1 Chronicles 5
Here we find the genealogy of the two and a half tribes which had chosen their portion beyond Jordan: Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. But these tribes are not joined together on account of this circumstance alone; Reuben's place in the genealogy, as we have already seen, is determined by his sin. The birthright was his by right of birth, but it was taken from him (1 Chron. 5:1) and given to Joseph and his sons. As in all the rest of Scripture, Joseph is here a type of the Messiah rejected by his brethren, and subsequently receiving dominion over the nations. But our passage (1 Chron. 5:1-2) explains why he does not come first here. His place is given to Judah, the stock of the kingship according to God's counsels: "Of him was the prince." Once again we see here how Chronicles is consistent with its purpose to show the divine counsels as to the kingship. Yet, just as throughout in these chapters, the ways of the flesh are mentioned first (1 Chron. 5:3-6), and they continue until the ten tribes are taken captive by Tilgath-Pilneser (cf. 2 Kings 15:29). It is true that Reuben's energy to enlarge his borders is emphasized (1 Chron. 5:10); but it is no longer the virtue we have seen in Caleb, springing from faith alone. The display of Reuben's activity has a purely human and earthly motive: "Their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead" (1 Chron. 5:9).
Gad (1 Chron. 5:11-17) has greater spiritual distinction than Reuben. Like the latter, he also sought pasture land (1 Chron. 5:16), but he had still other interests. It is said of him: "All these were reckoned by genealogy in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel" (1 Chron. 5:17). Gad had a true concern about his genealogy. Even though the result of his zeal was annulled by his being carried away captive, at least until Jotham and Jeroboam's day his position in Israel was clear and well established, showing his sincere desire to be part of God's people and, notwithstanding all, not to deny Judah, under Jotham the center of the kingship.
Another matter is mentioned in 1 Chron. 5:18-22. These two and a half tribes "made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab; and they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them; for they cried to God in the battle, and He was intreated of them, because they put their trust in Him" (1 Chron. 5:19-20). God granted their prayers just as He had answered the prayer of a single man, Jabez. "They put their trust in Him"; the God of grace owed it to His own character to answer them, however guilty they might be with regard to the unity of the people of God. Thus, in spite of the ruin, grace always responds to faith, and this is one of the distinctive characteristics of the whole of these books of Chronicles. The flesh is condemned; the captivity is the consequence of its independence, but faith is answered, for God is not only a God of government who renders to man according to his responsibility, but also a God of grace who cannot deny His character. In 1 Chron. 5:22 we read, "The war was of God." He had incited the difficulty so as to exercise the faith and confidence of His people, in order that He might then be able to answer them.
The half-tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan is next mentioned (1 Chron. 5:23-26). Its territory, compared to that of the other tribes, was immense. In His grace God had prospered the men of Manasseh: "They were many" (1 Chron. 5:23). But the blessings which God's favor had secured for them turned them aside rather than drawing them closer to Him: "And they transgressed against the God of their fathers" (1 Chron. 5:25), and "the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, — unto this day." At the time Chronicles was composed, these tribes were in captivity in the places here mentioned. This passage, just as many others, could well be used to establish the date of our book.