Jeiel (Father of Gibeon)

Biblical Record

Jeiel is a member of the tribe of Benjamin who is introduced in 1 Chronicles 9:35 as "the father of Gibeon." Here "father" is understood to mean the chief who founded or led the town. He lived in Gibeon, and his wife's name was Maachah. According to 1 Chronicles 9:36–39, his firstborn son was Abdon, and his other sons were Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth. The passage goes on to state that Ner begat Kish and Kish begat Saul, which makes Jeiel the great-grandfather of King Saul in the Chronicler's genealogy. Scripture records none of his deeds or words.

The same information appears in 1 Chronicles 8:29. In the Hebrew Masoretic Text, however, this verse reads only "the father of Gibeon" without a name, and many translations reportedly supply the name Jeiel on the basis of 9:35.

Significance Within Scripture

Chronicles presents the genealogy of Saul's family twice, in chapters 8 and 9. The genealogy in chapter 9 leads into the account of Saul's death in chapter 10 and serves as a bridge to the narrative of the dynasty of David that follows. Placed at the head of this genealogy, Jeiel links Saul's family to the region of Gibeon. Jeiel does not appear in the New Testament; Acts 13:21 refers to Saul only as "the son of Cis" (that is, Kish).

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

1 Samuel 9:1 identifies Kish as the son of Abiel, and 1 Samuel 14:51 lists both Kish and Ner as sons of Abiel. In 1 Chronicles 9:36 and 9:39, by contrast, Kish and Ner appear as sons of Jeiel, and Ner in turn begets Kish. Several interpretations have been proposed to account for this difference:

• Abiel and Jeiel are different names for the same person.
• Kish the son of Jeiel (Ner's brother) and Kish the son of Ner (Saul's father) are two different people.
• The genealogy omits or compresses generations.

None of these views can be settled from the text alone. Additional stories told about Jeiel's life have no basis in Scripture.

Other People with the Same Name

The Korean Revised Version also uses this name for several other people:

• A chief among the descendants of Reuben (1 Chronicles 5:7)
• One of David's mighty men, a son of Hothan the Aroerite (1 Chronicles 11:44)
• A Levite gatekeeper and harpist appointed when the ark of the covenant was brought up (1 Chronicles 15:18, 15:21, 16:5); the name appears twice in 1 Chronicles 16:5
• An ancestor of Jahaziel, of the sons of Asaph (2 Chronicles 20:14)
• A scribe who mustered the army in the days of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:11)
• A chief of the Levites who provided offerings for the Passover in the days of King Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:9)
• One of the sons of Nebo who put away their foreign wives (Ezra 10:43)

In the Korean Church

Jeiel is rarely treated as a subject in his own right in sermons or Sunday school. Church members usually encounter the name while reading the genealogies of 1 Chronicles during reading through the Bible or when the background of Saul's family is being explained.