and printers, as all the more accurate MSS and the better printed copies have עוה; see De Rossi, Variae Lectt. ad h. l. The locality עוּה or עיּה is certainly met with nowhere else, but, if we may judge by Jos 16:6 and Jos 17:17, is to be sought not far from Shechem in a north-western direction, perhaps on the site of the there mentioned Michmethah, the position of which has, however, not yet been ascertained.
Verse 29
According to Jos 17:11, the Manassites had received the four cities here named, lying within the territory of Issachar and Asher. This is attested also by על־ידי בני מ, to the hands, i.e., in possession of the sons of Manasseh. As to its position, see Jos 17:11. These cities formed the boundaries on the extreme north, of the dwellings “of the sons of Joseph,” i.e., of the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
Verse 30
1Ch 7:30The sons and several families of Asher. - 1Ch 7:30. The names of the four sons of Asher and that of their sister coincide with the statement of Gen 46:17; but in Num 26:44-47, on the contrary, the name Ishuai does not occur among the families of Asher.
Verses 31-34
The sons of Beriah, Heber and Malchiel, are also to be found in Gen 46:17 and Num 26:45 as the heads of two families; but the further statement, “he (i.e., Malchiel) the father of Birzavith,” is found only here. How ברזות, the Kethibh, is to be pronounced, cannot be with certainty determined. Gesen. in Thes. p. 239 makes it בּרזות, and considers the word to be the name of a woman; Bertheau, on the contrary conjectures that it is a compound of בר = בּאר and זית, “well of the olive-tree,” and so the name of a place. In 1Ch 7:32-34 the descendants of Heber are enumerated in three generations, which are mentioned nowhere else. In 1Ch 7:32 we have four sons and one daughter. The name יפלט is not to be connected with יפלטי, Jos 16:3, “because a family of Asher is not to be sought for in the neighbourhood there referred to” (Berth.). In 1Ch 7:33 we have four sons of Japhlet, and in 1Ch 7:34 the sons of his brother Shemer. It is somewhat remarkable that שׁומר, 1Ch 7:32, is called here שׁמר. אחי is not an appellative, but a proper name, as the ו before the following name shows; cf. another Ahi in 1Ch 5:15. For יחבּה we should read וחבּה.
Verses 35-39
Descendants of Helem-in 1Ch 7:35 sons, in 1Ch 7:36-38 grandsons.
As Helem is called אהיו, “his brother” (i.e., the brother of the Shemer mentioned in 1Ch 7:34), הלם would seem to be the third son of Heber, who is called in 1Ch 7:32 חותם. If so, one of the two names must have resulted from an error in transcription;
