The sons of Pherez Hezron and Hamul.
This verse is a single link in a chain: it names two sons of Perez, and the list runs on from here toward David. The names look bare, yet commentators find in them both the shame of the family they come from and the purpose of God that runs through it.
The chapter does not linger over Judah's family for its own sake. It moves fast, and the speed itself says what the book is about.
God's people are now in view. Not all Abraham's sons, not all Isaac's sons, but of Israel's sons, not one is left out... even the people themselves get little notice until the KING appears. So the account runs quickly from Judah the son of Israel to David (verses 3-15). The account gives just enough of the king's line of descent to show that he is of the tribe of Judah... Of the twelve sons of Israel, Judah takes first place. This is not to tell us about Judah, but about Him who came from Judah — the KING first, and afterwards the children of the Kingdom.
Perez came from Judah by Tamar — a history no family would advertise. Put the names of this short list side by side, and two things stand out at once.
Only a list of names from Judah to David! But can we find anywhere in the book of God a space this short that holds so much? On one side, grace and God's unchanging purpose. On the other, the vileness of man's nature. ... Like Judah himself, married to a Canaanite woman, take Er, Tamar, Perez — what vileness and shame! There is a Hezron and a Boaz, and with them greatness and godliness. But there is also an Achan, marked out as "the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing devoted to destruction."
One writer reads the whole later history of Judah out of the meaning of Perez's name.
Shelah is fruitful, but Tamar's seed much more. From that seed Perez, the "breaker forth," breaks out into abundant fruit, and that fruit fills up all the later history of Judah. From this line come her kings, and her great King. Twin with Perez comes Zerah, the [sun] rise. From him come later singers, such as Ethan, and warriors, such as Shammah, Sibbechai, and Maharai, stout defenders of the throne.
Another writer notes that this "breaking through" and "rising up" come at one of the darkest moments in human history. He sees a sign that God had "another order of manhood in view, a generation which should reach its climax in the Beloved, in David."
The verse names only two families of Perez. One writer weighs both names for meaning.
Two families of Perez have special mention: Hezron ("enclosure"?), and Hamul ("compassionate"). They may represent two tendencies that easily come into conflict with each other, though they should not. Their true meaning shows when the two are joined.
The question mark is the writer's own — he is offering a suggestion, not a settled reading. Other lists of name meanings give "Hezron — walled in" and "Hamul — one who has been pitied."
These two names appear again in the record of the going down to Egypt. There one writer explains why they belong on the list at all.
The historian stops at Zerah and adds an extra note. Er and Onan were on the list of sons, but they did not go down to Egypt — they died before. And Perez's sons were Hezron and Hamul. They are looked at as filling up the breach... Er and Onan never got down, for they died, and Perez had two sons, who are counted in to supply their place.
Two sons of Judah died out of the line, and two sons of Perez take their place. The care behind these records had a purpose far beyond the family itself:
These family records were kept wonderfully, yes divinely. They were kept so that the title of Jesus of Nazareth to the throne might be established both in law and in nature: by law the Son of Joseph, by birth the Son of Mary.
- Shame. The short run of names from Judah to David holds grace and human vileness together — Judah, Tamar, Perez on one side, Hezron and Boaz on the other.
- Breach. Er and Onan died out of the line; Hezron and Hamul are counted in as "filling up the breach," supplying their place.
- Breaking through. Perez means "breaker forth," and from him the line breaks out into abundant fruit that fills the rest of Judah's history.
- Purpose. The chapter barely notices the people until the king appears: Judah is named not for his own sake, but for Him who came from Judah.
- Title. These records were divinely kept so that Jesus of Nazareth could be shown the rightful heir to the throne, by law and by birth.
And the sons of Zerah Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara five of them in all.
The verse lists five sons of Zerah. At first glance they add nothing. Zerah was the twin brother of Perez, and Judah's kings come through Perez's line, not his. Yet four of these five names turn up again at the height of Israel's glory, in the one place where Scripture measures human wisdom against Solomon's.
The genealogies of Chronicles are not laid out by birth order but by God's plan, and Judah is given the most room.
Here too the sons of Israel are named first in their natural birth order. But it is the sons of Judah who are set before us in detail in this chapter — not the sons of Reuben, nor of Simeon. The object of the book is God's purpose. Judah was the tribe chosen first for the kingdom, and chosen with the Messiah in view. So we can understand why his sons are traced out first, and at great length.
Four of these names appear again in 1 Kings 4:31, among the wise men Solomon surpassed. There they are called sons of Mahol. One dictionary entry on Mahol weighs the two lists:
A man whose sons were famous for their wisdom, though Solomon's wisdom surpassed theirs. 1 Kings 4:31. Four men with similar names appear in 1 Chr. 2:6 as sons of Zerah. These four are possibly the same men, the word 'son' meaning grandson in one of the passages.
Ethan and Heman also carry a title in 1 Kings and in the psalm headings: Ezrahite.
A title given to Ethan and Heman. 1 Kings 4:31; Psalms 88 and 89, titles. It appears to be another form of Zarhite.
Two of the five left something behind. Commentators generally assign Psalm 88 to Heman and Psalm 89 to Ethan, though some hold it more cautiously than others. Taken that way, the two psalms are read as two halves of one lesson.
This is the wisdom these two men of God teach us. One shows the system of the law, which ends in the curse and the darkness of death. The other shows the system of grace, which rests on the Person of the True David and ends in eternal glory. The first proclaims the end of the old man; the second, the endless reign of the new man.
Ethan's psalm rests everything on what God has promised.
In Psalm 89 the wisdom of Ethan instructs us. What does this other wise man speak of? Of grace! This Psalm is about the unchangeable promises of God and the sure mercies of David. The people's relationship to God on the basis of the covenant of grace made with David leads to this: "Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness" — in the heavens, where nothing shall ever touch it.
Calcol and Dara are different. Writers also spell them Chalcol and Darda. They were famous enough to serve as a yardstick, yet the record about them stops at the name.
As to the other two men, Chalcol and Darda, we find no record of anything they did or wrote. Yet they were clearly well known in the time of Solomon, whose wisdom went beyond all of these.
Zerah's name means "sunrise." Two kinds of men come from his line.
Shelah is fruitful, but Tamar's children much more so. Among them Pharez, the "breaker forth," breaks out into a vast crowd of descendants, who fill up all the later history of Judah. From him come Judah's kings, and her great King. Twin with Pharez comes Zerah, or the sunrise. From him come singers later on, such as Ethan, and warriors, such as Shammah, Sibbechai and Maharai, strong defenders of the throne.
These names are more than ancestry. They stand in a record God Himself keeps.
He records at the same time the names of those who had gone through the trials of this history without being blotted out of the book… The Spirit of God also goes farther back. He gives us the genealogy from Adam of the generation blessed by grace according to the sovereignty of God.
- Recorded for purpose. Judah gets the longest list in these chapters. The kingdom, and the Messiah, come through him. The order follows God's plan, not birth.
- Recorded twice. Four of Zerah's five sons surface again as wise men Solomon surpassed. The title "Ezrahite" ties them back to Zerah's family.
- Recorded in song. The psalm headings give Psalm 88 to Heman and Psalm 89 to Ethan. One ends in the darkness of law and death, the other in grace built on the true David.
- Recorded in silence. Calcol and Dara left nothing but their names, and that was enough for God to keep them.
- Recorded by grace. These names were not blotted out of God's book. Grace keeps a record that runs all the way back to Adam.
And the sons of Carmi Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the accursed thing.
1 Chronicles 2 lists the family line from Judah to David, Israel's king. In the middle of it one man carries a title no parent would choose — so what did he take, and where can such a life end?
One writer notes how much is packed into so little space:
Only a list of names from Judah to David! But is there anywhere in the whole book of God a space as brief as this? It holds so much of grace and of God's unchanging purpose on the one side, and so much of the vileness of man's nature on the other. … Names renowned in the world and honoured among men? No — names tied to the worst corruption, to disobedience to God and dishonour to His name. Like Judah himself married to a Canaanite woman; take Er, Tamar, Perez — what vileness and shame! There is a Hezron and a Boaz, and with them greatness and godliness, but there is also an Achar (Achan), marked out plainly as "the troubler of Israel, who broke faith in the matter of the devoted thing."
The offence points back to an order God gave before Jericho fell:
Before Jericho was destroyed, God laid a command on Israel. The accursed, or devoted, thing was taken against that command. … Not a shred nor a shekel from Jericho did God allow Israel for their personal glory or wealth. Those called to carry out God's ban on the Canaanite were to take nothing. Now Achan had laid hands on both the garment and the gold. The Lord had devoted the one to the fire, and the other to His treasury. Achan was a prince in Israel, and it is often through the leaders, and not through the rank and file of God's army, that sin and sorrow come in.
His name itself means "troubler," and what he coveted shows what drove him:
Achan (which means "troubler") had coveted "a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels." It seems the beautiful cloak attracted him first. It was something that would make him stand out and give him prominence before others. No doubt he thought the silver and the gold would help him keep up that prominent position.
