Commentaria in I Paralipomenon
Chapter 2
4. And Thamar his daughter-in-law bore him Phares and Zara: so all the sons of Juda were five. 5. And the sons of Phares: Hesron and Hamul. 6. And the sons of Zare: Zamri, and Ethan, and Eman, and Chalchal, and Dara, five in all. 7. The sons of Charmi: Achar, who troubled Israel, and sinned in stealing the anathema. 8. The sons of Ethan: Azarias. 9. And the sons of Hesron that were born to him: Jerameel, and Ram, and Calubi. 10. And Ram begot Aminadab, and Aminadab begot Nahasson, prince of the sons of Juda. 11. And Nahasson begot Salma, of whom came Booz. 12. And Booz begot Obed, who also himself begot Isai. 13. And Isai begot his firstborn Eliab, the second Abinadab, the third Simmaa, 14. the fourth Nathanael, the fifth Raddai, 15. the sixth Asom, the seventh David, 16. whose sisters were Sarvia and Abigail. The sons of Sarvia: Abisai, Joab, and Asael, three. 17. And Abigail bore Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ismahelite. 18. And Caleb the son of Hesron took to wife Azuba, of whom he begot Jerioth; and his sons were Jaser, and Sobab, and Ardon. 19. And when Azuba was dead, Caleb took to wife Ephrata, who bore him Hur. 20. And Hur begot Uri, and Uri begot Bezeleel. 21. After this Hesron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Galaad, and took her when he was sixty years old, and she bore him Segub. 22. And Segub also begot Jair, and he possessed twenty-three cities in the land of Galaad. 23. And he took Gessur and Aram, the towns of Jair, and Canath, and its villages, sixty cities: all these were the sons of Machir the father of Galaad. 24. And when Hesron was dead, Caleb went in to Ephrata. Hesron also had a wife Abia, who bore him Ashur the father of Thecua. 25. And the sons of Jerameel the firstborn of Hesron were born: Ram his firstborn, and Buna, and Aram, and Asom, and Achia. 26. Jerameel also took another wife, named Atara, who was the mother of Onam. 27. And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerameel were Moos, Jamin, and Achar. 28. And Onam had sons, Semei and Jada. And the sons of Semei: Nadab and Abisur. 29. And the name of Abisur’s wife was Abihail, who bore him Ahobban and Molid. 30. And the sons of Nadab were Saled and Apphaim. And Saled died without children. 31. And the son of Apphaim was Jesi; and Jesi begot Sesan. And Sesan begot Oholai. 32. And the sons of Jada the brother of Semei: Jether and Jonathan. And Jether also died without children. 33. And Jonathan begot Phaleth and Ziza. These were the sons of Jerameel. 34. And Sesan had no sons, but daughters, and an Egyptian servant named Jeraa. 35. And he gave him his daughter to wife, who bore him Ethei. 36. And Ethei begot Nathan, and Nathan begot Zabad. 37. And Zabad begot Ophlal, and Ophlal begot Obed. 38. Obed begot Jehu, Jehu begot Azarias, 39. Azarias begot Helles, and Helles begot Elasa. 40. Elasa begot Sisamoi, Sisamoi begot Sellum, 41. Sellum begot Icamia, and Icamia begot Elisama. 42. And the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerameel: Mesa his firstborn, he is the father of Ziph; and the sons of Maresa the father of Hebron. 43. And the sons of Hebron: Core, and Taphua, and Recem, and Samma. 44. And Samma begot Raham, the father of Jercaam, and Recem begot Sammai. 45. The son of Sammai was Maon, and Maon the father of Bethsur. 46. And Epha, the concubine of Caleb, bore Haran, and Mosa, and Gezez. And Haran begot Gezez. 47. And the sons of Jahaddai: Regom, and Joathan, and Gesan, and Phaleth, and Epha, and Saaph. 48. Maacha, the concubine of Caleb, bore Saber and Tharana. 49. And Saaph the father of Madmena begot Sue the father of Machbena, and the father of Gabaa. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsa. 50. These were the sons of Caleb, the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrata: Sobal the father of Cariathiarim, 51. Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hariph the father of Bethgader. 52. And the sons of Sobal the father of Cariathiarim were such as saw half of the places of rest. 53. And of the kindred of Cariathiarim were the Jethrites, and the Aphuthites, and the Semathites, and the Maserites. Of these came the Saraites and the Esthaolites. 54. The sons of Salma: Bethlehem and the Netophathites, the crowns of the house of Joab, and half of the rest of Sarai. 55. The families also of the scribes dwelling in Jabes, singing and sounding, and dwelling in tents. These are the Cinites, who came of the heat of the father
