Rephaiah

February 7, 2015

The west Old Gate (Neh 3:6-3:12)

“Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate. They laid its beams, set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. Next to them repairs were made by Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite. These were the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, who were under the jurisdiction of the governor of the province Beyond the River. Next to them Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. Next to them, Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. Next to them, Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house. Next to him, Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs. Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens.  Next to him Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.”

Next, they began repairing on the northwest side of Jerusalem from the Fish Gate to the Tower of the Ovens on the west side. The Old Gate was on the west side of Jerusalem. They also repaired the old wall on the northwest side. Joiada and Meshullam, who is different from the other Meshullam, were probably priests who worked on the beams, doors, bolts, and bars of this gate. This is the only biblical mention of Melatiah and Jadon. They are from Gibeon and Mizpah, both nearby, but outside Jerusalem. Nehemiah mentions they were under the governor of the Province Beyond the River, indicating that there might have been a tacit approval. Even though there were perfumers in 1 Samuel, chapter 8, and 2 Chronicles, chapter 16, Nehemiah was the only biblical writer who ever mentioned goldsmiths. Uzziel and Hananiah worked on the old northwest wall, the Broad Wall where the street was a little bigger. Interesting enough, the both rulers of Jerusalem were involved in this project. Rephaiah and Shallum seem to be rulers of different halves of Jerusalem, which is strange in itself. Nehemiah also mentions the daughters of Shallum working on the wall. This mention of females doing manual labor is a little unusual. However, we know that young women went out for water and picked up after the harvest, besides the internal household work. At least, one person, Jedaiah, worked just outside his house. The family of Pahath-moab built the Tower of the Ovens, which is probably the Tower of the Angles on the west side.

November 17, 2014

The descendents of Jonathan (1 Chr 9:40-9:44)

“The son of Jonathan was Meribbaal. Meribbaal was the father of Micah. The sons of Micah were Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Jarah. Jarah became the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri became the father of Moza. Moza became the father of Binea. Rephaiah was his son, Eleasah his son, and Azel his son. Azel had six sons. These are their names, Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These were the sons of Azel.”

This is exactly the same as the previous chapter except for a few name discrepancies. Here the name is Tahrea instead of Tarea, and is only found here. An “h” has been added to this name. Jarah is here instead of Jehoaddah, but this is the only time that this name appears. Here we see 13 generations from (1) Saul, probably going down to the time of this biblical author. The son of (2) Jonathan was (3) Meribbaal, the name used here in this book, but Mephibosheth was the name used in 2 Samuel, chapter 4. There were 5 other people named (4) Micah, including the prophet with his book Micah, and the Micah in Judges, chapters 17-18. Although Micah had 4 sons, Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and (5) Ahaz, this author only follows Ahaz. The other 3 sons are only mentioned in these lists. There was a more famous Ahaz, King Ahaz of Judah (736-716 BCE), who is not this Ahaz. This is the only mention of his son (6) Jehoaddah or Jarah. His 3 sons were Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Alemeth was also the name of a holy city in the Benjamin territory. There were 3 other people with the name of Azmaveth. (7) Zimri was also the name of a King of Israel (885 BCE) who ruled a short time. He could be the same person. His son was (8) Moza, the same name as a son of Caleb. His son was (9) Binea, who is only mentioned in these 2 lists in this book. His son (10) Raphah was a name mentioned as one of the Philistines. His son (11) Eleasah was also mentioned as a son of Hezron. His son (12) Azel had 6 sons (13) Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. Besides being mentioned here Azel was also a place near Jerusalem. There were 5 people with the name of Azrikam. This is the only mention of Bocheru and Sheariah. There were 6 biblical people with the name of Ishmael. The most famous was the son of Abraham by Hagar his concubine. There were 12 people with the name of Obadiah, with the most famous the prophet and book Obadiah. There were 9 people with the name of Hanan.

November 7, 2014

The sons of Tola (1 Chr 7:2-7:2)

“The sons of Tola were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their ancestral houses, namely of Tola. They were mighty warriors of their generations. They numbered in the days of David twenty-two thousand six hundred.”

Tola was the name of the first born of Issachar. Puah was the second son, but this biblical author does not follow him or his other 2 brothers, Jashub, and Shimron. Tola was the name of judge #6 in Judges, chapter 10. He was called a man of Issachar, and his father’s name was Puah, the name of the brother of the original Tola. However, he seems to rule or judge from Ephraim. These are the only mentions of Tola in the biblical literature. He had 6 sons who became the ancestral heads of this tribe. There are 7 different people with the name of (1) Uzzi. 5 different people had the name (2) Rephaiah, while 3 people shared the name of (6) Shemuel. However, (3) Jeriel, (4) Jahmai, and (5) Ibsam are only mentioned here. At the time of David, these mightily warriors or Tola numbered 22, 600 but there is no indication where this number comes from.

October 26, 2014

The sons of Hananiah (1 Chr 3:21-3:24)

“The sons of Hananiah were Pelatiah and Jeshaiah. His son was Rephaiah, with his son Arnan. His son was Obadiah with his son Shecaniah. The son of Shecaniah was Shemaiah. The six sons of Shemaiah were Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat. The three sons of Neariah were Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam. The seven sons of Elioenai were Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani.”

The sons of (1) Hananiah from the preceding genealogy were Pelatiah and (2) Jeshaiah with each having 4 people with the same name. There are 5 other people with the name of (3) Rephaiah. Now we move through the generations quickly. The son of Rephaiah was (4) Arnan who only appears here. However, Arnan’s son (5) Obadiah appears as the name of 12 different people. His son (6) Shecaniah appears among 8 different people. His son (7) Shemaiah appears among 18 different people. Shemaiah had 6 sons but only 5 are listed here. The 5 listed are Hattush whose name appears with at least 2 different people, Igal whose names appears with 3 different people, Bariah whose name only appears here, (8) Neariah with 1 other person with the same name, and Shaphat whose name appears with 4 different people. Neariah had 3 sons (9) Elioenai whose name was found among 6 different people, Hizkiah with 2 different people, and Azrikam, with 4 different people. Elioenai had 7 sons (10) Hodaviah with 3 different people, Eliashib with 6 different people, Pelaiah among 2 different people, Akkub among 4 different people, Johanan among 10 different people, Delaiah among 4 different people, and Anani whose name only appears here. After the 4 generations started around 520 BCE, that would mean that about 80 years brings us around 440 BCE. The generations move very quickly through 10 generations to about 240 BCE, based on a conservative 20 years to a generation. That would put his work of 1 Chronicles in the mid 3rd century BCE, around 250 BCE.