And these were born to him in Jerusalem Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel;
The verse opens the list of David's sons born in Jerusalem, with Solomon named last. Some names here differ from other lists of the same family, and the order raises one question: why does the throne pass to the youngest?
The four sons appear in birth order, yet the one who inherits stands at the end. One writer reads the whole chapter as a study in how God chooses. He traces the pattern from Amnon, David's eldest son, down to these four:
David himself was the lastborn of his father's house, and his family bears the same clear mark of election according to grace. Amnon, the son according to the flesh, the shame of his father's house, comes first, only to be rejected like all that springs from nature… One must reach the kingdom firmly established at Jerusalem, the place of free election according to grace (Ps. 132:13), before we meet Solomon. After his father David, he is the man of God's counsels. Once again, nature's order is of no value. Shimea, Shobab, and Nathan, mentioned first as sons of Bathsheba, disappear before Solomon, the youngest son. Likewise, all the other sons who come after him have no right to the kingship.
Readers comparing this verse with 2 Samuel meet different names for the same people. This verse calls the mother Bathshua; other books use a different name:
Another name for Bathsheba, the wife of David. 1 Chr. 3:5. The same Hebrew word is translated "daughter of Shua," Judah's wife in Gen. 38:12; 1 Chr. 2:3.
The same happens with her father. 2 Samuel and Chronicles give him different names:
Father of Bathsheba, or Bathshua. 2 Sam. 11:3. He is called Ammiel in 1 Chr. 3:5.
Four of David's royal sons came from the woman he took through adultery and murder. One writer sees grace at work in that:
The king is now able to comfort Bathsheba. Grace flows out to him again. He has a son whom he names Solomon (meaning Peaceable) and whom the Lord through Nathan calls "Jedidiah" (meaning Beloved of Jehovah). Defilement would have kept Bathsheba from any portion in God's blessings. Grace brings her into the Messiah's line of descent (Matt. 1:6). She becomes the mother of the king of peace and glory. Grace delights to work for fallen creatures, joining them to Christ so that it may show its "exceeding riches" in the ages to come.
Matthew's family tree keeps the story of Uriah's wife in the record. One writer sees God's hand in it:
A little further on, in Matthew, we read, "David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah." It is worthy of God to act like this. The Spirit of God is leading us along the line through which Christ came according to the flesh. In doing so He gives us Tamar and Bathsheba as links in the genealogical chain! How clear it is that there is nothing of man in this! No one could ever have designed such a genealogy. It is entirely divine.
Nathan and Solomon both appear in this verse. Both also appear in the New Testament, in two family lines that lead to Jesus. One writer explains why:
There was then a curse on the line of Solomon, and Joseph belongs to that line. There was no curse on the line of Nathan. So by His birth from Mary He is truly the Son of David. In the eyes of the nation He held that place legally through Joseph.
Another writer shows where Solomon's line stops:
Jeconiah stood for Solomon's line, and that king's childlessness barred its claim to David's throne (Jer. 22:30). So the succession passed to Nathan's line, represented by Salathiel, whose actual father was Neri.
The verse names Bathshua, but the book never tells her story. That silence is deliberate:
These chapters pass over David's crime in complete silence: the story of Bathsheba and Uriah, and the terrible results of corruption and revolt that these events brought on the king's house. Nothing helps us more to see the Spirit of God's purpose in Chronicles. This David is the king according to God's counsels, and he represents Christ. How could the book show him to us as a murderer?
- Grace chooses. Birth order decides nothing here. The three older sons step aside for Solomon, the youngest, born after the kingdom was settled at Jerusalem.
- Grace lifts. The same grace reaches the mother. Defilement would have shut Bathsheba out. Instead she becomes mother of the king of peace, and the Lord calls her son Beloved.
- Grace publishes. Matthew's family tree keeps her in the record instead of hiding her. No human writer would have designed such a line.
- Grace reaches Christ two ways. This one verse names both Nathan and Solomon. Both lines reach Jesus: the legal one through Joseph, the real one through Mary.
- Grace shields the type. Chronicles keeps the crime out of the record so David can stand as the picture of the king of God's purpose.
and Ibhar, and Elishama, and Eliphelet,
These three names belong to sons born to David in Jerusalem, once his kingdom was settled there — a list most readers skim past. Yet two other records spell some of these names differently, and none of these sons ever took the throne. So why did God keep the list at all?
Most of these sons leave no story behind them. One commentator, looking at the matching list elsewhere, notes how few of them left any trace — and still insists the names are here on purpose:
David made still more marriages, and more sons and daughters were born to him in Jerusalem. Eleven of them are named, but the record does not name their mothers. Only two have anything recorded about them later, and only one in this history. Even so, there must be a purpose in listing them here.
