1 Chronicles 7:13

The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) The sons of Naphtali.—See Numbers 26:48 seq., and Genesis 46:24, which read Jahzeel and Shillem.

Sons of Bilhah.—Dan and Naphtali were her sons (Genesis 46:25). That does not, however, prove that a reference to Dan is intended here. Both in Genesis, 50100, and in the present text, grandsons are reckoned

THE TRIBE OF WEST MANASSEH (1Chronicles 7:14-19). 1Chronicles 7:14-15 are very obscure.

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 7:13-15. The sons of Bilhah — The grand-children; for Bilhah was Jacob’s concubine, and mother both to Naphtali, the father of the persons last named, and to Dan. The sons of Manasseh — Grand-children, as in the former verse. Ashriel, whom she bare — Whom his wife bare, his concubine being here opposed to her. Machir took the sister of Huppim — The word sister, though not in the Hebrew, is fitly supplied out of the following clause, where it is expressed, and she is called Maacha, and, 1 Chronicles 7:16, is said to be the wife of Machir. The name of the second, &c. — Of the second son or grand-son of Machir, for such Zelophehad was. Had daughters — That is, only daughters, and no sons.

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

The lists here are remarkably different from those in marginal references Probably the persons here mentioned were not literally "sons," but were among the later descendants of the founders, being the chief men of the family at the time of David's census.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ch 7:13. Of Naphtali.

13. Shallum—or Shillem (Ge 46:24).

sons of Bilhah—As Dan and Naphtali were her sons, Hushim, as well as these enumerated in 1Ch 7:13, were her grandsons.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The sons of Bilhah, i.e. the grandchildren; for Bilhah was Jacob’s concubine, and mother both to Naphtali, the father of these last named persons, and to Dan. See Poole "1 Chronicles 7:12".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum,.... Called Shillem, Genesis 46:24,

the sons of Bilhah; Jacob's concubine; her grandsons; for Naphtali, the father of them, was her son; from these sprung so many families, after their names, Numbers 26:48.

Geneva Study Bible

The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, {g} the sons of Bilhah.

(g) These came from Dan and Naphtali, who were the sons of Bilhah, Ge 46:23,24,25.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. The Genealogy of Naphtali

13. Jahziel … Shallum] In Genesis 46:24, Jahzeel … Shitlem.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - The sons of Naphtali. In an order quite different from the otherwise parallel passages (Genesis 46:24; Numbers 26:48-50), the tribe of Naphtali is taken. Naphtali was the second son of Rachel's handmaid Bilhah, and in order of birth the fifth sen of Jacob, and was of course more closely allied to Dan, Ephraim, and Benjamin. The family was distinguished for its spirit throughout its history. At the Sinai census it numbered fifty-three thousand four hundred fighting men (Numbers 1:42, 43); but at the close of the wanderings through the wilderness its numbers had become only forty-five thousand four hundred. Its territory in the north, largely mountainous, bounded by Asher, Zebulun, and Manasseh, was some of the finest, and covered the district afterwards called Galilee, "the cradle of the Christian faith, the native place of most of the apostles, and the home of our Lord" (Grove). The slight difference in the spelling of Jahziel in Genesis, and of Shallum in Numbers, may be noticed. The following are interesting references to Naphtali in one or another portion of its history: - Deuteronomy 33:23; Joshua 20:7; Joshua 21:32; Judges 1:33; Judges 5:18; 1 Chronicles 27:19; Ezekiel 48:3, 4, 34; Matthew 4:15; Revelation 7:6. It played a considerable and prominent part also in the conflicts with Titus and Vespasian, when the days of Jerusalem were numbered. 1 Chronicles 7:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The sons of Naphtali. - Only the sons of Naphtali are named, the families descended from them being passed over. The names correspond to those in Genesis 46:24 and Numbers 26:48., except that there the first is יחצאל, and the last שׁלּם instead of שׁלּוּם.