And all Israel were registered by genealogy; and behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. And Judah was carried away to Babylon because of their transgression.
Nine chapters of names end here in one sentence that holds two things: a full register, and a nation deported. Why would God keep such a careful list of a people He had just sent into exile?
The chapter before this one ended at the kingship. This one states how the story ended, then points on to what came after the exile.
1 Chronicles 8 has brought us to the kingship according to the flesh, and 1 Chronicles 10 will show us its ruin. 1 Chronicles 9 shows us the final ruin of the people: "And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith" (v. 1). Then comes the restoration of a weak remnant, told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, waiting at Jerusalem for the promised Messiah.
People kept these registers at the worst possible moment. Their lands and homes were gone. To an unbelieving Israelite the paperwork was worthless. To someone who believed what God had said about seventy years, it was everything.
The Jews were discouraged by the destruction they would never believe until it came. They might have thought, "What is the use of a genealogy? What is the use of caring now about our lands or houses? Everything is ruined. All is gone." But the man who believed God knew that seventy years would see them return from their captivity. So care for God and confidence in His Word would make them guard their genealogies closely, and then, when they did return, they could take up the portion God gave them. This is what made every homestead in Israel so precious — that it was God who gave it.
The lists in these chapters have gaps. Their damaged state matches the damaged state of the people. Yet enough survived to give those who came back their place.
These genealogies were incomplete. The state of Israel carried the mark of the ruin that had come on them. But it also carried the mark of the goodness of God, who had brought back a remnant and had kept everything needed to put those who formed it in the record of His people... Happy is the man who had kept his own record, and who valued the Lord's inheritance enough to treasure it! It was a proof of faith, because someone might have said, "What use are these genealogies in Babylon?"
The rule was strict, and it reached the priesthood.
The priests were not allowed to serve at all unless they could prove their genealogy, no matter how truly they were sons of Aaron.
A register is also a picture. God keeps the names of those who came through trouble — though not everyone born into Israel was truly Israel.
At the same time He records the names of those who came through the trials described 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 that is in fact what we find here. Not all Israel is there; but not all who are of Israel are Israel.
The verse names its source: the Book of the Kings of Israel. Chronicles points to such records again and again, and commentators say this raises no problem for a reader who trusts Scripture.
Throughout these books many historical records are mentioned that the writer could use as the basis for his work (1 Chron. 5:17; 9:1; 23:27; 27:24; 29:29...). For the reader who accepts the Bible as God's inspired Word, these details are not that important. What matters more is that God Himself had the books written to warn us.
The register does not stop at the exile. It reaches past the return and hands the thread on.
1 Chronicles 9 brings us a little past the time of Nehemiah. It breaks off the royal genealogies eight generations before the Messiah comes. The Gospel of Matthew fills this gap. It shows us how, right through the ruin, God Himself took care to preserve the genealogy of David's Son, His own Son, until He came as the son of Joseph and Mary. So Matthew 1 is the natural continuation of 1 Chronicles 9.
- Cause. Judah went to Babylon for one stated reason: unfaithfulness. The chapter that lists everyone also explains why they lost everything.
- Care. In the same breath, God keeps a complete register. Grace records names while judgment removes a nation.
- Confidence. Keeping a genealogy in Babylon was an act of faith. It trusted God's word that the exile had a time limit and the land would come back.
- Claim. The record decided who could take their place when they returned. Those without proof, even priests, lost their service.
- Christ. The line survives the ruin and runs on. Matthew 1 picks up where this chapter leaves off, ending in David's Son.
And the inhabitants that were first in their possessions in their cities were the Israelites, the priests, the Levites, and the Nethinim.
This verse marks a fresh start: the exile in Babylon is over, and the record names the first families to settle back on their own land. It raises three questions — who came back, why God kept a list of where they lived, and what such a small return was meant to prove.
Only a few tribes appear in this first group.
From the opening of chapter 9 we learn that these genealogies date from after the return from Babylon. "The first inhabitants of the land" are those who returned first, and the chapter names the chief men among them. There are the children of Judah and of Benjamin, with remnants of Ephraim and Manasseh — the two tribes that stayed loyal to the house of David, and the representatives of the children of Joseph. So in this small remnant there are both the royalty and the birthright.
The chapter moves from ruin to a fresh start.
1 Chronicles 8 has brought us to the kingship according to the flesh, and 1 Chronicles 10 will show us its ruin. 1 Chronicles 9 shows us the final ruin of the people... We then find the restoration of a feeble remnant, mentioned in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, waiting at Jerusalem for the promised Messiah.
The verse puts each family back "in their possessions in their cities." Careful records, kept through seventy years of exile, were what made that possible.
The Jews were disheartened by the destruction they never would believe in till it came. They might have thought, "What is the use of a genealogy? What is the use of caring now about our lands or houses? Everything is ruined. All is gone." But the man who believed God knew that seventy years would see them return from their captivity. So care for God and confidence in His Word would make them guard their genealogies carefully. Then, when they did return, they might enter on the portion God had allotted them. For this was what made every homestead in Israel so precious — that it was God that gave it. It was not merely something that man earned by his own labour or skill. It was the gift of God to them.
The lists also kept the returning people honest, and linked them to a great past.
When they returned, these genealogies would be of the highest importance to the Israelites: so that they should not seize what was not theirs; so that they should not be unjust; so that they should be content with what God had given them; so that they should link themselves with all that was great and glorious in God's sight in the past... In their weakness they needed every cheer and encouragement.
Older translations keep the Hebrew word "Nethinim" here. The ESV calls them "temple servants." This verse is where the name first appears.
