1Ch 2:18-24 | KD | STEP | The family of Caleb. - That כּלב is merely a shortened form of כּלוּבי, or a form of that word resulting from the friction of constant use, is so clear from the context, that all exegetes recognise it. We have first ( ) a list of the descendants of Caleb by two wives, then descendants which the daughter of the Gileadite Machir bore to his father Hezron ( ), and finally the sons whom Hezron’s wife bore him after his death ( ). The grouping of these descendants of Hezron with the family of Caleb can only be accounted for by supposing that they had, through circumstances unknown to us, come into a more intimate connection with the family of Caleb than with the families of his brothers Ram and Jerahmeel. In follow some other lists of descendants of Caleb, which will be more fully considered when we come to these verses. The first half of the 18th verse is obscure, and the text is probably corrupt. As the words stand at present, we must translate, “Caleb the son of Hezron begat with Azubah, a woman, and with Jerioth, and these are her (the one wife’s) sons, Jesher,” etc. בּניה, filii ejus , suggests that only one wife of Caleb had been before mentioned; and, as appears from the “and Azubah died” of , Azubah is certainly meant. The construction את הוליד, “he begat with,” is, it is true, unusual, but is analogous to חוליד מן, , and is explained by the fact that הוליד may mean to cause to bear, to bring to bearing; cf. : therefore properly it is, “he brought Azubah to bearing.” The difficulty of the verse lies in the ואת־יריעות אשּׁה, for, according to the usual phraseology, we would have expected אשׁתּו instead of אשּׁה. But אשּׁה may be, under the circumstances, to some extent justified by the supposition that Azubah is called indefinitely “woman,” because Caleb had several wives. ואת־וריעות gives no suitable meaning. The explanation of Kimchi, “with Azubah a woman, and with Jerioth,” cannot be accepted, for only the sons of Azubah are hereafter mentioned; and the idea that the children of the other wives are not enumerated here because the list used by the chronicler was defective, is untenable: for after two wives had been named in the enumeration of the children of one of them, the mother must necessarily have been mentioned; and so, instead of בּניה, we should have had עזוּבה בּני. Hiller and J. H. Michaelis take ואת as explicative, “with Azubah a woman, viz., with Jerioth;” but this is manifestly only the product of exegetical embarrassment. The text is plainly at fault, and the easiest conjecture is to read, with the Peschito and the Vulgate, את אשׁתּו instead of ואת אשּׁה, “he begat with Azubah his wife, Jerioth (a daughter); and these are her sons.” In that case אשּׁה would be added to עזוּבה, to guard against עזוּבה being taken for acc. obj. The names of the sons of Azubah, or of her daughter Jerioth, do not occur elsewhere.

‏ 1 Chronicles 2:18-24

1Ch 2:18-24 The family of Caleb. - That כּלב is merely a shortened form of כּלוּבי, or a form of that word resulting from the friction of constant use, is so clear from the context, that all exegetes recognise it. We have first (1Ch 2:18-20) a list of the descendants of Caleb by two wives, then descendants which the daughter of the Gileadite Machir bore to his father Hezron (1Ch 2:21-23), and finally the sons whom Hezron’s wife bore him after his death (1Ch 2:24). The grouping of these descendants of Hezron with the family of Caleb can only be accounted for by supposing that they had, through circumstances unknown to us, come into a more intimate connection with the family of Caleb than with the families of his brothers Ram and Jerahmeel. In 1Ch 2:42-55 follow some other lists of descendants of Caleb, which will be more fully considered when we come to these verses. The first half of the 18th verse is obscure, and the text is probably corrupt. As the words stand at present, we must translate, “Caleb the son of Hezron begat with Azubah, a woman, and with Jerioth, and these are her (the one wife’s) sons, Jesher,” etc. בּניה, filii ejus, suggests that only one wife of Caleb had been before mentioned; and, as appears from the “and Azubah died” of 1Ch 2:19, Azubah is certainly meant. The construction את הוליד, “he begat with,” is, it is true, unusual, but is analogous to חוליד מן, 1Ch 8:9, and is explained by the fact that הוליד may mean to cause to bear, to bring to bearing; cf. Isa 66:9 : therefore properly it is, “he brought Azubah to bearing.” The difficulty of the verse lies in the ואת־יריעות אשּׁה, for, according to the usual phraseology, we would have expected אשׁתּו instead of אשּׁה. But אשּׁה may be, under the circumstances, to some extent justified by the supposition that Azubah is called indefinitely “woman,” because Caleb had several wives. ואת־וריעות gives no suitable meaning. The explanation of Kimchi, “with Azubah a woman, and with Jerioth,” cannot be accepted, for only the sons of Azubah are hereafter mentioned; and the idea that the children of the other wives are not enumerated here because the list used by the chronicler was defective, is untenable: for after two wives had been named in the enumeration of the children of one of them, the mother must necessarily have been mentioned; and so, instead of בּניה, we should have had עזוּבה בּני. Hiller and J. H. Michaelis take ואת as explicative, “with Azubah a woman, viz., with Jerioth;” but this is manifestly only the product of exegetical embarrassment. The text is plainly at fault, and the easiest conjecture is to read, with the Peschito and the Vulgate, את אשׁתּו instead of ואת אשּׁה, “he begat with Azubah his wife, Jerioth (a daughter); and these are her sons.” In that case אשּׁה would be added to עזוּבה, to guard against עזוּבה being taken for acc. obj. The names of the sons of Azubah, or of her daughter Jerioth, do not occur elsewhere.