And Ram begot Amminadab; and Amminadab begot Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah;
The names from Judah down to David can read like dead weight. Then you notice which ones the Spirit stops to describe. This verse holds two of them: Amminadab, and his son Nahshon, singled out as leader of the tribe of Judah.
Ram, named at the head of this verse, was not the eldest of his family. One writer compares the two brothers:
Unfruitfulness especially marks the line of Jerahmeel. He was Hezron's eldest son (v. 9), yet here he is put in last place again (v. 25). This fits what we have already seen of Chronicles in chapter 1. The features of the natural man pass down just as surely as the features of a man of faith like Caleb. The difference is that Caleb's pass down by grace. David's line does not descend from Jerahmeel, but from Ram, his younger brother (vv. 9-16).
Most of the men between Judah and David get no description at all. Nahshon is a rare exception, and the other two exceptions are remembered for their sin:
From Judah to David there is only a run of names with no distinguishing mark. There are three exceptions, and two of them stand out because of their sin. Er, whom the Lord killed; Achar, the troubler of Israel; and Nahshon, the prince of the children of Judah. Having brought the line down to David, the Holy Spirit pauses and notes the sons of Hezron other than Ram. The honoured line passed through Ram, but his natural relatives have a place in the records of Judah.
So Nahshon's title is not decoration. In a chapter where silence is the norm, the words "prince of the sons of Judah" carry the Spirit's own emphasis.
One commentator ties both names in this verse to the meaning of Judah itself:
Nahshon means "a diviner." Satan inspired some diviners, but God inspired others, and the second kind is meant here. Judah's name means "praise," and God gives the true worshipper grace to discern all things, even the future, as he takes in the word of God... Amminadab (the father of Nahshon) means "the people of the liberal giver." God is indeed the Liberal Giver. Praise and discernment of God's ways always go with knowing that God's grace freely gives us all things to enjoy.
The two men in this verse are not obscure. Their family sat at the meeting point of Israel's royal line and its priestly line:
Ram is sometimes called Aram (Matt. 1:3). Amminadab was the father of Elisheba. She married Aaron, the brother of Moses. Aaron was the first high priest of Israel, and the office then passed down through his family (Ex. 6:23). Nahshon (Naason) was the brother-in-law of Aaron (Ex. 6:23), and prince or head of the tribe of Judah (Num. 1:7; Num. 2:3; 1 Chron. 2:10). Salmon (Salma), son of Nahshon, married Rahab the prostitute and was the father of Boaz (Matt. 1:5).
Nahshon's rank showed itself in the march: his tribe went first. It also opened a door for Rahab, a woman with no claim on Israel at all:
She married Salmon (Matt. 1:5), who was the son of Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah (1 Chron. 2:11), the leader of the tribe that had marched first through the wilderness (Num. 10:14). And so she came straight into the royal line of Israel. She entered one of the most honoured families of all, and became an ancestor of the promised Messiah. She is one of the four women mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord.
Why record any of this? Because the list had a destination, and God was watching over it:
The pedigree shows the distinct line of constitutional royalty promised to the nation. The names given in it are not always those of the eldest in the family. David himself, for instance, was the seventh son of Jesse (1 Chron. 2:15). God decreed that the line of descent from Pherez would end with the Messiah. So He watched over it without a break.
- The line chosen. The royal line skips the firstborn Jerahmeel and runs through Ram, his younger brother. What passes down here passes down by grace.
- The line marked. Between Judah and David only three men get a description, and Nahshon's title, prince of Judah, is one of them.
- The line named. Amminadab means "the people of the liberal giver." Nahshon means "a diviner." Praise and discernment rest on a God who gives freely.
- The line opened. Nahshon led the tribe that marched first. Through his son Salmon, Rahab entered the royal family and the genealogy of the Lord.
- The line kept. The eldest was not always chosen. Yet God Himself guarded this line all the way to the Messiah.
and Nahshon begot Salma, and Salma begot Boaz,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.