The focal point of the genealogy is the family of Ehud; in fact, more than the family tree of the tribal patriarch Benjamin. The names listed as the descendants of Benjamin (1 Chronicles 8:1–2) and of his firstborn son Bela (1 Chronicles 8:3–5) appear to terminate on the descendants of Ehud (1 Chronicles 8:6), especially if Gera the father of Ehud
is accepted instead of Abihud (NIV footnote; RSV; NEB). Ehud’s prominence here is more easily understood if he is identified with the famous left-handed judge of the same name who slew Eglon, king of Moab (Judges 3:12–30).1 If this is the case, it is also possible that the list of names in 1 Chronicles 8:4–5, namely, Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah, and Gera, were Ehud’s sons. And after the narrative section in 1 Chronicles 8:6, some of these names are repeated in 1 Chronicles 8:7.2 The resultant linear line then presents as follows: Benjamin-Bela-Gera-Ehud-Gera, thus making 1 Chronicles 8:1–7 continuous (see diagram below). The resulting family tree, centred on Ehud, may have looked something like the diagram below.3
1 Benjamin fathered Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, Aharah the third,