46:9 The sons of Reuben:
Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
6:14 1 These are the heads of their fathers’ households: 2
The sons 3 of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans 4 of Reuben.
26:5 Reuben was the firstborn of Israel. The Reubenites: from 5 Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; from Pallu, the family of the Palluites; 26:6 from Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; from Carmi, the family of the Carmites. 26:7 These were the families of the Reubenites; and those numbered of them were 43,730. 6 26:8 Pallu’s descendant 7 was Eliab. 26:9 Eliab’s descendants were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. It was Dathan and Abiram who as leaders of the community rebelled against Moses and Aaron with the followers 8 of Korah when they rebelled against the Lord.
1 sn This list of names shows that Moses and Aaron are in the line of Levi that came to the priesthood. It helps to identify them and authenticate them as spokesmen for God within the larger history of Israel. As N. M. Sarna observes, “Because a genealogy inherently symbolizes vigor and continuity, its presence here also injects a reassuring note into the otherwise despondent mood” (Exodus [JPSTC], 33).
2 tn The expression is literally “the house of their fathers.” This expression means that the household or family descended from a single ancestor. It usually indicates a subdivision of a tribe, that is, a clan, or the subdivision of a clan, that is, a family. Here it refers to a clan (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 46).
3 tn Or “descendants.”
4 tn Or “families,” and so throughout the genealogy.
5 tc The Hebrew text has no preposition here, but one has been supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. vv. 23, 30, 31, 32.
6 sn The Reubenites had decreased from 46,500 to 43,730.
7 tc The MT has “and the sons of Pallu.”
8 tn Or “company” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); Heb “congregation.”