7And of the sons of Issachar; Tola, and [1]Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. 2And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' houses, to wit, of Tola; mighty men of valour in their generations: their number in the days of David was two and twenty thousand and six hundred. 3And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons
discriminated, and the tradition that their origin as a religious order was due to Moses became firmly established, whilst the complex system of their organisation, in particular the subdivisions of the Levites as singers and doorkeepers, was confidently ascribed to David. Chronicles consistently represents this latest stage of development. For a concise statement of the facts see McNeile, Numbers, pp. xiv ff. in the present series; and for further discussion the appropriate articles in the Dictionaries; esp. Cook in Ency. Brit.11, s.v. Levites.
Ch. VII. 1—40. Genealogies of Six Remaining Tribes.
The treatment of the several tribes in this chapter is very unequal. In the case of Issachar (1—5), Zebulun (6—12, see note ver. 6), and Asher (30—40), genealogies are given and the number of fighting-men of each tribe is stated. To Naphtali is devoted a single verse (13), giving only the names of his sons. For Manasseh and Ephraim (14—29) genealogies are given and their possessions are shortly enumerated. The mention of Dan is obliterated, owing to the state of the text of ver. 12.
1—5. The Genealogy of Issachar.
1. the sons of Issachar] Gen. xlvi. 13; Num. xxvi. 23, 24. vv. 2—5 are from an unknown source, or from the Chronicler himself.
Tola] the name of one of the minor Judges (Judg. x. 1). He is there described as "Tola the son of Puah, dwelling [Heb. josheb] in Shamir." No descendants are mentioned from Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, but only from Tola; and it has been suggested that these four sons of Issachar are imaginary, being simply deduced from the statement in Judges—Jashub = josheb, and Shimron = Shamir. This is very ingenious but by no means convincing.
Puah] In Gen. and Num. Puvah (R.V.).
Jashub] So in Num., but in Gen. Iob.
2. of their fathers' houses] i.e. clans or families; see note on v. 13.
in their generations] Render, after (or according to) their generations, the rendering given to the same phrase in Gen. x. 32, xxv. 13.
their number] i.e. of the divisions which claimed Tola as ancestor.
in the days of David] xxi. 1 ff. (= 2 Sam. xxiv. 1 ff.).
- ↑ In Gen. xlvi. 13, Puvah, and Iob.