The verse says he troubled Israel, not just himself. Why should a whole nation carry one man's sin?
The whole congregation is held responsible for the evil. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." Unbelief may ask how all are involved in the sin of one. But the Word of God settles the question — "Israel has sinned" — "they have taken" — "they have stolen" — "they have lied." The assembly was one: one in privilege, one in responsibility. So the sin of one was the sin of all. God called them all to clear themselves completely by putting away the accursed thing from among them. There was not a single member of that large congregation who was not affected by Achan's sin.
One writer applies the same title to anyone who troubles God's people today:
No one may trouble the Lord's sheep without bearing his guilt. Sadly, there are many today who are troubling the Lord's flock. But each one of them will bear his guilt. Achan took the cursed things from Jericho and so brought defeat on Israel (Joshua 7). He is called "the troubler of Israel" (1 Chronicles 2:7).
The valley named after his trouble became a word the prophets later used for hope:
The sin seemed small, yet it brought disasters and terrible judgment. That appears to have left so strong an impression on the nation that hundreds of years later the prophets refer to it. Strangely, they refer to it not to condemn, but as a ground of hope. The judgment of evil, where evil exists, is the only way anyone can enter into the forgiveness and favour of God. So Hosea says that the valley of Achor will be a "door of hope," and she (Israel) will sing there. And Isaiah says the Valley of Achor will be "a place for herds to lie down." Hope shines nowhere so brightly as on the spot where sin has been judged. And no place gives a sinner rest like the foot of the cross.
- Wanting — Achan coveted the cloak, the silver and the gold to stand out. The trouble began as a wish to be seen.
- Taking — what he took belonged to God, for the fire or for His treasury. Not a shred of Jericho was Israel's to keep.
- Troubling — the congregation was one, so God said "Israel has sinned." One man's hidden theft became the whole camp's defeat.
- Naming — the royal family list keeps his disgrace on record. A few short verses hold both God's unchanging purpose and the vileness of man.
- Hoping — the prophets point to the valley named after his trouble as a door of hope. Hope shines brightest where sin has been judged.
And the sons of Ethan Azariah.
One line in the register of Judah, and one son to carry a whole house: this verse remembers Ethan's family by a single name. Why does Scripture keep a record this thin, and why does it stand just after Achan, the troubler of Israel?
Chronicles is not a fresh history. It collects what was left of older records:
I noticed long ago that Chronicles is a gathering up of fragments that remain. The book also has a Judah and Davidic character, in contrast to Israel. It was very likely written by Ezra, a priest, or by a Levite. They take up the remnant that returned, but go back as far as possible to its connection with their original history.
Some argue that fragmentary lists are worthless. Another writer answers them without denying the gaps:
Must we conclude from all this that the text of Chronicles is a human and arbitrary compilation? Does the book therefore have no historical value at all? This is what the rationalists claim, but thank God, their reasoning always fails when it attacks His Word. No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments gathered while everything was in confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval.
Older translations read "the sons of Ethan" here, though only one name follows. One writer explains why, and what the name Azariah suggests about when he lived:
Further, there is no evidence in Chronicles of any name built on the name Jehovah, or Jah, before God took that name in covenant. The earliest is "the sons of Ethan; Azariah," verse 8. Which generation he belonged to is not shown. Ethan was of the same generation as Achan's grandfather, and Achan was in Canaan. So Azariah quite probably lived after the Exodus. The notion that genealogies give every step is well known to be unfounded. In Chronicles they are only a gathering up of memorials. In this case it is more than probable that he does not say "the son of Ethan" but "the sons" — Azariah was the only one who represented the family.
The name Azariah has a meaning of its own:
Azariah — Helped of Jah (Jehovah)
A gap like this matches the condition of the people whose records these were:
In Chronicles the accuracy of the genealogies depends largely on the importance the Jews attached to them during their captivity. The disorder these lists show matches the state of the remnant as we find them in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Quite a number among the people and among the priesthood could not prove their genealogy. Though they lacked recorded family heads, the names of their families, groups and cities could still identify them... The great disorder that came in also explains, at least in part, why people counted very distant descendants of a clan head as his sons.
Ethan is remembered as a wise man. One writer names the subject of his psalm:
In Psalm 89 the wisdom of Ethan instructs us. What does this other wise man speak of? Of grace! This Psalm is about the unchangeable promises of God and the sure mercies of David... This magnificent Psalm is the hymn of grace and of all the glory of God which this grace has established and brought to light.
The run of names from Judah to David carries two things at once:
Only a list of names from Judah to David! But can we find in the whole book of God a space as brief as this which holds so much? On one side, grace and God's unchanging purpose. On the other, the vileness of man's nature. The names given here are bound up with both... Names renowned in the world and honoured among men? No, but names linked with the worst corruption, with disobedience to God and dishonour to His name. There is a Hezron and a Boaz, and with them greatness and piety. But there is also an Achan, marked out clearly as "the troubler of Israel, who broke faith in the matter of the devoted thing."
- Confusion. Chronicles gathers what survived of Israel's records for the remnant returning from exile. Many could not prove their line, so gaps and distant "sons" mark the lists — yet God sets His seal on these documents.
- One name. Older translations read "the sons of Ethan," yet only Azariah follows. He alone was left to represent the house. These genealogies are memorials, not complete chains.
- Helped. His name means "helped of Jah." It is the earliest name in Chronicles built on God's covenant name, which fits a man who lived after the Exodus.
- Grace. A list this bare still holds both sides: the vileness of man, seen in Achan, and God's unchanging purpose running on to David.
And the sons of Hezron, who were born to him Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai.
Hezron has already appeared in the line from Judah. Now the record pauses to name his three sons. Only one of them carries the royal line, yet Scripture keeps all three names. Why record men who lead nowhere? And why is the firstborn not the chosen one?
These names sit at the centre of the chapter. The chapter has one aim: to trace one family down to one man.
In 1 Chronicles 2:9-16 we meet the genealogy of David. This is in fact the main point of that chapter. David comes from Judah, and the line runs back through the ages by way of Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, and Noah to Adam.
Birth order decides who heads the list. It does not decide whose line God uses.
Fruitlessness is the mark of Jerahmeel's line above all. He was Hezron's eldest son (v. 9), yet here he stands in last place again (v. 25)... The traits of the natural man pass on just as surely as the traits of a man of faith like Caleb; the difference is that the traits of faith pass on by grace. David's line does not come from Jerahmeel, but from Ram, his younger brother (vv. 9-16).
Another writer finds the same order running through the whole opening section of Chronicles.
The first nine chapters form an opening section. In them we find the principle that the apostle Paul put into words long afterward: not the spiritual first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. Even the general genealogy of 1 Chronicles 1 serves this purpose of God. The genealogy of the sons of Israel, starting in 1 Chronicles 2, follows the same rule.
The third son is the one who raises questions. Rossier sees a purpose in the unusual form of his name.
Verse 9 calls Caleb by the name Chelubai, and I think there is a purpose in that. He is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20... The record calls him the brother of Jerahmeel (the son of Hezron, v. 9). But right at the end of this list we suddenly meet Achsah — the daughter, as we know, of Caleb the son of Jephunneh (Joshua 15:16).
Commentators differ over how far to press the link between the two Calebs. Rossier reads the overlap as deliberate — the son of Jephunneh, who "by his origin really had no right of citizenship in Israel," being grafted into this family by faith. Darby is more cautious: "There is no proof that Caleb was the son of Hezron, son of Pharez; if it was the same Caleb as in Numbers, he was the son of Jephunneh."
Ram carries the crown. Jerahmeel and Chelubai carry nothing — and yet the Spirit stops the march toward David to name them.
Having brought the line down to David, the Holy Spirit pauses, as it were, and notes the sons of Hezron (Esrom in older versions of Matthew 1) other than Ram (Aram there) — that is, Jerahmeel and Chelubai, who is also called Caleb (see verses 9 and 18). The honoured line passed through Ram, but his natural relatives have a place in the records of Judah... Even Segub is named, though he was only half-brother to Ram. Is that not because of his link with David's ancestry, with that line which was always so precious to God that even the slightest tie to it earns a place in these genealogies?
The ten tribes vanished among the nations. Judah did not, and there was a reason for the difference.
God had set David on the throne, and that was a pledge that Christ must sit there too... So God keeps the tribe the King was to come from until the appointed time, when Jesus is born in Bethlehem. He keeps this tribe while the ten are hidden in the dust of the earth... During the captivity, when Gentile rulers held the throne, God carefully guarded the line of the true heirs. After the return from Babylon, Matthew carries that line on to the birth of Christ, and in Him it ends.
- Aim — Verses 9 to 16 are the heart of the chapter. They trace David back through Judah, Jacob, Abraham and Noah to Adam.
- Order — The natural comes first, then the spiritual. Jerahmeel is named first as the eldest and ends up last; the line runs through Ram, the younger brother.
