Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
1 Chronicles 8:40

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 1 Chronicles 8:40. The sons of Ulam were mighty men of valour — The Targum speaks honourably of them: "The sons of Ulam were mighty and strong men, subduing by wisdom their evil concupiscence, as men bend a bow; therefore they had many sons and grandsons."

Of the six sons of Azel, mentioned 1 Chronicles 8:38, R. S. Jarchi says that their allegorical expositions were sufficient to load thirteen thousand camels! No doubt these were reputed to be deeply learned men. There was a time when the allegorizers and metaphor-men ranked very high among theologians, even in our own enlightened and critical country. At present they are almost totally out of fashion. May they never recover their footing! But what a shameful hyperbole is that of Jarchi! The writings of six men a load for thirteen thousand camels!

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Genealogies of the remaining tribes (7:1-8:40)

Although the lists here are incomplete and in places difficult to follow, it seems that the tribes dealt with are Issachar (7:1-5), parts of Benjamin and Dan (6-12), Naphtali (13), the portion of Manasseh not listed earlier (14-19; cf. 5:23-24), Ephraim (20-29) and Asher (30-40).
Benjamin is given in greater detail, possibly because it included Jerusalem in its tribal territory. Also this was the only tribe that joined Judah in the southern kingdom, the kingdom that remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty (8:1-28). Benjamin also produced Israel’s first king, Saul, whose family details are given (29-40).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"And in Gibeon there dwelt the father of Gibeon, Jeiel, whose wife's name was Maacah; and his first-born son Abdon, and Zur, and Kish, and Baal, and Nadab; and Gedor, and Ahio, and Zecher. And Mikloth begat Shimeah. And they dwelt with their brethren in Jerusalem, over against their brethren. And Ner begat Kish, and Kish begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malcashua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal. And the son of Jonahtan was Meribbaal; and Meribbaal begat Micah. And the sons of Micah: Pithon, and Melech, and Tarea, and Ahaz. And Ahaz begat Jehoaddah; and Jehoaddah begat Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri, and Zimri begat Moza. And Moza begat Binea; and Raphah was his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son. And Azel had six sons, whose names are these: Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel. And the sons of Eshek his brother: Ulam his first-born, Jeush the second, and Eliphelet the third. And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor, archers, and had many sons, and sons' sons, a hundred and fifty. All these were of the sons of Benjamin."

"The very full details given here as contrasted with most of the other tribes should not be put down as due to the availability of more information, but should be regarded as a tribute to Benjamin's loyalty to David and his dynasty."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 374. Also it appears that special attention was given to the line of David's friend Jonathan.

It is impossible to harmonize this with the parallel list in 1 Chronicles 7:6-12; and some scholars have believed that list to be a "corrupted genealogy of Zebulun and Dan."Ibid., p. 375.

All of the names given thus far in Chronicles belonged to persons of pre-exilic Israel, "The first verse of the following chapter (1 Chronicles 9:1) states that what has gone before pertains only to the official register of the families… when they were exiled. This clause separates the foregoing from what follows."The Anchor Bible, Chronicles, p. 62. Payne did not agree with this interpretation. See further comment under 1 Chronicles 9:1.

"Ono and Lod" These cities were not mentioned in Joshua as part of Palestine originally assigned to Benjamin; but, "These places were built later. There is little doubt that Lod is the Lydda of Acts 9:22."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 6a, p. 109.

Curtis and Madsen disagreed with Myers (quoted above) by affirming the lists of this chapter as post-exilic;International Critical Commentary, Chronicles, p. 156. but the disagreement of scholars regarding such questions can be of little interest, since it really makes no difference at all exactly when the people of any of these lists actually lived.

Elmslie in The Interpreter's Bible devoted only sixteen lines to this whole chapter.The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 3, p. 376.

There are many things in this chapter and in the entire O.T. that must forever remain in the realm of the mysterious and the unknown as far as modern men are concerned. For example, "Nothing is known about the exile mentioned in 1 Chronicles 8:6. We do not know who exiled whom."Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 321. It is appropriate to remember in this connection that "The hidden things belong to God."

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Sons, and sons’ sons - This genealogy of the house of Saul appears by the number of the generations to belong probably to the time of Hezekiah (compare 1 Chronicles 4:41). Ulam’s “sons’ sons” are in the 13th generation from Jonathan, as Hezekiah is in the 13th generation from David.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 8

In chapter eight, we come back to the tribe of Benjamin. And in the tribe of Benjamin, we come down to the family of Kish from which, of course, Saul was born, who became the first king over Israel, verse thirty-three,

Ner begat Kish, Kish begat Saul, Saul begat Jonathan ( 1 Chronicles 8:33 ),

And so you have Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valour,.... Men of great fortitude and courage, though their names are not expressed:

archers; skilful in the use of the bow and arrows, as the Benjaminites formerly were famous for slinging stones:

and had many sons, and sons' sons, an hundred and fifty; so that the posterity of Jonathan, whose genealogy is drawn down from 1 Chronicles 8:34 hither, were very great; and greater still, according to the Vulgate Latin version, in which the number is 150,000 in the edition of Sixtus the fifth, and so in most MSS of that version s

all these are of the sons of Benjamin; his posterity, whose names are given in this chapter.

s See James of the Contrariety of the Popish Bibles, p. 294.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      33 And Ner begat Kish, and Kish begat Saul, and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Esh-baal.   34 And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal begat Micah.   35 And the sons of Micah were, Pithon, and Melech, and Tarea, and Ahaz.   36 And Ahaz begat Jehoadah; and Jehoadah begat Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begat Moza,   37 And Moza begat Binea: Rapha was his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son:   38 And Azel had six sons, whose names are these, Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.   39 And the sons of Eshek his brother were, Ulam his firstborn, Jehush the second, and Eliphelet the third.   40 And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valour, archers, and had many sons, and sons' sons, a hundred and fifty. All these are of the sons of Benjamin.

      It is observable that among all the genealogies of the tribes there is no mention of any of the kings of Israel after the defection from the house of David, much less of their families; not a word of Jeroboam's house or Baasha's, of Umri's or Jehu's; for they were all idolaters. But of the family of Saul, which was the royal family before the elevation of David, we have here a particular account. 1. Before Saul, Kish and Ner only are named, his father and grandfather, 1 Chronicles 8:33; 1 Chronicles 8:33. His pedigree is carried higher 1 Samuel 9:1, only there Kish is said to be the son of Abiel, here of Ner. He was in truth the son of Ner but the grandson of Abiel, as appears by 1 Samuel 14:51, where it is said that Ner was the son of Abiel, and that Abner, who was the son of Ner, was Saul's uncle (that is, his father's brother); therefore his father was also the son of Ner. It is common in all languages to put sons for grandsons and other descendents, much more in the scanty language of the Hebrews. 2. After Saul, divers of his sons are named, but the posterity of none of them, save Jonathan only, who was blessed with numerous issue and those honoured with a place in the sacred genealogies for the sake of his sincere kindness to David. The line of Jonathan is drawn down here for about ten generations. Perhaps David was, in a particular manner, careful to preserve that, and assigned it a page by itself, because of the covenant made between his seed and Jonathan's seed forever, 1 Samuel 20:15; 1 Samuel 20:23; 1 Samuel 20:42. This genealogy ends in Ulam, whose family became famous in the tribe of Benjamin for the number of its valiant men. Of that one man's posterity there were, as it should seem, at one time, 150 archers brought into the field of battle, that were mighty men of valour,1 Chronicles 8:40; 1 Chronicles 8:40. That is taken notice of concerning them which is more a man's praise than his pomp or wealth is, that they were qualified to serve their country.