3. The firstborn of Juda—whom God slew for his crime of softness and pollution, as I said on Genesis 38:7.
7. Achar.—This is Achan, who by his theft troubled the camp of the Hebrews, and therefore was called “Achar,” that is, “the troubler.” See what I said on Josue 7.
9. Ram.—This is “Aram,” the father of Aminadab, Matthew 1, who by apheresis is called “Ram.”
15. The seventh, David.—How in 1 Kings 16:10 not seven but eight sons of Jesse are counted, I explained there.
16. The sons of Sarvia, Abisai, Joab, and Asael.—From this it seems that Abisai was older than his brother Joab, the leader of David’s army.
31. And Sesan begot Oholai,—a daughter, not a son, as is clear from verse 34.
52. Who saw half of the places of rest.—Who is this? First, St. Jerome, book 1 Against Pelagius, says he was a prophet; for prophets were called “Seers,” that is, foreseeing and foretelling future things; as if to say: Sobal was a “seer,” that is, he prophesied; but only by half, that is, he did not see the heavenly things plainly and perfectly, where the place of rest is, that is, of perfect quiet.
Secondly, Vatablus, as if to say: Sobal saw and contemplated, that is, he had charge of, or was prince of, half the place which in Hebrew was called Hammenuchoth, that is, of rests; perhaps from the fertility of the land and the pleasantness of the place; for to see is to be a prince; for it belongs to a prince to look round upon his people, survey them and contemplate them, that he may provide for them in all things. The prince, therefore, is a “seer,” so that like a hundred-eyed Argus he may watch over all.
Thirdly, others understand by “rest” the sepulchre; for in it after death the body rests until the common resurrection to come on the day of judgment. Hence Benedict in his Bible, at verse 54, where we have: “Half of the rest of Sarai,” translates, or rather explains: he who possessed half of the sepulchre of Sara (the wife of Abraham), and of the four Patriarchs, namely Adam, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; which sepulchre was in Hebron.
Fourthly, our Sanchez understands by “rest” the region in which one dwells, and which he possesses in quiet as lord: hence Aeneas in Virgil, Aeneid book 8, speaks thus of Italy:
Here shall be the place of the city, here our rest and sure end of our labours.
For we are said to “see” or discern an inheritance when we approach it, occupy it and possess it; so that the sense is, as if he said: Sobal “saw,” that is, possessed as his own, and made use of with “eyes” as well as hands, half of the region in which his parents had rested, or dwelt in quiet; and this half of the inheritance Sobal handed on to his sons. The same phrase recurs again two verses later; and the same phrase is used of Issachar, Genesis 49:15: “He saw that rest was good,” that is (as is soon added by way of explanation), he saw the “land” assigned to his rest or dwelling, “that it was the best.” Psalm 131:8 also: “Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place.” And verse 14: “This is my rest for ever and ever; here will I dwell.”
Fifthly, “Who saw half of the places of rest” is the proper name of a son of Sobal, as if to say: Of the sons of Sobal, as of a father, there were these two, namely “Cariathiarim” (so called perhaps because he lived in the woods, for these in Hebrew are called Cay tearim, as if he dwelt in a city, being given to hunting), and haroe chatsi hammenuchot, that is, “seeing half of the places of rest”; so called because he possessed half of the “rest” of his father Sobal, that is, the dwelling or region and inheritance; for the other half his brother Cariathiarim possessed. That this is so is clear: first, because the Septuagint retains the Hebrew names (though corrupted by the fault of copyists) as proper names. Secondly, because the Roman codices write “Who saw” with a capital Q, as a proper name. Thirdly, because in a similar way nearly all the following words, namely “the crowns of the house, singing, sounding, dwelling in tents, who came of the heat,” are proper names, as will soon appear. Fourthly, because in exactly the same way, in verse 54, one son of Salma is called “Half of the rest of Sarai,” of whom presently.
