Numbers 26:38 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Numbers 26:38
The sons of Benjamin after their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites: of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites: of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites:
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Benjamin
בִנְיָמִן֮vin.ya.Min
H1144
Binjamin · proper noun, a man's name
families
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒le.mish.pe.cho.Tam
H4940
a family · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Bela
לְבֶ֗לַעle.Ve.la'
H1106
Bela · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
family
מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙mish.Pa.chat
H4940
a family · noun, common feminine singular construct
Belaites
הַבַּלְעִ֔יha.bal.'I
H1108
a Belaite (collectively) or descendants of Bela · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
Ashbel
לְאַשְׁבֵּ֕לle.'ash.Bel
H788
Ashbel · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
family
מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmish.Pa.chat
H4940
a family · noun, common feminine singular construct
Ashbelites
הָֽאַשְׁבֵּלִ֑יha.'ash.be.Li
H789
an Ashbelite (collectively) or descendant of Ashbel · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
Ahiram
לַאֲחִירָ֕םla.'a.chi.Ram
H297
Achiram · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
family
מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmish.Pa.chat
H4940
a family · noun, common feminine singular construct
Ahiramites
הָאֲחִירָמִֽיha.'a.chi.ra.Mi
H298
an Achiramite or descendant (collectively) of Achiram · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Chronicles 8:1 Now Benjamin begat Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third,
Genesis 46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
Genesis 46:21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.
1 Chronicles 7:6-12 The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 26:5-51
This is the register of the tribes as they were now enrolled, in the same order that they were numbered in ch. 1. Observe,
I. The account that is here kept of the families of each tribe, which must not be understood of such as we call families, those that live in a house together, but such as were the descendants of the several sons of the patriarchs, by whose names, in honour of them, their posterity distinguished themselves and one another. The families of the twelve tribes are thus numbered: - Of Dan but one, for Dan had but one son, and yet that tribe was the most numerous of all except Judah, Num 26:42, Num 26:43. Its beginning was small, but its latter end greatly increased. Zebulun wa…
The sons of Simeon--It is supposed that this tribe had been pre-eminent in the guilt of Baal-peor and had consequently been greatly reduced in numbers.
Thus God's justice and holiness, as well as His truth and faithfulness, were strikingly displayed: His justice and holiness in the sweeping judgments that reduced the ranks of some tribes; and His truth and faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the posterity of Israel continued a numerous people.
John Gill on Numbers 26:38
The sons of Benjamin, after their families,.... This tribe was numbered next to Ephraim, being under his standard. Five of the sons of Benjamin are omitted, perhaps because they died without issue, and so no families sprang from them; the names of the five sons mentioned vary a little from the names of them in Genesis 46:21 instead of Ehi, it is here Ahiram; and instead of Huppim and Muppim, it is here Shupham and Hupham; from these last five were the families of the Belaite, Ashbelite, Ahiramite, Shuphamite, and Huphamite; and from the eldest of them sprang two other families, the Ardite and Naamite, from Ard and Naaman, two sons of Bela; the number of men in these families was 45,600, so t…
Aher — (following), ancestor of Hushim a Benjamite. The name occurs in the genealogy of Benjamin. (1 Chronicles 7:12) It is not improbable that Aher and Ahiram, (Numbers 26:38) are the same.
Ahiram — (brother of height, lofty), one of the sons of Benjamin, and ancestor of the AHIRAMITES (Numbers 26:38) In (Genesis 46:21) the name appears as “Ehi and Rosh.” It is uncertain whether Ahiram is the…
Ard — Descent, a grandson of Benjamin (Num. 26:38-40). In 1 Chr. 8:3 he is called Addar. His descendants are mentioned in Num. 26:40.
Ashbel — (reproof of God), second son of Benjamin and ancestor of the Ashbelites. (Genesis 46:21; Numbers 26:38; 1 Chronicles 8:1)
Becher — First-born; a youth, the second son of Benjamin (Gen. 46:21), who came down to Egypt with Jacob. It is probable that he married an Ephraimitish heiress, and that his descendants were consequently…
Bela — A thing swallowed. (1.) A city on the shore of the Dead Sea, not far from Sodom, called also Zoar. It was the only one of the five cities that was spared at Lot’s intercession (Gen. 19:20, 23). It is…
Belaites, The — (Numbers 26:38) [Bela, 3]
Ehi — (my brother), head of one of the Benjamite houses according to the list in (Genesis 46:21) He seems to be the same as Ahiram in the list in (Numbers 26:38) In (1 Chronicles 8:1) he is called Aharah,…
Farm — (Matt. 22:5). Every Hebrew had a certain portion of land assigned to him as a possession (Num. 26:33-56). In Egypt the lands all belonged to the king, and the husbandmen were obliged to give him a…
Jarib — An adversary. (1.) A son of Simeon (1 Chr. 4:24). (2.) One of the chiefs sent by Ezra to bring up the priests to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:16). (3.) Ezra 10:18.
Jediael — Known by God. (1.) One of the sons of Benjamin, whose descendants numbered 17,200 warriors (1 Chr. 7:6, 10, 11). (2.) A Shimrite, one of David’s bodyguard (1 Chr. 11:45). Probably same as in 12:20.…
on Numbers 26:28-50
The sons of Joseph after their families. The comparison of the two tribes, which sprang from the same head, is worthy of notice. By the fact that Manasseh was the father of only one son, [194] the prophecy of Jacob, when he declared that the first-born should be inferior to his younger brother Ephraim, began already to receive its accomplishment. Nevertheless, God's blessing extended far and wide for the increase of his family, so that they exceeded the tribe of Reuben in number. But further, though the larger number of children (poluteknia) in which the descendants of Ephraim were superior, was a kind of type of his promised fecundity, still the excellency and dignity, of which Jacob prophe…
Mustering of the Twelve Tribes. - Num 26:1-4. The command of God to Moses and Eleazar is the same as in Num 1, 2, and 3, except that it does not enter so much into details.
Num 26:3-4
"And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them" (דּבּר with the accusative, as in Gen 37:4). The pronoun refers to "the children of Israel," or more correctly, to the heads of the nation as the representatives of the congregation, who were to carry out the numbering. On the Arboth-Moab, see at Num 22:1. Only the leading point in their words is mentioned, viz., "from twenty years old and upwards" (sc., shall ye take the number of the children of Israel), since it was very simple to supply the words "take the…
The daughters of Zelophehad initiated important legal reform (see 27:1-11; 36:1-12).
Rashi on Numbers 26:38
לאחירם OF AHIRAM — He is identical with Ehi (אחי) who went down to Egypt (Genesis 46:21), and because he was called after Joseph’s name (Sotah 36b), who was his (Benjamin’s) brother (אח) and greater, (רם) than he, he was also called Achiram.
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Third numbering — Third numbering
Ehud · .Probably i — .Probably i
Tribes Of Israel, The · Each of: Divided into families — Each of: Divided into families
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