- Grace — A man of faith passes on his character only by grace; the natural man passes on his by birth. That is why Jerahmeel's branch is marked by unfruitfulness.
- Reach — Chelubai is the Caleb of verse 18. Judah's records also hold relatives who carry no crown, because the least tie to David's line earns a place.
- Result — God keeps the tribe and the family safe through Babylon. Matthew then carries the same line on to Christ, and in Him it ends.
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.
and Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse;
Three names, one line: the kinsman who redeemed, the son of a Moabite mother, and the unknown farmer whose son became king. Chronicles lingers here because the line to the Messiah runs through this short chain.
Chronicles opens with chapter after chapter of names. One commentator notes that one tribe among the sons of Israel gets far more room than the rest.
This chapter sets the sons of Judah before us in detail — not those of Reuben or of Simeon. The object of the book is purpose. Judah was the tribe chosen first of all for the kingdom, and chosen with a view to the Messiah. So we can understand why the record traces his sons at such length.
Another writer traces David's line through this chapter and points out what Chronicles leaves out.
In 1 Chronicles 2:9-16 we have the genealogy of David, and this is the main thrust of that chapter. Chronicles says nothing at all about David's history and his sufferings as the rejected king. It sets forth David as the object of God's counsels about the kingship, counsels that Christ, the Son of David, will fully accomplish.
The first name in the verse carries its own meaning. In the book of Ruth a nearer relative came first in line, but he could not redeem.
Boaz, who is the instrument of blessing, the kinsman redeemer, is a type of the risen Christ. The name means "In him is strength." When the nearest kinsman failed, Boaz had the power of redemption. The nearer kinsman represents the law, and he could not redeem the inheritance. As the apostle wrote, if the inheritance comes by law, it is no longer by promise, and Ruth must receive everything as the gift of pure grace. So Boaz stepped in. No claim rested on him, though he was a kinsman. He acted out of his own heart of love and grace, bought the land, and married Ruth.
The middle name belongs to a man with almost no recorded story. What he has is a name, and a place in four short lists.
Obed means "servant." He was the son of the wealthy Boaz. By his name at least, and perhaps also by an obedient and dedicated life, he bore a quiet witness. It pointed to his coming grandson David, who "served the purpose of God in his own generation" (Acts 13:36). It pointed further to David's Son and David's Lord, whose service to God is unequalled. The record shows that in Obed's descendants his name became "renowned in Israel." Apart from the brief record in Ruth, it appears in only three places: 1 Chronicles 2:12, as the grandfather of David, and Matthew 1:5 and Luke 3:32, as the ancestor of the Messiah of Israel. But what remarkable honour for the son of a Moabitess — this association with the Anointed of Jehovah in His family line!
Obed's mother was Ruth, and the law shut her nation out of the Lord's congregation.
Ruth was a loving woman, but she came from a source a Jew found deeply offensive. She was a Moabitess, and so forbidden by the law to enter the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation. Jews loathed the Edomite and the Egyptian less, and their children could enter in the third generation (Deut. 23:3-8). Here was a still deeper testimony that grace would go out and bless the very worst of the Gentiles. Whether the Jews like it or not, God has brought Rahab, the once immoral Gentile, and Ruth, the meek daughter of Moab, into the nation. More than that, He has brought them into the direct line from which the Messiah was to arise.
The verse stops at Jesse, not at his famous son. One writer explains why the smaller name is the one that gets used.
The name "Jesse" stands here, we believe, to heighten the contrast. David had become a name of great renown. Jesse only reminds us of the otherwise unknown farmer from whom David sprang. From one small and unknown the great Messiah was to spring, and yet to be the Root from which Jesse himself sprang.
- Strength. Boaz means "in him is strength." No claim rested on him, yet he redeemed, where the nearer kinsman, who stands for the law, could not.
- Service. Obed means "servant." His name survives in only four places in Scripture, this verse among them, always as a link toward the Messiah.
- Grace. The law barred Ruth the Moabitess from the congregation. Yet she stands in the direct line from which the Messiah came.
- Smallness. The line rests on Jesse, an unknown farmer, so that the great Messiah springs from him and is also the Root from which Jesse sprang.
- Purpose. Chronicles follows Judah because the book is about the kingdom. It presents David as the object of God's counsels, which Christ, the Son of David, will fully accomplish.
and Jesse begot his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimea the third,
The verse opens the list of Jesse's sons, a list that ends with David. Two questions follow: why count brothers who never reign, and why is David the seventh son here when Samuel calls him the eighth?
Why record six brothers who never rule? One writer finds the answer in the numbering:
Notice the care and precision with which the sons of Jesse are given, named, and numbered in their order: clearly to tell us that David is the seventh. He alone fills the mind of the inspired writer. The six are numbered only so that David might appear as the seventh, for God's purpose is bound up with that.
Eliab stands first by birth, and the whole opening section of Chronicles follows that same pattern of the natural coming before the chosen. Commenting on the arrangement of these genealogies, one writer names the rule:
In the nine chapters that make up the opening section we have the principle that the apostle Paul formulated long afterwards: not first the spiritual but the natural, then the spiritual. Even the general genealogy of 1 Chronicles 1 is governed by this divine purpose.
Eliab's position and his impressive appearance counted for nothing when a king was being sought. One writer draws out why the firstborn's rank actually told against him:
Eliab has a beautiful name and a stately presence: his name means "my God is Father." Yet notice that Eliab is the firstborn, and David stands at the other end, the eighth. This is against Eliab, though his fine appearance may appeal even to a prophet. He comes under the law of Genesis, and shows the rule: "it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual." But there is no natural Christ, and so none of the old creation. The eighth speaks of the new, and Eliab must give place to David.
The second son's name points to a generous father, yet he is passed over too:
So Abinadab is doomed as well, although as the second son he suggests help or salvation. His name fits that too: "my father is a generous giver." And why, man argues, should God not freely forgive sin? He is good, and the Father of men; why should He not pardon simply because it pleases Him? Why must the Christ be a David, an eighth son, taking man's ruin on Himself and going down to the depth of man's condemnation to redeem him? But it cannot be. Sin is the dark, basic opposite of God, and He cannot dwell with it.
The third son's name appears in more than one form. ESV spells it Shimea here, where older translations read Shimma:
Son of Jesse and brother of David. 1 Samuel 16:9; 1 Samuel 17:13. Called SHIMEAH in 2 Samuel 13:3, and SHIMMA in 1 Chronicles 2:13.
Commentators differ here. One writer, asked why Samuel makes David the eighth son and Chronicles the seventh, answers plainly:
Keil supposes that one of Jesse's sons may have died without children, and so dropped out of the list in the later book. I have nothing better to offer.
Another treats both numbers as deliberate, each fitting the book it stands in:
Is there not a truth hinted at in Samuel which is not needed for the Holy Spirit's purpose in Chronicles? We know that "eight" is right in Samuel and "seventh" in Chronicles. Each is just as much from God as the other. Seven speaks of rest in creation, and eight of rest in resurrection power and glory. David, being in Samuel the eighth, points to the true David who will restore everything, and who will reign over Israel Himself as the risen Man. For rest in creation became impossible once sin came in. Eight means God stepping in with grace when all is lost.
These brothers are the family God chose from. One writer traces the steps of that choice:
The Lord had chosen him, David, to be king over Israel forever; He had chosen Judah as prince; in Judah He had chosen the house of Jesse. Among the sons of Jesse He had taken pleasure in David, to make him king. The Lord's free choice and God's good pleasure rested on the least and most humble of them all.
- Named — Scripture records Eliab, Abinadab and Shimea by name and in order; the third also appears as Shimeah and Shimma elsewhere.
- Numbered — Scripture counts the brothers only so that David arrives as the seventh, and God's purpose hangs on that number.
- Passed over — Eliab's rank and fine looks told against him: the natural comes first, then the spiritual.
- Disputed — Samuel says eighth, Chronicles seventh. Some suggest a son died childless; others hold each number is true to its own book, where eight speaks of rest in resurrection.
- Chosen — God narrowed the choice: Judah, then the house of Jesse, then the least of Jesse's sons, by His own free good pleasure.
Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,
A fourth son and a fifth pass by in one line, and Scripture tells us nothing else about either man. Yet the count is deliberate, and it is running toward someone.
Why count sons whose stories Scripture never tells? One commentator finds the answer at the end of the list:
Look how carefully and exactly the sons of Jesse are given, named and numbered in their order. Clearly this is to tell us that David is the seventh. He alone fills the mind of the inspired writer. The six are numbered only so that David might appear as the seventh, for the purpose of God is bound up with that. So "David the seventh" has a meaning far beyond the bare fact of his order. And in fact David was the eighth son, not the seventh. Before God he was both; but in His book God is giving us His thoughts, and not listing natural events here.
