And they made war with the Hagarites,.... Before mentioned, 1 Chronicles 5:19 with Jetur, and Nephish: with the posterity of these men, who were sons of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15 and so was Nodab; perhaps the same with Kedemah, mentioned along with the other two there; so Hillerus (z) thinks. (z) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 554.
And they were helped against them,.... The Israelites were helped against the Ishmaelites, to fight with them, and overcome them; either by their brethren of the house of Israel, as the Targum, those on this side Jordan; or rather by the Lord, to whom they cried, and who was entreated by them as follows: and the Hagarites were delivered into their...
And they took away their cattle,.... Which they brought with them, and they found in their camp when they fled, or in their fields: of their camels fifty thousand; with which Arabia abounded, and were fit to travel with in those hot and desert countries, being strong to carry burdens, and able to bear much thirst. The Arabians, as Diodorus Siculus...
For there fell down many slain,.... Many were killed in the battle, besides the great number of prisoners made, so that the army the Ishmaelites brought into the field was very great: because the war was of God; or from the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; he stirred up the Israelites to it, directed, assisted, and succeeded them, that vengeance...
And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land,.... Not in the land of the Hagarites, but in the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond Jordan, given them by Moses. The writer, having reckoned the genealogies of some of the principal men of Reuben and Gad, proceeds to give a short account of some principal men in this half tribe: they...
And these were the heads of the house of their fathers,.... Some of the principal men of this half tribe: even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel; but of none of these we read elsewhere, excepting Hepher and Azriel, Numbers 26:31 mighty men of valour, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers;...
And they transgressed against the God their fathers,.... Against his law, will, word, and ordinances, not only the half tribe of Manasseh, hut the Reubenites and Gadites also: and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them; that is, committed idolatry, which is spiritual fornication or whoredom;...
And the God of Israel,.... The Targum is, "the word of the God of Israel:'' stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria: in the times of Menahem king of Israel: and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser; in the times of Pekah king of Israel, to invade the land, and make war in it: and he carried them away: not the former, but the latter: even the...