Matthew Henry on 1 Chronicles 5:18–end
The heads of the half-tribe of Manasseh, that were seated on the other side Jordan, are named here, Ch1 5:23, Ch1 5:24. Their lot, at first, was Bashan only; but afterwards they increased so much in wealth and power that they spread far north, even unto Hermon. Two things only are here recorded concerning these tribes on the other side Jordan, in which they were all concerned. They all shared,
I. In a glorious victory over the Hagarites, so the Ishmaelites were now called, to remind them that they were the sons of the bond-woman, that was cast out. We are not told when this victory was obtained: whether it be the same with that of the Reubenites (which is said Ch1 5:10 to be in the days of S…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Chronicles 5:18
Hagarites--or, "Hagarenes," originally synonymous with "Ishmaelites," but afterwards applied to a particular tribe of the Arabs (compare Psa 83:6).
Jetur--His descendants were called Itureans, and the country Auranitis, from Hauran, its chief city. These, who were skilled in archery, were invaded in the time of Joshua by a confederate army of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, who, probably incensed by the frequent raids of those marauding neighbors, took reprisals in men and cattle, dispossessed almost all of the original inhabitants, and colonized the district themselves. Divine Providence favoured, in a remarkable manner, the Hebrew army in this just war.
Adam Clarke on 1 Chronicles 5:22
For there fell down many slain - The hundred thousand men mentioned above were probably made slaves, and were not slain. The Targum says, one hundred thousand souls of men.
The war was of God - The Targum says, the war was מן מימרא דיי min meymera dayai, "from the Word of the Lord."
John Gill on 1 Chronicles 5:23
And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land,.... Not in the land of the Hagarites, but in the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond Jordan, given them by Moses. The writer, having reckoned the genealogies of some of the principal men of Reuben and Gad, proceeds to give a short account of some principal men in this half tribe:
they increased from Bashan; where they first settled, and extended their possessions:
unto Baalhermon and Senir, and unto Mount Hermon; mountains which lay to the north of the land of Canaan, and are what geographers call Antilibanus.
