1 Chronicleschapter 3
24 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Key verse
And these were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bath–shua the daughter of Ammiel:
It stands in The sons born to David in Hebron and Jerusalem, verses 1 to 9.
The chapter
Chapter summary
David's own house, set out in order: six sons born to him in Hebron during the seven and a half years there, then the sons born in Jerusalem, Solomon among the four by Bath-shua. From Solomon the crown descends king by king (Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat), through Hezekiah and Josiah to Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, 'the captive.' Then, remarkably, the list keeps going past the ruin: the sons of Jeconiah, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel who rebuilt the second temple, and generations beyond him. To exiles reading in a city with no king, this chapter is the quiet insistence that David's line did not end in Babylon.
Context
History · Ezra · 1 Chronicles overview
The world behind this chapter
1 Chronicles 3The history
The chapter is David's house, and the man at its head is a king who reigned seven years and six months in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem, as verse 4 states.
The list opens with the sons born at Hebron during the years there and then the sons born after Jerusalem became the capital. A king's household was a political instrument, since each marriage tied a family or a neighbouring people to the throne and each son was a possible heir.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The line then runs through the kings, one name to a generation, down to Jeconiah, whom the Berean text calls the captive. Clay ration tablets excavated at Babylon list a Yaukin of the land of Yahud and his sons drawing oil from the royal stores, which is this man and these children on a Babylonian supply list.
After him comes Zerubbabel, who led the first group home and governed the province while the temple was rebuilt. He is called the son of Pedaiah here and the son of Shealtiel at Ezra 3:2, Haggai 1:1 and Matthew 1:12, and the usual explanations are adoption or the law by which a man raised up children for a dead brother.
The register then runs several more generations past Zerubbabel and ends at Anani. The Masoretic Hebrew and the Septuagint carry different numbers of generations at that point, and scholars weigh the tail differently, which is where the two dating positions part.
What it meant to them
There was no throne in Jerusalem when this was read aloud. There was a Persian governor, a tax and a garrison, and here was the line of David running straight through the exile and out the other side into the room.
Everyone present could count the generations. God had promised David a house, and the house still had a living heir with a name.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings
- H. G. M. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles , New Century Bible Commentary, 1982
- Gary Knoppers, 1 Chronicles 1-9 , Anchor Bible, 2003
Where the chapter sits
1 Chronicles 3 falls in Genealogies from Adam to Saul (chapters 1–9). The longest single genealogical block in Scripture; the Davidic-line focus; the Levitical emphasis; the post-exilic returnee list (ch. 9).
After it: David's reign: temple-framed, chapters 10–29.
The whole shape of 1 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. The sons born to David in Hebron and Jerusalem
1. (vv. 1-4)
1 Chronicles 3:1
“Now these were the sons of David,.... The six following born in Hebron, who are reckoned in the same order as in 2Sa 3:2, only here the second son is called Daniel, who there goes by the name of Chileab; he had two names, the reason of which see there; and here David's wife, Eglah, is said in the Targum to be Michal, Saul's daughter; see Gill on 2Sa 3:5, to which is added an account of his reign both in Hebron and Jerusalem, agreeably to 2Sa 5:5.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Chronicles 3:1
“Now these were the sons of David, which were born unto him in Hebron--It is of consequence for the proper understanding of events in the domestic history of David, to bear in mind the place and time of his sons' birth. The oldest son, born after his father's accession to the sovereign authority, is according to Eastern notions, the proper heir to the throne.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 3:3
“By Eglah his wide - The Targum, Jarchi, and others, maintain that this was Michal, the daughter of Saul; but this does not well agree with 2Sa 6:23: Michal had no child to the day of her death. Yet she might have had a child before the time that is mentioned above.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:3
“She has the title of wife appended to her name because she was his proper wife; and the mention of her name last probably arose from the circumstance that, having been withdrawn from David and married to another husband but afterwards restored, she had in reality become the last of his wives.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the sons of David: The six sons born to David at Hebron repeat 2 Samuel 3:2-5's list with one variant, Chileab renamed Daniel here, and Chronicles never returns to tell what these names meant for the kingdom: no note on Amnon's crime, no note on Absalom's revolt against his own father, both already told in Samuel. Verse 4 closes the Hebron count with the reign length Samuel and Kings already record, seven years and six months there and thirty three in Jerusalem, forty years in all.
