Maachah, Caleb's concubine,.... Another concubine of his:

bare Sheber, and Tirhanah; or of whom Caleb begot those two; for the verb is masculine; so Kimchi.

Another concubine of Caleb was called Maachah, a not uncommon woman's name; cf. 1 Chronicles 3:2; 1 Chronicles 7:16; 1 Chronicles 8:29; 1 Chronicles 11:43, etc. She bore Sheber and Tirhanah, names quite unknown. The masc. ילד instead of the fem. ילדה, 1 Chronicles 2:46, is to be explained by the supposition that the father who begat was present to the mind of the writer. 1 Chronicles 2:49. Then she bore also Shaaph (different from the Shaaph in 1 Chronicles 2:47), the father of Madmannah, a city in the south of Judah, perhaps identical with Miniay or Minieh, southwards from Gaza (see on Joshua 15:31). Sheva (David's Sopher scribe is so called in the Keri of 2 Samuel 20:25), the father of Machbenah, a village of Judah not further mentioned, and of Gibea, perhaps the Gibeah mentioned in Joshua 15:57, in the mountains of Judah, or the village Jeba mentioned by Robinson, Palest. ii. p. 327, and Tobler, Dritte Wanderung, S. 157f., on a hill in the Wady Musurr (vide on Joshua 15:57). This list closes with the abrupt remark, "and Caleb's daughter was Achsah." This notice can only refer to the Achsah so well known in the history of the conquest of the tribal domain of Judah, whom Caleb had promised, and gave as a reward to the conqueror of Debir (Joshua 15:16.; Judges 1:12); otherwise in its abrupt form it would have no meaning. Women occur in the genealogies only when they have played an important part in history. Since, however, the father of this Achsah was Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who was about forty years old when the Israelites left Egypt, while our Caleb, on the contrary, is called in 1 Chronicles 2:42 the brother of Jerahmeel, and is at the same time designated son of Hezron, the son of Pharez (1 Chronicles 2:9), these two Calebs cannot be one person: the son of Hezron must have been a much older Caleb than the son of Jephunneh. The older commentators have consequently with one voice distinguished the Achsah mentioned in our verse from the Achsah in Joshua 15:16; while Movers, on the contrary (Chron. S. 83), would eliminate from the text, as a later interpolation, the notice of the daughter of Caleb. Bertheau, however, attempts to prove the identity of Caleb the son of Hezron with Caleb the son of Jephunneh. The assertion of Movers is so manifestly a critical tour de force, that it requires no refutation; but neither can we subscribe to Bertheau's view. He is, indeed, right in rejecting Ewald's expedient of holding that 1 Chronicles 2:18-20 and 1 Chronicles 2:45-50 are to be referred to Chelubai, and 1 Chronicles 2:42-49 to a Caleb to be carefully distinguished from him; for it contradicts the plain sense of the words, according to which both Chelubai, 1 Chronicles 2:9, and Caleb, 1 Chronicles 2:18 and 1 Chronicles 2:42, is the son of Hezron and the brother of Jerahmeel. But what he brings forward against distinguishing Caleb the father of Achsah, 1 Chronicles 2:49, from Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel, 1 Chronicles 2:42, is entirely wanting in force. The reasons adduced reduce themselves to these: that Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the conqueror and possessor of Hebron, might well be called in the genealogical language, which sometimes expresses geographical relations, the son of Hezron, along with Ram and Jerahmeel, as the names Ram and Jerahmeel certainly denote families in Judah, who, originally at least, dwelt in other domains than that of Caleb; and again, that the individual families as well as the towns and villages in these various domains may be conceived of as sons and descendants of those who represent the great families of the tribe, and the divisions of the tribal territory. But we must deny the geographical signification of the genealogies when pressed so far as this: for valid proofs are entirely wanting that towns are represented as sons and brothers of other towns; and the section 1 Chronicles 2:42-49 does not treat merely, or principally, of the geographical relations of the families of Judah, but in the first place, and in the main, deals with the genealogical ramifications of the descendants and families of the sons of Judah. It by no means follows, because some of these descendants are brought forward as fathers of cities, that in 1 Chronicles 2:42-49 towns and their mutual connection are spoken of; and the names Caleb, Ram, and Jerahmeel do not here denote families, but are the names of the fathers and chiefs of the families which descended from them, and dwelt in the towns just named. We accordingly distinguish Caleb, whose daughter was called Achsah, and whose father was Jephunneh (Joshua 15:16.), from Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel and the son of Hezron. but we explain the mention of Achsah as daughter of Caleb, at the end of the genealogical lists of the persons and families descended by concubines from Caleb, by the supposition that the Caleb who lived in the time of Moses, the son of Jephunneh, was a descendant of an older Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel. But it is probable that the Caleb in 1 Chronicles 2:49 is the same who is called in 1 Chronicles 2:42 the brother of Jerahmeel, and whose descendants are specified 1 Chronicles 2:42-49; and we take the word בּת, "daughter," in its wider sense, as signifying a later female descendant, because the father of the Achsah so well known from Joshua 15:16. is also called son of Jephunneh in the genealogy, 1 Chronicles 4:15.

Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bare Sheber, and Tirhanah.

2:1-55 Genealogies. - We are now come to the register of the children of Israel, that distinguished people, who were to dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations. But now, in Christ, all are welcome to his salvation who come to him; all have equal privileges according to their faith in him, their love and devotedness to him. All that is truly valuable consists in the favour, peace, and image of God, and a life spent to his glory, in promoting the welfare of our fellow-creatures.