I Chronicles 2, From Israel to David

The first chapter of 1 Chronicles covers the time from Adam to Jacob/Israel.  We now look at the descendants of Israel.

1 Chronicles 2: 1-2, The descendants of Israel
These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,
Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

The twelve sons of Jacob/Israel are listed. The first four are sons of Leah, in order of birth. But after that the reason for this order is not clear. Issachar and Zebulan were also sons of Leah, but were born after Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. Dan and Naphtali were sons of Bilhah, Gad and Asher were sons of Zilpah,  The youngest in the list were Joseph, then Benjamin, sons of Rachel.

The Chronicler focuses first on the descendants of Judah, as this is the branch that produces the Davidic dynasty.

1  Chronicles 2: 3-9, From Judah to Hezron

The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah. These three were born to him by a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the LORD's sight; so the LORD put him to death.
 

Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.

The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.
 

The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Darda --five in all.

The son of Carmi: Achar, who brought trouble on Israel by violating the ban on taking devoted things.

The son of Ethan: Azariah.

The sons born to Hezron were: Jerahmeel, Ram and Caleb.
 

Hezron was a grandson of Judah through Perez. The Chronicler will now follow descendants of Hezron as they lead us to David.

The first few names in this passage come from Genesis 35: 22-26.

The names Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Darda in verse 6 show up in 1 Kings 4: 31 where Heman, Calcol and Darda are all sons of Mahol.  Presumably the Chronicler is skipping over generations as he lists the most important people.  In addition, Carmi/Karmi is a son of Zimri, according to Joshua 7: 1. It is worth repeating that the Hebrew phrases "son of" or "father of" allow generations to be skipped and so may be interpreted as "descendant of" or "ancestor of." In addition, many of the ancient Hebrew texts differ slightly on the spelling of some of the lesser known people.

1 Chronicles 2: 10-17, The descendants of Ram
Ram was the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, the leader of the people of Judah.

Nahshon was the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed and Obed the father of Jesse.

Jesse was the father of Eliab his firstborn; the second son was Abinadab, the third Shimea, the fourth Nethanel, the fifth Raddai, the sixth Ozem and the seventh David. Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah's three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel.

Abigail was the mother of Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.

 

Descending from Ram are Boaz and then Jesse the father of David. Ruth 4: 19-22 also has the lineage of David. 1 Samuel 16; 6-11 also lists the sons of Jesse. There we are told Jesse's eighth son was David.

Sons of Zeruiah are given in 2 Samuel 2: 18 ; Abigail is given as the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah in 2 Samuel 17:25.

1 Chronicles 2: 18-24, The descendants of Caleb

Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah (and by Jerioth). These were her sons: Jesher, Shobab and Ardon.

When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur. Hur was the father of Uri, and Uri the father of Bezalel.

Later, Hezron lay with the daughter of Makir the father of Gilead (he had married her when he was sixty years old), and she bore him Segub. Segub was the father of Jair, who controlled twenty-three towns in Gilead. (But Geshur and Aram captured Havvoth Jair, as well as Kenath with its surrounding settlements--sixty towns.) All these were descendants of Makir the father of Gilead.
 

After Hezron died in Caleb Ephrathah, Abijah the wife of Hezron bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa.
 

The man Caleb here lived centuries before the more famous Caleb, who with Joshua, first entered the land of Canaan.

We will focus, for a time, on the descendants of Hezron.

1 Chronicles 2: 25-41, The descendants of Jerahmeel

The sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron: Ram his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem and Ahijah. Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

 

The sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel: Maaz, Jamin and Eker.

The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.

Abishur's wife was named Abihail, who bore him Ahban and Molid.

The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim. Seled died without children.

The son of Appaim: Ishi, who was the father of Sheshan. Sheshan was the father of Ahlai.

The sons of Jada, Shammai's brother: Jether and Jonathan. Jether died without children.

The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.

Sheshan had no sons--only daughters. He had an Egyptian servant named Jarha. Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his servant Jarha, and she bore him Attai.

Attai was the father of Nathan, Nathan the father of Zabad, Zabad the father of Ephlal, Ephlal the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jehu, Jehu the father of Azariah, Azariah the father of Helez, Helez the father of Eleasah, Eleasah the father of Sismai, Sismai the father of Shallum, Shallum the father of Jekamiah, and Jekamiah the father of Elishama.

According to J. Barton Payne, the individuals from verse 28 on do not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament. The Chronicler is now using some source other than the Torah or the scrolls of Samuel and Kings.

1 Chronicles 2: 42-55, The descendants of Caleb

The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph, and his son Mareshah, who was the father of Hebron.

The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem and Shema. Shema was the father of Raham, and Raham the father of Jorkeam. Rekem was the father of Shammai. The son of Shammai was Maon, and Maon was the father of Beth Zur.

Caleb's concubine Ephah was the mother of Haran, Moza and Gazez. Haran was the father of Gazez.

The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah and Shaaph.

Caleb's concubine Maacah was the mother of Sheber and Tirhanah. She also gave birth to Shaaph the father of Madmannah and to Sheva the father of Macbenah and Gibea. Caleb's daughter was Acsah.

These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons of Hur the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath Jearim, Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth Gader.

The descendants of Shobal the father of Kiriath Jearim were: Haroeh, half the Manahathites, and the clans of Kiriath Jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites and Mishraites. From these descended the Zorathites and Eshtaolites.

The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth Beth Joab, half the Manahathites, the Zorites, and the clans of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Recab.

Our goal is David, the great shepherd-king.

Payne says that Ephrathah, in verse 50, is a variant of Ephrath, Caleb's wife (verse 19.) Bethlehem of Ephrathah is an important small town in the history of Israel!

In Genesis 15: 18-21, the Kenites are listed as a foreign tribe. Here, in verse 55, they have been absorbed into the descendants of Jacob, presumably by intermarriage. The Kenites, along with the descendants of Jerahmeel, are recipients of gifts of plunder from David in 1 Samuel 30: 26-31.

The house of Recab reappears very briefly in 2 Kings 10: 15 and then more significantly in Jeremiah 35: 6-10 as a nomadic commune.

The commentary by J. Barton Payne includes a chart which traces the descendants of Judah.  I attach a .png file created by scanning that chart. (Given the complexity of this chart, one probably must zoom in a bit to read the names.)