1 Chronicles 5


1 Chronicles 5 is the fifth chapter of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE. This chapter focuses on the Transjordanian tribes, geographically from south to north: Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, as well as the account of the war against the Hagrites and the reasoning why Transjordanian tribes were taken away into exile. It belongs to the section focusing on the list of genealogies from Adam to the lists of the people returning from exile in Babylon.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 26 verses in English Bibles, but counted to 41 verses in Hebrew Bible using a different [|verse numbering].

Verse numbering

There are some differences in verse numbering of this chapter in English Bibles and Hebrew texts as follows:
EnglishHebrew
6:1–155:27–41
6:16–816:1–66

This article generally follows the common numbering in Christian English Bible versions, with notes to the numbering in Hebrew Bible versions.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Alexandrinus.

Old Testament references

The whole chapter belongs to an arrangement comprising 1 Chronicles 2:3–8:40 with the king-producing tribes of Judah and Benjamin bracketing the series of lists as the priestly tribe of Levi anchors the center, in the following order:

Descendants of Reuben (5:1–10)

This section begins with explanation that Reuben did not receive the rights of a firstborn son of Jacob because he slept with Bilhah, his father's concubine. The firstborn rights were passed on to the two sons of Joseph, whereas the leadership was given to Judah with an unnamed "chief ruler". Reuben's four sons are only named in verse 4.

Verse 1

  • Cross references: ;
  • "Given to the sons of Joseph": Some ancient Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac and Arabic translations read "to Joseph". This transfer of primogeniture rights refers to Jacob's curse that the special blessing was given to Joseph and of his two sons, where Ephraim later emerges as the leading tribe of the two.

    Verse 2

  • "The chief ruler": literally " prince", an apparent reference to David, which was from the tribe of Judah, but later also alluded by the apostolic writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews for Jesus Christ: "It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah".
  • "Birthright": or "the right of the firstborn", was Joseph's, who received the "double portion" in the land portions of Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons.

    Verse 6

  • "Tiglath-Pilneser" : this form of the name is always used in the Books of Chronicles for "Tilgath-Pileser".

    Descendants of Gad (5:11–17)

This section focuses on the tribe of Gad, which settled in the area east of the Jordan river, along with the tribes of Reuben and Manasseh. The close relationship among these tribes is noted in ; ;. The sources of the genealogies of the descendants of Gad are the documents compiled during the reign of Jotham, King of Judah, and Jeroboam, King of Israel, that bear no resemblance to other parts of the Bible.

Verse 16

  • "Suburbs" : "pasturelands", "common-lands" or "open lands".
  • "Sharon": is not the same area as the identically named plain south of Carmel, but a Transjordanian region, which is also mentioned on the inscription of Mesha, king of Moab.

    The war against the Hagrites (5:18–22)

This section elaborates the conflict against the Hagrites during the reign of Saul, as briefly mentioned in verse 10, over pastureland.

Descendants of Manasseh (5:23–24)

This section focuses on the half-tribe of Manasseh, which settled in the area east of the Jordan river, along with the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The close relationship among these tribes is noted in ; ;,.

The exile of Transjordanian tribes (5:25–26)

This passage combines the two-phases of the northern Israel kingdom into a single exile of the Transjordanian tribes, by taking the name of the king from the first, whilst using the deportation place-names of the second phase. Historical documents only record that Tiglath-pileser conquered Gilead in the east of Jordan.

Verse 26

  • "The spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria": also translated as "the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, that is, the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria". In, the Assyrian king is called Pul and then in as Tiglath-pileser.