(11-17) THE SONS OF GAD, THEIR CLANS, TERRITORY, AND REGISTRATION.
(11) And the children of Gad dwelt over against them. — That is, adjoining them on the east of Jordan.
In the land of Bashan unto Salcah. — (Joshua 13:11.) Bashan, the ancient dominion of the giant Og (Numbers 21:33-35; Deuteronomy 3:1-12). Salcah now Sulkhad, on the south-east slope of Jebel Hauran in the extreme east of Gilead.
(12) Joel the chief (or, first; literally, head), and Shaphan the next (or second.) — Genesis 46:15 enumerates seven sons of Gad, a number corresponding with the clans of 1 Chronicles 5:13; but none of the names are the same.
In Bashan. — This expression goes to prove that clans, not individuals, are intended.
Joel is also the head Reubenite house (1 Chronicles 5:4).
(13) And their brethren of the house of their fathers. — And their kinsmen (fellow-tribesmen), according to their father-houses (clans). The verse names seven inferior clans of the Gadites, whose seats are assigned in 1 Chronicles 5:16.
These, viz., the clans of 1 Chronicles 5:13, were sons of Abihail, whose line is retraced through seven generations to Buz, of whom nothing further is known. The name has occurred Genesis 22:21 as that of a son of Nahor; and Job 32:2, as that of the clan of Elihu the Buzite.
(15) Ahi the son of Abdial, the son of Guni (was) head of their clans. Perhaps Ahi was chieftain or prince of the sons of Abihail at the time when this register was drawn up (1 Chronicles 5:17).
(16) And they dwelt in Gilead. — The seats of the Gadites of 1 Chronicles 5:13 were in the country east of Jordan.
In Bashan, defines the locality more precisely. It was the northern region of Gilead.
And in her towns. — Heb., her daughters.
And in all the suburbs of Sharon. — Rather, pasture-grounds or sheep-walks.
Sharon. — The well-known plain of this name lay west of Jordan, between Carmel and Joppa, along the coast of the Great Sea. The old conjecture that Shirion, i.e., mount Hermon (Deuteronomy 3:9; Psalms 29:6) should be read, is probably right.
Upon their borders. — That is, their extremities (Numbers 34:4-5). The Gadites fed their flocks in the glens opening out at the foot of the mountains, here called their exits or outlets.
(17) All these. — That is, the Gadite clans.
Were reckoned by genealogies (or registered) in the days of Jotham king of Judah, i.e., after 757 B.C., according to Biblical chronology.
And in the days of Jeroboam (the second), king of Israel, who reigned from 825-784, according to the data of Kings. Clearly, therefore, more than one registration is the basis of the above statistics. That of Jeroboam was the earlier in point of time; but the chronicler names the king of Judah first honoris causa. Jeroboam II., a vigorous king, who “restored the border of Israel from the entry of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah” (2 Kings 14:25), may have taken this census of the tribes east of Jordan, with a view to fiscal purposes. Jotham or his father, the great Uzziah, appears to have recovered Gad for Judah during the anarchy that succeeded the fall of Jehu’s dynasty in the northern kingdom.