Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
1 Chronicles 5:26

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 1 Chronicles 5:26. Tilgath-pilneser — Many MSS. have תגלת Tiglath instead of תלגת Tilgath. The Syriac, the Septuagint, and the Chaldee, have the same reading as in 2 Kings 15:29, &c.

Brought them unto Halah — See the notes on the parallel places marked in the margin [2 Kings 17:6 (note), and 2 Kings 18:11 (note)], for many particulars of these wars, and consequent captivity. It is a pity that some method were not found out to harmonize the books of Kings with the books of Chronicles, that the variations might be seen at one view.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

The eastern tribes (5:1-26)

At the beginning of this section, the writer gives the reason why he listed the genealogy of Judah before that of Reuben, the firstborn. Reuben had lost his rights as the firstborn (see Genesis 35:22), so the ruling power in Israel was given to Judah instead. The firstborn’s double portion of the inheritance went to Joseph, who received two tribes in Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh). The descendants of Reuben, along with those of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, dwelt on the east of Jordan, not in Canaan itself. Their territory had no natural boundaries to the north or east, and so was open to attack from the Assyrians (5:1-10).

Gad’s descendants are listed next (11-17). In addition there is the account of an important victory that the two and a half eastern tribes won, thereby giving them greater security and prosperity (18-22). There is also a short list of the leading families of the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh (23-24). The section closes by recording that the people of the two and a half eastern tribes, because of their unfaithfulness to God, were conquered by the Assyrians and taken into captivity (25-26).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"And they trespassed against the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and to the river Gozan, unto this day."

"Of him came the prince" Despite the fact of the double portion, normally the right of the first-born, having been transferred to Joseph, "The Chronicler thought that the birthright of Joseph was nullified by the apostasy of North Israel,"The Anchor Bible, Chronicles, p. 36. and that the blessing of the leadership of God's people was transferred to Judah.

"Pul, and Tilgath-pilneser" The name of this ruler is given as Tiglath-pileser in 2 Kings 15:29. The variation in name could have come about by different pronunciations in diverse languages, or by difficulties some copyist might have found in copying it! If the latter had anything to do with it, this writer can identify with the problem; because copying all of these names has been indeed a painstaking and difficult assignment! "Pul and Tilgath-pilneser are the same man, Pul being his personal name which he retained as king of Babylon, and Tiglath-pileser his throne name as king of Assyria."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 373.

"The Hagrites" "These were the same as the Arabs."The Anchor Bible, op. cit., p. 37.

"Jeroboam" "This was Jeroboam II."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 251.

1 Chronicles 5:18-22 record an important victory over their enemies by the trans-Jordanic tribes, no record of which is found elsewhere in the Bible. This should warn us against assuming that the Bible records any such thing as a complete history of God's people. "There may be many other gaps in Samuel and Kings which Chronicles does not fill."Ibid.

Many of the events mentioned in this chapter are recorded in Genesis 25; Genesis 35; and Genesis 49; Exodus 6; Joshua 22:11, and in Numbers 1:20; Numbers 26:5.The Anchor Bible, Chronicles, p. 35. See our comments under those references in our commentaries.

"The king of Assyria… carried them away" This was the captivity of the tribes of Israel which inhabited the country east of Jordan. `It took place eleven years prior to the fall of Samaria (722 B.C.), that is, in 733 BC."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 372.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

“Habor” here seems to be a city or a district, and not a river, as in marginal reference There is some reason to believe that districts among the Assyrians were occasionally named from streams.

Hara is probably the same as “Haran” Genesis 11:31; 2 Kings 19:12; Ezekiel 27:23, being a softening down of the rugged original “Kharan.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

Now in chapter five we get to the descendants of Reuben, who lost his birthright. It was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel.

And so his genealogy is not reckoned after the birthright ( 1 Chronicles 5:1 ).

That genealogy after the birthright, of course, will come to Joseph.

But Judah prevailed above his brothers, and of him came the chief ruler or David; but the birthright was Joseph's ( 1 Chronicles 5:2 ):

So even though the birthright was Joseph, the leadership was to come from Judah, and ultimately from Judah is to come Jesus Christ.

Now in verse nine, we read concerning the tribe of Reuben.

That they went east and inhabited the entering of the wilderness from the river Euphrates: because their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead ( 1 Chronicles 5:9 ).

And so they went over to what is present-day Iraq, as far as Iraq, and they dwelt in that area. And so the tribe of Reuben and then next to the tribe of Gad, these are the tribes that settled on the east bank of the Jordan River. And then after them, the half the tribe of Manasseh, and it gives the names of some of those from the half the tribe of Manasseh, those all that dwelt on the other side.

But in verse twenty-five concerning the tribe of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh.

They transgressed against the God of their fathers, and they went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul the king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser the king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, unto Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day ( 1 Chronicles 5:25-26 ).

