(1) Adam (man) is here treated as a proper name; in Genesis 5:1-5 it is an appellative.
The Chaldeans also had a tradition of ten antediluvian patriarchs or kings, beginning with Alorus and ending with Xisuthrus (Hasis-Adra), the hero of the Flood. They made the duration of this first period of human history 432,000 years. Remembering that Abraham, the Hebrew, was from “Ur (Uru, the city) of the Chaldees,” we can hardly suppose the two accounts to be independent of each other. The comparative simplicity and, above all, the decided monotheism of the Hebrew relation, give a high probability to the assumption that it represents a more original form of the tradition.
Sheth, Enosh.—Those who have imagined the present list to be a mere duplicate of that given in Genesis 4:17 sqq., and who explain the whole by the fatally easy process of resolving all these different names into a capricious repetition of one original solar figure, are obliged to admit a difficulty in connection with the names of Sheth and Enosh, which are acknowledged “not to belong to mythology at all” (Prof. Goldziher). Considering that most Hebrew names have a distinct and intentional significance, it is obviously a mere exercise of ingenuity to invest them with a mythological character. Meanwhile, such speculations cannot possibly be verified.

(4) Shem, Ham, and Japheth.—There is no doubt that Ham means black, or sunburnt, and Japheth (Heb., Yepheth) is probably the fair-skinned. Shem has been compared with an Assyrian word meaning brownish (sa’mu). Thus the three names appear to allude to differences of racial complexion.
1 Chronicles 1:5-23 are an abridgment of Genesis 10. The proper names represent, not persons, but peoples and countries. By adding them all together, the old Jewish interpreters made a total of seventy nations for the world. The list is a classified summary of the ethnical and geographical knowledge of Hebrew antiquity.

(29) These are their generations.—Or, their genealogy or register of births. Before a personal name the term Tôldôth denotes the “births,” i.e., the posterity of the man, and the history of him and his descendants. Before the name of a thing Tôldôth signifies origin, beginnings (Genesis 2:4). The Hebrew expression sçfer tôldôth answers to the βίβλος γενέσως of Matthew 1:1. The twelve sons or tribes of Ishmael (1 Chronicles 1:29-31) are given first, in an extract from Genesis 25:13-16.
Nebaioth.—The Nabateans of Arabia Petræa, and Kedar, the Cedrei of classical writers, are named together, Isaiah 60:7. (Assyrian Naba’âta and Kidrâ’a reduced by Assurbanipal.)
Adbeel.—Both here and in Genesis the LXX. read Nabdeel. But Adbéêl is the Assyrian Idiba’îl or Idibi’îl a tribe south-west of the Dead Sea, towards Egypt; mentioned along with Massa and Tema, as paying tribute to Tiglath-pileser II.

(30) Dumah.—Isaiah 21:11, as a name of Edom. There is still a locality bearing this name, “Duma the Rocky,” on the borders of the Syrian desert and Arabia.
Hadad.—The right reading here and in Genesis.
Tema.—Taimâ’u, in the north of the Arabian desert. The LXX. confuses it with Teman. (Assyr. Têmâl’a).

(31) Jetur.—The Itureans beyond Jordan (Luke 3:1). The other names are obscure.

(32) The sons of Keturah.—An extract from Genesis 25:1-4.
Medan is very likely a mere repetition of Midian, due to a mistake of some ancient copyist. Genesis 25:3 adds, “And the sons of Dedan were Asshuriin, and Letushim, and Leummim;” which is, perhaps, an interpolation, as the three names are of a different form from the others in the section; and the chronicler would hardly have omitted them had he found them in his text.
Midian.—The most important of these tribes. The Midianites dwelt, or rather wandered, in the peninsula of Sinai.
Sheba, and Dedan.—See 1 Chronicles 1:9, where these names appear as sons of Cush. The names may have been common to different tribes settled in different regions. Sheba (Assyr. Saba’â’a) Massa, Tema, and Adbeel, are described by Tiglath-pileser as lying “on the border of the sunset lands”

(33) The five clans or tribes of Midian. These, with the seven names of 1 Chronicles 1:31, make a total of twelve tribes for Keturah.
Ephah.—Called Hâ’âpâ, or Hayâpa by Tiglath-pileser.

(34) Abraham begat Isaac.—From Genesis 25:19.
Esau and Israel.—Esau is named first, not as the elder, but because the tribes of Esau are to be first enumerated. (Comp. Note above on 1 Chronicles 1:28-42.)
Israel.—The more honourable appellation (Genesis 32:28) almost wholly supplanted Jacob as the name of the chosen people, except in poetry and prophecy. Some moderns have seen in such double names as Jacob-Israel, Esau-Edom, a trace of an ancient fusion or amalgamation of distinct races.

(39) And Timna was Lotan’s sister.—This appears to mean that the tribe settled in the town of Timna was akin to the sons of Lotan, but not a subdivision of that tribe. Towns are feminine in Hebrew, and are sometimes called mothers (2 Samuel 20:19), sometimes daughters.

