(11-12) A fragment relating to the “men of Rechah,” a name which occurs nowhere else, and for which Rechab appears a plausible correction. So the Vat., LXX. Ρηχάβ. Compare 1 Chronicles 2:55, where the Sopherim of Jabez are called Rechabites, and see Notes on the passage. These Rechabites united with the Salmaite branch of Hurites; and Hur was a son of Caleb, 1 Chronicles 2:19. Hence it is likely that the Chelub of 1 Chronicles 4:11 is identical with the Caleb-Chelubai of 1 Chronicles 2, who represents a main division of the Hezronites. Others suppose that the epithet, “brother of Shuah” (Shuhah), is meant to obviate this identification. The other names in this short section are wholly unknown. But their form shows at once that Beth-rapha and Ir-nahash (serpent city) are towns.
Paseah (lame; comp. Latin Claudius as a family name) recurs Nehemiah 3:6; and as the name of a clan of Nethinim, Ezra 2:49; Nehemiah 7:51. The subscription, “these are the men of Rechah” (Rechab), probably looks back as far as 1 Chronicles 4:8.
(13–15) The sons of Kenaz — i.e., the Kenizzite element in Judah. Kenaz was the name of an Edomite clan, 1 Chronicles 1:53, and of an old Canaanite race.
Othniel. — Judges 1:13, one of the heroes of the conquest; Judges 3:9, he vanquishes Chushan-rishathaim, king of Aram-naharaim. In both passages he is called “son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.” The Kenizzites, who cast in their lot with the Calebites of Judah, were naturally called “younger brothers” of their new kindred.
Seraiah is unknown.
The sons of Othniel, Hathath. — Eathath means dread, Job 6:21. Comp. the name Hittites, from the same root. The sons of Othniel (lion of God) would be a terror to their foes.
“And Meonothai” has perhaps been accidentally omitted at the end of this verse, before the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 4:14. Or the genealogist may have purposely omitted it, as implied by what follows 1 Chronicles 4:14. Meonothai is apparently a gentilic name, i.e., Meonothites. The name Maon occurs Joshua 15:55 as a Judcan town; and Maon was the residence of the Calebite Nabal, 1 Samuel 25:2-3.
Ophrah. — Occurs several times as the name of a town; in Jude 1:7 as the city of Gideon, who belonged to Manasseh; in Joshua 18:23, as a place in Benjamin. The latter may be meant here, as the boundaries of the tribes varied at different epochs.
Joab, father of the valley of Charashim. — Charashim means workers in wood, or metal, or stone, 1 Chronicles 14:1; 2 Chronicles 24:12; 1 Chronicles 22:15. This valley of craftsmen (Val-aux-forges, as Reuss translates it) is mentioned again, Nehemiah 11:35. Lod, that is Lydda-Diospolis of Roman times, was situate here; a place occupied by Benjamites after the return. In Nehemiah 7:11; Ezra 2:6, in a list of those who returned with Zerubbabel, mention is made of some “sons of Joab.” For the term father in this connection, comp. Genesis 4:20-21.
They — i.e., the sons of Joab, were craftsmen or smiths.