Divrey Hayamim Alef 4:40

40 And they found mireh fertile and tov, and ha’aretz was spacious, and quiet, and peaceful; for they of Cham had dwelt there of old.

Divrey Hayamim Alef 4:40 Meaning and Commentary

1 Chronicles 4:40

And they found fat pasture and good
In or near the valley of Gedor:

and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable;
there was room enough for them and their flocks, and they had no enemies on either side to disturb them:

for [they] of Ham had dwelt there of old;
either the Canaanites who descended from Canaan the son of Ham, and had never been expelled from thence; or the Philistines, who were a colony of the Egyptians, the posterity of Ham; and these inhabitants being of this cursed race, the Simeonites scrupled not to dispossess them.

Divrey Hayamim Alef 4:40 In-Context

38 These listed by their shmot were nasi’im in their mishpekhot; and the bais of avoteihem increased greatly.

39 And they went to the outlying area of Gedor, even unto the east side of the gey (valley), to seek mireh (pasture) for their tzon.

40 And they found mireh fertile and tov, and ha’aretz was spacious, and quiet, and peaceful; for they of Cham had dwelt there of old.

41 And these listed by shemot came in the days of Chizkiyah Melech Yehudah, and attacked their ohalim, and the habitations that were found there, and destroyed them utterly unto this day, and dwelt in their place, because there was mireh there for their tzon.

42 And some of them, even of the Bnei Shim’on, five hundred anashim, went to Har Seir, having for their leaders Pelatyah, and Nearyah, and Refayah, and Uzziel, the Bnei Yishi.