THE FAMILIES OF GIBEON, ESPECIALLY THE ROYAL HOUSE OF SAUL 1Chronicles 8:29-38 recur at 1Chronicles 9:35-44. (29) At Gibeon dwelt the father of Gibeon.--His name (Jehiel) has been accidentally omitted. (See 1Chronicles 9:35.) The verb dwelt is plural, "they dwelt;" a sufficient indication that the "father of Gibeon" merely represents the original population of that place under a collective name. Maachah would be a place in the neighbourhood. Gibeon.--Now el-Jib, about eight miles north-west of Jerusalem. Verses 29-40. - These verses are occupied with the immediate ancestors and posterity of Saul. And apparently the same account, minus some of its deficiencies, is repeated in the next chapter, vers. 35-44. The two may be taken together here, and the latter will help the interpretation of the former. Verse 29. - The father - i.e, the chief - of Gibeon. (For Gibeon, see Joshua 9:3, 7-18; Joshua 10:2; Joshua 11:19; Nehemiah 7:25; Nehemiah 3:7.) The father of Gibeon (1 Chronicles 9:35) was Jehiel (יְעִיאֵל; Chethiv spells with vau; not יְחִיאֵל, 1 Chronicles 15:24). Of Jehiel by this name we do not elsewhere read. And even if it were on other grounds possible to identify the person with the Abiel of 1 Samuel 9:1 and 1 Sam 14:51, it is not possible to identify the names. Compare the similar remarkable omission of the name of the "father of Gibea" (1 Chronicles 2:49), an omission to be filled very possibly by this same name Jehiel. 8:1-40 Genealogies. - Here is a larger list of Benjamin's tribe. We may suppose that many things in these genealogies, which to us seem difficult, abrupt, and perplexed, were plain and easy at that time, and fully answered the intention for which they were published. Many great and mighty nations then were in being upon earth, and many illustrious men, whose names are now wholly forgotten; while the names of multitudes of the Israel of God are here kept in everlasting remembrance. The memory of the just is blessed.And at Gibeon dwelt the father of Gibeon,.... The builder of the city, and prince of the inhabitants of it, which was in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:25 whose name was Jehiel, 1 Chronicles 9:35,(whose wife's name was Maachah;) of which name were many, see 1 Chronicles 2:48. |
    |