1 Chronicleschapter 2
55 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
These were the sons of Israel:
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 1 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for the tribe that came home from exile, most of whose families traced themselves to Judah. It turns from the whole world to one household, and then to one tribe inside it. Its compiler records the clans who held the towns of the Judean hills and the southern desert. Listen for the names that carry a memory of shame or of skill, and for the one line that is kept moving toward Bethlehem. For its first hearers it was the paper behind their claim to a village and a field.
Context
- Who
- Returned exiles who were for the most part Judah's own descendants
- What
- The sons of Israel named, and then the clans of Judah traced from Judah's sons down to Jesse's family and the settlers of the Judean towns.
- Where
- The hill country and southern desert of Judah, with towns such as Bethlehem, Hebron, Tekoa and Kiriath-jearim.
- When
- The names span roughly 1900 to 1000 BC and were set down after the return from Babylon.
- Why
- To record Judah's families and to set out the line that leads to David.
Historical context
The chapter is Judah's, and Judah is the tribe that came home. The list runs through the clans that actually held ground, Hezron's house, Caleb's house around Hebron, Jerahmeel's people in the southern desert, and the line that ends at Jesse of Bethlehem.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The names belong to the long span from the patriarchs to David, and the compiling belongs to the Persian period, the same archive work that produced chapter 1.
The phrase the father of does double duty here. Sometimes it names a parent, and from verse 42 onward it regularly names the founder or head of a settlement, as when a man is called the father of Bethlehem or the father of Kiriath-jearim. A clan and a place carried the same name, because a clan was a place.
Two men in the list carry more weight than their entries suggest. Achar, who brought trouble upon Israel, is the man who took from Jericho's spoil, and his shame is written into the family record. Bezalel, the craftsman God filled with skill to build the tabernacle, is placed in Caleb's branch five generations down from Judah.
A first hearer also knew what the village names meant. Tekoa, Ziph, Hebron, Bethlehem and Kiriath-jearim were working towns with fields and boundary stones, and a name in this list was the paperwork behind a claim to them.
Significance
This was the property map of the people listening. Their fathers had been carried off, their fields had been held by others for two generations, and a claim to a village in the Judean hills rested on lines exactly like these.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
It settled a quieter question as well. The man who built the first place of worship for God came from their own tribe, so craftsmanship for the house of God stood in Judah's record before the temple was imagined.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No part of this chapter is read in the synagogue. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for this book, and no festival reading. The list of David's ancestors is met elsewhere in the year instead.
The nearest thing to a public reading of this line is the book of Ruth, which ends on the same names. The site's festival table records that Ruth is read whole at Shavuot, on the festival morning, and cites Tractate Soferim 14:3 and 14:16 for the five scrolls and their occasions. A congregation that hears Ruth to its end hears Boaz, Obed, Jesse and David, which is the run this chapter reaches at its fifteenth verse.
The chapter's names are otherwise met in the study of the Torah portions, and the corpus shows which ones. Under the tenth verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Achrei Mot 2:5. Under the nineteenth it carries Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 13:3, and under the forty-eighth Midrash Tanchuma, Tazria 3:1 with Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Tazria 4:1.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. He reads the list as a record that tells the truth about the family it honours. At Tamar he says so outright. "I am amazed that he mentions the shame of David's grandmother" (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:4:1). At Er he reports the reading of Genesis Rabbah 85:4, that the evil named in the verse was an unnatural intimacy (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:3:1). At Achar he explains the change of the name from Achan, since the man troubled Israel by taking the devoted thing (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:7:1). Rashi sets the two together as one habit of the book. Whatever derogatory thing the writer can tell, he tells, and the kingship came out of that family even so.
Four names in the sixth verse draw a long note. Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Dara lived in the days of David and Solomon and were exceedingly wise, which is why Kings measures Solomon against them (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:6:1). Rashi then reports the Pesikta reading of the same list, in which the names are read as Adam, Abraham, Moses, Joseph and the generation of the wilderness. Two readings of one verse stand in the note together, and he leaves both standing.
The chronology of the line is where Rashi argues rather than glosses. At Boaz he reports the ruling of the Sages in Bava Batra 91a that Ibzan the judge is Boaz, and then states his own difficulty with it at length. Nahshon died in the second year after the Exodus, and three hundred years lie between the Exodus and Jephthah. A Boaz begetting at that age is a wonder, and Rashi takes the answer from the line in Ruth about conception being given (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:11:1). At Bezalel he works the arithmetic the other way. Caleb was forty at the sending of the spies and Bezalel was thirteen at the making of the Tabernacle. That leaves each generation begetting before the age of eight, as Sanhedrin 69a explains it, and at six by the Midrash (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:20:1).
Several notes exist to guard David's honour. The seventh son is written with an extra letter for it, and Rashi says the pearl is found at that name. The eighth son is left uncounted here for the same reason (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:15:1). Nahshon is called the prince of the children of Judah for the same reason (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:10:1). Zeruiah and Abigail are entered because their sons were David's mighty men (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:16:1). At Celubai he reads the name as Caleb and as a boast, and takes Nabal's scorn of David in Samuel as the same family pride turned against the throne (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:9:1).
Two notes reconcile this chapter with the books beside it. Jether is called the Ishmaelite here and the Israelite in 2 Samuel 17:25. Rashi answers that he lived in the land of Ishmael, on the pattern of Obed Edom the Gittite (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:17:1). Geshur and Aram in the twenty-third verse he reads through the period of the Judges, when the towns were taken, and through David, who restored them (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:23:1).
