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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
7:2 whose number. Tola was the most prolific of Issachar’s four sons, having reached 22,600 in David’s time, and seemingly 36,000 later, perhaps by the time of the captivity (I Chronicles 7:4). All four Issachar families had reached 87,000 by that time (I Chronicles 7:5). It is obvious, however, that the record is sketchy and incomplete. By the time the Chronicler began to assemble all these records, hundreds of years had passed between the conquest and the return from exile, so he seems to have acquired all he could find. This would at least provide a clear link to the past for the families returning from Babylon.
7:6 The sons of Benjamin. There are four genealogical lists for Benjamin in the Bible: Genesis 46:21; Numbers 26:38-40; I Chronicles 7:6-12; and I Chronicles 8:1-40. These all seem contradictory even in the first generation, except that all agree that Belah (or Bela) was Benjamin’s firstborn. Several possibilities may be suggested to explain the apparent confusion. See note on I Chronicles 8:1.
7:13 The sons of Naphtali. Evidently the only genealogical records preserved by the descendants of Naphtali was that recorded in Genesis 46:24 and copied by Moses in Numbers 26:48-50, listing only Naphtali’s four sons. The tribe of Naphtali may have suffered severe losses in the invasion of the Assyrians (see II Kings 15:29).