The interpretation timeline

1Chr 4:23

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Jewish · 1 Methodist · 1 Catholic · 1 Lutheran

1Chr 4:23 · Douay-Rheims
“These are the potters, and they dwelt in Plantations, and Hedges, with the king for his works, and they abode there.”
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1105
A.D.
Rashi Jewish
1040–1105
“They, the potters They, Jokim, the people of Kozeba and Jashubi Lehem, were manufacturers of clay for the king’s work, and also for pots for the king’s food, and also for the priests. and the dwellers in plantations who were engaged in the king’s planting. and hedges craftsmen who made stone fences for the king’s work. with the king The meaning is that the king stationed them in those towns because they were doing his work. An example (in Mishpatim) concerning a borrower (Exod. 22:14): “But if its owner was with it, he shall not pay,” i.e., with it, in its work.”
Source
727 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1832
A.D.
Adam Clarke Methodist
1762–1832
“These were the potters - "These are the disciples of the law, for whose sake the world was created; who preside in judgment, and establish the world; and they build and perfect the fallen down house of Israel: they dwelt there with the Shechinah of the King of the world, in the study of the law and the intercalation or months, and determining the commencement of years and festivals: and they computed the times from heaven in the days of Ruth, the mother of kingdoms, to the days of Solomon the king." - T. I am afraid this paraphrase gives us as little light as the text itself, which speaks of potters, and those who dwelt among plants and hedges. They were probably brickmakers; perhaps potters also, who had their dwelling in low grounds, and fabricated the clay into pots and bricks that was digged up in forming fences in the king's domains.”
Source
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“Potters. Hebrew yotserim, may also designate some family, as it seems improbable that the princes, in Moab, should be reduced to so mean a condition. But we have many examples of such a fall; (Haydock) and it is supposed, that these descendants of Sela were employed by the king of Babylon, at Nethaim and Gadera. (Calmet) — Hedges. These are the proper names of the places where they dwelt. In Hebrew, Netahim and Gedera. (Challoner) — Septuagint, “Ataim and Gadera.” (Haydock) — The correct Roman edition of the Vulgate prints these words, plantationibus et Sepibus, with large letters, to imply as much. (Menochius) — King; David. (Sa) (Menochius) — Many of the tribe of Juda attended David, while he was forced to flee before Saul, and to hide himself in unfrequented places. Some of them might be these Yotserim, or they might follow the profession of potters. (Haydock) — “With the king they were powerful in his kingdom, and dwelt there.” (Septuagint) (Haydock) — The Vulgate often gives the meaning of proper names. (Du Hamel)”
Source
1875
A.D.
Keil & Delitzsch Lutheran
1861–1875
“These were the potters,.... Or are the potters; the posterity of those men, who were so famous in their day, are now of mean employments: some of them made earthen pots; and some of them dwelt among plants and hedges; or were employed in planting gardens and orchards, and making fences for them; or, as others think, "dwelt in Netaim and Gadara", cities in the tribe of Judah: there they dwelt with the king for his work; to make pots, plant gardens, and set hedges for him; either for the king of Judah, or it may be for the king of Babylon, where they were carried captive, and now chose to remain, doing those servile works for the king, without the city, in the fields.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.