The last note in the chapter is the one place where Rashi sets two readings against each other by name. Of Atarah, the wife of Jerahmeel, he says that by the plain sense of the verse she was an Israelite woman. He then reports the Jerusalem Talmud at Sanhedrin 2:3. There she is a beautiful gentile princess, taken so that her husband might crown himself, the name being read as a crown (Rashi on I Chronicles 2:26:1). The plain sense and the homiletic reading stand side by side, and he settles neither.
The corpus carries four further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted at Radak on I Chronicles 2:1:1 and 2:22:1, and at Malbim on I Chronicles 2:2:1 and 2:5:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the second verse, the twelve sons of Israel, it holds Bereshit Rabbah 73:4 and Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 2:3:1. On the fourth, Tamar, it holds a passage of Otzar Midrashim from the Baraita of Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair, at 1:15. On the sixth, the four wise men, it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 14:12, Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 6:3:2 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 6:11.
The house of Judah carries the next run. On the eighth verse it holds Bava Batra 143b:6, with Midrash Lekach Tov at Numbers 16:1:3 and at Deuteronomy 2:33:1. On the tenth, Nahshon the prince, it holds Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 2:3:7, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Achrei Mot 2:5 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 8:1. On the twelfth, Obed and Jesse, it holds Vayikra Rabbah 30:15.
David's own verse and the verses around it draw the heaviest weight. On the fifteenth the corpus holds Midrash Tehillim 119:35, Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:15:1 and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 1:17:9. On the sixteenth, the two sisters, it holds Bava Batra 17a:6 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 1:43. On the seventeenth it holds Ein Yaakov, Yevamot 8:4 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yevamot 8:3.
The line of Caleb carries the rest. On the eighteenth verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 49:2 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 1:37. On the nineteenth, Hur, it holds Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 13:3 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 1:21:1. On the twenty-first and twenty-second, Hezron and Jair, it holds Yevamot 62b:7, Jerusalem Talmud Bava Batra 8:5:6, Bava Batra 111b:15 and Bava Batra 112a:5. On the twenty-fourth it holds Midrash Tehillim 80:1, and on the twenty-fifth Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 2:20:2. On the twenty-sixth, Atarah, it holds Ruth Rabbah (Lerner) 8:5:1 and a passage of Otzar Midrashim on missing and extra letters, at 1:28.
The closing lists draw four more. On the forty-sixth verse the corpus holds Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 30:6. On the forty-eighth and forty-ninth it holds Midrash Tanchuma, Tazria 3:1, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Tazria 4:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Leviticus 12:2:2. On the fifty-second it holds Sotah 11a:13. On the fifty-fifth, the families of the scribes at Jabez, it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 35:4 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:83, and on the fifty-eighth Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 18:26. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on I Chronicles 2:3:1 to 2:26:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on I Chronicles 2:1:1 and 2:22:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on I Chronicles 2:2:1 and 2:5:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/1-chronicles/2.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, the festival entry for Ruth at Shavuot citing Tractate Soferim 14:3 and 14:16, and the same table printing no portion and no Haftarah for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The twelve sons of Israel named
1 Chronicles 2:1-2
These were the sons of Israel: The chapter opens with Jacob's twelve sons in the order Genesis itself uses for the maidservants' sons, Leah's line first, then Rachel's two. Judah stands fourth, yet Judah is where the Chronicler turns and stays for three chapters, because the kingdom and the Messiah run through that tribe.
1 Chronicles 2:1
“The sons of Israel - The order of the names here approximates to an order determined by legitimacy of birth. A single change - the removal of Dan to the place after Benjamin - would give the following result: (1) The six sons of the first wife, Leah. (2) the two sons of the second wife, Rachel. (3) the two sons of the first concubine, Bilhah. (4) the two sons of the second concubine, Zilpah. Dan’s undue prominency may, perhaps, be accounted for by his occupying the seventh place in the “blessing of Jacob” Gen 49:16.”
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah: Genesis 35:23 to 26 groups these twelve sons by their four mothers. The tribes are then traced from 2:3 to 8:40, Judah first and at the greatest length. Zebulun and Dan receive no list of their own.
Judah's line traced down to David
1 Chronicles 2:3-4
was wicked in the sight of the LORD: Er's wickedness is stated without explanation, a moral note the compressed list keeps rather than smooths over from Genesis 38. The tribe's record does not run through Er but through the twins Tamar bore by Judah, so Judah's line remembers a scandal it never hid.
1 Chronicles 2:3
“Judah - Whom he puts first, because the best part of the right of the firstborn, namely, the dominion, was conferred upon him, Gen. xlix, 8, and because the Messiah was to come out of his loins.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, bore: Genesis 38 tells how Tamar, widowed by two of Judah's sons, bore twins to Judah himself. Perez, the first to be born, heads the line that reaches David in verses 9 to 15. Matthew 1:3 names Tamar in the genealogy of Jesus.
1 Chronicles 2:4
“And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez and Zerah,.... Through incest; they were twins, Gen 38:27 all the sons of Judah were five; who are before mentioned by name.”
1 Chronicles 2:5-7
The sons of Perez: Zerah's sons include Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, the men Solomon's wisdom is measured against in 1 Kings 4:31. The older commentators generally read the two lists as naming the same men. Carmi's son is spelled Achar, the Achan of Joshua 7, who brought trouble upon Israel.
1 Chronicles 2:5
“The sons of Pharez,.... One of the above twins, born to Judah: Hezron and Hamul; see Gen 46:12.”