That raises a question. In Samuel, God refuses seven sons of Jesse and chooses the eighth. Commentators explain the shorter count here in different ways, and the same writer weighs one of them before settling the matter on other ground:
If the seven are refused and the eighth chosen according to Samuel, why is he numbered the seventh here in Chronicles? Some have supposed that one of Jesse's sons died, and that David would therefore be the seventh. Is that supposition satisfactory? ... We know that "eight" is right in Samuel and "seventh" in Chronicles. One is as divine as the other. Each agrees perfectly with the truth God is communicating there.
The two numbers each carry a picture of rest:
Seven is clearly connected with rest in creation, and eight with rest in resurrection power and glory. David, being the eighth in Samuel, points to the true David who will restore everything and reign over Israel Himself as the risen Man. For rest in creation became impossible once sin came in. Eight signifies God stepping in with grace when all is lost.
Here in Chronicles the number falls on the earthly side:
David, the type of God's rest in His Son when He sits on His earthly throne, is numbered the seventh here. It is God's rest in the renewed earth. But even this could not happen except through One who had passed through death. This seventh-day rest can only come by Christ as the risen Man. How wonderfully the "seventh" and the "eighth" are combined in the Person of Christ!
God's choice passed over Nethanel, Raddai and every older brother. It rested on the least of them:
The Lord's free choice and God's good pleasure had rested on the least and most humble of them all. In God's eyes he was strong and mighty, no doubt, in his struggle with the lion and the bear in the wilderness. But in the eyes of men he had nothing that they should desire him. Was he not a picture of the Perfect Servant? The Lord acclaimed Him as the object of His good pleasure at the very moment He was taking a public place of deepest humiliation in the baptism of repentance.
The same pattern runs through the chapter. The family line does not run through the eldest:
Unfruitfulness especially marks the line of Jerahmeel. Although he was Hezron's eldest son (v. 9), he is once again placed last here (v. 25)... David's line does not come down from Jerahmeel, but from Ram, his younger brother.
Nethanel and Raddai are never heard of again. Yet God keeps their names:
He records at the same time the names of those who had gone through the trials mentioned in this history without being blotted out of the book. Here it is only the outward picture of this blessed memorial of the people of His grace; but in fact this is what we find here.
These names are not filler:
This special mention of Hezron's family and descendants is not a bare family list running from Judah to David, where the evil simply take their turn in order beside the good. These are men of renown. As long as the book of God is read, their names will stand out as the names of men whom God would honour.
- Counted. God numbers Jesse's sons in order for one reason: so the last name, David, lands in its place in His purpose.
- Counted twice. Samuel makes David the eighth son; Chronicles makes him the seventh. One writer calls both numbers God-given, each fitting the truth its own book teaches.
- Chosen. God's choice fell on the least of Jesse's sons, the one men would not have wanted. In the same way, David's line runs through the younger Ram, not the eldest son Jerahmeel.
- Crowned. Seven speaks of rest in creation, eight of rest in resurrection glory. Both meet in Christ, the risen Man who will reign.
- Kept. God writes down even the names with no story attached, keeping the record of the people of His grace.
Ozem the sixth, David the seventh;
One line in a family list carries the weight of the chapter. The writer counts off six brothers, then names David. But Samuel's record says Jesse had eight sons. So why is David the seventh here?
The six older brothers get no story, only a number:
Notice the care and precision in the list of Jesse's sons, named and numbered in order. Clearly this is to tell us that David is the seventh. He alone fills the mind of the inspired writer. The six are numbered only so that David might appear as the seventh, for with that the purpose of God is bound up. So "David the seventh" means far more than the bare fact that he came seventh. And in fact, David was the eighth son, not the seventh. Before God he was both; but in His book God is giving us His thoughts, and not here listing natural events.
Commentators differ on the two numbers. One answer is simple — a son dropped out of the record:
Keil supposes that one of Jesse's sons may have died without descendants, and so the later list leaves him out. I have nothing better to offer.
Another treats both numbers as deliberate, each suited to the book it stands in:
The neglected one is the chosen one. Not one of the previous seven was chosen, so the youngest must have been the eighth. … Is there not a truth hinted at in Samuel that the Holy Spirit did not need for His purpose in giving us the books of Chronicles? We know that "eight" is right in Samuel, and "seventh" in Chronicles. One is as divine as the other. Each agrees perfectly with the truth God is teaching there. The numbers seven and eight have a symbolic meaning in Scripture as well as a natural one. Seven is connected with rest in creation, and eight with rest in resurrection power and glory. Eight means God stepping in with grace when all is lost. The coming kingdom is for the earth, yet it must have a link with resurrection so that it may be stable. That link is the glorious risen Man as King.
The number reaches past David to Christ:
But He is also God's rest in creation. And here, in connection with the earth and God's earthly people, Christ is the "seventh." He is the Creator, and Scripture says, "On the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested." Chronicles does not give the wonderful resurrection-like power found in Samuel. David appears suddenly at the death of Saul, and the tribes gather to make him king. It is simply the earthly kingdom, set up among men. Wonderful as this picture is, it stands far below the reality of the Lord reigning in glory! What is the power of David or the splendour of Solomon compared with the millennial glory of Christ? … But even this rest comes only through One Who had passed through death. So this seventh-day rest can only be by Christ as risen Man. How wonderfully the "seventh" and the "eighth" are combined in the Person of Christ!
The same writer reads David's rise in Samuel as a picture drawn from the far side of death:
Was it not like a resurrection from the dead when David came into the scene of Israel's ruin? For a little while he had been lost to Israel, hidden in the court of Achish. Israel lay crushed on the mountains of Gilboa, and the Philistines were triumphant. … Was he not like one risen from the dead? In resurrection power, as it were, he led Israel from Gilboa, the scene of ruin and death, to take possession of Mount Zion. … David was only a picture of Christ, Who, as the risen Man, is the "eighth."
David's place in the list also tells us how the royal line ran:
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 had decreed that the line from Perez, the son of Judah, would end with the Messiah. So He kept it under His own constant oversight.
The same pattern appears in David's own family:
David, the head of this family, was the lastborn of his father's house, and his family bears the same clear mark of election according to grace. Amnon comes first, the son according to the flesh and the shame of his father's house. He is rejected, like everything that springs from nature. … Once again, nature's order is of no value.
- Counted — Six brothers get a number for one reason: so David can stand as the seventh. God's purpose is bound up with that name.
- Chosen — The royal line does not follow birth order. God kept it in His own hands until it reached the Messiah.
- Seventh — Seven is rest in creation. David the seventh pictures a kingdom on earth, far below the glory of Christ's reign.
- Eighth — Eight is rest in resurrection power. David's rise from ruin at Gilboa to Zion reads like a man raised from the dead.
- Combined — Both numbers meet in Christ: God's rest in creation, and the risen Man who makes that rest secure.
and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.
This verse sits in a long list of names running from Judah down to David. It stops to record two women and three fighting men: the king's sisters, and the nephews who would command his army. Why does a record built around the throne pause for them?
This verse ends the chapter's opening run of names. One writer traces where that line comes from.
In 1 Chronicles 2:9-16 we have the genealogy of David — in fact this is the main thrust of that chapter. He is descended from Judah, and the line runs back through the ages via Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, and Noah to Adam.
The list makes David the seventh son of Jesse. One writer reads that number as deliberate.
Notice the care and precision: the sons of Jesse are given, named and numbered in their order. This plainly tells us that David is the seventh. He alone fills the mind of the inspired writer. The six are numbered only so that David might appear as the seventh, because God's purpose is bound up with that. So "David the seventh" carries a meaning far beyond the simple fact that he came seventh in order. In fact David was the eighth son, not the seventh. Before God he was both.
Commentators differ. Another writer offers only a guess:
Keil supposes that one of Jesse's sons may have died without children, and so was left out of the later list. I have nothing better to offer.
The verse names two sisters. One reference work gathers what Scripture says about Zeruiah — and what it never says.
Zeruiah is described together with Abigail as "sisters of the sons of Jesse." They may have been half-sisters (Abigail was the daughter of Nahash, 2 Sam. 17:25). Zeruiah had three sons, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, the leaders of David's army; but it is not stated who her husband was. David declared, after the murder of Abner, that the sons of Zeruiah were too hard for him.
So the sons are known by their mother, and through her by the king.
Abishai, Joab and Asahel were David's nephews. One writer draws out what that nearness produced in them.
David's three nephews — Joab, Abishai and Asahel — were bound to God's anointed by ties of family and affection. They shared his trials when everything seemed to go wrong for David. Devotedness to Christ — known and loved in closer and lasting relationships — will keep us on the path that leads to glory in this present time. Joab was the "chief and captain" of them all. His brother Abishai was chief of the second three. Asahel's career was cut short by too much zeal, unbalanced by the grace and wisdom he needed. The spear of one of God's own people suddenly ended what might have been a brilliant path of service. Asahel had insisted on chasing that man, in spite of a timely warning. It is not for the servants of Christ to seek the hurt of any of God's children.
Nearness to the king could also be pressed as a claim to rank. One writer weighs what that claim was worth.
The sons of Zeruiah might claim this rank according to the flesh, but according to God they had no greater claim to it than the others — quite the opposite. Abishai did not reach the "first three"; Asahel was among "the thirty." Joab is not even named among the mighty men.
