41. written by name] Apparently those mentioned in verses 34–37; but the names there are of a late character, and have perhaps been artificially connected with the old tradition of the raiders in verses 41 ff.
in the days of Hezekiah] The Hebrew is ambiguous, but the clause should probably be connected with the verb “came,” not with “written”: the raid, not the record, was made in the days of Hezekiah.
and the Meunim] Here, and in 2 Chronicles xx. 1 (see note), xxvi. 7, the LXX. has Minaeans, an Arabian people who from the 8th or 9th century B.C. or perhaps much earlier exercised great authority in South Arabia (see Encyclopedia Britannica¹¹ II. 264). The Meunim of the present passage are to be connected with an Edomitic city or tribe not far from Petra, south of the Dead Sea; or (so Macalister, p. 336) are simply the people of Maon, a township near Hebron in Judah. 2 Chronicles xx. 1 (note) and xxvi. 7, Revised Version.
destroyed them utterly] or, as margin, devoted them (compare Joshua vi. 18, 21, Revised Version). See note 2 Chronicles xx. 23.
⁴³And they smote the remnant of the Amalekites that escaped, and dwelt there, unto this day.
43. the remnant of the Amalekites] i.e. the descendants of those who had escaped the attacks of Saul and David (1 Samuel xiv. 48, xv. 3 ff.). They had apparently found refuge in some part of the Edomite territory, for mount Seir is a synonym for the land of Edom.
Chapter V.
1–10.
The Genealogy of Reuben.
¹And the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.