1 Chronicles 5:10

10 Forsooth in the days of Saul the sons of Reuben fought against (the) Hagarites, and killed them; and dwelled for them in the tabernacles of them (and they lived in their tents, or their camps), in all the coast that beholdeth to the east 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 Forsooth Bela, the son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel, he dwelled in Aroer till to Nebo and Baalmeon; (and Bela, the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, and they lived in Aroer unto Nebo and Baalmeon;)

9 and he dwelled against the east coast, till to the entering of (the) desert, and to the flood Euphrates. And he had in possession much number of beasts in the land of Gilead. (and they lived toward the east coast, unto the edge of the wilderness/unto the entrance to the desert, and the Euphrates River. And they had in possession a great number of beasts in the land of Gilead.)

10 Forsooth in the days of Saul the sons of Reuben fought against (the) Hagarites, and killed them; and dwelled for them in the tabernacles of them (and they lived in their tents, or their camps), in all the coast that beholdeth to the east of Gilead.

11 Soothly the sons of Gad even against them dwelled in the land of Bashan till to Salcah; (And the sons of Gad lived beside them in the land of Bashan unto Salcah;)

12 Joel was in the beginning, and Shapham was the second; also Jaanai and Shaphat were in Bashan. (Joel was the leader, and Shapham was the second; and Jaanai and Shaphat were in Bashan.)