2. (vv. 5-9)
1 Chronicles 3:5
“Bathshua, the daughter of Ammiel - Both names are here given in an unusual form, but it may be doubted whether in either case there has been any corruption. In “Bathshua,” for “Bathsheba,” a ו (v) replaces the ב (b) of the earlier writer, “w” and “b” having nearly the same sound. In “Ammiel,” for “Eliam,” the two elements which form the name are inverted, as in Jehoiachin =Jechoniah, and the like.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:5
“Four - All David's children by her, as the text positively affirms: and therefore Solomon is called her, only son, Prov. iv, 3, because she loved him as if he had been so.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Chronicles 3:5
“One of them, which Bath-sheba bore to him, he called Nathan, probably in honour of Nathan the prophet, who reproved him for his sin in that matter and was instrumental to bring him to repentance. It seems he loved him the better for it as long as he lived. It is wisdom to esteem those our best friends that deal faithfully with us.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 3:6
“Elishama, and Eliphelet - In this and the eighth verse these two names occur twice; some think this is a mistake, but others suppose that two persons of these names died young, and that the next born received the name of the deceased. - See Jarchi.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:6
“Eliphelet - And he had two other sons called by the same names, ver. 8, probably they were by different wives: and probably they were then distinguished by some additional clause or title, which is here omitted, because the two first were dead before the two second were born, and therefore the names of the deceased were given to these to preserve their memory.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Chronicles 3:8
“Nine - There are thirteen if we count the four sons of Bath-sheba, and nine without them; and in the second book of Samuel there are eleven, reckoning the above four, and without them only seven. In the book of Samuel probably only those who were alive were reckoned, while the author of the Chronicles comprises those also who were dead in this enumeration.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 3:9
“These were all the sons of David,.... By his wives: beside the sons of the concubines; who are not reckoned, and how many they were is not known; he had ten concubines at least, 2Sa 15:16 and 2Sa 20:3. And Tamar their sister; not the sister of the sons of the concubines, but of his other sons, and only of Absalom by the mother's side, of whom see 2Sa 13:1.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:9
“And Tamar their sister - This is the only daughter of David whose name is on record; and yet he is said to have had both Sons and Daughters, 2Sa 5:13.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 3:9
“Seldom has a crown gone in a direct line from father to son for seventeen descents together, as here. This was the recompence of David's piety. About the time of the captivity the lineal descent was interrupted, and the crown went from one brother to another and from a nephew to an uncle, which was a presage of the eclipsing of the glory of that house.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
born unto him in Jerusalem: The four sons born to Bathsheba appear here under the name Bathshua, daughter of Ammiel, spellings the old commentators read as transposed forms of Bathsheba and Eliam rather than a different woman. Verse 9 closes the roster by naming Tamar, the only daughter of David the Bible ever names, set beside sons born to concubines whose names Chronicles does not record. Solomon stands fourth of the four, the son this book will trace through sixteen generations to the exile and beyond.
B. Solomon's throne carried down to the exile
1. (vv. 10-14)
1 Chronicles 3:10
“Abia - Rather, “Abijah,” as in 2 Chr. 11–14, where the Hebrew word is exactly the same.”
1 Chronicles 3:11
“Ahaziah - Called “Jehoahaz” by a transposition of the elements composing the name, and “Azariah,” probably by a transcriber’s error (see marginal notes and references).”
1 Chronicles 3:12
“Azariah - Elsewhere in Chronicles called uniformly “Uzziah” (2Ch 26:1, 2Ch 26:3,2Ch 26:9, 2Ch 26:11, etc.), but called indifferently “Azariah” and “Uzziah” in Kings (“Azariah” in 2Ki 14:21; 2Ki 15:1, 2Ki 15:6,2Ki 15:17, 2Ki 15:23, 2Ki 15:27, etc.; “Uzziah” in 2Ki 15:13, 2Ki 15:32, 2Ki 15:34).”
Solomon’s son was Rehoboam: Verses 10 to 14 run the royal line in one column from Solomon to Josiah, sixteen kings in direct father to son succession, a transmission the old commentators call rare among the world's crowns and read as the reward promised David for his own piety. Chronicles gives only the names here; the failures and reforms of these same kings already stand fully told in the parallel Kings exposition. The column ends at Josiah, the last king of this line to die on the throne before it breaks into brothers and captives in the verses that follow.
2. (vv. 15-16)
1 Chronicles 3:15
“Of the sons of Josiah, Johanan, “the first-born,” who is mentioned in this place only, must, it would seem, have died before his father, or with him at Megiddo; and Shallum (also called Jehoahaz, marginal note and reference) was considerably older than Zedekiah, and was consequently the third, and not the fourth, son. He is perhaps assigned the fourth place here by way of intentional degradation. Compare Jer 22:10-12; Eze 19:3-4.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:15
“Zedekiah--called the son of Josiah (compare Jer 1:3; 37:1), but in 2Ch 36:19 he is described as the brother of Jehoiachin, who was the son of Jehoiakim, and consequently the grandson of Josiah. Words expressive of affinity or relationship are used with great latitude in the Hebrew.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 3:16
“And the sons of Jehoiakim; Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son. This is not the Zedekiah mentioned in the preceding verse; for he was not the son but the uncle of Jeconiah, unless he should be called his son because he succeeded him in the kingdom; but he seems to be another of that name, nowhere else mentioned, and not the son of Jeconiah in any sense; he is not reckoned among them in the following verses, but of Jehoiakim.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:16
“Zedekiah his son - If this be the same who was the last king of Judah, before the captivity, the word son must be taken here to signify successor; for it is certain that Zedekiah was the successor of Jeconiah, and that Zedekiah was the son of Josiah, and not of Jehoiakim.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the sons of Josiah were: Josiah's four sons are ordered by more than birth: Johanan is named nowhere else in Scripture and likely died young, and Shallum, the throne name Jehoahaz carried in Kings, stands fourth though he was the older of the two brothers who briefly reigned. Verse 16 then places a second Zedekiah as Jehoiakim's son, a name distinct from Josiah's son in the verse before, and the commentators read it either as a king otherwise unrecorded or as Chronicles calling a successor a son whether or not the blood ran that way. Kings supplies the fuller story of this generation's rapid turnover, four rulers inside twenty three years, that Chronicles compresses here to a name list.