The first name points away from David's household and toward God's will:
The first son now is Ibhar, "election," or "He chooses." The source of all blessing is in God Himself, in His will alone. This is clearly the basic need, if He is to be glorified at all. Whatever happens by chance, or comes about some other way, we cannot trace back to Him and cannot give Him glory for: this needs no argument.
The same commentator handles both forms of the second name. The other list reads Elishua, and that form says God supplies the way of rescue, not only the will to rescue:
The second son is Elishua, "my God is salvation": the method comes from Him as well as the will. This is the blessing of the gospel — that God is exalted in it this way.
The form in this verse, Elishama, points to a conversation that goes both ways and never ends:
Elishama, "God hears": the creature, taken hold of by His love in this way, belongs to Him. Having heard His creating voice, the creature may now answer Him and be heard in return. So the joy of that fellowship begins, and it never ends.
The third name speaks of the outcome:
Eliphelet, "my God is escape," or complete deliverance. How the finished outcome, once gained, will bring out the greatness of that escape! All words are far too weak here.
Both Elishama and Eliphelet appear again in verse 8, and the other lists spell them differently. A Bible dictionary counts two sons of David named Elishama, and links one of them to a second form of the name:
Two sons of David born at Jerusalem. 2 Sam. 5:16; 1 Chr. 3:6, 8; 1 Chr. 14:7. One of them seems to be called ELISHUA in 2 Sam. 5:15; 1 Chr. 14:5.
The Eliphelet of this verse is likewise matched with the name Elpalet in the other record:
Another of David's sons born in Jerusalem. 1 Chr. 3:6. He seems to be called ELPALET in 1 Chr. 14:5.
These names stand after Solomon's in the chapter. One writer reads the whole family list as a lesson that birth order settles nothing:
We do not meet Solomon until the kingdom is firmly established at Jerusalem, the place of free election according to grace (Ps. 132:13). After his father David, Solomon is the man of God's purposes. Once again, nature's order counts for nothing. Shimea, Shobab, and Nathan, named first as sons of Bathsheba, drop out of sight before Solomon, the youngest son. In the same way, all the other sons who come after him have no right to the kingship.
- Chosen — Ibhar means "He chooses." Every blessing starts in God's will alone, because nothing that came another way could give Him glory.
- Saved — Elishua, the other form of the second name, means "my God is salvation." God supplies both the will to save and the way of saving, and the gospel exalts Him for both.
- Heard — Elishama means "God hears." The one God has taken hold of may answer Him and be heard, in a conversation that never ends.
- Delivered — Eliphelet means "my God is escape." It names the finished outcome: a complete deliverance that words are too weak to describe.
- Passed over — none of these sons had a claim to the throne. The kingdom went to the youngest son, so the list teaches that natural order counts for nothing where God chooses.
and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia,
This verse is three names and nothing more. They are sons born to David after his throne moved to Jerusalem. Scripture tells no story about any of them. So why does God take the trouble to write them down?
One writer reads the whole family list as a lesson in how God chooses. Birth order counts for nothing:
David's family bears the clear mark of election according to grace, just as its head did, for David was the lastborn of his father's house. Amnon, the son according to the flesh and the shame of his father's house, comes first, only to be rejected like everything that springs from nature… You must reach the kingdom firmly set up at Jerusalem, the place of free election according to grace (Ps. 132:13), before Solomon is introduced… Again, nature's order is worth nothing. Shimea, Shobab, and Nathan are named first as sons of Bathsheba, yet they drop from view before Solomon, the youngest son. In the same way, all the other sons who come after him have no right to the kingship.
So these three stand outside the royal line. They are real sons of the king, yet the crown does not pass through them.
The same names appear again later in 1 Chronicles. Two of them, including Nogah, are missing from the matching list in 2 Samuel. One writer explains what the repeat is for:
This book gives us the full list of David's children at Jerusalem for the second time (1 Chron. 3:5-8; 1 Chron. 14:3-7). 2 Samuel 5:14-16 does not mention Elpelet and Nogah. The repeat shows us that God is carrying out His purposes for the kingship at the very moment the king is finding a resting place at Zion for the ark of God.
The meanings of these Hebrew names are not accidental. Commenting on the same list in 2 Samuel, one writer sets them out:
The Hebrew names of the eleven sons of David are of deep significance. These names seem to make known the story of the redemption that is in Him whom David foreshadows… Ibhar (the Lord chooses); Elishua (my God is salvation); Nepheg (budding); Japhia (glorious); Elishama (God hears); Eliada (whom God knows); Eliphalet (my God is escape). What a blessed revelation is contained in those names — and some Christians can say there is no meaning in names! Read them in their meaning and ponder over each as telling forth the very gospel story from start to finish.
