1 Chronicles 5:10

10 And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites, who fell by their hand; and they dwelt in their tents throughout the east side of Gilead.

1 Chronicles 5:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Chronicles 5:10

And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites,
&c.] Not with the Hungarians, as the Targum, a people not then in being; but the Ishmaelites, so called because they descended from Hagar ^F19, Sarah's maid; the same that are placed by Pliny ^F20 and Ptolemy ^F21 in Arabia, near the Batanaeans, or inhabitants of Bashan; with those the Reubenites made war, in conjunction with the Gadites and half tribe of Manasseh, ( 1 Chronicles 5:18 1 Chronicles 5:19 ) , perhaps this war might be much about the time Saul relieved Jabeshgilead, and beat the Ammonites, ( 1 Samuel 11:1-14 ) by which the tribes on that side Jordan might be encouraged to it:

who fell by their hand;
were worsted and conquered by them:

and they dwelt in their tents;
in which the Arabians used to dwell, because of their flocks; hence some of them were called Scenites:

throughout all the east [land] of Gilead;
or rather throughout all the land of the Hagarites, which lay to the east of Gilead, as the Vulgate Latin version; or otherwise the land of Gilead itself was their original possession.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 So David de Pomis, Lexic. fol. 45. 4.
F20 Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.
F21 Geograph. l. 5. c. 19.

1 Chronicles 5:10 In-Context

8 and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon;

9 and eastward he dwelt as far as the entrance to the wilderness from the river Euphrates; for their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead.

10 And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites, who fell by their hand; and they dwelt in their tents throughout the east side of Gilead.

11 And the children of Gad dwelt over against them, in the land of Bashan, as far as Salcah:

12 Joel was the chief and Shapham the next, and Jaanai, and Shaphat in Bashan.