And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead.
This verse stands in the genealogies of Chronicles, in the lists of the sons of Judah, and it records that Segub was the father of Jair and that Jair possessed twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. These genealogical records furnished proof of hereditary descent. Such proof was needed after the exile for assigning land to its hereditary owners and for maintaining the temple service through those whose duty it was to perform it.
Genealogical and historical details of this kind belong to the inspired Bible. Even when their value is not at once clear to every reader, they can interest scholars who study the origin and distribution of peoples. The persons named in these lists were ordinary people who lived out their lives and died thousands of years ago and are now unknown, some prosperous and some failures as ordinary people are. God remembers every one of them by name, though people forgot them long ago. Because God is unchanging He keeps each name laid away safe and sure in His lists, and that gives comfort when one is downhearted.
This verse stands in the genealogies of Chronicles, in the lists of the sons of Judah, and it records that Segub was the father of Jair and that Jair possessed twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. These genealogical records furnished proof of hereditary descent. Such proof was needed after the exile for assigning land to its hereditary owners and for maintaining the temple service through those whose duty it was to perform it.
Genealogical and historical details of this kind belong to the inspired Bible. Even when their value is not at once clear to every reader, they can interest scholars who study the origin and distribution of peoples. The persons named in these lists were ordinary people who lived out their lives and died thousands of years ago and are now unknown, some prosperous and some failures as ordinary people are. God remembers every one of them by name, though people forgot them long ago. Because God is unchanging He keeps each name laid away safe and sure in His lists, and that gives comfort when one is downhearted.