SUMMARY
The Chronicler lists the names of Ephraim’s descendants and provides the backstory of Ephraim and his family’s conflict with the people of Gath.
ANALYSIS
In the midst of listing Ephraim’s descendants, the Chronicler includes a story about the “people of Gath” (1 Chronicles 7:21) killing Ephraim’s children. The narrative begins with the mention of Ephraim’s sons: “Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead” (7:21a). The NRSVUE renders the next part of the verse: “Now the people of Gath who were born in the land killed them, because they came down to raid their cattle” (7:21b). This translation assumes that Ephraim’s sons attempted to steal cattle from Gath territory and lost their lives as a result. However, the Hebrew says that the people of Gath killed the Ephraimites because “they went down to take their cattle” (the NRSVUE’s choice of “raid” their cattle is an interpretive assumption not necessarily reflected in the Hebrew word לָקַח [laqah; to “take”]). Thus, an equally plausible understanding of the event would be that the animals that belonged to Ephraim’s sons had made their way into Gath territory and the Ephraimite owners attempted to “take” back their cattle—and were murdered as a result.
This backstory provides the rationale for a reference to Gath later in 1 Chronicles, which adds to the earlier source material in 2 SamuelThe judge who anointed the first two kings of Israel. More. According to the latter, “DavidSecond king of Israel, David united the northern and southern kingdoms. More attacked the Philistines and subdued them; David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines” (2 Samuel 8:1). In the Chronicler’s version, “David attacked the Philistines and subdued them; he took Gath (וַיִּקַּח אֶת־גַּת; va’yiqah et-gat) and its villages from the Philistines” (1 Chronicles 18:1). With this addition, 1 Chronicles underscores a poetic justice vis-à-vis the story in our current passage: Since the sons of Ephraim were met with death when they attempted to “take” their cattle from Gath, the Chronicler has David “take” Gath in the course of battle.