The sons of Zerah: Zerah's five sons include Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara. 1 Kings 4:31 names Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Darda as wise men, and Gill takes them as these sons of Zerah. Barnes finds no sufficient ground to identify them.
1 Chronicles 2:6
“And the sons of Zerah,.... The other twin of Judah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all; the Targum calls them governors, and adds, on whom the spirit of prophecy dwelt; and in the Jewish chronology (n) they are said to prophesy in Egypt; and the four last are supposed to be the same with those in 1Ki 4:31. See Gill on 1Ki 4:31. (n) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. p. 52.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:6
“The sons of Zerah - Here, for the first time, the writer of Chronicles draws from sources not otherwise known to us, recording facts not mentioned in the earlier Scriptures. Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, sons of Zerah, are only known to us from this passage, since there are no sufficient grounds for identifying them with the “sons of Mahol” (marginal reference).”
Achar, who brought trouble upon Israel: Achar is the Achan of Joshua 7, who took devoted things from Jericho and brought defeat at Ai. Barnes explains the spelling as a play on the Hebrew word for troubler, fixed after his sin in Joshua 7:25 to 26. Joshua 7:1 traces Carmi back to Zerah.
1 Chronicles 2:7
“Achan” Jos 7:1 seems to have become “Achar,” in order to assimilate the word more closely to the Hebrew term for “troubler,” which was from the time of Achan’s sin regarded as the true meaning of his name Jos 7:25-26.
1 Chronicles 2:8-9
The son of Ethan: Ethan's son Azariah closes out Zerah's short branch, and the record does not carry it further, since the kingdom did not come from that line. Hezron's three sons are named next, and each opens a branch the chapter traces: Jerahmeel's at length, Ram's to David, and Chelubai's twice over.
1 Chronicles 2:8
“And the sons of Ethan; Azariah. Including his posterity, see Gen 46:23, the posterity of the other three sons of Zerah are not mentioned, either because the writer could not find the genealogy of them, as Kimchi; or rather, as he thinks, he cuts short the genealogy of Zerah, because the kingdom did not proceed from him, and returns to the genealogy of Hezron, from whence it did, or perhaps they had no children.”
sons who were born to Hezron: Hezron's three sons divide the rest of the chapter. Ram's leads to David in verses 10 to 17, Caleb's fills verses 18 to 24 and 42 to 55, and Jerahmeel's verses 25 to 41. Gill notes that the Hebrew calls Caleb Chelubai here.
1 Chronicles 2:9
“The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him,.... The Targum adds, in Timnath; but most likely in Egypt: Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai; afterwards called Caleb.”
1 Chronicles 2:10-17
a leader of the descendants of Judah: Ram's line runs through Amminadab and Nahshon, a leader of Judah, to Boaz, Jesse, and David. Ruth 4:19 to 22 gives the same succession, and Matthew 1:3 to 6 carries it into the genealogy of Christ. Here David is Jesse's seventh son, while 1 Samuel 17:12 counts eight sons.
1 Chronicles 2:10
“And Ram begat Amminadab,.... Ram is the same with Aram, Mat 1:3 the genealogy is carried down from him to Jesse in the same order as there, and in Rth 4:19 only here Nahshon the son of Amminadab is called the prince of the children of Judah; which Kimchi and Jarchi say is written for the honour of David, who descended from him; and Salmon his son is here called Salma.”
Nahshon was the father of Salmon: Ruth 4:20 to 21 gives the same line, and Matthew 1:5 adds that Boaz was born to Salmon by Rahab. Boaz married Ruth the Moabite. The royal line takes in two women from outside Israel.
Boaz was the father of Obed: Ruth 4:17 records that the women of Bethlehem named Obed, and that he became the father of Jesse, the father of David. From Nahshon in the wilderness to Jesse the list gives four generations. Many readers take the span as compressed.
Jesse was the father of Eliab: Eliab was the eldest son, the one Samuel first took for the LORD's anointed in 1 Samuel 16:6 to 7. He later rebuked David at the battle line in 1 Samuel 17:28. Wesley suggests he is the Elihu of 1 Chronicles 27:18.
1 Chronicles 2:13
“Eliab - Called also Elihu, chap. xxvii, 18, unless that was another person, and the word brother be taken more largely for a kinsman, as it is frequently.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Nethanel fourth, Raddai fifth: Nethanel and Raddai appear only here. 1 Samuel 16:10 says seven of Jesse's sons passed before Samuel, and 1 Samuel 17:12 gives Jesse eight sons. The Chronicler lists seven.
Ozem sixth, and David seventh: In 1 Samuel 16:10 to 11 and 17:12 David is the youngest of eight sons. Barnes explains the difference by supposing that one of the sons shown to Samuel died young. David is still the last born.
1 Chronicles 2:15
“David the seventh - Jesse had eight sons, of whom David was the youngest 1Sa 16:10-11; 1Sa 17:12. Probably one of the sons shown to Samuel at Bethlehem did not grow up.”
Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail: Zeruiah's three sons became David's chief soldiers, and 1 Chronicles 18:15 puts Joab over the army. Barnes reads 2 Samuel 17:25 as making these women half-sisters, daughters of a Nahash whose widow Jesse married. He also judges Abishai the eldest of the three.
Abigail was the mother of Amasa: Amasa commanded Absalom's army and was killed by Joab in 2 Samuel 20:10. 2 Samuel 17:25 calls his father an Israelite, and Gill records the view that Jether had lived among the Ishmaelites. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown prefer the Greek reading Jezreelite.
