1 Chronicles 7:24

(And his daughter was Sherah, who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper, and Uzzensherah.)

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) His daughter—i.e., Ephraim’s.

Built may mean rebuilt, or restored, or fortified (Joshua 6:26; Psalm 102:16; 2Chronicles 11:6).

Beth-horon the nether, and the upper.—The two Beth-horons (Joshua 10:10) were apparently a Canaanite foundation. They are now Beit ur et-Tahta and Beit-ur el-Fariqa—i.e., Lower and Upper Beitur.

Uzzen-sherah.—Sherah’s ear, or peak, only mentioned here. The relation of Sherah to Beth-horon may be compared with that of Achsah to the Negeb of Judah (Joshua 15:19. Cf. also Joshua 17:4).

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 7:24. His daughter — His descendant, his grand-child, or great-grand- child; built Beth-horon, &c. — Rebuilt or repaired them, which possibly she did in Joshua’s time. And this work may be ascribed to her, because it was done either by her design and contrivance, or by her instigation and influence upon her husband and brethren who did it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:1-40 Genealogies. - Here is no account either of Zebulun or Dan. We can assign no reason why they only should be omitted; but it is the disgrace of the tribe of Dan, that idolatry began in that colony which fixed in Laish, and called it Dan, Jud 18 and there one of the golden calves was set up by Jeroboam. Dan is omitted, Re 7. Men become abominable when they forsake the worship of the true God, for any creature object.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sherah could scarcely herself have built the Palestinian cities here mentioned, which must belong to a time not earlier than Joshua. By "she built" we must understand "her descendants built."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. whom the men of Gath … slew, &c.—This interesting little episode gives us a glimpse of the state of Hebrew society in Egypt; for the occurrence narrated seems to have taken place before the Israelites left that country. The patriarch Ephraim was then alive, though he must have arrived at a very advanced age; and the Hebrew people, at all events those of them who were his descendants, still retained their pastoral character. It was in perfect consistency with the ideas and habits of Oriental shepherds that they should have made a raid on the neighboring tribe of the Philistines for the purpose of plundering their flocks. For nothing is more common among them than hostile incursions on the inhabitants of towns, or on other nomad tribes with whom they have no league of amity. But a different view of the incident is brought out, if, instead of "because," we render the Hebrew particle "when" they came down to take their cattle, for the tenor of the context leads rather to the conclusion that "the men of Gath" were the aggressors, who, making a sudden foray on the Ephraimite flocks, killed the shepherds including several of the sons of Ephraim. The calamity spread a deep gloom around the tent of their aged father, and was the occasion of his receiving visits of condolence from his distant relatives, according to the custom of the East, which is remarkably exemplified in the history of Job (Job 2:11; compare Joh 11:19).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

His daughter, i.e. his grandchild, or great-grandchild, for such are oft called sons or daughters in Scripture.

Who built Beth-horon, i.e. rebuilt or repaired, which possibly she did in Joshua’s time. And this work may be ascribed to her, because these works were done either by her design or contrivance, or by her instigation and influence upon her husband and brethren who did it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And his daughter was Sherah,.... That is, the daughter of Beriah; not an immediate daughter, but a descendant of his, otherwise she could not have reached the times of Joshua, as she did by what follows:

who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper; which were cities on the border of the tribe of Ephraim; which the Israelites having taken from the Canaanites, and destroyed, she rebuilt, see Joshua 16:3.

and Uzzensherah; which was called after her own name, and to distinguish it from another place called Uzzen; though of neither of them do we read elsewhere.

Geneva Study Bible

(And his daughter was Sherah, who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper, and Uzzensherah.)

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. Beth-horon] See 1 Chronicles 6:68, note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - His daughter. If the literal interpretation of this whole section be accepted, according to which both Ephraim and Beriah must have passed their lifetime in Egypt, the "daughter," strictly so called, of either the one or the other could not have been the founder of the places here mentioned. The word "daughter" must, therefore, represent simply a female descendant. (For other references to Beth-heron, see Joshua 10:10, 11; Joshua 16:3, 5; Joshua 18:13, 14; Joshua 21:20-22.) 1 Chronicles 7:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"And his daughter Sherah," the daughter of the above-mentioned Ephraim, "built Beth-horon the nether and the upper," the present Beit-Ur-Fok and Tachta (see on Joshua 10:10), "and Uzzen-sherah," a place not elsewhere referred to, which she probably founded, and which was called after her. The building of the two Beth-horons is merely an enlarging and fortifying of these towns. Sherah was probably an heiress, who had received these places as her inheritance, and caused them to be enlarged by her family. In 1 Chronicles 7:25-27 the ancestors of Joshua the son of Nun, who brought Israel into the land of Canaan, are enumerated. As the word בּנו is wanting after רשׁף, we must hold Rephah and Resheph to be brothers, but we are not informed from which of the four Ephraimite stocks enumerated in Numbers 26:35. they were descended. "Telah his son," Bertheau holds to be a son of Rephah. The name Tahan occurs in Numbers 26:35 as that of the founder of one of the families of Ephraim; but he can hardly be identical with our Tahan, who was probably a son of that Tahan from whom an Ephraimite family descended. If this conjecture be correct, Joshua would be of the family of Tahan.