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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Chronicles 3:1 - 3:1
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The sons and descendants of David. - After the enumeration of the chief families of the two sons of Hezron, Caleb and Jerahmeel, in 1 Chron 2:18-55, the genealogy of Ram the second son of Hezron, which in 1Ch 2:10-17 was only traced down to Jesse, the father of the royal race of David, is in 1 Chron 3 again taken up and further followed out. In 1Ch 3:1-9 all the sons of David are enumerated; in 1Ch 3:10-16, the line of kings of the house of David from Solomon to Jeconiah and Zedekiah; in 1Ch 3:17-21, the descendants of Jeconiah to the grandsons of Zerubbabel; and finally, in 1Ch 3:22-24, other descendants of Shechaniah to the fourth generation.
1Ch 3:1-4
The sons of David: (a) Those born in Hebron; (b) those born in Jerusalem. - 1Ch 3:1-4. The six sons born in Hebron are enumerated also in 2Sa 3:2-5, with mention of their mother as here: but there the second is called כִּלְאָב; here, on the contrary, דָּנִיֵּאל, - a difference which cannot well have arisen through an error of a copyist, but is probably to be explained on the supposition that this son had two different names. In reference to the others, see on 2 Sam 3. The sing. לֹו נֹולַד אֲשֶׁר after a preceding plural subject is to be explained as in 1Ch 2:9. שֵׁנִי, without the article, for מִשְׁנֵהוּ, 2Sa 3:3, or הַמִּשְׁנֶה, 1Ch 5:12, is surprising, as all the other numbers have the article; but the enumeration, the first-born, a second, the third, etc., may be justified without any alteration of the text being necessary. But the difference between our text and that of 2 Sam. in regard to the second son, shows that the chronicler did not take the register from 2 Sam 3. The preposition לְ before אַבְשָׁלֹום seems to have come into the text only through a mistake occasioned by the preceding לַאֲבִיגַיִל, for no reason is apparent for any strong emphasis which might be implied in the לְ being placed on the name of Absalom. The addition of אִשְׁתֹּו to עֶגְלָה (1Ch 3:3) seems introduced only to conclude the enumeration in a fitting way, as the descent of Eglah had not been communicated; just as, for a similar reason, the additional clause “the wife of David” is inserted in 2Sa 3:5, without Eglah being thereby distinguished above the other wives as the most honoured. The concluding formula, “six were born to him in Hebron” (1Ch 3:4), is followed by a notice of how long David reigned in Hebron and in Jerusalem (cf. 2Sa 2:11 and 2Sa 5:5), which is intended to form a fitting transition to the following list of the sons who were born to him in Jerusalem.
1Ch 3:5-9
In Jerusalem thirteen other sons were born to him, of whom four were the children of Bathsheba. The thirteen names are again enumerated in the history of David, in 1Ch 14:7-11, which in the parallel passage, 2Sa 5:14-16, only eleven are mentioned, the two last being omitted (see on the passage). Some of the names are somewhat differently given in these passages, owing the differences of pronunciation and form: שִׁמְעָה is in both places שַׁמוּעַ; אֱלִישָׁמָע, between Ibhar and Eliphalet, is in 1 Chron 14 more correctly written אֱלִישׁוּעַ. Elishama is clearly a transcriber's error, occasioned by one of the following sons bearing this name. אֱלִיפֶלֶט, shortened in 1Ch 14:6 into אֶלְפֶּלֶט, and נֹוגָה, are wanting in 2Sa 5:15, probably because they died early. אֶלְיָדָע, 1Ch 3:8, 2Sa 5:16, appears in 1Ch 14:7 as בְּעֶלְיָדָע; the mother also of the four first named, בַּתְשׁוּעַ, the daughter of Ammiel, is elsewhere always בַּת־שֶׁבַע, e.g., 2Sa 11:3, and 1Ki 1:11, 1Ki 1:15, etc.; and her father, Eliam (2Sa 11:3). בַּתְשׁוּעַ has been derived from בַּתְשֶׁוָע, and בַּתְשֶׁוָע is softened from בַּתְשֶׁבַע; but אֱלִיעָם has arisen by transposition of the two parts of the name עַמִּיאֵל, or Ammiel has been altered to Eliam. Besides these, David had also sons by concubines, whose names, however, are nowhere met with. Of David's daughters only Tamar is mentioned as “their sister,” i.e., sister of the before-mentioned sons, because she had become known in history through Amnon's crime (2 Sam 13).