1 Chronicles 7 · a question people ask
When were Ezer and Elead killed, and whose livestock was it?
The chapter doesn't say when. It says only that "the men of Gath who were born in the land killed" them, "because they came down to take away their livestock" (1 Chronicles 7:21), and the verse doesn't make plain who came down, or whose livestock it was (tap livestock). It calls Ephraim "their father" (1 Chronicles 7:22), after a line that runs "his son" through several names (1 Chronicles 7:20-21), and it doesn't explain how the two fit into that line. Genesis says Ephraim was born to Joseph (Genesis 41:50-52), "in the land of Egypt" (Genesis 48:5), and that "Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation" (Genesis 50:23). 1 Chronicles 7 doesn't say where Ephraim was living when his sons were killed, and these notes don't guess.
The verses
“The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to take away their livestock. Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him.”
“To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.” The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.””
“Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.”
“Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.”