1 Chronicles 2:17
“And Abigail bare Amasa,.... Who was Absalom's general, afterwards reconciled to David, and designed to be made general of his army, but was slain by Joab, see 2Sa 17:25, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite; he is called an Israelite, 2Sa 17:25, and so in the Targum here, he being either a proselyte, or else he was an Israelite by birth, but called an Ishmaelite, because he had dwelt among the Ishmaelites some time, as Obededom is called the Gittite for the like reason; so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:17
“The presumption is in favor of the reading followed by the Septuagint, which calls him "Jetra the Jezreelite." The circumstance of his settling in another tribe, or of a woman marrying out of her own tribe, was sufficiently rare and singular to call for the statement that Abigail was married to a man of Jezreel.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Caleb son of Hezron and his households
1 Chronicles 2:18-24
had children by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth: Caleb's line runs to Hur and then to Uri and Bezalel, the descent Exodus 31:2 gives for the craftsman the LORD filled with skill. So the tribe of the king also produced the builder of the tabernacle. The text then records a son born after his father's death.
1 Chronicles 2:18
“Her sons - The sons of Azubah, who is by way of distinction called his wife, when Jerioth probably was only his concubine, and, it may seem, barren: therefore upon Azubah's death he married another wife. And those other sons of this Caleb mentioned, ver. 42, are his sons by some other wife distinct from all these.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:18
“In the remainder of this chapter the writer obtains scarcely any assistance from the earlier Scriptures, and must have drawn almost entirely from genealogical sources, accessible to him, which have since perished. Azubah was Caleb’s wife; Jerioth his concubine. He had children by both; but those of Azubah are alone recorded.”
1 Chronicles 2:18
“Azubah - “And why was she called Azubah? Because she was barren and despised. But her injury was manifested before the Lord; and she was comforted, and adorned with wisdom; and she span, skilfully, goats’ hair for the court of the tabernacle.” - T.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Caleb married Ephrath, who bore: Hur's son Salma is the father of Bethlehem in verse 51, so this marriage brings Caleb's line to Bethlehem. Her name matches Ephrathah, the district of Bethlehem in Micah 5:2. Gill reports the Targum's claim that Ephrath was Miriam, the sister of Moses.
1 Chronicles 2:19
“And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took unto him Ephrath,.... The Targum is, "Miriam, who was called Ephrath"; but, according to Josephus (q), it was his son Hur that was the husband of Miriam the sister of Moses: which bare him Hur; See Gill on Exo 17:10. (q) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 2.”
Uri was the father of Bezalel: Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, is the craftsman of the tabernacle in Exodus 31:2 to 5. Solomon later sought the LORD at the bronze altar Bezalel made, in 2 Chronicles 1:5. The builder belongs to Judah through Caleb and Hur.
1 Chronicles 2:20
“And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezaleel. Who yet is not thought to be the same Bezaleel we read of in Exo 31:2 though the fathers and grandfathers of both have the same names, and were of the same tribe.”
when he was sixty years old: Hezron's late wife was Machir's daughter, and she bore Segub. Machir was the son of Manasseh, and his line held Gilead, as Numbers 32:39 to 40 records. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read Machir, father of Gilead, as wanting a male heir.
Segub was the father of Jair: Jair appears in Numbers 32:41 as a descendant of Manasseh who captured villages and named them Havvoth-jair. Through his grandmother he belongs to Manasseh, and through his grandfather Hezron to Judah. Barnes places these towns in the region later called Trachonitis.
1 Chronicles 2:22
“And Segub begat Jair, who had twenty three cities in the land of Gilead. Which, according to Kimchi, he inherited in right of his wife, which, he says, he took out of the land of Gilead; but they seem to be rather what he took by force of arms from the former inhabitants; see Num 32:41.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:22
Jair, who had three and twenty cities - The places called “Havoth-Jair” in the earlier Scriptures (see Num 32:41 note), which appear to have been a number of “small towns,” or villages, in the Ledjah, the Classical “Trachonitis.”
1 Chronicles 2:22
“Jair, inheriting his property, was his lineal representative; and accordingly this is expressly stated to be the case; for the village group of "Havoth-Jair" was awarded to him in that tribe, in consequence of his valiant and patriotic exploits.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
But Geshur and Aram captured Havvoth-jair: Geshur and Aram were Aramean neighbours to the northeast, and Geshur later gave David a wife, the mother of Absalom, in 1 Chronicles 3:2. Barnes reads the verse as their taking back Jair's towns from the settlers. He counts Segub and Jair among Machir's sons.
1 Chronicles 2:23
“Rather, “And Geshur and Aram (i. e. the Geshurites Deu 3:14 and Syrians) took the villages of Jair from them:” recovered, that is, from the new settlers the places which Jair had conquered. All these belonged to the sons of Machir - Rather, “All these were sons of Machir,” i. e. Segub and Jair, with their descendants, were reckoned sons of Machir, rather than sons of Hezron, although only descended from Machir on the mother’s side.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:23
“Sons of Machir - Partly to his own sons, and partly to his son- in-law Jair, who by reason of that dear affection which was betwixt them, and his forsaking his own tribe and kindred to fight for them and to dwell with them, is here reckoned as his own son.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ashhur the father of Tekoa: Ashhur, born after Hezron died in Caleb-ephrathah, was the father of Tekoa, the town of the wise woman of 2 Samuel 14:2 and Amos 1:1. Wesley and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take father here as founder or ruler. Hezron's line thus reaches Tekoa.
