1 Chronicles 2:24

And after that Hezron was dead in Calebephratah, then Abiah Hezron's wife bare him Ashur the father of Tekoa.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) And after that Hezron was dead . . .—Or, “And after the death of Hezron in Caleb-ephratah—and the wife of Hezron was Abiah—and she bare him Ashur . . .” The text is evidently corrupt. The best suggestion is based on the reading of the LXX.: καὶ μετὰ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν Εσερων ἦλθεν Χαλεβ εἰς Εφραθα; “And after Hezron’s death Caleb went to Ephrath.” Some very slight changes in the Hebrew, affecting only three letters of the entire sentence, will give the sense, “And after Hezron’s death Caleb went in to Ephrath, the wife of his father Hezron (1Chronicles 2:19); and she bare him Ash-hur, father (founder, or chief) of Tekoa.” (Comp. Genesis 35:22.)

Ashur (Heb., Ash-hur) means “man of Hur”—that is, the chief of the clan of the Hurites, settled at Ephrath or Bethlehem (1Chronicles 2:19). Comp. Ashbel “man of Bel.” (Ash is the elder form of Ish “man”; as appears from the Phenician inscriptions.)

That “Caleb” in this verse means the house of Caleb is evident if we consider that the genealogy makes him great grandson of Judah, whereas the individual Caleb son of Jephunneh took part in the conquest of Canaan, more than four centuries after Judah went down to Egypt.

III.—The Jerahmeelites (1Chronicles 2:25-41). Comp. 1Samuel 27:10, “the south (land) of the Jerahmeelites,” in the territory of Judah.

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 2:24. The father of Tekoa — A known place, of which he is termed the father, because he was either the progenitor of the people who inhabited it, or their prince and ruler, or the builder of the city.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-55 Genealogies. - We are now come to the register of the children of Israel, that distinguished people, who were to dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations. But now, in Christ, all are welcome to his salvation who come to him; all have equal privileges according to their faith in him, their love and devotedness to him. All that is truly valuable consists in the favour, peace, and image of God, and a life spent to his glory, in promoting the welfare of our fellow-creatures.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Rather, "And Geshur and Aram (i. e. the Geshurites Deuteronomy 3:14 and Syrians) took the villages of Jair from them:" recovered, that is, from the new settlers the places which Jair had conquered.

All these belonged to the sons of Machir - Rather, "All these were sons of Machir," i. e. Segub and Jair, with their descendants, were reckoned sons of Machir, rather than sons of Hezron, although only descended from Machir on the mother's side. The reason of this seems to have been that they cast in their lot with the Manassites, and remained in their portion of the trans-Jordanic region.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. Caleb-ephratah—so called from uniting the names of husband and wife (1Ch 2:19), and supposed to be the same as was afterwards called Beth-lehem-ephratah.

Ashur, the father of Tekoa—(2Sa 14:2-4). He is called the father, either from his being the first founder, or perhaps the ruler, of the city.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Caleb-ephratah; a place then so called by a conjunction of the names of the man and his wife; afterwards supposed to be called Beth-lehem Ephratah. Others translate the words thus, When Caleb took Ephratah. So it is an ellipsis of the verb, which is here to be understood out of 1 Chronicles 2:19, where it is expressed.

Abiah bare him Ashur, after the father’s death.

The father of Tekoa; a known place, 2 Samuel 14:2,4 Jer 6:1 Amos 1:1; whose father he is called, because he was either the progenitor of the people inhabiting there, or their prince and ruler, or the builder of the city.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And after that Hezron was dead in Calebephratah,.... Supposed to be the same with Bethlehem; and was so called, both from Caleb the son of Hezron, and Ephrath his wife, 1 Chronicles 2:19,

then Abiah, Hezron's wife, bare him Ashur the father of Tekoa; being left with child by him at his death; the whole verse is paraphrased thus in the Targum,"and after Hezron died in the house of Caleb his son in Ephrath, the wife of Hezron the daughter of Machir was left with child, and she bare to him after his death Ashur the prince of the Tekoites;''whose son gave name very probably to the city of Tekoa, 2 Samuel 14:2.

