1 Chronicles 4:22

And Jokim, and the men of Chozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had the dominion in Moab, and Jashubilehem. And these are ancient things.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 4:22-23. Who had the dominion in Moab — Which they ruled in the name and for the use of the kings of Judah, to whom Moab was subject from David’s time. Ancient things — The sense is, those blessed times are long since past. Our ancestors had the dominion over the heathen, but their degenerate posterity are slaves in Chaldea, where they are employed as potters or gardeners, or in other servile works These were — Or, rather, these are the potters, &c. — For he seems to oppose their present servitude to their former glory, and to show how low and mean they were in spirit, in that they would rather tarry among the heathen to do their drudgery than return to Jerusalem to serve God, and enjoy their freedom. There they dwelt — Or, rather, now dwell, when their brethren are returned: for Ezra seems to have written this, after leave was given by Cyrus for the return of the Jews. With the king for his work — The king of Persia, esteeming it a greater honour and happiness to serve that earthly monarch in the meanest employments, than the King of kings in his temple, and in his most noble and heavenly work.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-43 Genealogies. - In this chapter we have a further account of Judah, the most numerous and most famous of all the tribes; also an account of Simeon. The most remarkable person in this chapter is Jabez. We are not told upon what account Jabez was more honourable than his brethren; but we find that he was a praying man. The way to be truly great, is to seek to do God's will, and to pray earnestly. Here is the prayer he made. Jabez prayed to the living and true God, who alone can hear and answer prayer; and, in prayer he regarded him as a God in covenant with his people. He does not express his promise, but leaves it to be understood; he was afraid to promise in his own strength, and resolved to devote himself entirely to God. Lord, if thou wilt bless me and keep me, do what thou wilt with me; I will be at thy command and disposal for ever. As the text reads it, this was the language of a most ardent and affectionate desire, Oh that thou wouldest bless me! Four things Jabez prayed for. 1. That God would bless him indeed. Spiritual blessings are the best blessings: God's blessings are real things, and produce real effects. 2. That He would enlarge his coast. That God would enlarge our hearts, and so enlarge our portion in himself, and in the heavenly Canaan, ought to be our desire and prayer. 3. That God's hand might be with him. God's hand with us, to lead us, protect us, strengthen us, and to work all our works in us and for us, is a hand all-sufficient for us. 4. That he would keep him from evil, the evil of sin, the evil of trouble, all the evil designs of his enemies, that they might not hurt, nor make him a Jabez indeed, a man of sorrow. God granted that which he requested. God is ever ready to hear prayer: his ear is not now heavy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who had the dominion in Moab - Moab was conquered by David 2 Samuel 8:2, and again by Omri, after which it remained subject until the death of Ahab 2 Kings 3:5. But a more ancient rule, in times of which we have no further record, is probably intended.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22, 23. had the dominion in Moab, and Jashubi-lehem—"And these are ancient things" seems a strange rendering of a proper name; and, besides, it conveys a meaning that has no bearing on the record. The following improved translation has been suggested: "Sojourned in Moab, but returned to Beth-lehem and Adaberim-athekim. These and the inhabitants of Netaim and Gedera were potters employed by the king in his own work." Gedera or Gederoth, and Netaim, belonged to the tribe of Judah, and lay on the southeast border of the Philistines' territory (Jos 15:36; 2Ch 28:18).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Who had the dominion in Moab; which they ruled in the name and for the use and service of the kings of Judah, to whom Moab was subject from David’s time. Or, who had possessions in Moab; or, who married wives in Moab. These are ancient things: the sense is either,

1. These persons and things were in ancient times, and therefore it is not strange if now they be so little known. But that might have been with equal truth said of divers other parts of this account. Or rather,

2. But those blessed times and things are long since past and gone. Our ancestors then had the dominion over the heathen, but their degenerate posterity are now slaves to them in Chaldea, Persia, &c., where they are employed as potters or gardeners, or in other servile works.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Jokim,.... The Vulgate Latin version is:

and he that made the sun to stand: as if Joshua was meant; and in the Talmud it is (g) said Jokim, this is Joshua, who confirmed the oath to the Gibeonites; and the Targum here is,

