and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,
Three names, three peoples out of Canaan's line, sit in a chapter that runs from Adam to Israel with no story attached. Why does the Spirit of God record the family lines of nations Israel would later have to drive out? And why do they come first, before the chosen line?
Nature first, then grace
The order of 1 Chronicles 1 is deliberate. Ham's families, including Canaan's sons in this verse, come before the line of promise. One commentator sees a rule of Scripture in that order.
William KellyIt is clear, then, that the Spirit of God presents these things on purpose. Nothing here is loose or random. There is a plan... "it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual." We find the same thing here. Japheth and Ham, with their sons, come before us first, and Shem and the line of God's promise in Shem come after... God's purposes ripen last. God lets the world take its own way, and the world exalts men on the earth. God means to exalt the Man who humbled Himself.
Three peoples, three histories
These are not empty names. Each of the three appears again in Israel's later story, and each one ends differently.
William KellyThe Jebusites held Jerusalem. Joshua defeated them, but no one drove them out until David. The Amorites lived in the hill country of Judah, and they also spread east. When those Amorites fell or were driven out, the two and a half tribes settled east of the Jordan. The Girgashites disappeared from view.
The Girgashites are the least known of the three.
Morrish Bible DictionaryA people established early in Canaan, the origin of whom is not known, except that they were descended from Canaan.
Why God counts them at all
The Canaanite branches get more detail than the other nations in the list. There is a reason for that care.
William KellyThe notes on the Canaanite families are fuller, because God had His people in view. It was their duty to carry out judgment and take the promised land from these peoples. They might be "spread abroad" or scattered, and seem to flourish for a time. Still the curse was on them. It rested on them from the first on moral grounds. At last it grew heavier through outrages against God and man, which in His eyes called for them to be wiped out.
What the names mean
The Amorites were the strongest and most corrupt of these peoples, so their name sometimes stands for all the Canaanites (Morrish Bible Dictionary). Put together, the meanings of the three names read like a list of what keeps a believer from what God has given.
Samuel RidoutThe Girgashites are "dwellers in clay." Sadly, we settle down in the dust of the earth instead of rising to our heavenly portion. The Amorite is "the talker," rather than the doer of the Word... and the Jebusite is "the treader down," who never rests until every divine thing lies under his feet. All these must be cast out. We must refuse any alliance with them.
The Jebusite and the city
The Jebusites outlasted the other two, and they held Jerusalem itself.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe oldest name was Salem. The Jebusites called it Jebus (Judges 19:10). After David conquered it, the old name came back and the city became known as Jerusalem ("habitation of peace")... David took the stronghold. Jebusite means "the one who treads down." That recalls the words of our Lord: "Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Luke 21:24).
What Chronicles leaves out
Genesis gives the borders of these families; Chronicles gives only the names. The silence is not carelessness.
H. L. RossierGenesis 10 deals with how the nations spread over the earth. Those details would serve no purpose for the aim of the book we are now considering. For the same reason, this book says nothing at all about the borders of the Canaanites in Genesis 10:18-20, or about the borders of the sons of Joktan.
Behind that silence lies a larger principle.
H. L. RossierGod does not come back to it. He cannot use the "natural man" in any way. From now on that man is left to himself, with no connection or relationship to God. So he makes room for a line chosen by grace, according to God's eternal purposes.
Summary
- Listed — Canaan's branches come before the chosen line. Scripture's order is the natural first, then the spiritual.
- Cursed — God describes these families in unusual detail because Israel had to drive them out. The curse rested on them on moral grounds.
- Named — "dwellers in clay," "the talker," "the treader down." The names picture what keeps us from our inheritance, and every alliance with them must be refused.
- Conquered — the Girgashites vanished, the Amorites were pushed east, and the Jebusites held Jerusalem until David took the stronghold.
- Closed — once the natural line is recorded, God does not return to it. The ground is clear for a line chosen by grace.