1 Chronicles 5:10

10 And in the days of Saul they made war on the Hagarites, and overcame them; and they put up their tents through all the land 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 And Bela, the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who was living in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon;

9 And to the east his limits went as far as the starting point of the waste land, ending at the river Euphrates, because their cattle were increased in number in the land of Gilead.

10 And in the days of Saul they made war on the Hagarites, and overcame them; and they put up their tents through all the land east of Gilead.

11 And the sons of Gad were living opposite to them, in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah:

12 Joel the chief, and Shapham the second, and Janai and Shaphat in Bashan;