One writer notices what this book does not say about Joab.
Here he is not the ambitious, vindictive man, but the man appointed, according to God's counsels, to conquer the fortress of Zion for the king. Not a word about his character, or about anything he had done up to this moment. His struggle with Abner, his revenge on that noble captain, the murder he committed — all are passed over in silence. If we had read only the account in Chronicles, would we not say that Joab was an upright man beyond reproach? The truth is simple. Here Joab is only the instrument prepared to install the Lord's anointed at Jerusalem — the king according to God's thoughts.
Earlier in the chapter, the line to David passes over an eldest son.
Although Jerahmeel was Hezron's eldest son, he is placed last here once again. This agrees with what we have seen of the character of Chronicles in chapter 1. The features of the natural man pass down just as readily as the features of a man of faith like Caleb — only the latter pass down by grace. David's line does not descend from Jerahmeel, but from Ram, his younger brother.
- Line. Verses 9-16 are the chapter's main thrust: the genealogy of David traced back through Judah, Abraham and Noah to Adam.
- Grace. The throne skipped the eldest. Jerahmeel is placed last, and David comes from the younger brother, Ram — grace, not birth order.
- Names. Zeruiah and Abigail are named; their husbands are not. The sons are known by their mother, and through her by the king.
- Nearness. The three nephews were bound to God's anointed by family and affection, and shared his trials. Yet family ties gave them no rank before God, and Asahel's zeal cut his service short.
- Silence. Chronicles leaves out Joab's revenge and his murder. It shows him only as the instrument prepared to seat the Lord's anointed in Jerusalem.
And Abigail bore Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.
David's sister Abigail appears here for her son Amasa, and his father was not an Israelite. So why does a foreigner's name stand in the register of Judah's royal tribe, and what became of his son?
Scripture names this man in two different ways. One dictionary entry sets the two side by side and offers a possible explanation.
An Ishmaelite, father of Amasa. 1 Kings 2:5, 32; 1 Chr. 2:17. He is called ITHRA, an Israelite, in 2 Sam. 17:25. He may have been an Ishmaelite by birth, and have become a proselyte.
Ishmaelites descended from Ishmael, a son of Abraham. A proselyte is an outsider who turned to Israel's God and joined His people.
The verse before calls Zeruiah and Abigail the sisters of Jesse's sons, not his daughters. 2 Samuel adds the name Nahash, and commentators differ on how that fits.
Apparently father or mother of Abigail and Zeruiah. 2 Sam. 17:25. In 1 Chr. 2:16 the record calls Abigail and Zeruiah the sisters of Jesse's sons. The Rabbis say Nahash was another name for Jesse, as the margin has it. Others suppose Nahash was Jesse's wife. Still others judge that Nahash was a former husband of Jesse's wife.
The main line of descent runs through Ram to David. Yet the chapter keeps naming relatives outside that line, and one writer finds the reason in how precious that line was to God.
The honoured line passed through Ram, but his natural connections have a place in the archives of Judah. No doubt everyone named stood out for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing he had received… But the list names even Segub, though he was only Ram's half-brother. Is this not because of his link to the ancestry of David? That line was always so precious to God that even the slightest connection with it earns a place in these genealogies.
Jether was a Gentile, an outsider to Israel. One writer reads his name here as God's own choice.
How sovereign the grace which will not overlook the outcast Gentile! The Gentile element is found in the direct line of David's ancestry, for Boaz is the son of Rahab and the husband of Ruth. But the side line has its Jatha (Jether)… God would not limit Himself to Israel when it came to showing grace. He did limit Himself to Israel in the matter of law. Yet even under the old covenant, which belonged to Israel alone, He chooses from among the Gentiles those whom He will bless.
Boaz married Ruth, a woman from Moab. Rahab came from Jericho, the city Israel destroyed.
Amasa grew up to hold high command — first against David, then under him.
Amasa was the son of Ithra, or Jether, by David's sister Abigail. In his revolt, Absalom made Amasa captain of his army. David forgave him and promised him command of the army, but Joab killed him by treachery. David left it to his son Solomon to avenge this act.
Joab, named in the verse before as the son of David's other sister, was Amasa's cousin. One writer lists what Joab would never forgive.
Amasa replaces Joab at the head of David's rebellious son's army. He was a cousin to Joab — cousin through his mother, but also through his mother's dishonour. Joab never forgives anything: a stain on his family, someone seizing his position, or the danger of a rival for the top command.
Amasa's murder was not left unsettled. Solomon dealt with it, and one writer sees in it a picture of Christ's coming thousand-year reign.
Solomon's kingdom could only be established if Joab answered for the innocent blood of Abner and Amasa. Joab had shed that blood without David's knowledge… His motives in killing Abner and Amasa were selfish too. Joab's execution is a symbol: the Lord Jesus will establish His millennial kingdom in righteousness, and that righteousness brings peace.
- Named — Judah's register calls Jether an Ishmaelite, and 2 Samuel calls him an Israelite. He may have been an Ishmaelite by birth who later turned to Israel's God.
- Numbered — The record still names relatives outside the royal line. The slightest link with David's ancestry earns a place.
- Nations — A Gentile stands here, as Rahab and Ruth stand in the direct line. God never limited His grace to Israel.
- Nephews — David's two sisters gave him his commanders. Joab killed his own cousin Amasa to keep the top command.
- Necessity — Solomon avenged that innocent blood before his throne stood secure, a picture of Christ's kingdom founded in righteousness that brings peace.
And Caleb the son of Hezron had children by Azubah [his] wife, and by Jerioth her sons are these Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.
The chapter traces Judah's line straight down to David. Then it stops at a side branch. Caleb, one of Hezron's other sons, appears with his wife Azubah, a second woman named Jerioth, and three sons we never hear of again. Why does Scripture slow down for a family outside the royal line, and which Caleb is this?
This is not the better-known Caleb of Numbers, the son of Jephunneh. Commentators place the Caleb here much earlier, and note that the chapter has already given him a second name.
Caleb is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. He is called Chelubai in verse 9, and I think there is a purpose in that. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, and the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath. In verses 42-49 we again find descendants of this same Caleb by his concubines... In verses 50-55 we meet the descendants of Caleb, the son of Hezron, through Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah. That is the third time in this chapter.
Jerioth's place is less certain than Azubah's. A Bible dictionary calls Azubah "wife of Caleb, son of Hezron." It calls Jerioth "wife or concubine of Caleb, son of Hezron" — the text itself does not settle it.
The royal line did not run through Caleb. Yet his household is written down anyway, and one writer draws out why relatives of the chosen line are worth recording.
Having brought the line down to David, the Holy Spirit, as it were, pauses. Then He notes the sons of Hezron other than Ram — that is, Jerahmeel and Chelubai, who is also called Caleb (see verses 9 and 18). The honoured line passed through Ram, but his natural relations have a place in the archives of Judah. No doubt everyone named was known for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given.
Two verses on, this same family produces two men whose work touched all Israel.
Hur: son of Caleb, the son of Hezron, and grandfather of Bezalel. Exodus 31:2; Exodus 35:30; Exodus 38:22; 1 Chronicles 2:19-20; 1 Chronicles 4:1; 2 Chronicles 1:5.
Hur held up Moses' hands in the battle with Amalek; Bezalel was the craftsman filled with wisdom to build the tabernacle. A verse listing three forgotten sons stands two steps away from both.
The repetitions and gaps in Caleb's family list are not tidied up. Writers connect that untidiness to the condition of the people who compiled it after the exile, when many could not prove their descent at all.
Must we conclude from all this that the text of Chronicles is a careless human compilation, with no historical value at all? ... No thoughtful Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments gathered in the middle of general confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval.
The deeper reason for keeping this branch, one writer argues, is a second Caleb: the son of Jephunneh. He was not born into Judah at all.
Caleb the son of Jephunneh was not originally of the people of Judah... In Genesis 36:11 we learn that Kenaz is an Edomite name. So at some point the family of Kenaz, and therefore the family of Caleb the son of Jephunneh, was taken into the tribes of Israel. Many other foreigners came in the same way — Jethro, Rahab, and Ruth — who became members of the people of God because of their faith... So Caleb, who by his origin had no right of citizenship in Israel, received that right among Judah because of his faith. He was joined to the family of Caleb the son of Hezron (1 Chronicles 2:49)... This substitution is one of the important points the Spirit of God calls our attention to here.
Commentators differ. Darby is more cautious about linking the two men:
There is no proof that Caleb was the son of Hezron, son of Perez. If it was the same Caleb as in Numbers, he was the son of Jephunneh.
Whichever Caleb is meant, the name itself stands over the whole chapter.
To summarise, the name of Caleb is highlighted in this chapter. With this name goes the thought of "virtue." That means moral energy. With a goal in view, it lets the believer get over obstacles. It separates him from every weight and from the sin which so easily entangles him.
One writer looks past the names to the One who is recording them.
