1 Chronicles 8:39

Study note

Setting — The Chronicler continues a genealogical record of the tribe of Benjamin, shifting focus from the six sons of Azel to the descendants of Eshek, who is identified as the brother of the preceding patriarch.

The words — The text uses בְּכוֹר (bĕkôr, "firstborn") to mark Ulam's position, followed by הַשֵּׁנִי (haššēnî, "the second") to establish Jeush's place in the sequence.

The thread — This verse operates within a sustained biblical practice of recording tribal lineages to preserve clan identity and inheritance rights, a pattern that runs through the genealogical registers of Chronicles and the territorial allotments in Joshua.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to treat the precise naming and ordering of Eshek’s sons as a deliberate administrative record of tribal structure rather than a narrative account.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.