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5
The descendants of Reuben
1 Reuben was the oldest son of Jacob. Therefore, he should have received the special rights/privileges that belonged to firstborn sons. But he had sex with his father’s slave wife, so his father gave the rights if a firstborn son to the sons of Reubers younger brother Joseph. And in the family records, Reuben is not mentioned first, like the firstborn sons always are. 2 Although Judah became more influential than his brothers, and a ruler of the tribe descended from him, Joseph’s family received the rights that belonged to firstborn sons. 3 But Reuben was Jacob’s oldest son.
Reuben’s sons were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
4 Another descendant of Reuben was Joel. Joel’s son was Shemaiah. Shemaiah’s son was Gog. Gog’s son was Shimei. 5 Shimei’s son was Micah. Micah’s son was Reaiah. Reaiah’s son was Baal. 6 Baal’s son was Beerah. Beerah was a leader of the tribe/descendants of Reuben. But Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria captured him and took him to Assyria.
7 The names of these clans are listed here according to what is written in their family records.
The first name written was Jeiel. Then Zechariah, 8 and then Bela. Bela was the son of Azaz, and Azaz was the son of Shema, and Shema was the son of Joel. Reuben’s clan was very large. Some of them lived near Aroer city as far north as Nebo town and Baal-Meon city. 9 Some of them lived further east, as far as the edge of the desert south of the Euphrates River. They went there because they had a huge amount of cattle, with the result that there was not enough pastureland for them in the Gilead region.
10 When Saul was king of Israel, Bela’s clan fought against the descendants of Hagar and defeated them. After that, Bela’s clan lived in the tents that the descendants of Hagar had lived in previously, in all the area east of the Gilead region.
The descendants of Gad
11 The tribe of Gad lived near the tribe of Reuben; they lived in the Bashan region, all the way east to Salecah town. 12 Joel was their chief; Shapham was his assistant; other leaders were Janai and Shaphat.
13 Other members of the tribe belonged to seven clans, whose leaders were Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber. 14 They were descendants of Abihail. Abihail was Huri’s son. Huri was Jaroah’s son. Jaroah was Gilead’s son. Gilead was Michael’s son. Michael was Jeshishai’s son. Jeshishai was Jahdo’s son. Jahdo was the son of Buz.
15 Ahi was Abdiel’s son. Abdiel was Guni’s son. Ahi was the leader of their clan.
16 The descendants of Gad lived in the towns in Gilead and Bashan regions, and on all the pastureland on the Sharon plain. 17 All of those names were written in the records of the clans of Gad during the time that Jotham was the king of Judah and Jeroboam was the king of Israel.
The armies of the tribes that lived east of the Jordan River
18 There were 44,760 soldiers from the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh. They all carried shields and swords and bows and arrows. They were all trained to fight well in battles. 19 They attacked the descendants of Hagar and the people of Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab cities. 20 The men from those three tribes prayed to God during the battles, requesting him to help them. So he helped them, because they trusted in him. He enabled them to defeat [IDM] the descendants of Hagar and all those who were helping them. 21 They took the animals that belonged to the descendants of Hagar: They took 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys. They also captured 100,000 people. 22 But many descendants of Hagar were killed because God helped the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. After that, those three tribes lived in that area until the army of Babylonia captured them and took them away to Babylon.
The eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh
23 There were many people who belonged to the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh. They lived in the Bashan region east of the Jordan River, as far north as Baal-Hermon, Senir, and Hermon Mountain.
24 Their clan leaders were Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were all strong, brave, and famous soldiers, and leaders of their clans. 25 But they sinned against God, the one whom their ancestors had worshiped. They began to worship the gods/idols that the people of that region had worshiped, the people whom God had enabled them to destroy! 26 So the God whom the Israelis worshiped caused Pul, the king of Assyria, to conquer those tribes. Pul’s other name was Tiglath-Pileser. His army captured the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh, and took them to various places in Assyria: Halah, Habor, Hara and near the Gozan River. They have lived in those places from that time to the present time.

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© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.