The crowns of the house of Joab, and half of the rest of Sarai.—Benedict translates: he who possessed half of the sepulchre of Sara and of the four Patriarchs. But “Sarai” here is not “Sara” the wife of Abraham; for Sarai here is written in Hebrew with the letters Tsade and Ain, whereas Sara is written with Schin and He. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Salma begot four sons, namely first Bethlehem, second the Netophathites, third one who was called in Hebrew Aterot beth Joab, that is, “the crowns of the house of Joab,” fourth one whose name was “Half of the rest of Sarai.” That all these are proper names is clear from the Septuagint, which retains the Hebrew names as proper names, and because here the names of the sons of Salma are being enumerated. Why the last two were so called is uncertain: perhaps because their father Salma wished that the third should become the crown, that is, the ornament and glory of the house of Joab, and the fourth should occupy “half of the places of rest,” that is, of the regions and possessions of Sarai.
55. The families also of the scribes (men skilled in the Law) dwelling in Jabes, singing and sounding, and dwelling in tents.—That these also are proper names is clear from the Hebrew, and from the Roman editions, which mark all these with capital letters, and from the Septuagint, which retains the Hebrew names as proper names, and translates: and the peoples of the Sopherim (that is, of scribes) dwelling in Jabis, Tarathim, Samathim, Sachathim. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The kindreds, in Hebrew misphachoth, that is, the families of scribes (namely of the Cineans, as follows) descended from Salma, were three, namely Tarathim, that is, Singing; Samathim, that is, Sounding; and Sachathim, that is, dwelling in tents; because the Cineans truly sang and sounded the praises of God, and dwelt not in cities but in tents, as I said on Jeremias 35:2.
These are the Cinites (namely the descendants of Jethro the father-in-law of Moses, from whom the Rechabites sprang, as I said on Judges
Who came of the heat of the father of the house of Rechab.—Hence it is clear that the Rechabites were Cineans, and that the same were also Scribes, Psalmists and Singers, who sang psalms and hymns to God. But what is “of the heat”?
First, Dionysius the Carthusian says, it means of the seed, which is hot. But I say that “Calor” (heat) is a proper name, wherefore the Roman editions write it with a capital C, and the Septuagint retains the Hebrew name Hemath. Hence secondly Vatablus translates: Who came of Hemath the father of the house of Rechab, as if to say: the Cineans were descended from Hemath, who was the father of the family of the Rechabites. But since our Vulgate translates “patris” (of the father) in the genitive, not “patre” in the ablative, thirdly it is better to read not “who were born,” but “who came of Hemath,” as if to say: the Cineans came from “Emath,” that is, “Epiphania,” because this city was the seat and native place of the house, that is, the family, of “Rechab,” or of the Rechabites. You will say: Why then does the Vulgate not retain the name “Emath,” but translates “heat”? I answer: It does this in its own way, to signify that the etymology of “Emath” suits this place; for Emath in Hebrew signifies heat. It signifies, therefore, that these Cineans fittingly came from “Emath,” a city which by its name signifies “heat,” to intimate that these Cineans imitated the “heat,” that is, the zeal and fervour of devotion, which had been in their father “Rechab.” So Lyranus and Hugh. Thus Rome was once called Valentia, as Solinus witnesses in the Polyhistor; for in Greek rhome is the same as strength, valour and valence. For the Romans were strong and “Valentines,” as those who subjugated the world to themselves. Similar allusions are in Micheas, chapter a city of Benjamin; for Aphra signifies dust) sprinkle yourselves with dust.” And verse 11: “And pass away, you that dwell in the fair city.” In Hebrew: the dwelling of beautiful Samaria; and verse 12: “Who dwells in bitterness.” In Hebrew: in the city Maroth. See what I said there.
you take “Hemath” to be the city celebrated by this name in Scripture, namely “Epiphania,” so called from Antiochus Epiphanes. And it favours this that he does not say, “who