1 Chronicles 8:12

1 Chronicles 8:12 says, The sons of Elpaal; Eber, and Misham, and Shamed, who built Ono, and Lod, with the towns thereof:  This continues with a list of the descendants of Benjamin.  Verse thirteen adds, Beriah also, and Shema, who were heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Aijalon, who drove away the inhabitants of Gath: Verse fourteen continues, And Ahio, Shashak, and Jeremoth,  Verse fifteen states, And Zebadiah, and Arad, and Ader,  Verse sixteen adds, And Michael, and Ispah, and Joha, the sons of Beriah;  Verse seventeen continues, And Zebadiah, and Meshullam, and Hezeki, and Heber,  Verse eighteen says, Ishmerai also, and Jezliah, and Jobab, the sons of Elpaal; Verse nineteen adds, And Jakim, and Zichri, and Zabdi,  Verse twenty continues, And Elienai, and Zilthai, and Eliel,  Verse twenty-one states, And Adaiah, and Beraiah, and Shimrath, the sons of Shimhi;  Verse twenty-two adds, And Ishpan, and Heber, and Eliel,  Verse twenty-three continues, And Abdon, and Zichri, and Hanan,  Verse twenty-four says, And Hananiah, and Elam, and Antothijah,  Verse twenty-five adds, And Iphedeiah, and Penuel, the sons of Shashak;  Verse twenty-six continues, And Shamsherai, and Shehariah, and Athaliah,  Verse twenty-seven says, And Jaresiah, and Eliah, and Zichri, the sons of Jeroham.  Verse twenty-eight concludes, These were heads of the fathers, by their generations, chief men. These dwelt in Jerusalem.  We do have it made note of that these lived in Jerusalem throughout the generations.  Jerusalem was the city of God, so those who lived there would have had the responsibility of keeping in devoted to Him.  For followers of Christ today, the Holy Spirit indwells us, so we are in effect a part of the city of God, and we must do our best to keep ourselves devoted to Him.

1 Chronicles 8:1

1 Chronicles 8:1 says, Now Benjamin begat Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third,  Now we have the descendants of Benjamin listed.  Saul, the first king of Israel, was of this tribe.   Verse two adds, Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth. Verse three continues, And the sons of Bela were, Addar, and Gera, and Abihud,  This verse begins a list of Bela's sons and continues through the next two.  Verse four continues, And Abishua, and Naaman, and Ahoah,  Verse five concludes, And Gera, and Shephuphan, and Huram.  Verse six states, And these are the sons of Ehud: these are the heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Geba, and they removed them to Manahath:  Ehud was likely a descendant of Gera, and he had sons while living in Moab, according to Matthew Henry.  He would also deliver the people of Israel from Moab and was a descendant of Benjamin.  Verse seven adds, And Naaman, and Ahiah, and Gera, he removed them, and begat Uzza, and Ahihud.  Verse eight continues, And Shaharaim begat children in the country of Moab, after he had sent them away; Hushim and Baara were his wives.  Once more, as with others listed, it isn't made clear who Shaharaim is, but we have a list of his sons born in Moab, after he divorced two of his wives, which once again was against not one but two of God's laws.  Verse nine says, And he begat of Hodesh his wife, Jobab, and Zibia, and Mesha, and Malcham,  Verse ten adds, And Jeuz, and Shachia, and Mirma. These were his sons, heads of the fathers. We are given the names of the sons of his wife Hodesh. Verse eleven continues, And of Hushim he begat Abitub, and Elpaal. Then, two sons with another woman, who isn't said to be his wife.  We don't need to use many of the men of Israel in the Old Testament as an example of how we should view marriage.

