1 Chronicles 6:28

[See comments on 1 Chronicles 6:22].

And the sons of Samuel; the firstborn Vashni, and Abiah. The sons of Samuel - are here named Vashni and Abiah. The first-born is called (1 Samuel 8:2) Joel; and this name is given to him in 1 Chronicles 6:38 of this chapter.

1 Chronicles 6:28 And the sons of Samuel; the firstborn Vashni, and Abiah.Ver. 28. The firstborn Vashni.] Alias Joel. The Septuagint render the text thus: And the sons of Samuel were, the firstborn, Joel; and the second (Vashni signifieth, And the second), Abiah.

(28) And the sons of Samuel.—Heb., Shemuel The third break in the Kohathite list. We see from 1 Chronicles 6:33-34 that Samuel (Shemuel, name of God) is son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham; hence we might suppose that the clause “Samuel his son” has been accidentally omitted at the end of 1 Chronicles 6:27. But it is quite possible that the writer assumed the connection to be too well known to require specification, or that he has here thrown together three independent genealogical fragments. Comp. with 1 Chronicles 6:27-28 the pedigree of Elkanah, 1 Samuel 1:1 : “Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph.” Here again the names vary, yet not so as to obliterate their identity. Elihu (“El is He”) = Eliab, Eliel; Tohu, a fuller form of Toah = Nahath. The firstborn Vashni, and Abiah.—Vashni is not a proper name, but a corrupt form of the Hebrew phrase “and the second” (shçnî, secundus). The sons of the prophet Samuel were Joel, the firstborn, and Abiah, 1 Samuel 8:2 (see also 1 Chronicles 6:33 below). Joel has fallen out of the text here; it should run, “Joel the firstborn, and the second Abiah.” Reviewing the Kohathite list (22-28) we conclude that it represents three statistical fragments which have been put in juxtaposition by the chronicler or the author whom he has followed, and that in accordance with the real connection between the members, as appears on comparison with the continuous list which immediately follows in 1 Chronicles 6:33-38. The fact that “Samuel his son” is the missing link between 1 Chronicles 6:27-28, makes it likely that “Elkanah his son” is the true connection between 1 Chronicles 6:24-25. From Levi to the sons of Samuel about twenty generations are reckoned. Usher’s chronology dates the descent of Jacob and his sons into Egypt at 1706 B.C. Twenty generations are six hundred years. The sons of Samuel would, according to this, be living about 1106 B.C. and later. Rth 4:18-22 reckons only ten generations from Judah to Jesse, the father of David. This again shows that in their genealogical tables the Hebrews did not uniformly supply every link, but were often content with a statement of the principal names.

Verse 28. The first-born Vashni, and Abiah.] There is a great mistake in this verse: in 1 Samuel 8:2 we read, Now the name of his (Samuel's) first-born was Joel; and the name of his second Abiah. The word יואל Joel is lost out of the text in this place, and ושני vesheni, which signifies the second, and which refers to Abiah, is made here into a proper name. The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Chaldee, copy this blunder; but the Syriac and Arabic read as in 1 Samuel 8:2. The MSS. have all copied the corrupted Hebrew in this place. Jarchi labours to restore the true reading, and yet preserve the integrity of the text, by paraphrasing thus: "And the second, (ושני vesheni,) in respect of the first, he was Abiah; and the second, in respect of Abiah, he was Joel." These, Joel and Abiah, were the two sons of Samuel, who administered justice so badly that the people, being oppressed, began to murmur, and demanded a king. See 1 Samuel 8:1, &c.

Vashni - The true name of Samuel’s first-born, which was “Joel” (see the margin and references), has here dropped out; and the word properly meaning “and his second (son)” has been taken as the name of the first.