Matthew Henry on 1 Chronicles 7:20–end
We have here an account,
I. Of the tribe of Ephraim. Great things we read of that tribe when it came to maturity. Here we have an account of the disasters of its infancy, while it was in Egypt as it should seem; for Ephraim himself was alive when those things were done, which yet is hard to imagine if it were, as is here computed, seven generations off. Therefore I am apt to think that either it was another Ephraim or that those who were slain were the immediate sons of that Ephraim that was the son of Joseph. In this passage, which is related here only, we have, 1. The great breach that was made upon the family of Ephraim. The men of Gath, Philistines, giants, slew many of the sons of that…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Chronicles 7:21
whom the men of Gath . . . slew, &c.--This interesting little episode gives us a glimpse of the state of Hebrew society in Egypt; for the occurrence narrated seems to have taken place before the Israelites left that country. The patriarch Ephraim was then alive, though he must have arrived at a very advanced age; and the Hebrew people, at all events those of them who were his descendants, still retained their pastoral character. It was in perfect consistency with the ideas and habits of Oriental shepherds that they should have made a raid on the neighboring tribe of the Philistines for the purpose of plundering their flocks. For nothing is more common among them than hostile incursions on th…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on 1 Chronicles 7:32
And Shua their sister - It is very rarely that women are found in the Jewish genealogies, and they are never inserted but for especial reasons.
John Gill on 1 Chronicles 7:35
And the sons of his brother Helem,.... Or Helem his brother, that is, the brother of Shomer, who, according to Hillerus (n), is Hotham, 1 Chronicles 7:32.
Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Aram; nowhere else mentioned.
(n) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 551.
