Bible Commentaries
1 Chronicles 2

Verses 1-17

From Israel to Jesse

v. 1. These are the sons of Israel, that Isaiah of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the bearer of the Messianic promise: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, the six sons of Leah,

v. 2. Dan, the older son of Rachel's maid, Joseph and Benjamin, the two sons of Rachel, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, the remaining sons of the handmaids.

v. 3. The sons of Judah, who became the bearer of the Messianic promise, Genesis 49:10; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, which three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua, the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the Lord; and He slew him, Genesis 38:7.

v. 4. And Tamar, his daughter-in-law, bare him Pharez and Zerah, Genesis 38:29-30. All the sons of Judah were five.

v. 6. And the sons of Zerah, also known as Ezra, 1 Kings 4:31: Zimri (or Zabdi ), and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara (or Darda), five of them in all. The entire family was known for the wisdom of its members, and for their skill in poetry and music, whence they were even called the sons of Mahol, that is, of musical lore.

v. 7. And the sons of Carmi: Achar (or Achan), the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed, Joshua 6:18; Joshua 7:1.

v. 9. The sons also of Hezron that were born unto him: Jerahmeel, and Ram (or Aram), and Chelubai (or Caleb).

v. 10. And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah, Numbers 1:7;

v. 11. and Nahshon begat Salma (or Salmon), and Salma begat Boaz,

v. 12. and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse. Cf Ruth 4:18-22.

v. 13. And Jesse begat his first-born, Eliab; and Abinadab, the second; and Shimma (or Shammah), the third;

v. 15. Ozem, the sixth; David, the seventh, only seven sons being mentioned here instead of the eight of 1 Samuel 16:10; 1 Samuel 17:12, because one of the younger sons seems to have died before reaching maturity and leaving children ;

v. 16. whose sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah, the nephews of David: Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.

v. 17. And Abigail bare Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite, 2 Samuel 17:25. Thus the family of David was shown to go back directly to Judah, a fact which sets forth his importance in the Messianic story.

Verses 18-55

The Genealogy of Caleb

v. 18. And Caleb, the son of Hezron, v. 9, begat children of Azubah, his wife, and of Jerioth, who seems to have been a secondary wife, whose children were reckoned as those of Azubah; her sons are these: Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.

v. 19. And when Azubah, his rightful spouse, was dead, Caleb took unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur.

v. 21. And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, grandson of Joseph and chief of that city east of Jordan, with its adjacent territory, whom he married when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub.

v. 22. And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead, Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 13:30; 1 Kings 4:13. On his father's side Jair belonged to the tribe of Judah, but on the side of his mother he was rightly called a son of Manasseh.

v. 23. And he took Geshur and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, from the heathen inhabitants, Numbers 32:39-41, with Kenath and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged to the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead, Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 13:30.

v. 24. And after that Hezron was dead in Caleb-ephratah, probably the same as was afterward called Bethlehem-ephratah, then Abiah, Hezron's wife, bare him Ashur, the father of Tekoa, a posthumous son, chief of this little town south of Bethlehem, later the home of Amos, the prophet.

v. 31. And the sons of Appaim: Ishi. And the sons of Ishi: Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan, the name of only one daughter being mentioned, since his sons were evidently not living at his death and had no issue: Ahlai.

v. 33. And the sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. This traces the genealogy in one branch of the family.

v. 34. Now Sheshan, the son of Ishi, v. 31. had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.

v. 35. And Sheshan gave his daughter, very likely the Ahlai named in v. 31. to Jarha, his servant, who doubtless had embraced the Jewish faith and was now adopted into the tribe of Judah, to wife; and she bare him Attai.

v. 42. Now the sons of Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel, those of his third wife, were Mesha, his first-born, which was the father of Ziph, and the sons of Mareshah, the father of Hebron.

v. 45. And the son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur. Maon founded a city named after him, and then founded the colony of Beth-zur.

v. 46. And Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bare Haran, and Mozah, and Gazez; and Haran begat Gazez. The last sentence is either a fuller explanation of the foregoing words, or indicates that son and grandson bore the same name.

v. 49. She bare also Shaaph, the father of Madmannah, Sheva, the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsa, Joshua 15:17.

v. 50. These were the sons of Caleb, who himself was a son of Hezron, v. 18, the son of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah: Shobal, the father of Kirjath-jearim; he founded this old Gibeonite town, formerly the heathen Baalah, in the northwest corner of Judah;

v. 51. Salma, the father, the founder or chief, of Bethlehem; Hareph, the father of Beth-gader, formerly known as Geder, Joshua 12:13.

v. 52. And Shobal, the father of Kirjath-jearim, had sons: Haroeh (or Reaiah) and half of the Manahethites, his descendants making up half of the inhabitants of the town Manahath, near the border of Judah, toward Dan.

v. 53. And the families of Kirjath-jearim: the Ithrites, and the Puhites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites, four leading families of that territory; of them came the Zareathites and the Eshtaulites.

v. 54. The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, the people of Netophah, near Bethlehem, Ataroth, the house of Joab, another town, whose location, however, is unknown, and half of the Manahethites, the other half, Cf v. 52, the Zorites, of the border city of Zorah.

v. 55. And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez, either church or state officers belonging to the Kenite clan: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites, these words describing the functions of the three classes of scribes, all connected with divine worship, chiefly the liturgical part. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, people settling in Judah and thereby distinguished from the Kenite clan in Manasseh, the father of the house of Rechab, for the Rechabites were well known among the Jews. So wonderfully did the Lord bless the posterity of Caleb on account of his faithful stand for Jehovah in the wilderness, when ten of the spies Alled the hearts of the people with fear, Numbers 14:24.