We had some account given us of Benjamin in the foregoing chapter; here we have a larger catalogue of the great men of that tribe.
1. Because of that tribe Saul came, the first king of Israel, to the story of whom the sacred writer is hastening, #1Ch 10:1.
2. Because that tribe clave to Judah, inhabited much of Jerusalem, was one of the two tribes that went into captivity, and returned back; and that story also he has an eye to, #1Ch 9:1. Here is,
I. Some of the heads of that tribe named, #1Ch 8:1-32.
II. A more particular account of the family of Saul, #1Ch 8:33-40. (MH)In this chapter the genealogy of the tribe of Benjamin is reconsidered, and several of the principal men and families in it are taken notice of, which were not before; or a further account is given of them, as of the sons and grandsons of Benjamin, #1Ch 8:1-5, of Ehud, #1Ch 8:5-7, of Shaharaim, #1Ch 8:8-11, of Elpaal and Beriah, #1Ch 8:12-18 of Shimhi, #1Ch 8:19-21, of Shashak, #1Ch 8:22-25, of Jeroham, #1Ch 8:26,27, of Jehiel the father of Gibeon, #1Ch 8:28-32, of Ner, and particularly Saul, #1Ch 8:33 and of Jonathan, and his posterity, #1Ch 8:34-40. (Gill)
V. 8, sent them away. Here we have strongly implied divorce. This is an early example of the deterioration in Israel.
V. 33, Eshbaal, man of Baal. This seems to have been the original name of Ishbosheth, 2 Samuel 2:8. Baal also means master, so could mean man of the master (God).
Meribbaal, hero of Baal, or "a warrior is Baal." Mephibesheth in 2 Samuel 4:4 could mean "one who scatters shame."