The name means 'given, devoted ones.' It was used of those who helped the Levites in the service of the tabernacle and the temple. The name does not appear until 1 Chronicles 9:2, and after that in Ezra and Nehemiah. The Gibeonites were made "hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar." Joshua 9:27... God does not appear to have appointed them, as He did the Levites. Instead 'David and the princes' appointed them 'for the service of the Levites' (Ezra 8:20).
Neither writer puts the Gibeonite link higher than likely. If it holds, a curse of servitude turned into mercy.
It is here, then, that we probably find the origin of the Nethinim. They were the ones spared from the just judgment of God. If they were reduced to slavery, it was slavery in His mercy, tied to His house. In this way He turned the very curse that rested on them (see Joshua 9:23) into a blessing. For what do we find? The sword of the Lord's host did not destroy them; they were rescued. Now, centuries later, they stand in honourable association with the Lord's people, and with a heart too for the Lord's house.
The handful named here was never meant to be the whole story.
God brings back a remnant not for the sake of history, but so that history may tell how sovereign grace stepped in, and will step in again when Christ comes. Without it, the ruin would be beyond repair, shared with the Gentile. But God was foreshadowing His great purpose of all Israel's restoration. The remnant's return is the pledge of the nation's return.
- Ruin. Chapter 9 records the final ruin of the people, then names those who came back. The low point becomes the starting point.
- Record. Faith kept the genealogies through the exile. Every homestead in Israel was God's gift, and the record was how a family claimed it.
- Restraint. The lists kept the weak remnant from seizing what was not theirs, and kept them content with what God had given.
- Reach. Even the temple servants — outsiders under a curse — ended up honoured among God's people, with a heart for His house.
- Pledge. This first small return was not the goal but the guarantee: grace will yet restore all Israel, royalty and birthright together.
And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh
Chronicles closes its long list of names with a note about who settled in Jerusalem after the exile. Four tribes are named, and that raises two questions: why these four, and why God kept such a record at all.
One writer lines this chapter up with Nehemiah 11, and notes a detail here that Nehemiah leaves out.
We then find the restoration of a feeble remnant, mentioned in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, to wait for the promised Messiah at Jerusalem. This ninth chapter corresponds to chapter 11 of Nehemiah. Yet it differs significantly from Nehemiah 11. The number of the sons of Judah and Benjamin who lived at Jerusalem is different, and so are their names… We learn also what Nehemiah does not reveal. Some of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh came to live at Jerusalem (v. 3) with the children of Judah and of Benjamin. They had probably been left in the land of Canaan when their tribes were carried away.
Judah and Benjamin held to David's line. Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph. Both lines now live in one city.
From the opening of chapter 9 we learn that these genealogies were put together after the return from Babylon. Those described as the first to live in the land are the ones who returned first, and the chief among them are named. There are the children of Judah and of Benjamin with remnants of Ephraim and Manasseh. The two tribes that held to the house of David, and the representatives of the children of Joseph. So in this comparatively small remnant there are both the royalty and the birthright. And before they were driven out again, He appeared who is both King and the Firstborn, who alone is such before God. By rejecting Him, this favoured remnant lost both. Grace will restore both at the right time. It will bring all Israel — the ten lost tribes together with the Jewish remnant — into the privileges and glory flowing from both.
Commentators differ here. The writer above sees real remnants of Ephraim and Manasseh in the company that came home. Another writer, working through the same list in Nehemiah, separates single people from whole tribes.
We find here plenty of confirmation that, apart from the priests and Levites, only the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, or representatives of these, were brought back from Babylon. There might have been people from other tribes — such as Anna, who was "of the tribe of Asher" (Luke 2:36). That in no way affects this statement. As tribes, only Judah and Benjamin were restored. So the remaining ten tribes are "lost" to this day, hidden, in the ways of God, among the peoples of the earth.
The genealogy that this chapter closes does not end here. Matthew's opening page picks it up again.
Let us say at once: 1 Chronicles 9 brings us a little beyond the time of Nehemiah. It interrupts the royal genealogies eight generations before Messiah's coming. The Gospel of Matthew fills this gap. It shows us how God Himself took care to preserve the genealogy of David's Son, His own Son, right through the ruin, until His coming as son of Joseph and Mary. So Matthew 1 forms the natural continuation of 1 Chronicles 9.
Why record a handful of families settling in a broken city? The point lies ahead of them, not behind.
A remnant is brought back not for the sake of history, but so that history may tell how sovereign grace stepped in — and will step in again when Christ comes. Otherwise there was ruin beyond repair, shared with the Gentile. But God was foreshadowing His great purpose of all Israel's restoration. The remnant's return is the pledge of the nation's return.
Living in Jerusalem was not the comfortable option. Nehemiah's account of the same resettlement shows what moved people to choose it.
In the middle of her present ruin, Jerusalem could attract the people of God only if they looked at her with the eyes of faith, from the viewpoint of her future glory. To go there, leaving all else, took a decision that faith alone could give and hope alone could sustain. It could only be an act of love and willing devotion for the city of the great King — a self-denial that was not everyone's portion, and that God did not require of them… "And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem" (v. 2). Such feelings had God's approval.
- Ruin. Chronicles ends its genealogies with the nation broken and carried to Babylon. What follows is recovery, not achievement.
- Remnant. What comes back is small and weak, and it settles in Jerusalem to wait there for the promised Messiah.
- Reach. With Judah and Benjamin come some of Ephraim and Manasseh, so royalty and birthright stand together in one small company. Commentators differ over whether the northern tribes returned as tribes or as individuals only.
- Record. God guarded the family line right through the collapse. Matthew's opening chapter takes up where this one stops.
- Restoration. The remnant's return is the pledge of the nation's return. Grace stepped in once, and will step in again when Christ comes.