📖WEB · 1 Chronicles 5:12
What does 1 Chronicles 5:12 mean?
"Joel the chief, Shapham the second, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan."
— 1 Chronicles 5:12 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
and he lived eastward even to the entrance of the wilderness from the river Euphrates, because their livestock were multiplied in the land of Gilead.
In the days of Saul, they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hand; and they lived in their tents throughout all the land east of Gilead.
The sons of Gad lived over against them, in the land of Bashan to Salecah:
Joel the chief, Shapham the second, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan.
Their brothers of their fathers’ houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber, seven.
These were the sons of Abihail, the son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz;
Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of their fathers’ houses.
Explanation
First Chronicles 5:12 is a simple genealogical notice. It names four men — Joel, Shapham, Janai, and Shaphat — and tells us that Joel was the leading figure among them, Shapham was second in rank, and that this group was located "in Bashan," a fertile region east of the Jordan River known for good pastureland. On the surface it reads like a bare list of names, but within its context it is doing real historical work: identifying the leadership structure of a particular clan living in a particular place.
The verse sits within 1 Chronicles 5, a chapter devoted to the genealogies of the tribes that settled east of the Jordan — Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
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