2These are the sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar and Zebulun; 2Dan, Joseph and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
3The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of Bath-shua the Canaanitess. And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and he slew him. 4And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. 5The sons of Perez; Hezron and Hamul. 6And the sons of
Chapters II.—VIII.The Genealogies of the Tribes
of Israel.
Attention is now narrowed down to those in the true line of descent, from Abraham through Isaac ("in Isaac shall thy seed be called," Gen. xxi. 12) and from Isaac through Jacob = Israel, Gen. xxxii. 28 (cp. Gen. xxvi. 2—4).
The Chronicler deals very unequally with the tribes in their genealogies; as the following table shows:
ii. 1—iv. 23. Judah (102 verses).
iv. 24—43. Simeon (20 verses).
v. 1—26. Reuben, Gad, and Eastern Manasseh (26 verses).
vi. 1—81. Levi (81 verses).
It may easily be seen that the tribes in which the Chronicler is really interested are the three southern tribes, Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, together with the priestly tribe, Levi.
The order in which the tribes are mentioned is geographical, Judah and Simeon the southern tribes first, then the eastern tribes, Reuben, Gad, Manasseh; then (conveniently) Levi, and then the northern tribes of western Palestine, ending with Benjamin (viii., ix. 35—44) and the list of inhabitants of Jerusalem (in ix. 1—34).
Ch. II. 1, 2. The Sons of Israel. (Cp. Gen. xxxv. 22 b—26.)
II. 3—IV. 23. Genealogies of Judah.
3—17. Descendants of Judah to the Sons of Jesse.
5. The sons of Perez; Hezron and Hamul] So Gen. xlvi. 12. The only reference in the O.T. to Hamulites is Num. xxvi. 21. On the other hand Hezron, a south Judean tribe (Jos. xv. 3), is a clan of the first importance in the genealogies. From Hezron are descended not only the family of David (ver. 15), but also the great Calebite and Jerahmeelite clans (vv. 18—24, 25—33, etc.). The name Hezronmight bear the significance "an enclosed place" as opposed to movable