He records at the same time the names of those who had gone through the trials mentioned in this history without being blotted out of the book.
- Named. Caleb here is Hezron's son, also called Chelubai in verse 9 — not the later Caleb of Numbers. His wife is Azubah; Jerioth's place is less certain.
- Kept. The honoured line ran through Ram, not Caleb; yet Ram's natural relations still hold a place in the archives of Judah.
- Fruitful. Two verses on, this same household gives Israel Hur, who held up Moses' hands, and Bezalel, who made the tabernacle's furniture.
- Broken. The gaps and repeats are real — fragments gathered in a time of confusion — but God set His seal on them all the same.
- Opened. God writes an outsider into this patched-up family because of his faith. So the list ends up showing that faith, not birth, fixed his place in Judah.
And Azubah died, and Caleb took him Ephrath, and she bore him Hur.
This verse sits inside a long list of names in Judah's family record. One wife dies, Caleb marries again, and their son Hur begins a line that leads to the man who made the tabernacle furniture, and to the town where Israel's Ruler was to be born.
The Caleb in this verse belongs to Judah's line through Hezron. His family turns up in this chapter more than once, in pieces rather than in order.
Caleb's family record is a striking example of this disorder, and of how incompletely these family registers were kept. Caleb (who is, I think, called Chelubai in verse 9 for a reason) is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, along with the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath... In verses 50-55 we meet the descendants of Caleb the son of Hezron for the third time in this chapter, through Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah. Part of that line was already given to us in verse 20.
Not everyone reads the family link the same way. Rossier makes this Caleb the son of Hezron; Darby is not sure the record proves it.
There is no proof that Caleb was the son of Hezron, the son of Pharez. If he was the same Caleb as the one in Numbers, he was the son of Jephunneh. One thing is certain: the Hezron in question died in Canaan, at Caleb Ephratah.
Either way, the place named in that note carries both names from this verse: Caleb and Ephratah.
The line of honour ran through another branch of the family, so Hur stands on a side path. The record keeps him anyway, and what he and his grandson did shows why.
The line of honour passed through Ram, but his relatives by blood also have a place in the archives of Judah. No doubt everyone named stood out for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given to him that would bring him still greater honour. Hur is the son of Caleb. This is the Hur who joined Aaron in holding up the hands of Moses when Israel fought and overcame Amalek. He also shared with Aaron the care of the people when Moses went up the mountain (Ex. 17:12). God named Hur's grandson Bezaleel and filled him with wisdom for a very special purpose: he was taught to make all the furniture for the tabernacle (Ex. 31). That gave him greater honour than all the riches of Jair, who had twenty-three cities and took sixty more.
Hur's grandson Bezaleel (Bezalel in the ESV) did the work on God's dwelling place, but that work did not come to him through the family tree. It came by God's call, and one writer draws a wider rule from it.
The opening of this brief chapter records how God called and qualified "Bezaleel and Aholiab" to do the work of the tabernacle... Whether it is "the work of the tabernacle" of old, or "the work of the ministry" now, the choosing, the call, the qualifying and the appointing should all be God's. And everything must be done as He commands. Man could not choose, call, qualify, or appoint anyone to do the work of the tabernacle. Neither can he for the work of the ministry.
The name of Caleb's second wife is also the name of a town, and that name changed over time.
It seems the town was first called Ephrath, Gen. 35:16, 19; Gen. 48:7; and later Ephratah, Ruth 4:11; Ps. 132:6. Once it is called Beth-lehem Ephratah, that is, the fruitful, because the ruler of Israel was to come from there. Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4, 15; John 7:42.
One writer finds a lesson in the order of the two words in that double name.
Nature's own power cannot hold anything up; it must come by the gift of grace and mercy. Ephratah, Bethlehem, is man's order — fruitfulness before blessing (Gen. 35:19). Blessing, then fruitfulness, Bethlehem-Ephratah (Micah 5:2), is God's way.
- Kept. The chapter gives Caleb's family three times over, in broken pieces. The record is untidy, and it still came down to us.
- Counted. Nobody in these archives is filler. Each name is there for some quality, excellence, or special blessing.
- Used. The son born of this marriage helped Aaron hold up Moses' hands when Israel beat Amalek. A name in a list turns out to be a man God used.
- Called. Hur's grandson Bezaleel made the furniture for God's dwelling. God named him and gave him wisdom for it; no man could choose, call, or appoint anyone to that work.
- Fulfilled. Ephrath means fruitful, and the same name marks the town Israel's Ruler was to come from. God's order there is blessing first, then fruitfulness.
And Hur begot Uri, and Uri begot Bezaleel.
Three names pass by here in one short line. Scripture tells us elsewhere what two of these men did. The list looks dry, but the question it raises is not: why does God record these fathers and sons at all?
One commentator points to the disorder in these lists. Caleb's descendants appear three times in this one chapter, and our verse sits inside the first.
Caleb's genealogy is a striking example of this disorder, and of how incompletely the genealogical records were kept. Caleb (called Chelubai in verse 9, and not without reason, I think) is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, with the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath… In verses 50-55, for the third time in this chapter, we meet the descendants of Caleb, the son of Hezron, through Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah. Part of Hur's genealogy was already given to us in verse 20.
Neither Hur nor Bezalel is a blank entry. One writer recalls what each man did, then weighs it against the wealth of a relative listed in the same chapter.
Hur is the son of Caleb. This is the Hur who, with Aaron, held up the hands of Moses when Israel fought and overcame Amalek. He also shared with Aaron the care of the people when Moses went up the mountain (Ex. 17:12). God named Bezaleel, grandson of Hur, gave him wisdom for a very special purpose, and taught him to make all the furniture for the tabernacle (Ex. 31). This gave greater honour than all the riches of Jair, who had twenty-three cities and took sixty more.
The same writer asks why the record includes even Segub, who was only half-brother to Ram:
Is it not because of his connection with the ancestry of David? That line was always so choice with God that even the slightest link with it earns a place in these genealogies.
Everything Bezalel became came to him as a gift:
Son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah. God called him and filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, understanding and knowledge. He was to design skilled works in gold, silver, brass, stone, and timber for the tabernacle, and to oversee the work.
That pattern still holds. One writer takes three things God says He did and applies them to service today:
Jehovah says, "I have called; I have given; I have filled." These words show that He chose the two men and qualified them for the work. The New Testament ministry rests equally in the hands of the Lord. He alone has the right to choose His servants for the ministry… And whoever He calls into that work, He also qualifies. His Spirit gives the wisdom and power to carry out the work into which the Lord calls. It is therefore all of Him; no room for boasting or jealousy.
It can seem strange that metalwork and carving needed the Spirit's filling. One writer points to what the tabernacle was built to show.
It is a great mistake to think these men were only skillful workmen. It is just as wrong to see here nothing more than a recognition that God gives all ability. Something special is going on. Remember what the Tabernacle was to show, and we are not surprised… The Tabernacle was meant to display the glories of Christ. So why wonder that the Holy Spirit gave special gifts and oversight, so that every part would express the thoughts of God exactly?
One writer finds meaning in the three names themselves.
Bezaleel means "in the shadow of God"; this tells of his trust, filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding. He may well be taken as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Uri means "Light of Jehovah," and Hur means "white."… Bezaleel did everything just as God commanded, and God was pleased. In the same way our Lord has done His work in perfect wisdom, to the eternal glory of God His Father.
The wider family carries a consistent character, and Hur is counted among those who show it.
With this name is associated the thought of "virtue," that is, of moral energy which in view of a goal to be attained enables the believer to overcome obstacles, separating him from every weight and the sin which so easily entangles him. 2 Peter 1:5 says, "In your faith have also virtue." Caleb is an example in this. With this name are associated characters of the same caliber as the son of Jephunneh: Othniel, Achsah; Hur…
- Named — nothing here is filler. God records even a distant relative because of his link to David's line.
- Called — Bezalel did not volunteer or qualify himself. God chose him by name, and God still chooses His own servants.
- Filled — the skill was a gift of the Spirit. The work had to display the glories of Christ, not the talent of a craftsman.
- Shadowed — his name means "in the shadow of God." One writer sees in him a picture of the Lord Jesus, who finished His work to the Father's glory.
- Honoured — Hur held up Moses' hands, and his grandson built God's dwelling. That record outweighs any relative's riches.
And afterwards Hezron went to the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, and he took her when he was sixty years old; and she bore him Segub.
Judah's family record pauses to note a marriage. Hezron takes a wife from another tribe, and a son named Segub is born. The detail looks small. Yet it links Judah to Manasseh, it opens onto conquered land east of the Jordan, and it teaches which names God keeps.
Hezron's wife came from a leading family in the tribe of Manasseh. A reference work on Bible names describes her father:
Eldest son of Manasseh, and father of Gilead. His descendants were warlike and were the foremost in the tribe.
So Gilead — the land east of the Jordan — stands behind this marriage from the start.