C. The royal seed continues after Babylon
1. (vv. 17-19)
1 Chronicles 3:17
“Assir--rather, "Jeconiah the prisoner," or "captive." This record of his condition was added to show that Salathiel was born during the captivity in Babylon (compare Mt 1:12). Jeconiah was written childless (Jer 22:30), a prediction which (as the words that follow explain) meant that this unfortunate monarch should have no son succeeding him on the throne.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:17
“Assir - Perhaps born in the captivity, and therefore so named, who either (died young, or was made a eunuch (Isa 39:7; compare Jer 22:30). After Assir’s decease, or mutilation, the line of Solomon became extinct, and according to the principles of the Jewish law Num 27:8-11 the inheritance passed to the next of kin, who were Salathiel and his brethren, descendants from David by the line of Nathan.”
1 Chronicles 3:18
“Pedaiah - The sentence seems to be short and imperfect, as is frequent in the Hebrew language, and something is here understood, as, the sons also of Salathiel were Malchiram and Pedaiah, &c. as they gather from hence that the same Zerubbabel is called the son of Pedaiah, ver. 19, and the son (that is, the grandson) of Salathiel, Matt. i, 12.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:18
“Malchiram also--As far as Jeconiah, everything is plain; but there is reason to suspect that the text in the subsequent verses has been dislocated and disarranged. The object of the sacred historian is to trace the royal line through Zerubbabel; yet, according to the present reading, the genealogical stem cannot be drawn from Jeconiah downwards.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 3:19
“Zerubbabel, elsewhere always called “the son of Salathiel,” was only Salathiel’s heir and legal son, being naturally his nephew, the son of his brother, Pedaiah.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:19
“Their sister - Sister to the two last named sons of Zerubbabel, namely, by both parents; and therefore named before the other five, ver. 20, who were her brethren by the father, but not by the mother.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
the sons of Jeconiah: Assir in verse 17 is read by several commentators not as a fourth son but as Jeconiah's own title, the prisoner, marking that Salathiel was born to a king already captive in Babylon, the same captivity Matthew 1:12 has in view when it names Salathiel as Jeconiah's son. Jeremiah had written this king childless as to the throne, and the family line in these verses answers that word without reversing it, continuing without a king of its own returning to sit on it. Verse 19 makes Zerubbabel the son of Pedaiah rather than of Salathiel as the New Testament names him, a difference the commentators resolve as an heir standing in a dead kinsman's place rather than a contradiction of the record.
2. (vv. 20-24)
1 Chronicles 3:22
“The sons of Shemaiah - six - Five only are found in the text, and the versions give us no assistance; neither do the MSS. correct the place. If the father be not here included with his sons, some name must be lost out of the text.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 3:22
“Six - Including the father. But the Hebrew word, Shisha, which is rendered six, may be the proper name of one of the sons of Shemaiah.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Chronicles 3:24
“And Anani - “This is the King Messiah who is to be revealed.” - T. Jarchi says the same, and refers to Dan 7:13: Behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds (ענני ananey) of heaven. For this application of the word he gives a fanciful reason, not worthy to be repeated. The Syriac and Arabic omit several names in this table, and make only twenty-three verses in the chapter: but such differences are frequent in the books of Chronicles.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah: From Zerubbabel's children in verse 20 the list runs four more generations to Anani in verse 24, a remnant with no throne shown that its royal house still has sons and grandsons after the return from Babylon. Some Jewish tradition, recorded by Jarchi and repeated by Adam Clarke, reads the last name Anani as a title reaching toward the Messiah, drawn from Daniel's one like the Son of man coming with the clouds, a reading the text itself does not make and Chronicles does not develop. The chapter that opened with a king's sons born at Hebron closes with an ordinary list of names still going, David's house outliving the kingdom by generations.
This page carries no textual note on 1 Chronicles 3. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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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 exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.