1 Chronicles 7:30

1 Chronicles 7:30 says, The sons of Asher; Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.  Now we move to the tribe, or family, of Asher.  Verse thirty-one adds, And the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel, who is the father of Birzavith.  We start with the sons of his youngest son's children then.  Verse thirty-two continues, And Heber begat Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua their sister.  We then move back to the children of the first born of Asher's grandson, which was the usual way of following the descendants if only one was mentioned.  There is no explanation why, but we don't always need to know the reason for everything God does and how he works in the world.  We just need to live by faith in Him.  Verse thirty-three states, And the sons of Japhlet; Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the children of Japhlet.  Verse thirty-four adds, And the sons of Shamer; Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram.  Verse thirty-five continues, And the sons of his brother Helem; Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal.  I cannot find out whose brother Helem was, but we pick up with his children here.  Verse thirty-six says, The sons of Zophah; Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah, Verse thirty-seven adds, Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera.  I also don't find a reference to Zophah or Ulla who is mentioned in verse thirty-nine.  Verse thirty-eight continues, And the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.  We are given Jether's sons names.  Verse thirty-nine states, And the sons of Ulla; Arah, and Haniel, and Rezia.  Matthew Henry didn't give much information on some of these names and whose son they might be, and Google says it is unclear whose son Uzza was, but he was in the tribe of Asher, so we will just have to accept that fact.  We may not always understand everything clearly in the Bible, but we just have to accept it as fact. Verse forty adds, All these were the children of Asher, heads of their father's house, choice and mighty men of valour, chief of the princes. And the number throughout the genealogy of them that were apt to the war and to battle was twenty and six thousand men.  We are told that there were thirty-six thousand men who were good at fighting wars and in the battles.  We want to be good at fighting the war against sin and evil in the world today if we are a part of God's family, no matter how few of us there might be.  Of course, we know that the victory has already been won

1 Chronicles 7:20

1 Chronicles 7:20 says, And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,  Now, we have a list of the descendants of Ephraim.  Verse twenty-one adds, And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.  Some of Ephraim's descendants were killed by the men of Gath when they tried to take away their cattle.  Being a part of God's chosen people did not always protect someone from suffering defeat in this world, just as being a Christian doesn't protect us from suffering at the hands of the people of the world in this lifetime.  Still, if they were truly a part of God's people by faith, the defeat was only temporary and they are with Him forever, as we as Christians will be.  Verse twenty-two continues, And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.  Ephraim mourned for his descendants for many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.  If we lose a child today, no matter how old they are, we may mourn, but if they were a follower of Christ, we should also celebrate the fact that they are at home with Jesus forever.  I believe even more than friends and relatives, the Holy Spirit will comfort us, if we allow Him to.  Matthew Henry says this adds up to seven generations of descendants, but Ephraim was still alive.  Verse twenty-three states, And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.  Ephraim then had another son who he called Beriah, which means in trouble.  We really cannot replace one child with another and we should never attempt to.  Verse twenty-four adds, (And his daughter was Sherah, who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper, and Uzzensherah.)  We are also told that one of Ephraim's female descendants built two cities, even though we don't usually hear much about daughters in the Bible.  Verse twenty-five continues, And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son.  Verse twenty-eight says, Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son.  Verse twenty-seven adds, Non his son, Jehoshuah his son.  Verse twenty-eight continues, And their possessions and habitations were, Bethel and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof:  We are told of the land they possessed in this verse and the next.  Verse twenty-nine concludes, And by the borders of the children of Manasseh, Bethshean and her towns, Taanach and her towns, Megiddo and her towns, Dor and her towns. In these dwelt the children of Joseph the son of Israel.

1 Chronicles 7:13

1 Chronicles 7:13 says, The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah. We are simply told the names of the sons of Naphtali.  We aren't given any more than his sons, Matthew Henry says because maybe his genealogy record was lost.  Of course, I believe that if it was important, God would have preserved it.  Verse fourteen adds, The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead:  Next, we have the sons of Manasseh, including the son of Aramitess, his concubine, who gave birth to Machir, Gilead's father. Even though they weren't born to the wife or first wife, who should have been the only one, they were included in the descendants of the heads of the tribes of Israel were included.  We cannot help how we were born into the word, but we are all of equal importance to God.  Verse fifteen continues, And Machir took to wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister's name was Maachah;) and the name of the second was Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters.  Machir took a wife from the tribe of Benjamin, even though his father had married a Syrian according to Matthew Henry.  I still believe that Christians should marry Christians, no matter what our parents may have done.  We are only responsible for our own relationship to God, and not for our parent's relationship to Him.  Verse sixteen states, And Maachah the wife of Machir bare a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.  Verse seventeen adds, And the sons of Ulam; Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.  We are then given the names of Machir's sons and grandsons by Maachah his wife.  Verse eighteen continues, And his sister Hammoleketh bare Ishod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah.  We are even given the names of some men who were born of a daughter of one of the men of Israel, though that wasn't usually the case.  Verse nineteen says, And the sons of Shemidah were, Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.  Shemidah was one of Gilead's sons, though it doesn't make that clear here.   