"and the prophets of the scribes that sprang from the posterity of Joshua;''but Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim, and not of Judah; though some interpret it of Elimelech, as Lyra observes (h), of whom the fable is, that the sun stood still at his prayers, as it did in Joshua's time, to convert the men of Bethlehem; but Jokim is no doubt the proper name of some famous man or family that descended from Shelah:

and the men of Chozeba: which signifies a lie; and the Targum interprets it of the Gibeonites, who lied to Joshua; but those were Canaanites, and not of the posterity of Shelah, and tribe of Judah; Chezib, or Achzib, a city in the tribe of Judah, very probably is meant, as Kimchi, the very place where Shelah was born, Genesis 38:5 and where dwelt some of his posterity:

and Joash and Saraph, who had the dominion in Moab; some render the word, "which married in Moab"; and so the Targum interprets it of Mahlon and Chilion, who took wives of the daughters of Moab; but rather it is to be understood of some who were governors in Moab in the times of David, when Moab was subdued by him, 2 Samuel 8:2 or however were such, who, at one time or another, made war with Moab, and overcame them:

and Jashubilehem: which the Targumist understands of Boaz, prince of the wise men of the school of Bethlehem, and the Talmudists (i) of Ruth, that dwelt in Bethlehem; and may be interpreted of some of the inhabitants of that place which sprang from Shelah; or rather is the name of a single man, famous in his time, though not now known:

and these are ancient things; an account of persons that lived in ancient times, and which the writer of this book gives not on his own knowledge, but by tradition, or rather by inspiration.

(g) T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 2.((h) So Heb. in Hieron. Trad. Heb. in Paralip. fol. 81. M. (i) Ut supra. (T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 2.)

Geneva Study Bible

And Jokim, and the men of Chozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had the dominion in Moab, and Jashubilehem. And these are ancient things.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. and Joash, and Saraph, who etc.] Targ. “and Joash who is Mahlon and Seraph who is Chilion who took wives of the daughters of Moab” (cp. Ruth 1:2; Ruth 1:4). There is little to be said for the identification, which rests on the fact that the Hebrew word for had dominion might be translated married. We find no other trace of these two as rulers of Moab.

and Jashubi-lehem] Vulg. who returned to Bethlehem, a translation which requires only an easy emendation of the present Hebrew text. Mahlon and Chilion did not return. Joash and Saraph may have retired to Moab either (like Mahlon and Chilion) because of a famine, or to escape foreign oppression, e.g. that of the Chaldeans, married wives there, and subsequently returned to their own country.

these are ancient things] R.V. the records are ancient.

1 Chronicles 4:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Descendants of Shelah, the third son of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:3, and Genesis 38:5. - All the families of Judah enumerated in vv. 2-20 are connected together by the conjunction ו, and so are grouped as descendants of the sons and grandsons of Judah named in 1 Chronicles 4:1. The conjunction is omitted, however, before שׁלה בּני, as also before יהוּדה בּני in 1 Chronicles 4:3, to show that the descendants of Shelah form a second line of descendants of Judah, co-ordinate with the sons of Judah enumerated in vv. 1-19, concerning whom only a little obscure but not unimportant information has been preserved. Those mentioned as sons are Er (which also was the name of the first-born of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:3.), father of Lecah, and Laadan, the father of Mareshah. The latter name denotes, beyond question, a town which still exists as the ruin Marash in the Shephelah, Joshua 15:44 (see on 1 Chronicles 2:42), and consequently Lecah (לכה) also is the name of a locality not elsewhere mentioned. The further descendants of Shelah were, "the families of the Byssus-work of the house of Ashbea," i.e., the families of Ashbea, a man of whom nothing further is known. Of these families some were connected with a famous weaving-house or linen (Byssus) manufactory, probably in Egypt; and then further, in 1 Chronicles 4:22, "Jokim, and the man of Chozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, which ruled over Moab, and Jashubi-lehem." Kimchi conjectured that כּזבה was the place called כזיב in Genesis 38:5 equals אכזיב, Joshua 15:44, in the low land, where Shelah was born. לחם ישׁבי is a strange name, "which the punctuators would hardly have pronounced in the way they have done if it had not come down to them by tradition" (Berth.). The other names denote heads of families or branches of families, the branches and families being included in them.

(Note: Jerome has given a curious translation of 1 Chronicles 4:22, "et qui stare fecit solem, virique mendacii et securus et incendens, qui principes fuerunt in Moab et qui reversi sunt in Lahem: haec autem verba vetera," - according to the Jewish Midrash, in which למואב בּעלוּ אשׁר was connected with the narrative in the book of Ruth. For יוקים, qui stare fecit solem, is supposed to be Elimelech, and the viri mendacii Mahlon and Chilion, so well known from the book of Ruth, who went with their father into the land of Moab and married Moabitesses.)

Nothing is told us of them beyond what is found in our verses, according to which the four first named ruled over Moab during a period in the primeval time; fir, as the historian himself remarks, "these things are old."