The record has already traced Hezron's line down to David. It then pauses over sons outside that royal line. Segub, born of this second marriage, is one of them. One writer asks why the record names such a man at all, and answers by pointing to the line he stands beside:
But even Segub is named, though he was only half-brother to Ram. Is it not because of his connection with the ancestry of David? That line was always so precious to God that even the slightest link with it gives a man a place in these genealogies. This special mention of Hezron's family is not a mere list from Judah to David, where the evil take their place in order beside the good. These are men of renown, and while the book of God is read, their names will stand out as the names of those whom God would honour.
The same writer sets Bezaleel, whom God gave wisdom to make the furniture of the tabernacle, Israel's tent of worship, above a man who held twenty-three cities and took sixty more. These lists do not measure honour by property.
The effect of this marriage shows up in Segub's son Jair. Scripture lists him under two tribes, and his mother's side explains why:
Son of Segub, a descendant of Judah. But he is called 'son of Manasseh' because his mother was the daughter of Machir. He is also called one of 'the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead.' He conquered the region of Argob with some towns, which he named Havoth-jair, 'the towns of Jair.'
Commentators read Jair's conquests as more than military history. When Israel as a whole failed to take what God had given, some still pressed forward:
Here and there these genealogies highlight people whose borders God extended in the promised land. This was a time when most of the people had failed to conquer all of their inheritance. Jair has already given evidence of this in 1 Chronicles 2. The names of Caleb, Achsah, and Othniel are also examples of this personal energy of faith, which finds its borders enlarged as it relies upon God. So it is with us: our spiritual borders expand in the heavenly sphere while we are on earth. To reach this we must recognise our ruin, which nothing can repair, and the inability we have shown to extend our own borders. We must show humble dependence, which relies on the grace of God alone in order to possess them.
The same principle is drawn out elsewhere: whatever the state of the nation, personal faith was never overlooked.
But that which has been preserved here of the genealogies of the people... reveals to us another circumstance, namely, that, wherever there has been faith, God has blessed His people individually.
Jair's story does not end in triumph. He lost the towns he won. One writer notes this reversal, yet still lists him among men of energy:
Jair (although he later lost everything that his energy had at first gained, 1 Chronicles 2:22-23)
Gilead lay east of the Jordan. Some tribes settled there rather than cross over, and one writer warns about the blessings they held:
Still, the history of the holy book shows us that these tribes were the first to suffer, and to fall into the hands of the Gentiles. "Don't you know," says Ahab, "that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and the Syrians hold it?" Happy are those who patiently wait for the blessings of God until they have crossed the Jordan, and who meanwhile take patience as their portion rather than the blessings on this side! Those blessings are gifts of the providence of God, yet they are less secure.
Records like this one read as broken pieces — a marriage here, a son there, with gaps around them. One writer grants this, and answers it:
No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles consist of fragments gathered in the middle of general confusion. Yet God sets His seal of approval on these documents.
- Marriage — Hezron's wife was the daughter of Machir, Manasseh's eldest son and the father of Gilead. Machir's descendants were warlike, the foremost in their tribe.
- Named — Segub had no part in the royal line, yet the record keeps his name. Nearness to the ancestry of David was enough.
- Reach — Through his mother, Scripture counts Segub's son Jair with Manasseh as well as Judah. He took towns that carried his own name.
- Energy — One writer groups Jair with Caleb, Achsah and Othniel. God enlarged their borders while the nation as a whole failed to take its inheritance.
- Loss — Jair later lost everything his energy had gained. Blessings held east of the Jordan are real gifts of God's providence, yet less secure than what lies across it.
And Segub begot Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead;
A long list of names pauses here on one man. Jair, the son of Segub, held twenty-three towns in Gilead. Why does a genealogy stop to count one man's cities? And why is a man of Judah holding land in another tribe's territory?
Jair belongs to two tribes at once. His father's line is Judah; his mother's line is Manasseh. So Scripture names him from either side.
Son of Segub, a descendant of Judah but called "son of Manasseh" from his mother, the daughter of Machir. He is also called one of "the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead." He conquered the territory of Argob with some towns, which he called HAVOTH-JAIR, "the towns of Jair." Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 13:30; 1 Kings 4:13; 1 Chronicles 2:22-23.
The towns were not handed to Jair. He took them, and then put his own name on them. That name has a meaning of its own, and one writer ties it to what Jair did.
Among Machir's sons we find Jair active in the conquest of the land. His name means the "enlightener." Bringing in light is the way to conquer Satan's kingdom of darkness. Life comes into the soul with light, if it is true light. So Jair calls the cities he conquers the "lives (havvoth) of Jair." Men call Og's luxury and self-pleasing "life," but Jair shows us what life really is.
Writers differ on what the name Gilead means. One reading sets it against the meaning of Manasseh, the tribe Jair is counted with.
Gesenius takes Gilead to mean "hard, rocky." On the other hand, there seems to be reason for linking it instead with Jacob's Galeed (Genesis 31:47), "a heap of witness." That would put it in striking contrast with Manasseh, the name joined to it, which means "forgetting." A heap of witness exists for the very purpose of making forgetting impossible.
Most of Israel never took full possession of the land. One name with twenty-three towns beside it stands out against that. These genealogies pick out such people more than once.
Here and there these genealogies point out people whose borders God enlarged in the promised land, at a time when most of the nation had failed to fully conquer their inheritance. Jair has already shown this in 1 Chronicles 2. Caleb, Achsah, and Othniel are further examples of this personal energy of faith, which finds its borders enlarged as it relies on God. So it is with us. Our spiritual borders grow in the heavenly places while we are still on earth. To reach this we must own our ruin, which we cannot repair, and the inability we have shown to enlarge our own borders. And we must show humble dependence, which relies on the grace of God alone to have them.
The very next verse records Geshur and Aram taking those towns back. Jair stands with the energetic figures of this chapter, but with a warning attached to him that the others do not carry.
The name of Caleb stands out in this chapter. Linked with it are people of the same quality as Caleb the son of Jephunneh: Othniel, Achsah, Hur, Jair, and the house of Rechab. Jair, though, later lost everything his energy had won at first (1 Chronicles 2:22-23).
Lists like this one look patched together, with names appearing from nowhere and lines breaking off. That impression is not denied — but the conclusion drawn from it is.
Must we conclude from all this that the text of Chronicles is a human and random collection, and that the book therefore has no historical value? That is what the rationalists claim. But thank God, their reasoning is always at fault when it attacks His Word. No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments gathered in the middle of general confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval.
- Named — Jair's father's line is Judah, his mother's line Manasseh, so Scripture lists him under either tribe. His towns are the Havoth-Jair, "the towns of Jair."
- Light — His name means "enlightener," and bringing in light conquers the kingdom of darkness. He called the cities he won the lives of Jair — real life, not the self-pleasing life men praise.
- Reach — Most of the nation failed to take its full inheritance. God still enlarged the borders of people who relied on Him: Jair, Caleb, Achsah, Othniel. Our own borders grow the same way.
- Loss — Jair later lost everything his energy first won. Ground gained still has to be held.
- Kept — These fragments were gathered out of real confusion, yet God set His seal on them. The record stands, and this one name in it is there on purpose.
and Geshur and Aram took the villages of Jair from them, with Kenath and its dependent towns, sixty cities. All these were sons of Machir the father of Gilead.
Sixty towns in Gilead change hands inside one line of a genealogy. Jair won them and named them; now Geshur and Aram hold them — so how does a family lose what its own energy gained?
The name of these towns simply records who held them.
This means "towns of Jair." They were in "the region of Argob, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites." They were also called "Bashan-havoth-jair." Deuteronomy 3:14. They were small towns of Gilead. Numbers 32:41. The same are called "towns of Jair" in Joshua 13:30; 1 Kings 4:13; 1 Chronicles 2:23.
Kenath also had a history before this verse. One reference work fills that in, and notes how this verse should read:
City of Bashan, taken by Nobah, and called after his own name. It was afterwards re-taken with the villages of Jair by Geshur and Aram, as the passage in Chronicles should read. Numbers 32:42; 1 Chronicles 2:23.
The verse counts all these men as Machir's descendants, yet the chapter is tracing Judah. A marriage explains the double label.
Son of Segub, a descendant of Judah but called "son of Manasseh" from his mother the daughter of Machir. He is also called one of "the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead." He conquered the territory of Argob with some towns, which he called Havoth-jair. Numbers 32:41; 1 Chronicles 2:22-23.
One writer sees a pattern in these genealogies. A few people gained ground when the nation did not, and he brings that home to the reader.
Here and there these genealogies highlight people whose borders God extended in the promised land. At that time the mass of the people had failed to conquer their inheritance fully. Jair has already given evidence of this in 1 Chronicles 2. The names of Caleb, Achsah, and Othniel are likewise examples of this personal energy of faith. Faith like this relies upon God, and God enlarges its borders. So it is with us: our spiritual borders expand in the heavenly sphere while we are upon earth.
The same writer lists Jair with Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and then adds one note drawn from this verse.