1 Chronicles 7:1

1 Chronicles 7:! says, Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimrom, four.  Next, we have a list of the descendants of Issacher.  Verse two adds, And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father's house, to wit, of Tola: they were valiant men of might in their generations; whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred.  The sons of Tola, one of Issachar's sons were known as valiant men of might and by the reign of David had grown to twenty-two thousand, six hundred in number.  It would be nice if we could multiply the number of Christians, God's people, by that number and that we would be valiant in our faith.  Verse three continues, And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons of Izrahiah; Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five: all of them chief men.  We are given a list of the sons Uzzi, one of the sons of Tola and told that they were chief men in Israel.  Verse continues, And with them, by their generations, after the house of their fathers, were bands of soldiers for war, six and thirty thousand men: for they had many wives and sons.  We are told these sons of Uzzi, who were said to be bands of soldiers of war, numbered thirty-six thousand, since they had many wives and sons.  Verse five concludes, And their brethren among all the families of Issachar were valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourscore and seven thousand.  We are then told that the total of the rest of the family of Issachar was eighty-seven thousand men.  Matthew Henry says the total of all the descendants of Issachar was one hundred forty-five thousand men.  Verse six states, The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three. Next, we have the list of the descendants of Benjamen. Verse seven adds, And the sons of Bela; Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour; and were reckoned by their genealogies twenty and two thousand and thirty and four.  Then we have the number of the sons of Bela, the firstborn of Benjamin.  There were twenty-two thousand and thirty-four of them, and they were known as men of valor.  We need to be known as people of valor for God.  Verse eight continues, And the sons of Becher; Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth. All these are the sons of Becher.  Then we have the descendants of Becher, Benjamin's second born.  Verse nine concludes, And the number of them, after their genealogy by their generations, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour, was twenty thousand and two hundred.  There were twenty-two thousand, two hundred of them, also known as men of valor.  Verse ten says, The sons also of Jediael; Bilhan: and the sons of Bilhan; Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar.  Verse eleven adds, All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.  They were also known as men of valor, soldiers fit to go to war, and numbered seventeen thousand, two hundred.  Verse twelve continues, Shuppim also, and Huppim, the children of Ir, and Hushim, the sons of Aher.  Matthew Henry says these were the sons of Dan, who had worshipped the golden calf instead of God.  If we want to be counted among God's people, we must not worship anything or anyone else, but must put our faith in Jesus Christ alone.  If we don't, we can never be a part of God's family, no matter who our parents may be.

1 Chronicles 6:66

1 Chronicles 6:66 says, And the residue of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their coasts out of the tribe of Ephraim.  We continue with the listing of the cities controlled by various descendants of Levi.  Verse sixty-seven adds, And they gave unto them, of the cities of refuge, Shechem in mount Ephraim with her suburbs; they gave also Gezer with her suburbs,  The cities of refuge are also listed.  Verse sixty-eight continues, And Jokmeam with her suburbs, and Bethhoron with her suburbs,  Verse sixty-nine states, And Aijalon with her suburbs, and Gathrimmon with her suburbs:  Verse seventy adds, And out of the half tribe of Manasseh; Aner with her suburbs, and Bileam with her suburbs, for the family of the remnant of the sons of Kohath.  Verse seventy-one continues, Unto the sons of Gershom were given out of the family of the half tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, and Ashtaroth with her suburbs:  Verse seventy-two says, And out of the tribe of Issachar; Kedesh with her suburbs, Daberath with her suburbs,  Verse seventy-three adds, And Ramoth with her suburbs, and Anem with her suburbs:  Verse seventy -four continues, And out of the tribe of Asher; Mashal with her suburbs, and Abdon with her suburbs,  Verse seventy-five concludes, And Hukok with her suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbs:  Verse seventy-six states, And out of the tribe of Naphtali; Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, and Hammon with her suburbs, and Kirjathaim with her suburbs.  Verse seventy-seven adds, Unto the rest of the children of Merari were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmon with her suburbs, Tabor with her suburbs:  Verse seventy- eight says,  And on the other side Jordan by Jericho, on the east side of Jordan, were given them out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the wilderness with her suburbs, and Jahzah with her suburbs, Verse seventy-nine adds, Kedemoth also with her suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs: Verse eighty states, And out of the tribe of Gad; Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, and Mahanaim with her suburbs,  Verse eighty-one adds, And Heshbon with her suburbs, and Jazer with her suburbs.  This was just a listing of the cities of the Levites throughout the tribes of Israel.  As Christians, we should have a presence throughout all the world, though we may not control any cities in some of the places.