Elzabad

December 4, 2014

The sons of the gatekeeper Obed-edom (1 Chr 26:4-26:8)

“Obed-edom had sons, Shemaiah the first-born, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth, Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, and Peullethai the eighth. God blessed him. To his son Shemaiah were sons born who exercised authority in their ancestral houses. They were men of great ability. The sons of Shemaiah were Othni, Rephael, Obed, and Elzabad, whose brothers were able men, Elihu and Semachiah. All these were the sons of Obed-edom with their sons and brothers. They were able men qualified for the service, sixty-two of Obed-edom.”

Obed-edom was the same man who had the Ark of the Covenant at his house before it came to Jerusalem in chapter 15. This is why it seems correct to say that he was a gatekeeper. He had 8 sons. Then his first-born son Shemaiah had 6 sons. There were 25 people with the name of (1) Shemaiah. There were 2 other people with the name of (2) Jehozabad. There are 3 other people with the name of (3) Joah. There was 1 other (4) Sachar. There were 9 other people with the name of (5) Nethanel. (6) Ammiel was the same name as the father of Bathsheba. There was only 1 other biblical person with the name of (7) Issachar, who was the son of Jacob. Thus he was one of the 12 tribes of Israel. This was the only mention of (8) Peullethai. As for Shemaiah’s son, this is the only mention of (1) Othni, (2) Rephael, and (6) Semachiah. There 4 others with the name of (3) Obed. There was 1 other (4) Elzabad. There were 4 other people with the name of (5) Elihu, the most famous in Job. All the sons and brothers of Obed-edom were gatekeepers, who amounted to about 62 men.

November 20, 2014

The Gadite warriors (1 Chr 12:8-12:15)

“From the Gadites, there went over to David at the stronghold in the wilderness mighty and experienced warriors. They were expert with shield and spear. Their faces were like the faces of lions. They were swift as gazelles on the mountains. Ezer was the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, Jeremiah the tenth, and Machbannai the eleventh. These Gadites were officers of the army, the least equal to over a hundred men and the greatest to a thousand men. These are the men who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it was overflowing all its banks. They put to flight all those in the valleys, to the east and to the west.”

The Gadites were from the east side of the Jordan. Apparently they were very fast. They brought a lot of people with them as they seem to have an organized army with various ranks. In fact, 11 different ranks are cited as they chased people on the east and west side of the Jordan River. There were 6 people with the name of Ezer. There were 12 people with the name of Obadiah, with the most famous the prophet and book Obadiah. Eliab appeared as the name of 7 different people. Although Mishmannah never appears elsewhere, Attai was the name of 1 or 2 other people. This Jeremiah was not the prophet Jeremiah. Notice that there was another Jeremiah in this Gadite band of soldiers. There were 9 people with the name of Eliel and Johanan. However, there was only 1 other with the name of Elzabad, and no others with the name of Machbannai except the one mentioned here.