Geneva Study Bible

And after that Hezron was dead in {h} Calebephratah, then Abiah Hezron's wife bare him Ashur the {i} father of Tekoa.

(h) Which was a town named for the husband and wife, also called Bethlehem Ephratah.

(i) Meaning, the chief and prince.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. And after that Hezron was dead in Caleb-ephratah (R.V. ephrathah)]

The text of this passage is probably corrupt, for (1) “Caleb-ephrathah” is a very strange combination to signify the name of a place, (2) Vulg. LXX. have a verb (ingressus est, ἦλθεν) instead of the preposition, “in”. A few small changes in the Heb. would yield the sense, “And after Hezron was dead Caleb went in to Ephrath (1 Chronicles 2:19) his father Hezron’s wife and she bare him” etc.

Ashur] R.V. Ashhur. Hur (1 Chronicles 2:19) the father of Bethlehem is described as the “firstborn of Ephrathah,” so that Ashhur would be a younger brother (1 Chronicles 4:4).

the father of Tekoa] i.e. the founder of the town or the eponymous ancestor of its inhabitants. Cp. 1 Chronicles 4:4; 1 Chronicles 4:14; 1 Chronicles 4:21 etc. For Tekoa see 2 Chronicles 20:20, note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - The remaining verse of this section brings another point of difficulty unsolved yet. No place Caleb-ephratah is known, and no sort of accounting for Hezron dying anywhere but in Egypt, whither he went with Jacob (Genesis 46:12), is producible. The Vulgate has Ingressus est Caleb ad Ephratam, but our Hebrew text cannot be made to justify it, if for nothing else, for want of a preposition אֶל before "Ephrata." This reading of the Vulgate has suggested to others that by a slight but still gratuitous alteration of our Hebrew text בָא might be substituted for the preposition בְּ prefixed to the name of Caleb; but upon that showing we have to suppose that Caleb did leave Egypt on his own account and travel to Ephratah, and then there fails any strong connection (but see Septuagint, in loc.) between that fact and what is said about Abiah. Still, the explanation might receive some countenance from the fact that it is said that Abiah's son became the father - or founder - of Tekoa, a place near Bethlehem, in South Judah (1 Samuel 30:14). Bertheau has at this point suggested that Caleb-ephratah, instead of being included in Neger-Caleb, may rather, in distinction from it, designate the northern portion of the territory of Caleb. The solution of the problem will probably not yield to anything but a justly restored text. 1 Chronicles 2:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After the death of Hezron there was born to him by his wife Abiah (the third wife, cf. 1 Chronicles 2:9 and 1 Chronicles 2:21) another son, Ashur, the father of Tekoa, whose descendants are enumerated in 1 Chronicles 4:5-7. Hezron's death took place אפרתה בּכלב, "in Caleb Ephrathah." This expression is obscure. According to 1 Samuel 30:14, a part of the Negeb (south country) of Judah was called Negeb Caleb, as it belonged to the family of Caleb. According to this analogy, the town or village in which Caleb dwelt with his wife Ephrath may have been called Caleb of Ephrathah, if Ephrath had brought this place as a dower to Caleb, as in the case mentioned in Joshua 15:18. Ephrathah, or Ephrath, was the ancient name of Bethlehem (Genesis 33:19; Genesis 48:1), and with it the name of Caleb's wife Ephrath (1 Chronicles 2:19) is unquestionably connected; probably she was so called after her birthplace. If this supposition be well founded, then Caleb of Ephrathah would be the little town of Bethlehem. Ashur is called father (אבי) of Tekoa, i.e., lord and prince, as the chief of the inhabitants of Tekoa, now Tekua, two hours south of Bethlehem (vide on Joshua 15:59).