroboam to know his own strength, and the numbers of his people, than to the times of Jeroboam the Second, when the kingdom of Israel was broken, and near to its ruin.

1 Chronicles 5:17 All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.Ver. 17. In the days of Jeroboam,] i.e., Jeroboam the second, who ruled over them.

(11-17) THE SONS OF GAD, THEIR CLANS, , AND .(11) And the children of Gad dwelt over against them.—That is, adjoining them on the east of Jordan.In the land of Bashan unto Salcah.—(Joshua 13:11.) Bashan, the ancient dominion of the giant Og (Numbers 21:33-35; Deuteronomy 3:1-12). Salcah now Sulkhad, on the south-east slope of Jebel Hauran in the extreme east of Gilead. (12) Joel the chief (or, first; literally, head), and Shaphan the next (or second.)—Genesis 46:15 enumerates seven sons of Gad, a number corresponding with the clans of 1 Chronicles 5:13; but none of the names are the same. In Bashan.—This expression goes to prove that clans, not individuals, are intended. Joel is also the head Reubenite house (1 Chronicles 5:4). (13) And their brethren of the house of their fathers.—And their kinsmen (fellow-tribesmen), according to their father-houses (clans). The verse names seven inferior clans of the Gadites, whose seats are assigned in 1 Chronicles 5:16. These, viz., the clans of 1 Chronicles 5:13, were sons of Abihail, whose line is retraced through seven generations to Buz, of whom nothing further is known. The name has occurred Genesis 22:21 as that of a son of Nahor; and Job 32:2, as that of the clan of Elihu the Buzite. (15) Ahi the son of Abdial, the son of Guni (was) head of their clans. Perhaps Ahi was chieftain or prince of the sons of Abihail at the time when this register was drawn up (1 Chronicles 5:17). (16) And they dwelt in Gilead.—The seats of the Gadites of 1 Chronicles 5:13 were in the country east of Jordan.In Bashan, defines the locality more precisely. It was the northern region of Gilead. And in her towns.—Heb., her daughters.And in all the suburbs of Sharon.—Rather, pasture-grounds or sheep-walks.Sharon.—The well-known plain of this name lay west of Jordan, between Carmel and Joppa, along the coast of the Great Sea. The old conjecture that Shirion, i.e., mount Hermon (Deuteronomy 3:9; Psalms 29:6) should be read, is probably right. Upon their borders.—That is, their extremities (Numbers 34:4-5). The Gadites fed their flocks in the glens opening out at the foot of the mountains, here called their exits or outlets.(17) All these.—That is, the Gadite clans.Were reckoned by genealogies (or registered) in the days of Jotham king of Judah, i.e., after 757 B.C., according to Biblical chronology. And in the days of Jeroboam (the second), king of Israel, who reigned from 825-784, according to the data of Kings. Clearly, therefore, more than one registration is the basis of the above statistics. That of Jeroboam was the earlier in point of time; but the chronicler names the king of Judah first honoris causa. Jeroboam II., a vigorous king, who “restored the border of Israel from the entry of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah” (2 Kings 14:25), may have taken this census of the tribes east of Jordan, with a view to fiscal purposes.

17. reckoned by genealogy] A specimen of this kind of reckoning is given in Nehemiah 7:5-65. in the days of Jotham … and in the days of Jeroboam] “Reckoning by genealogy” is a phrase used only in the writings of the Chronicler (Chron., Ezra, Neh.), but the practice probably resembled what is called in other books “numbering the people.” The object however was different and corresponded with the circumstances of the returned exiles, who found themselves in the midst of a Gentile population in Judaea. The people were “reckoned by genealogy” not so much to take a census of them, as to inquire into the purity of their Israelite descent. The ancient term “numbering” would probably be a more suitable description of a transaction belonging to the days of Jotham. For Jotham see 2 Chronicles 27 and for Jeroboam 2 Kings 14:23-29. The last years of the reign of Jeroboam II. synchronized with part at least of the reign of Jotham.

The writer refers here to two registrations, one made under the authority of Jeroboam II when he was king and Israel flourishing, the other made under the authority of Jotham, king of Judah, during