Another writer takes the names one at a time. He finds more in Japhia than the bare name suggests:
The fourth son, Japhia, is "lustrous, shining" — the creature clothed with the glory of the light, the reflection of what has shone upon it. Christ Himself is the pledge and assurance of this, and it is produced by being occupied with Him… And what a testimony to His grace that He can stoop like this, in the delight of His love, to glorify the ones He has chosen!
Three unknown names make sense only when you see what the whole list is for. One writer names the aim of these chapters, and it is not history:
the aim of the Holy Spirit in Chronicles is not history, except as a side matter. It is the bringing in of the Son Who is to reign over all. The sin and failure of man, and Satan's determined opposition seen in Saul, are only occasions for the display of sovereign grace and Almighty power… Other names come in and shine among their fellows, and side purposes are carried out, but the great purpose of God centres in His Son. The genealogy points to Him.
Three men lived, and all that is left of them is three words in a list. One writer finds comfort in that:
It sobers the soul deeply to be allowed to read such a record of names. Man forgot them long ago, but God has remembered every one of them, 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.
- Recorded by grace. David's family list bears "the clear mark of election according to grace." Nature's order counts for nothing: the firstborn is passed over, the youngest wears the crown.
- Recorded, not crowned. These three are listed after Solomon, and the sons who come after him "have no right to the kingship." They are real sons of the king, outside the royal line.
- Recorded twice. The repeat shows God's purposes for the kingship moving forward just as the ark finds rest at Zion.
- Recorded with meaning. Writers read the names as the gospel story in miniature — Nepheg "budding," Japhia "glorious," the creature clothed with a light it did not make.
- Recorded for Christ. The genealogy exists to bring in "the Son Who is to reign over all." Man forgets these names; God remembers every one.
and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine
Verse 8 ends the list of sons born to David in Jerusalem with a plain total: nine. The history says almost nothing more about these three men, which raises a question: why does God have their names written down at all?
Long lists of names look like filler. One writer starts from what these lists leave out.
The tables do not mention all the names; many are left out. That shows at once the purpose of these long lists of names. They record only those who had a part in carrying out the purpose of God — the channels God chose, through whom the Lord worked out His purpose. Many lessons can be drawn from these genealogies, which people so often think are unprofitable.
Of all the sons born in Jerusalem, only a couple leave any further trace in the history. That silence is itself worth noticing.
David makes still more marriages, and sons and daughters are born to him in Jerusalem. Eleven are named, but their mothers are not mentioned. Only two of them have anything recorded about them afterwards, and only one in the present history. Even so, there must be a purpose in listing them here.
This verse counts nine. The parallel lists of David's sons born in Jerusalem do not match name for name.
The chapter splits David's family in two: the sons born at Hebron, and the sons born later at Jerusalem.
Here again we meet "that which is natural" — those born in Hebron. They never came to the throne... Solomon was the last of these four, the sons of Bathsheba the daughter of Ammiel, as the Spirit of God takes care to say. No flesh shall glory in His presence. The last becomes the first. The purpose of God alone triumphs.
In the text, these three names come after Solomon. One writer reads the whole family list as a lesson in how little birth order counts.
Like its head — for David was the lastborn of his father's house — the family of David carries the clear mark of election according to grace. Amnon, the son according to the flesh, the shame of his father's house, comes first, only to be rejected like everything that springs from nature. And all the sons born before the kingdom was fully established, at least all those whose history is recorded, come under one condemnation. Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah — corruption, rebellion, and pride that lays claim to the throne and would push Solomon aside — all come under judgment. You have to reach the kingdom firmly established at Jerusalem, the place of free election according to grace (Ps. 132:13), before you are introduced to Solomon, who after his father David is the man of God's counsels. Once again, nature's order is worth nothing. In the same way, all the other sons who come after Solomon have no right to the kingship.
The first of the three names speaks of a God who listens.
Elishama means "God hears." The creature, taken hold of like this by His love, is for Himself. Having heard His creative voice, the creature is allowed to answer and to be heard in return. So the joy of that exchange begins, never to end.
The last of the three names is about rescue.
Eliphelet means "my God is escape," or complete deliverance. When that end is fully reached, how it will emphasize that escape! All words are far too weak here.
Readers comparing this list with the one later in the same book meet a puzzle at the middle name.
Beeliada: a son of David, 1 Chr. 14:7. He is also called Eliada in 2 Sam. 5:16 and 1 Chr. 3:8.
- Recorded — Chronicles keeps only the names tied to God's purpose. A list of nine little-known sons is selection, not padding.
- Remembered — Most of these nine leave no further mark in the history. Their bare mention still has a reason behind it.
- Repudiated — The sons who grabbed at the throne by birth or by force came under judgment. Nature's order counts for nothing.
- Replaced — Solomon, the youngest son, takes the throne the older ones wanted. No one can boast before God.
- Renamed — One son is called Eliada here and Beeliada elsewhere. The names still speak: God hears, and my God is escape.