¹⁹And the sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite. ²⁰And the sons of Shimon; Amnon, and Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. And the sons of Ishi; Zoheth, and Ben-zoheth.
19. Keilah] a town of the Shephelah (Joshua xv. 44), the scene of one of David’s exploits (1 Samuel xxiii. 1–5).
Eshtemoa the Maacathite] The epithet distinguishes this Eshtemoa from that of verse 17. The Maacathite may mean the descendant of Maacah (ii. 48), the concubine of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel.
21–23. These verses purport to give some fragmentary information of the descendants of Shelah. It must be owned that they are most obscure, and much more difficult than they appear at first. In the Palestine Exploration Fund Statement, 1905, pp. 243 ff., 328 ff., R. A. S. Macalister gives a highly ingenious reinterpretation of this passage in the light of certain jar handles inscribed with names similar to those mentioned here and in certain other passages of the Chronicler’s genealogies; and conjectures that throughout the chapter we have a (mutilated) genealogy of a family of craftsmen, tracing descent from two individuals, a Jerahmeel and a Caleb. In a text so obscure it is no objection that the theory involves several textual emendations, and is too intricate for further treatment here. It is rejected by Driver, Modern Research, p. 77.
²¹The sons of Shelah the son of Judah; Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea;
21. Shelah] mentioned in ii. 3 as a son of Judah. As there is no reference to him in iv. 1, perhaps these difficult verses are an addition. For other references to his descendants, see ix. 5, Nehemiah xi. 5.
Mareshah] ii. 42; 2 Chronicles xi. 8; Joshua xv. 44 (mentioned with Keilah). A town in the south of Judah.
the house of Ashbea] Nothing is known of such a family. Render perhaps Beth-Ashbea, but the place is otherwise unknown.
²²and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had dominion in Moab, and Jashubi-lehem. And the records[¹] are ancient.
[¹] Hebrew words.