(6) And these are the sons of Ehud.--The Authorised Version makes no distinction between this Ehud and Ehud son of Gera, the famous Benjamite judge (Judges 3:15). The difference in the Heb. is so slight, that perhaps we may assume an original identity of the two names. In that case we get a link between the sons of Ehud and the house of Gera,1 Chronicles 8:5. Others identify the present Ehud with the Abihud of 1 Chronicles 8:3, which is possibly correct: (Comp. Nadab-Abinadab, Dan and Abidan, Numbers 1:11.)
These are the heads of the fathers.--Heads of father-houses, i.e., of groups of kindred families or clans. The Hebrew text of the rest of this verse, and 1 Chronicles 8:7-8, is unusually obscure, partly owing to the construction, but chiefly because of the historical allusions which are no longer explicable with any certainty. Most interpreters assume a parenthesis after the words "and these are the sons of Ehud," extending to the words "he removed them," in 1 Chronicles 8:7.
Uzza and Ahihud are then "the sons of Ehud" referred to in 1 Chronicles 8:6.
Removed them.--Rather, carried them captive, or transported them. The same expression denotes the Babylonian exile or transportation, and was used in 1 Chronicles 5:26 of the Assyrian removal of the trans-jordanic tribes.
Verses 6, 7. - Ehud. We are brought to a halt again by the sudden introduction of this name. Even if it stand for Abihud (ver. 3) or for Ahoah (ver. 4), why is it changed in so short an interval? It is impossible to establish order in these verses except by most gratuitous conjecture. But it may be supposed that the verses say that Ehud's people once belonged to Manahath, that the heads of them removed them to Geba (Joshua 18:24), and that he himself (query, Ehud? but commonly read Gera) removed them, and also Naaman, and Ahiah, and Gera (which look very much like the Naaman, Ahoah, and Gera of vers. 4, 5); and finally that after the removing "he" had two fresh sons, Uzza and Ahihud.
8:1-40 Genealogies. - Here is a larger list of Benjamin's tribe. We may suppose that many things in these genealogies, which to us seem difficult, abrupt, and perplexed, were plain and easy at that time, and fully answered the intention for which they were published. Many great and mighty nations then were in being upon earth, and many illustrious men, whose names are now wholly forgotten; while the names of multitudes of the Israel of God are here kept in everlasting remembrance. The memory of the just is blessed.
And these are the sons of Ehud,.... Not he that was a judge in Israel, Judges 3:15 but perhaps a son of Huram the last mentioned; for not the three last are his sons, as some think, but the three following in the next verse; what follows being to be read in a parenthesis:
(these are the heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Geba;) a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:24 namely, those sons of Ehud, after mentioned, were principal men in that tribe, and chief of the inhabitants of the city of Geba:
and they removed them to Manahath; the name of a country referred to in 1 Chronicles 2:52 according to Jarchi, which was in the tribe of Judah; Geba being too small, either the inhabitants of Geba removed them, or they removed themselves, or their fathers removed them, 1 Chronicles 8:7, or it may be read impersonally, they were removed thither for the sake of a better habitation; the Targum adds,"to the land of the house of Esau,''to Edom; which is not likely.
These are the heads of the fathers.--Heads of father-houses, i.e., of groups of kindred families or clans. The Hebrew text of the rest of this verse, and 1 Chronicles 8:7-8, is unusually obscure, partly owing to the construction, but chiefly because of the historical allusions which are no longer explicable with any certainty. Most interpreters assume a parenthesis after the words "and these are the sons of Ehud," extending to the words "he removed them," in 1 Chronicles 8:7.
Uzza and Ahihud are then "the sons of Ehud" referred to in 1 Chronicles 8:6.
Removed them.--Rather, carried them captive, or transported them. The same expression denotes the Babylonian exile or transportation, and was used in 1 Chronicles 5:26 of the Assyrian removal of the trans-jordanic tribes.
(these are the heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Geba;) a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:24 namely, those sons of Ehud, after mentioned, were principal men in that tribe, and chief of the inhabitants of the city of Geba:
and they removed them to Manahath; the name of a country referred to in 1 Chronicles 2:52 according to Jarchi, which was in the tribe of Judah; Geba being too small, either the inhabitants of Geba removed them, or they removed themselves, or their fathers removed them, 1 Chronicles 8:7, or it may be read impersonally, they were removed thither for the sake of a better habitation; the Targum adds,"to the land of the house of Esau,''to Edom; which is not likely.