1 Chronicles 9:3

And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

IX.

(3) And in Jerusalem dwelt (some) of the children of Judah, and (some) of the children of Benjamin.—This sentence is word for word the same with Nehemiah 11:4 a. The next clause, “and some of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh,” is not found in Nehemiah, and nothing further is said in the present chapter concerning these two tribes. But so far from proving the clause to be a figment of the chronicler’s, this fact only indicates that he has chosen to use the ordinary freedom of a compiler in transcribing from the fuller document which supplied him with materials here and in Nehemiah 11. His source dealt with the neighbouring townships as well as Jerusalem; the latter is the sole subject of the chronicler’s extracts here.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-44 Genealogies. - This chapter expresses that one end of recording all these genealogies was, to direct the Jews, when they returned out of captivity, with whom to unite, and where to reside. Here is an account of the good state into which the affairs of religion were put, on the return from Babylon. Every one knew his charge. Work is likely to be done well when every one knows the duty of his place, and makes a business of it. God is the God of order. Thus was the temple a figure of the heavenly one, where they rest not day nor night from praising God, Re 4:8. Blessed be His name, believers there shall, not in turn, but all together, without interruption, praise him night and day: may the Lord make each of us fit for the inheritance of the saints in light.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The correspondence and the diversity between the account here and in Nehemiah Neh. 11:4-19 are explained by the probability that both writers drew from a common and fuller document. They selected, in some instances, different names, or names which are now different through corruption; and they frequently expressed the genealogies of the same persons differently, both going on the principle of compression by means of omissions, but omitting from their lists different links of the chain.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions—This chapter relates wholly to the first returned exiles. Almost all the names recur in Nehemiah (Ne 11:1-36), although there are differences which will be explained there. The same division of the people into four classes was continued after, as before the captivity; namely, the priests, Levites, natives, who now were called by the common name of Israelites, and the Nethinims (Jos 9:27; Ezr 2:43; 8:20). When the historian speaks of "the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions," he implies that there were others who afterwards returned and settled in possessions not occupied by the first. Accordingly, we read of a great number returning successively under Ezra, Nehemiah, and at a later period. And some of those who returned to the ancient inheritance of their fathers, had lived before the time of the captivity (Ezr 3:12; Hag 2:4, 10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. Some of each of these tribes; either such as offered themselves, or such as were chosen by lot: See Nehemiah 11:1,2

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin,.... Of which tribes were the largest number that went into, and returned out of, captivity:

and of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh; such of those tribes who had joined the others when Jeroboam introduced his idolatry, or had fled to them when Samaria was besieged and taken by Shalmaneser, and so went into captivity with Judah, and now returned; and as many of them as took the advantage of the proclamation of Cyrus, who were carried captive with the ten tribes.

Geneva Study Bible

And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3–6 (cp. Nehemiah 11:4-6). The Sons of Judah

3. And in Jerusalem dwelt etc.] Jerusalem (cp. 1 Chronicles 9:2) had hitherto been neglected, but now under Nehemiah (we must supply some such note of time) and in consequence of Nehemiah’s measures the following families (1 Chronicles 9:4-17) took up their abode within the city.

and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh] This clause is not found in Nehemiah 11:4.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - And of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh. These words are not found in Nehemiah 11:4. 1 Chronicles 9:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

1 Chronicles 9:3, too, is not, as Bertheau and others think, "the superscription of the register of those dwelling in Jerusalem;" for were it that, mention must have been made in it of the priests and Levites, the enumeration of whom fills up the greater part of the following register, vv. 10-33. 1 Chronicles 9:3 corresponds rather to 1 Chronicles 9:35, and serves to introduce the contents of the whole chapter, and with it commences the enumeration itself. In Nehemiah 11, consequently, we have a register of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, while our chapter contains only a register of the former inhabitants of Jerusalem. Only in so far as it treats of the inhabitants of Jerusalem does Nehemiah's register resemble ours in plan; that is, to this extent, that the sons of Judah, the sons of Benjamin, priests and Levites, are enumerated seriatim as dwelling in Jerusalem, that is, that heads of the fathers'-houses of these inhabitants, as is stated by Nehemiah in the superscription 1 Chronicles 11:3, and in our chapter, at the end of the respective paragraphs, 1 Chronicles 9:9, 1 Chronicles 9:13, and in the subscription, 1 Chronicles 9:33 and 1 Chronicles 9:34.

But if we examine the contents of the two catalogues more minutely, their agreement is shown by the identity of several of the names of these heads. On this point Bertheau thus speaks: "Of the three heads of Judah, Uthai, Asaiah, and Jeuel, 1 Chronicles 9:4-6, we recognise the first two in Athaiah and Maaseiah, Nehemiah 11:4-5; only the third name, Jeuel, is omitted. Of the five heads of Benjamin, 1 Chronicles 9:5-7, it is true, we meet with only two, Sallu and Hodaviah, in Nehemiah 11:7-9; but it is manifest that there was no intention to communicate in that place a complete enumeration of the hereditary chiefs of Benjamin. The names of the six heads of the divisions of the priests, Jedaiah and Jehoiarib, Jachin, Azariah (Seriah occupies his place in the book of Nehemiah), Adaiah and Maasiai (represented in Nehemiah by Amashai), are enumerated in both places in the same order. Among the Levites there occur the names of Shemaiah and Mattaniah as representatives of the great Levitic divisions of Merari and Gershon-Asaph, and we easily recognise our עבדיה in the עבדּא of the book of Nehemiah. Only the two first of the four chiefs of the doorkeepers, Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, and Ahiman, are named in the abridged enumeration of the book of Nehemiah, while the two others are only referred to in the added ואחיהם." Now, even according to this statement of the matter, the difference is seen to be almost as great as the agreement; but in reality, as a more exact comparison of the catalogues shows, the true state of the case is very different. According to 1 Chronicles 9:3, there dwelt in Jerusalem also sons of Ephraim and Manasseh; but the catalogue from 1 Chronicles 9:4 onwards contains only sons of Judah and Benjamin, and not a single Ephraimite or Manassite. The reason of that is probably this, that only single families and individuals from among the latter dwelt there, while the register only makes mention of the heads of the larger family groups in the population of Jerusalem.