1 Chronicles 2:24
“Caleb-ephratah--so called from uniting the names of husband and wife (1Ch 2:19), and supposed to be the same as was afterwards called Beth-lehem-ephratah. Ashur, the father of Tekoa-- (2Sa 14:2-4). He is called the father, either from his being the first founder, or perhaps the ruler, of the city.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:24
“Tekoa - A known place whose father he is called, because he was either the progenitor of the people inhabiting there: or, their prince and ruler: or, the builder of the city.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The long branch of Jerahmeel
1 Chronicles 2:25-41
the firstborn of Hezron: Jerahmeel's branch runs in bare names, and the notice that a son died without children marks a line that goes no further. It ends in Sheshan, and Sheshan had no sons, but only daughters. Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his servant Jarha, an Egyptian, and she bore Attai.
1 Chronicles 2:25
“And the sons of Jerahmeel, the firstborn of Hezron, were Ram the firstborn,.... So called by his father after the name of his brother, see 1Ch 2:9. and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah; or "of Ahijah", as some (r) render it, this being the name of his wife, who bare him the sons before named, since mention is made of another wife in the next verse. (r) Junius, Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.”
Jerahmeel had another wife named Atarah: Jerahmeel's line runs through two wives, and the second, Atarah, is the mother of Onam, whose descendants fill verses 28 to 41. Gill takes Atarah as a second lawful wife. Onam's line is the longer of the two.
1 Chronicles 2:26
“Jerahmeel had also another wife, whose name was Atarah,.... Distinct from his wife before named; or "another woman", which is a phrase for an harlot or concubine, Jdg 11:2 which she might be, as Kimchi observes; though the former seems best: she was the mother of Onam; and perhaps was the only son she bore to Jerahmeel, of whose sons see 1Ch 2:28.”
The sons of Ram the firstborn: This Ram is Jerahmeel's firstborn, bearing the same name as his uncle Ram of verse 9, the ancestor of David. The branch stops with his three sons. The rest of Jerahmeel's list follows Onam.
1 Chronicles 2:27
“And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel,.... By his first wife: were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker; of whom no other notice is taken; perhaps they left no children.”
The sons of Onam: Onam's two sons divide his descendants, Shammai's line in verses 28 to 31 and Jada's in verses 32 to 33. Shammai's line continues through Sheshan's daughter in verses 34 to 41. The list follows each branch to its end.
1 Chronicles 2:28
“And the sons of Onam,.... The son of Jerahmeel by his other wife: were Shammai and Jada. And the sons of Shammai; Nadab, and Abishur; whose posterity are mentioned in the two following verses.”
Abishur’s wife was named Abihail: Women are named often in Judah's lists, among them Bath-shua, Tamar, Azubah, Ephrath, Atarah, and now Abihail. Her sons Ahban and Molid appear only here. Nadab's line follows in verse 30.
1 Chronicles 2:29
“And the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail,.... Of the same name was a wife of Rehoboam, a daughter of his grandfather David's eldest brother, Eliab, 2Ch 11:18. and she bare him Ahban, and Molid; which are no more mentioned, they perhaps leaving no posterity.”
Seled died without children: The note that Seled left no children marks a line that ended, and the list goes on through his brother Appaim. The same notice returns for Jether in verse 32. A family that died out is still recorded.
1 Chronicles 2:30
“And the sons of Nadab,.... The eldest son of Shammai, 1Ch 2:28, Seled and Appaim; but Seled died without children; and therefore we hear no more of him.”
The son of Sheshan: Ahlai is named as Sheshan's child, yet verse 34 says Sheshan had no sons. Gill reads verse 34 as showing Ahlai to be a daughter. A Zabad son of Ahlai stands among David's mighty men in 1 Chronicles 11:41.
1 Chronicles 2:31
“And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi: Sheshan,.... Though they had each of them but one son, yet the plural number is used, their posterity being included, as in 1Ch 2:8 and so in the next clause: and the children of Sheshan; Ahlai; who, from 1Ch 2:34 appears to be a daughter.”
Jether died without children: Jada's elder son Jether left no heirs, so his branch passes through his brother Jonathan. Seled's line ended the same way in verse 30. The Chronicler records the gap.
1 Chronicles 2:32
“And the sons of Jada the brother of Shammai,.... 1Ch 2:28, Jether and Jonathan: and Jether died without children; the posterity of Jonathan are given the next verse.”
These were the descendants of Jerahmeel: Peleth and Zaza close the Onam branch. Gill notes that the descendants of Jerahmeel are the Jerahmeelites of 1 Samuel 27:10, in the Negev of Judah. David sent them a share of his plunder in 1 Samuel 30:29.
1 Chronicles 2:33
“And the sons of Jonathan; Peleth and Zaza,.... Of whom no mention is made elsewhere: these were the sons of Jerahmeel; not only his immediate sons, but their posterity, called from him Jerahmeelites, 1Sa 27:10.”
an Egyptian servant named Jarha: With no son to carry his name, Sheshan gave his daughter to his Egyptian servant, and the line runs on through their child. Gill compares Jarha to Eliezer in Abraham's house, a servant raised in the family. Matthew Henry supposes Jarha had become a worshipper of Israel's God.
1 Chronicles 2:34
“Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters,.... And but one of that sort, whose name was Ahlai, 1Ch 2:31 the plural being put here for the singular; or, if that is the name of a son, as some think, he died in his father's lifetime, and left no issue; so that there only remained daughters, and it seems but one by the next verse: and Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha; one born in his house, and brought up by him, and a proselyte, such an one as Eliezer in Abraham's family.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:34
“If it be mentioned to his praise, we must suppose that this Egyptian was proselyted to the Jewish religion and that he was very eminent for wisdom and virtue, otherwise it would not have become a true-born Israelite to match a daughter to him, especially an only daughter.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
and she bore to him Attai: Sheshan's daughter married Jarha, and their son Attai heads a chain of thirteen names to Elishama in verse 41. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that such a marriage of a servant was common in the East. Michaelis questioned it under the law of Moses.