Alongside this name stand characters of the same caliber as the son of Jephunneh: Othniel, Achsah, Hur, Jair, and the house of Rechab. Jair, though, later lost everything that his energy had at first acquired. 1 Chronicles 2:22-23.
Gilead lay in the land of the two and a half tribes. One writer follows its later history.
When Israel declined, captivity began with the two and a half tribes. Even in the days of Ahab, Ramoth in Gilead was in the hands of the Syrians. Later those parts were the first to fall captive to Assyria. Just so, the spirit of the world captures the earthly-minded Christian most easily.
Jair is not the only man in this genealogy who gained something. Another writer sets his towns beside a gift given to Bezaleel, from Hur's line.
No doubt every one named here was prominent for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given to him that would bring still greater honour. God named Bezaleel, the grandson of Hur, and gave him wisdom for a very special purpose. He taught him to make all the furniture for the tabernacle (Exodus 31). That was greater honour than all the riches of Jair, who had twenty-three cities and took sixty more.
- Named — Havvoth-jair means "towns of Jair," small towns of Gilead in the region of Argob. Nobah had taken Kenath earlier and given it his own name.
- Won — Jair was a descendant of Judah, counted under Manasseh through Machir's daughter. He took Argob and its towns. God enlarged his borders while the nation as a whole failed to take its inheritance.
- Lost — Geshur and Aram took those towns back. Jair lost everything his energy had first gained.
- Why — this land lay east of the Jordan, where captivity began. Gilead fell to Syria and then to Assyria. The spirit of the world captures an earthly-minded believer just as easily.
- Better — God gave Bezaleel, in the same genealogy, wisdom to make the furniture of the tabernacle. That counted for more than Jair's twenty-three cities and sixty more.
And after the death of Hezron in Caleb-Ephratah, Abijah, Hezron's wife, bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.
One line of Judah's family record holds a death, a birth, and a town. Why would Scripture keep such a small family detail, and what does it tell us about the God who kept it?
Chronicles tells Israel's story from one angle. These lists of names are where it starts.
The Books of Chronicles give us the history of the same period from another angle: that of blessing and of the grace of God. More particularly, they give us the history of the house of David, the house to which God showed this grace.
The same writer notes when these books were drawn up, and why they record so few faults:
These books were written or drawn up after the captivity (see 1 Chron. 6:15). They preserve God's history of His people, recorded by the Holy Spirit, as He loved to remember it. They show only the faults we need to know to understand the instructions of His grace.
Which Caleb does the verse mean, and when did Hezron die? Darby weighs both questions:
There is no proof that Caleb was the son of Hezron, son of Perez; if it was the same Caleb as in Numbers, he was the son of Jephunneh. One thing is certain. The Hezron in question died in Canaan in Caleb Ephratah, and Abiah bore a son after this. So we see there were no early names in Chronicles with "jah"; Abijah was the grandson of one who died in Canaan. In general the names come after the Exodus.
Translations split here. The ESV has Caleb going in to "Ephrathah, the wife of Hezron his father," and she bears Ashhur. The older version these writers use reads Caleb Ephratah as the place where Hezron died, and gives the wife's name as Abiah.
Tekoa is a town, not only a name in a list. Here is what became of it:
City of Judah, probably founded by Ashhur. Rehoboam built or fortified it 'for defence.' 2 Chr. 11:6. The 'wise woman' Joab employed to speak to the king about the return of Absalom was from this city. 2 Sam. 14:2, 4, 9. It stood on a hill, so it was a good place for blowing the trumpet in time of danger, as in Jer. 6:1. The prophet Amos was among its herdsmen.
This part of the chapter is patchy, and commentators say so. Rossier lists verses 18–24 among the lists that show it:
Sometimes the genealogies of Chronicles contain names of very ancient origin, which we do not find elsewhere in the Old Testament. Many names are not those of single people, but of clans or families. Others are genealogies we might call geographic. For lack of other source material, they include the names of tribes, of districts, of cities… We find this again in 1 Chron. 2:18-24, 25-33, 42-55.
Does that patchiness discredit the book? Rossier says the opposite:
No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments gathered in the middle of general confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval.
Two men named Caleb meet in this chapter, and commentators differ on how they are related. Rossier sees one of them brought into the family of the other, and not by birth:
So Caleb, by his origin, had no right of citizenship in Israel at all. He received this right among the people of Judah by virtue of his faith. He was included in the family of Caleb the son of Hezron, as it appears in 1 Chronicles 2:49 and in the passages already cited in Joshua.
Rossier ties the name Caleb to a quality, not just a bloodline:
With this name goes the thought of "virtue," that is, of moral energy. With a goal in view, it enables the believer to overcome obstacles. It separates him from every weight and the sin that so easily entangles him. 2 Peter 1:5 says, "In your faith have also virtue."
A record like this says something about God's memory:
There is something deeply solemn for the soul in being allowed to go over such a record of names. People forgot them long ago. But God has remembered every one, with every detail of their pathway through this world. Some day our names will be lost to mankind too. Yet God will forget neither us nor our ways.
- Remembered — Chronicles is history told from the side of grace, preserved by the Holy Spirit "as He loved to remember it."
- Dated — Hezron dies, then the son is born. Names ending in "jah" are not early ones; in general these names come after the Exodus.
- Founded — "Father of Tekoa" means founder. Tekoa became a fortress, the home of the wise woman who spoke to the king, and the place where Amos kept herds.
- Fragmentary — Verses 18–24 are pieces gathered in a time of confusion. They use clans, districts and cities as names. God still sets His seal on them.
- Remembered — People forget names. God does not. He keeps our ways too.
And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, of Ahijah.
Verse 25 turns aside from David's royal line to list the sons of Jerahmeel, Hezron's firstborn. Their names are almost all we are told. So why does the record pause here, and why does it treat the family's firstborn this way?
Jerahmeel had the birthright as the eldest son. Yet the chapter traces David's line to its end before it turns back to him. One writer links his last place to the fruitlessness of his line:
Unfruitfulness especially characterizes the line of Jerahmeel. Although he was Hezron's eldest son (v. 9), he is once again in last place here (v. 25)... The features of the natural man pass down just as readily as the features of a man of faith like Caleb; only in Caleb's case they pass down by grace. David's line does not descend from Jerahmeel, but from Ram, his younger brother (vv. 9-16).
So part of the point lies in what the verse leaves out: the eldest son passes on what he is by birth, and no more.
Chronicles keeps this order right through its genealogies. It sets the natural connection down first, before the chosen line appears:
The Spirit of God goes farther back. He gives us the family line from Adam of the generation blessed by grace, according to God's sovereignty, together with what belonged to that generation outwardly, or after the flesh. He makes the part owned in grace stand out clearly enough to be seen. That part stood outwardly connected with what was merely outward and natural. And He always puts the natural first, as the apostle tells us.
The same pattern shows up earlier, with Shem, and again with Abraham's two sons:
In God's eyes, Shem, chosen by grace, has the preeminence, but in the natural order what is spiritual is not first... "The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael" (v. 28); Isaac is named first, seen as first in God's thoughts, but Ishmael, the elder, is listed first (v. 29) as the seed according to the flesh.
Verse 9 also named a Ram — the ancestor of David. This Ram is a different man:
Of the family of Jerahmeel there is little but the names. The Ram here (1 Chron. 2:25) is nephew to the Ram, son of Hezron, and brother to Jerahmeel (1 Chron. 2:9).
So a shared name does not put a man in David's line.
Jerahmeel's branch is not the line that leads to David, yet the record keeps it:
The honoured line passed through Ram, but his natural connections have a place in the archives of Judah. No doubt everyone named stood out for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given to them that would make them stand out even more.
The same writer points to one man in this branch:
In this branch of Hezron's descendants there is one man who stands out for what he was and what he became through God's favour. It happened in such a sovereign way that, while Israel is under law, a Gentile is honoured and prominent in Israel. Sheshan had no sons, only daughters. Would his name and family not soon be lost among the thousands of Judah? No. His daughter, though given to his Egyptian servant, stands at the head of thirteen generations (1 Chron. 2:35-41).
One writer draws a personal lesson from reading such a list:
It deeply sobers the soul to be allowed to go over such a record of names. People forgot them long ago, but God has remembered every one of them, along with every detail of their path through this world. Some day our names likewise will be lost to mankind, but neither we nor our ways will be forgotten by God.
That fits the whole book. One writer describes Chronicles as "God's history of His people, recorded by the Holy Spirit, as He loved to remember it" (J. N. Darby).
- Firstborn — Jerahmeel had the birthright as Hezron's eldest. Yet the chapter puts him last and gives his family little but names.
- Nature — What a man is by nature passes on to his children. Faith's likeness passes on too, but only by grace.
- First-listed — Chronicles names the natural line before the chosen one, as with Ishmael before Isaac. God's order is not nature's order.
- Namesake — The Ram of this verse is nephew to the Ram of verse 9. The right name is not the same as a place in the chosen line.
- Remembered — God keeps the names the world forgot, and He will forget neither us nor our ways.