Bible Commentaries
1 Chronicles 3

Introduction

A.M. 2951. B.C. 1053.

The sons of David, 1 Chronicles 3:1-9 . His successors in the throne, 1 Chronicles 3:10-16 . The remains of his family in and after the captivity, 1 Chronicles 3:17-24 .

Verse 1

1 Chronicles 3:1. Daniel This son is called Chileab, (2 Samuel 3:3,) but whether he had two names, or there be an error in one of these passages, is not possible to determine. The other alterations in names, which are found in the following verses, may be corrected by the parallel passages in Samuel. As the genealogy of Judah was given first, because the dominion was vested in that tribe, and the Messiah was to descend from it; so, for similar reasons, the genealogy of David is particularly recorded.

Verse 3

1 Chronicles 3:3. By Eglah his wife Eglah is generally thought by the Jews to be Michal, Saul’s daughter; who, some think, is peculiarly called his wife, because she was his only legal wife, according to the divine institution: all the rest he took according to the custom then reigning. See on 2 Samuel 3:5.

Verse 5

1 Chronicles 3:5. Of Bath-shua, the daugher of Ammiel In 2 Samuel 11:3, she is called Bath-sheba, as she is through the whole Scripture, and her father Eliam. Solomon was the eldest of these four sons; but is mentioned last, because the discourse was to return to his genealogy, 1 Chronicles 3:10.

Verse 8

1 Chronicles 3:8. Elishama and Eliphelet These two names are mentioned before, 1 Chronicles 3:6. It is supposed that the two children so called had died in their infancy; and therefore David preserved their memory by giving their names unto two others, who were born afterward, and lived longer. Nine Besides the four born of Bath-sheba, 1 Chronicles 3:5. There are only seven mentioned 2 Samuel 5:16, those two, who died early, being there omitted.

Verse 15

1 Chronicles 3:15. The firstborn Johanan This Johanan is thought by many to be the same with Jehoahaz, who succeeded Josiah in the throne. But it seems more probable, as he is not mentioned in the book of Kings nor elsewhere in the Scriptures, that he died before his father. The fourth Shallum Of whom, at least under that name, there is no mention in the history of the reign of Josiah’s sons in 2 Kings: but in Jer 22:11 there is mention of Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father; whom most conceive to be the same, who is otherwise called Jehoahaz, 2 Kings 23:0. And this seems most probable, 1st, From that phrase, He reigned instead of Josiah, which implies that he immediately succeeded his father, otherwise he would have been said to have reigned instead of his brother, as Zedekiah is said to have reigned instead of Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 24:17. 2d, From the order of that discourse of Jeremiah, which was directed to Zedekiah, and his servants, and people, and whom he admonisheth by the examples of the kings his predecessors, and of the sentence of God concerning each of them, and that in the order in which they reigned; of Shallum, 2 Kings 24:11, &c.; of Jehoiakim, 2 Kings 24:18, &c.; of Jechoniah or Coniah, Jeremiah 22:28. 3d, From the nature of that prophecy, Jeremiah 22:11-12, delivered concerning Shallum, which perfectly agrees to Jehoahaz, who was carried captive, not so far as Babylon, but only to Egypt, a very near country; whence the people hoped that he would speedily and easily return, or be re-established in his throne by the king of Egypt, in opposition to the king of Babylon. 4th, Because Jehoahaz was one of Josiah’s younger sons, (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Kings 23:36,) and this Shallum is here called his fourth son.

Verse 16

1 Chronicles 3:16. Zedekiah his son This was another Zedekiah. How seldom has a crown gone in a direct line, from father to son, as it did here, for seventeen generations! This was the recompense of David’s piety. About the captivity, the lineal descent was interrupted, and the crown went from a nephew to an uncle, a presage of the glory’s departing from that house.

Verse 17

1 Chronicles 3:17. The sons of Jeconiah, Assir The word אסר , Assir, means captive, or prisoner, and does not appear to be a person’s name here, but to be added to signify that Jeconiah begat his son Salathiel when he was a captive in Babylon, according to Matthew 1:12.

Verses 18-19

1 Chronicles 3:18-19. Malchiram also, and Pedaiah These were the sons of Salathiel: and there is therefore something to be supplied, to make the sense of this verse plain; namely, The sons of Salathiel were Malchiram, &c. The sons of Pedaiah, Zerubbabel, &c. But, Luke 3:27, Zerubbabel is called the son of Salathiel; and therefore he must have been the son of Pedaiah only by adoption; or else Salathiel dying without children, Pedaiah begat Zerubbabel of his wife, and so raised up seed to his brother. Thus Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah, because begotten by him, and yet the son of Salathiel, because begotten of his wife to be his heir. Shelomith their sister Sister to the last two named sons of Zerubbabel, namely, by both parents; and therefore named before the other five, (1 Chronicles 3:20,) who were her brethren by the father, but not by the mother.

Verses 21-22

1 Chronicles 3:21-22. The sons of Shechaniah All these, both parents and their sons blended together, are mentioned as the sons of Hananiah, and branches of the royal stock. Six Including the father. But the Hebrew word, shisha, which is rendered six, may be the proper name of one of the sons of Shemaiah. As the family of David was the most considerable of any of the tribe of Judah, the genealogy of his descendants was preserved with great care and exactness; and is here recorded in part, to assist us in tracing the descent of our Lord Jesus Christ from him, that we might have that proof, among others, of his being the true Messiah.