1 Chronicles 2:35
“Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife--The adoption and marriage of a foreign slave in the family where he is serving, is far from being a rare or extraordinary occurrence in Eastern countries. It is thought, however, by some to have been a connection not sanctioned by the law of Moses [MICHAELIS].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Attai was the father of Nathan: Through Jarha an Egyptian enters Judah's record, as Jether the Ishmaelite did in verse 17. From Attai the chain runs father to son with no side branches. Nathan here is a different man from David's son.
Zabad was the father of Ephlal: Most of the men in verses 36 to 41 are known only from this list. Obed here shares the name of Boaz's son in verse 12, David's grandfather. The Chronicler keeps even an obscure line of Judah whole.
Obed was the father of Jehu: Jehu and Azariah are common names, borne by the king of Israel in 2 Kings 9 and the king of Judah in 2 Kings 15:1. The men named here belong to Sheshan's line. The chain continues.
Azariah was the father of Helez: Azariah fathered Helez, who fathered Elasah, the eighth and ninth names from Attai. A Helez also stands among David's mighty men in 1 Chronicles 11:27. Nothing in the text joins the two.
Elasah was the father of Sismai: Shallum is one of the most common names in the Old Testament, carried by a king of Israel in 2 Kings 15:10 and several Levites. Sismai appears only here. The line has now run eleven generations from Attai.
Jekamiah was the father of Elishama: The list stops with Elishama, and the text gives no reason for ending there. He is the thirteenth name after the Egyptian servant Jarha, the whole of Sheshan's line in one unbroken chain. Jerahmeel's branch ends here.
Caleb's clans and the families of scribes
1 Chronicles 2:42-50
Mesha his firstborn: Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel opens a list of sons called fathers of towns in Judah's hill country, beginning with Mesha, the father of Ziph. The older commentators read the word father in this formula as the founder or prince of each place.
1 Chronicles 2:42
“Now the sons of Caleb - This was not Caleb the son of Jephunneh, but Caleb the son of Hezron, 1Ch 2:18, 1Ch 2:50. But some think that Caleb the son of Hezron was the grandson of Caleb, son of Jephunneh; but this is probably fanciful. The father of Ziph - “The prince of the Ziphites.” - T.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The sons of Hebron: Hebron here is a person, the son of Mareshah in verse 42, and also the name of Judah's chief town in the hill country. Gill notes that Tappuah is a town of Judah in Joshua 15:34. The names in this list often double as places.
1 Chronicles 2:43
“And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema. One of these, Tappuah, is the name of a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:34 and there is also Bethtappuah in the same tribe, 1Ch 2:53 which one, or both, might have their name from this man; and Shema also, 1Ch 2:26.”
Shema was the father of Raham: Gill, following Jewish commentators, reads the word father in these verses as the prince of a town. Jorkeam is then a place, and Raham its founder or ruler. Rekem's son Shammai continues the line in verse 45.
1 Chronicles 2:44
“And Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkoam,.... Which Hillerus (s) takes to be the name of a city in the tribe of Judah; and Jarchi's note is, that wherever the word "father" is here used, it is to be understood of the prince of a city that follows: and Rekem begat Shammai; there is a descendant of Jerahmeel, the brother of Caleb, of this name, 1Ch 2:28. (s) Onomast. Sacr. p. 329.”
Maon was the father of Beth-zur: Maon and Beth-zur are towns of Judah. Shammai's son Maon, father of Beth-zur, stands for the founder of the town, and Gill finds both towns in Joshua 15:55 and 15:58. David hid in the wilderness of Maon in 1 Samuel 23:24, and Rehoboam fortified Beth-zur in 2 Chronicles 11:7.
1 Chronicles 2:45
“And the son of Shammai was Maon,.... Who gave name to a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:55 see 1Sa 23:24. and Maon was the father of Bethzur; prince of a very strong fortified city of this name in the same tribe, Jos 15:58, unless this was a son of Maon's, from whom the city had its name.”
Caleb’s concubine Ephah was the mother: Caleb's concubines Ephah and Maacah add further clans in verses 46 to 49. Gazez is named twice, once as Caleb's son and once as Haran's son. The repeat may mark a grandson carrying his uncle's name.
1 Chronicles 2:46
“And Ephah Caleb's concubine bare Haran, and Moza, and Gazez,.... An half-wife, or secondary wife; for though this man seems not to have had more wives than one at a time, yet he had concubines with them; we read of another after this, if not a third: and Haran begat Gazez; whom he so named after his brother.”
The sons of Jahdai: Jahdai appears with no link to Caleb stated. Gill suggests Jahdai may be another name for Moza, or the name of another concubine of Caleb. Ephah here is a son, bearing the name of the concubine in verse 46.
1 Chronicles 2:47
“And the sons of Jahdai,.... Who is not mentioned by this name before; perhaps the same with Moza, who might have two names, though, according to Hillerus (t), he was the son of Moza; some take it to be the name of another of Caleb's concubines, by whom he had the six following sons: Regem, and Jotham, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph; one of these, Pelet perhaps, gave name to Bethpalet in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:27. (t) Onomast. Sacr. p. 841.”