And so, they were the first to fall. Those tribes that settled on the east bank of the Jordan River. And the reason for their fall is their transgression against the God of their fathers and their beginning to worship other gods. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. The families of Transjordan ch. 5

Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh settled east of the Jordan River. Reuben would have normally been the son of Jacob through whom the greatest blessing would come since he was the first-born. However, because of his sin (1 Chronicles 5:1), God passed him over. God blessed Joseph with the double portion of the birthright. He did this by elevating Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to equality among Jacob’s other sons, Joseph’s brothers. God’s blessing of Judah with leadership over the Israelites was contrary to natural order. It was pure grace for those tribes.

God was not only faithful to bless as He had promised, but He also judged sin as He had said He would (1 Chronicles 5:25-26). This is the reason the Transjordanian tribes went into captivity.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the God of Israel,.... The Targum is,

"the word of the God of Israel:''

stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria: in the times of Menahem king of Israel:

and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser; in the times of Pekah king of Israel, to invade the land, and make war in it:

and he carried them away: not the former, but the latter:

even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh; these entirely together, with some other parts of the land, see

2 Kings 15:29

and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan; to the very same places where afterwards Salmaneser carried the ten tribes, or what remained of them, see 2 Kings 17:6

unto this day; the times of Ezra, the writer of this book, after the tribe of Judah returned from the captivity of Babylon; but the ten tribes remained where they were carried, and have not returned even to this day.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      18 The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, were four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war.   19 And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab.   20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him.   21 And they took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of men a hundred thousand.   22 For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity.   23 And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan unto Baal-hermon and Senir, and unto mount Hermon.   24 And these were the heads of the house of their fathers, even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers.   25 And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them.   26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.

      The heads of the half-tribe of Manasseh, that were seated on the other side Jordan, are named here, 1 Chronicles 5:23; 1 Chronicles 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 1 Chronicles 5:10; 1 Chronicles 5:10 to be in the days of Saul), or whether that success of one of these tribes animated and excited the other two to join with them in another expedition, is not certain. It seems, though in Saul's time the common interests of the kingdom were weak and low, some of the tribes that acted separately did well for themselves. We are here told,

      1. What a brave army these frontier-tribes brought into the field against the Hagarites, 44,000 men and upwards, all strong, and brave, and skilful in war, so many effective men, that knew how to manage their weapons, 1 Chronicles 5:18; 1 Chronicles 5:18. How much more considerable might Israel have been than they were in the time of the judges if all the tribes had acted in conjunction!

      2. What course they took to engage God for them: They cried to God, and put their trust in him,1 Chronicles 5:20; 1 Chronicles 5:20. Now they acted as Israelites indeed. (1.) As the seed of believing Abraham, they put their trust in God. Though they had a powerful army, they relied not on that, but on the divine power. They depended on the commission they had from God to wage war with their neighbours for the enlarging of their coasts, if there was occasion, even with those that were very far off, besides the devoted nations. See Deuteronomy 20:15. They depended on God's providence to give them success. (2.) As the seed of praying Jacob, they cried unto God, especially in the battle, when perhaps, at first, they were in danger of being overpowered. See the like done, 2 Chronicles 13:14. In distress, God expects we should cry to him; he distrains upon us for this tribute, this rent. In our spiritual conflicts, we must look up to heaven for strength; and it is the believing prayer that will be the prevailing prayer.

      3. We are told what success they had: God was entreated of them, though need drove them to him; so ready is he to hear and answer prayer. They were helped against their enemies; for God never yet failed any that trusted in him. And then they routed the enemy's army, though far superior in number to theirs, slew many (1 Chronicles 5:22; 1 Chronicles 5:22), took 100,000 prisoners, enriched themselves greatly with the spoil, and settled themselves in their country (1 Chronicles 5:21; 1 Chronicles 5:22), and all this because the war was of God, undertaken in his fear and carried on in a dependence upon him. If the battle be the Lord's, there is reason to hope it will be successful. Then we may expect to prosper in any enterprise, and then only, when we take God along with us.

      II. They shared, at length, in an inglorious captivity. Had they kept close to God and their duty, they would have continued to enjoy both their ancient lot and their new conquests; but they transgressed against the God of their fathers,1 Chronicles 5:25; 1 Chronicles 5:25. They lay upon the borders, and conversed most with the neighbouring nations, by which means they learned their idolatrous usages and transmitted the infection to the other tribes; for this God had a controversy with them. He was a husband to them, and no marvel that his jealousy burnt like fire when they went a whoring after other gods. Justly is a bill of divorce given to the adulteress. God stirred up the spirit of the kings of Assyria, first one and then another, against them, served his own purposes by the designs of those ambitious monarchs, employed them to chastise these revolters first, and, when that humbled them not, then wholly to root them out,1 Chronicles 5:26; 1 Chronicles 5:26. These tribes were first placed, and they were first displaced. They would have the best land, not considering that it lay most exposed. But those who are governed more by sense than by reason or faith in their choices may expect to fare accordingly.