(41) The sons of Anah; Dishon.—Genesis 36:25 adds, “and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah.” (Comp. 1 Chronicles 1:52, “the chiliarch of Aholibamah.”) Dishon, like Ammon or Israel, being the collective name of a number of tribes or clans, there is nothing strange in the expression, “The sons of Anah; Dishon.”

(43) Before any king reigned over the children of Israel.—Comp. Numbers 20:14-21, the message of Moses to the king of Edom, asking for a free passage for Israel through his domains. As the older people, and as having been earlier established in its permanent home, Edom was naturally a stage beyond Israel in political development. Unhappily brief as it is, this notice is very appropriately inserted here in an introduction to the history of the kings of the house of David.
Bela the son of Beor.—Curiously like “Balaam the son of Beor,” Numbers 22:5. In Hebrew, Bela and Balaam are essentially similar words, the terminal m of the latter being possibly a mere formative. (Perhaps, however, Balaam—Heb. Bil’am = “Bel is a kinsman”) comp. Eliam. The prophet whose strange story is read in Numbers 22-24 may, like Isaiah, have been of royal extraction.
Dinhabah.—Doom-giving, that is, the place where the king gave judgment (1 Samuel 8:5).

(46) Hadad.—The name of a Syrian deity, a form of the sun-god. (Comp. the royal titles, Ben-hadad and Hadadezer, 1 Chronicles 18:3, and the Note on 2 Kings 5:18.) Hadad is the same as Dadi, a Syrian title of Rimmon. Perhaps the classical Attis is equivalent to Dadis. The cry of the vintagers (hçdâd) seems to show that Hadad, like Bacchus, was regarded as the giver of the grapes (Isaiah 16:9-10).
Which smote Midian.—A glimpse of the restless feuds which prevailed from time immemorial between these tribes and peoples of kindred origin. Like the judges of Israel, the kings of Edom seem to have been raised to their position owing to special emergencies.
The field of Moab.—That is, the open country.
Avith.—Like Dinhabah, and Pai, and Masretah, unknown beyond this passage. In the Hebrew of Chron. it is spelt, Ayuth; in Genesis 36 Awith. The letters w and y have been transposed in our text.

(47) Masrekah means place of Sorek vines.

(48) Shaul.—Saul, the name of the first king of Israel.
Rehoboth by the river.—Probably the same as Rehoboth Ir in Genesis 10:11, i.e., the suburbs of Nineveh. The river is Euphrates.

(49) Baal-hanan.—Baal bestowed. (Comp. “Johanan,” Iahweh bestowed; and “Hananiah,” and “Hannibal.”) This name and that of Hadad indicate the polytheism of ancient Edom.

(50) Baal-hanan.—Some MSS. have “ben Achbor,” as in Genesis 36:39; so in 1 Chronicles 1:51. “Alvah,” of Genesis, is more correct than our “Aliah.” The Hebrew margin reads “Alvah” (Alwah).
Pai.—Many MSS. have “Pau,” the reading of Gen., which is right. Hadar (Genesis 36:39), on the other hand, is probably a mistake for Hadad.
Mehetabel.—El benefiteth. Perhaps Mehetabel was an Israelite, as no other queen of Edom is mentioned. But her name is Aramean.

(51) Hadad died also.—Rather, And Hadad died, and there were (or arose) chiliarchs of Edom, the chiliarch of Timnah, the chiliarch of Aliah, &c. This appears to state that Hadad was the last king of Edom, and that after his death the country was governed by the heads of the various clans or tribes, without any central authority. In Genesis 36:40, the sentence, “And Hadad died,” is wanting, and the transition from the kings to the chiliarchs is thus effected: “And these are the names of the chiliarchs of Esau, after their clans, after their places, by their names: the chiliarch of Timnah,” &c. The chiliarchs (‘allûphîm, from ‘eleph, a thousand) were the heads of the thousands or clans (mishpehôth) of Edom (Genesis 36:40). (See Note on 1 Chronicles 14:1.) The names in these verses are not personal, but tribal and local, as the conclusion of the account in Genesis 36:43 indicates: “These are the chiliarchs of Edom, after their seats, in the land of their domain.” Comp. the names of the sons of Esau and Seir (1 Chronicles 1:35-42). This makes it clear that Timnah and Aholibamah were towns. The king of Edom is often mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. (See Numbers 20:14; Amos 2:1-8 th cent. B.C. ; 2 Kings 3:9 - 9th cent.) According to Ewald (Hist. p. 46), the chieftains of Edom follow the list of kings, “as if David had already vanquished the last king of Edom, and put it under” merely tribal government, in subordination to himself. “The Hadad who fled very young to Egypt at David’s conquest (1 Kings 11:14-22) may have been grandson of Hadad, the last king.”

(54) These are the dukes (chiliarchs) of Edom.—Eleven names only are given, whereas there were twelve (or thirteen) chiliarchs of Edom (Genesis 36:15-19; see Note on 1 Chronicles 1:35-37). A name may have fallen out of the ancient text from which the chronicler derived the list.