Caleb’s concubine Maacah was the mother: Maacah is the second concubine named. Gill notes that the Hebrew verb here is masculine, so the verse may read that Caleb fathered these sons by her. Sheber and Tirhanah appear only here, and Maacah's other sons follow in verse 49.
Caleb’s daughter was Acsah: Acsah is the daughter Caleb son of Jephunneh gave to Othniel for taking Kiriath-sepher in Joshua 15:16 to 17. How she belongs to this Caleb's list is left unexplained. Gill places Madmannah and Gibea among the towns of Judah in Joshua 15.
1 Chronicles 2:49
“She bare also Shaaph the father of Madmannah,.... Prince of a place so called, in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:31. Sheva the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibeah; prince of two cities of those names in the same tribe; of the latter see Jos 15:57, and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah; Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, had a daughter of this name, but neither he nor she are here meant, Jos 15:16 but by whom Caleb, the son of Hezron, had this daughter, is not said; perhaps by Maachah his concubine last mentioned.”
The sons of Hur the firstborn: The verse closes Caleb's list and opens Hur's. Barnes proposed dividing the verse this way, since verse 19 makes Hur the son of Caleb, and the Berean text follows that division. Ephrathah is Ephrath, Caleb's wife in verse 19.
1 Chronicles 2:50
“These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah,.... This is another Caleb, the grandson of Caleb the son of Hezron, called after his name; he was the son of Hur, the firstborn of his wife Ephratah, 1Ch 2:19. Shobal the father of Kirjathjearim: of the inhabitants of that place; they sprung from him; or, as the Targum, he was prince of Kirjathjearim, a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:60.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:50
Caleb the son of Hur - Hur was the son, not the father, of Caleb 1Ch 2:19. The text should perhaps be read: “These (the list in 1Ch 2:42-49) were the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah, were Shobal, etc.”
1 Chronicles 2:51-55
Salma the father of Bethlehem: Salma's sons found Bethlehem itself along with Netophah and other towns, closing Judah's genealogy where the royal line already led earlier in the chapter. The last verse names the scribes of Jabez as Kenites of Rechab, a people not of Israelite blood that Chronicles counts within the tribe's record.
1 Chronicles 2:51
“Salma the father of Bethlehem,.... Or prince of Bethlehem, as the Targum; not the same as in 1Ch 2:11 he was the son of Nahshon, this of the younger Caleb: Hareph, the father of Bethgader; prince of a place of that name called Gedor, 1Ch 4:4, and where this man's name is Penuel; Gedor was in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:58.”
Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim: Gill takes Kiriath-jearim as a town Shobal led, since his sons are named in the next verse. The ark stayed there twenty years, according to 1 Samuel 7:2, until David brought it up in 1 Chronicles 13:5 to 6. Haroeh is called Reaiah in 4:2.
1 Chronicles 2:52
“And Shobal, the father of Kirjathjearim had sons,.... Which shows that Kirjathjearim is not the name of a man, or of any of Shobal's sons, who are next mentioned, but of a place of which he was prince: the first is Haroeh, who is called Reaiah, 1Ch 4:2 a word of the same signification: and half of the Manahethites; which Kimchi takes to be the proper name of a man called Chatzihamanaheth, another son of Shobal's; but Jarchi interprets it of the name of a place or province called Manahath, 1Ch 8:6 over half of which Haroeh was governor.”
descended the Zorathites and Eshtaolites: Zorah and Eshtaol were towns of the lowland, and Samson was stirred by the Spirit and buried between them, according to Judges 13:25 and 16:31. The clans named here came from Kiriath-jearim. Gill traces each clan name to an ancestor.
1 Chronicles 2:53
“And the families of Kirjathjearim,.... That dwelt there, of which Shobal was prince, and who sprung from him, are as follow: the Ithrite, and the Puhites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; who had their names from Jether, Putha, Shumath, and Mishra, descendants of Shobal: of them came the Zareathites, and the Eshtaulites; that is, from the Mishraites sprung the inhabitants of Zeroth and Eshtaol, places in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:33.”
The descendants of Salma: Salma, the father of Bethlehem in verse 51, bears the Hebrew name the Chronicler gives Boaz's father in verse 11. Readers differ on whether they are one man. Bethlehem, David's town, stands in Caleb's line as well as Ram's.
1 Chronicles 2:54
“The sons of Salma - “The righteous Bethlehemites, who had a good name, as the Netophathites, who removed the guards which Jeroboam had placed in the way lest the people should carry the first-fruits to Jerusalem: for the sons of Salma carried baskets full of first-fruits privately to Jerusalem; and having cloven wood, they made ladders, and brought them to Jerusalem to be laid up in Beth-mokad for oblations.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:54
“Ataroth, the house of Joab - Rather, “Ataroth-beth-Joab,” probably so called, to distinguish it from Ataroth-Adar, a city of Benjamin Jos 18:13. It is uncertain from what Joab it derived its distinctive appellation.”
the clans of the scribes: The scribes at Jabez, the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites, were Kenites who came from Hammath, father of Rechab's house. Barnes notes that the Kenites joined Judah after their kindness at the Exodus. Wesley counts them as living within Judah.
1 Chronicles 2:55
“Scribes - Either civil, who were public notaries, that wrote and signed legal instruments: or ecclesiastical. And these were either Levites, or Simeonites, or rather Kenites, and are here mentioned not as if they were of the tribe of Judah, but because they dwelt among them, and probably were allied to them by marriages, and so in a manner incorporated with them.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 2:55
“Kenites - It is remarkable that Kenites - people of a race quite distinct from the Israelites Gen 15:19 - should be attached to, and, as it were, included in the descendants of Judah. It seems, however, that the friendly feeling between the two tribes - based on the conduct of the Kenites at the time of the Exodus Exo 18:10-19; Num 10:29-32; 1Sa 15:6 - led to their intermixture and almost amalgamation with the Israelites, Kenite families not only dwelling among them but being actually regarded as of one blood with them.”
