Barnes' Notes on the Bible · 1 Chronicles Chapter 3

The sons of David - The writer returns to the point at which he had left the posterity of Ram 1 Chronicles 2:9, 1 Chronicles 2:15, and traces out the family of David - the royal house of the tribe of Judah.

Daniel - See the marginal note and reference.

There are three lists of the sons of David, born in Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 5:14-16 1 Chronicles 3:5-8 1 Chronicles 14:4-7 1. Shammuah Shimeah* Shammuah 2. Shobab Shobab Shobab 3. Nathan Nathan Nathan 4. Solomon Solomon Solomon 5. Ibhar Ibhar Ibhar 6. Elishua Elishama* Elishua 7. a Eliphelet* Elpalet* 8. a Nogah Nogah 9. Nepheg Nepheg Nepheg 10. Japhia Japhia Japhia 11. Elishama Elishama Elishama 12. Eliada Eliada Beeliada* 13. Eliphelet Eliphelet Eliphelet (Differences are marked with an asterick).

A comparison of the three lists serves to show:

(1) that "Shimeah" and the first "Elishama" in the list of this chapter are corruptions;

(2) that David had really 13 sons born in Jerusalem, of whom two - the first Eliphelet and Nogah - probably died in their childhood; and

(3) that Eliada, the twelfth son, was also called Beeliada, the term Baal, "lord," not having (previous to the introduction of the Baal worship) a bad sense, but being regarded as an equivalent with El, "God."

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 equals Jechoniah, and the like.

Abia - Rather, "Abijah," as in 2 Chronicles 11-14, where the Hebrew word is exactly the same.

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).

Azariah - Elsewhere in Chronicles called uniformly "Uzziah" (2 Chronicles 26:1, 2 Chronicles 26:3,2 Chronicles 26:9, 2 Chronicles 26:11, etc.), but called indifferently "Azariah" and "Uzziah" in Kings ("Azariah" in 2 Kings 14:21; 2 Kings 15:1, 2 Kings 15:6,2 Kings 15:17, 2 Kings 15:23, 2 Kings 15:27, etc.; "Uzziah" in 2 Kings 15:13, 2 Kings 15:32, 2 Kings 15:34).

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 Jeremiah 22:10-12; Ezekiel 19:3-4.

Assir - Perhaps born in the captivity, and therefore so named, who either (died young, or was made a eunuch (Isaiah 39:7; compare Jeremiah 22:30). After Assir's decease, or mutilation, the line of Solomon became extinct, and according to the principles of the Jewish law Numbers 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. Luke in calling Salathiel "the son of Neri" Luke 3:27, gives his real, or natural, descent; since no genealogy would assign to the true son and heir of a king any inferior and private parentage. Hence, "Malchiram," etc., i. e. not Salathiel only, but his brothers also were reckoned "sons" of Jeconiah.

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.

Six - There are only five names in the Hebrew text. The Syriac anti Arabic versions supply "Azariah" between Neariah and Shaphat.

The question of the proper arrangement of the genealogy of the descendants of Zerubbabel 1 Chronicles 3:19-24 is important in its bearing on the interesting point of the time at which the canon of the Old Testament was closed. Assuming the average of a generation to be 20 years in the East, the genealogy of the present chapter, drawn out according to the Hebrew text, does not descend below about 410 B.C., and thus falls within the probable lifetime of Nehemiah.

If, further, we regard it as most probable that Ezra died before 431 B.C., and that this passage in question was not wholly written by him, this does not disprove the theory (see the introduction to Chronicles), that Ezra was the author of Chronicles. Deuteronomy is by Moses, though the last chapter cannot be from his hand. The "dukes of Edom" might he an insertion into the text of Genesis Gen 36:40-43 without the authorship of the remainder of the work being affected by it. So here; Nehemiah, or Malachi, may have carried on the descent of the "sons of David" as far as it had reached in their time, adding to the account given by Ezra one, or at the most two verses.