How this psalm is built
The form: Genealogy, the royal tribe worked at length from a separate public document, as Barnes classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The twelve named, then left standing | Verses 1 and 2 give the whole of Israel's twelve sons in the order Genesis uses for the maidservants' children, Leah's line first and Rachel's two after, with Dan set out of strict birth order. Judah stands fourth in that plain list, and the register then stays with Judah for three chapters. John Gill and Albert Barnes both read the brevity of the opening as deliberate, the twelve named so that the narrowing which follows is visible as a choice.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Chronicles 2:1-2. | 1 Chronicles 2:1, 1 Chronicles 2:2, 1 Chronicles 2:3 |
| Achar, the name that states the deed | Verse 7 of the Berean text reads that the son of Carmi was Achar, who brought trouble upon Israel by violating the ban on devoted things. Joshua 7 spells the same man Achan, and the Chronicler's spelling carries the Hebrew root for trouble into the name itself, so the entry preaches while it registers. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the charge in the name is the same charge Ahab later throws at Elijah in 1 Kings 18:17.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on 1 Chronicles 2:7. | 1 Chronicles 2:7 |
| Three branches of one house, worked one at a time | Verse 9 names Hezron's three sons, Jerahmeel, Ram and Caleb, and the rest of the chapter walks all three in turn. Jerahmeel's branch runs eleven generations of bare names at verses 25 to 41, Ram's runs nine names to David at verses 10 to 17, and Caleb's is worked twice over, first through Hur and Bezalel at verses 18 to 24 and again through the town founders at verses 42 to 55. John Gill reads the three runs as three separate registers set in one chapter.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Chronicles 2:9. | 1 Chronicles 2:9, 1 Chronicles 2:10, 1 Chronicles 2:18, 1 Chronicles 2:25, 1 Chronicles 2:42 |
| The father of a town | From verse 42 the formula changes its sense. Mesha is the father of Ziph, Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Adam Clarke reads the phrase in this stretch as founder or head of the place rather than parent of a child. A clan and a village carried the same name, so the register doubles as a map of who held which ground in the hill country of Judah.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 1 Chronicles 2:42-50. | 1 Chronicles 2:42, 1 Chronicles 2:50, 1 Chronicles 2:51, 1 Chronicles 2:52 |
| Two households grafted in | The same chapter keeps two marriages from outside Israel and treats both as ordinary family history. Sheshan of Jerahmeel's branch had daughters and no sons, so at verses 34 and 35 he gave his daughter to Jarha his Egyptian servant, and the line runs six more generations from that marriage. Ram's own branch carries Boaz and the Moabite woman of Ruth 4:19 to 22 down to Jesse. The royal tribe's record keeps both grafts in place.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Chronicles 2:25-41. | 1 Chronicles 2:34, 1 Chronicles 2:35, 1 Chronicles 2:11, 1 Chronicles 2:12 |
Where the chapter stands in the book
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
The book guide places chapters 2 to 4 in the band it titles The Twelve, and Judah's Royal Line, running from 2:1 to 4:23. Its form line reads that the twelve are named in two verses and Judah is given two chapters, and its body line reads that the funnel narrows fast here toward the royal and messianic thread the book is building.
The historical value
The ancestry of Bezalel stands inside Caleb's branch at verses 19 and 20, Hur to Uri to Bezalel, the same three-generation descent Exodus 31:2 gives for the craftsman filled with skill to raise the tabernacle. The tribe that produces the king also produces the man who first built to a pattern given from above.
The last verse of the chapter names the clans of the scribes who lived at Jabez and calls them Kenites of the house of Rechab. Jeremiah 35 later holds that same house up for its obedience, and Chronicles counts a people of other blood inside Judah's own record on the strength of loyalty rather than descent.
The debated concept
Verse 15 numbers David the seventh of Jesse's sons, and 1 Samuel 17:12 counts eight. Two readings are held. One is that a brother died without issue and so drops out of a register kept by lines rather than by births. The other is that the Chronicler names only the seven whose lines mattered to his purpose. The chapter gives no ground for deciding between them, and the page decides nothing.
A second question sits at verse 6. Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Dara stand here as sons of Zerah, and 1 Kings 4:31 calls the men Solomon's wisdom is measured against sons of Mahol. The commentary tradition generally reads the two lists as naming the same men from different sides of the family, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown put the case that way.
The New Testament and the later record
Verses 10 to 12 carry the succession Ruth 4:19 to 22 gives and Matthew 1:3 to 6 takes into the genealogy of Christ, Perez to Hezron to Ram to Amminadab to Nahshon to Salmon to Boaz to Obed to Jesse. Luke 3:32 and 33 run the same names in the other direction. The guide names 1:1 to 3:24 as the fullest Old Testament spine of that line and links the genealogy of Jesus.
Keep studying
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 1 Chronicles 2:42-50; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on 1 Chronicles 2:3; Gary Knoppers, 1 Chronicles 1-9, Anchor Bible, 2003, on 1 Chronicles 2:1-55 and H. G. M. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles, New Century Bible Commentary, 1982, on 1 Chronicles 2:3-4:23.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Berean Standard Bible; Jamieson Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.