1 Chronicles 3:1-24

The Book of 1 Chronicles

God rules History

1 Chronicles

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 3

The sons of David – 1 Chronicles 3:1-9

v1 These sons of David were born in Hebron. The first son was Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel. The second son was Daniel, whose mother was Abigail from Carmel. v2 The third son was Absalom, whose mother was Maacah. She was the daughter of Talmai, the king of Geshur. The 4^th son was Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith. v3 The 5^th son was Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital. The 6^th son was Ithream, whose mother was Eglah. v4 These 6 sons of David were born to him in Hebron. David ruled in Hebron for 7 and a half years. David ruled in Jerusalem for 33 years. v5 These people were his children who were born in Jerusalem. They were Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. They were the 4 sons of David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba was Ammiel’s daughter. v6-8 David’s other 9 sons were Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet. v9 They were all the sons of David. And he also had some sons by his secondary wives. David also had a daughter called Tamar.

Verses 1-4 The writer returns to the point at which he left the family of Ram (2:15). He shows the family of David. From that time, the family of David became the royal family of Judah. David had children in Hebron by 6 wives. These wives were Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Haggith, Abital and Eglah.

The second son Daniel also had the name Chileab (2 Samuel 3:3). Abigail had been the wife of Nabal. As soon as Nabal died, David took her as his wife (1 Samuel chapter 25). Perhaps people were not sure whose child Chileab was. He could have been a son of Nabal but more likely, he was a son of David. The name ‘Daniel’ means ‘God is my judge’. Also, David gave him the name Chileab. The name ‘Chileab’ means ‘he who is like the father’. The boy was very much like David, so clearly he was David’s son.

David was king of Judah for 7 and a half years in Hebron. When he became king of all *Israel, he decided to live in Jerusalem. He ruled there for 33 years.

Verses 5-9 In Jerusalem, David had 13 more sons by his principal wives. He had other children by his secondary wives.

The author of Chronicles does not tell us about Bathsheba. She was the wife of Uriah. David had sex with Bathsheba and she was expecting his baby. So, he arranged for Uriah to die in battle. Then he married Bathsheba. But the baby died (2 Samuel chapter 11).

Solomon is the last of Bathsheba’s sons in this list. But he was the oldest of them.

In some copies of the Bible, Elishua is Elishama. If this is correct then there are two sons in this list called Elishama. And there were two sons called Eliphelet. It could be that the older one of each name had died. And the parents gave these names to later sons.

David had many daughters but only Tamar is in this list. Her mother was Maacah and her brother was Absalom. Her half-brother Amnon forced her to have sex with him. (A ‘half-brother’ means a brother if there is only one parent in common.) Because Amnon forced Tamar to have sex, Absalom killed Amnon (2 Samuel chapter 13).

The kings of Judah – 1 Chronicles 3:10-16

v10 Solomon’s son was Rehoboam. Rehoboam’s son was Abijah. Abijah’s son was Asa. Asa’s son was Jehoshaphat. v11 Jehoshaphat’s son was Jehoram. Jehoram’s son was Ahaziah. Ahaziah’s son was Joash. v12 Joash’s son was Amaziah. Amaziah’s son was Azariah. Azariah’s son was Jotham. v13 Jotham’s son was Ahaz. Ahaz’s son was Hezekiah. Hezekiah’s son was Manasseh. v14 Manasseh’s son was Amon, and Amon’s son was Josiah. v15 Josiah had 4 sons. His first son was Johanan. His second son was Jehoiakim. His third son was Zedekiah, and his 4^th son was Shallum. v16 Jehoiakim was the father of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah.

Verse 10 Solomon ruled all *Israel. He became king in about 970 *BC and he ruled for 40 years. In the days of Rehoboam, 10 of the *tribes refused to have him as their king. Those 10 *tribes became the northern *kingdom. They took the name of *Israel. The *tribes of Judah and Benjamin were loyal to Rehoboam. This was called the *kingdom of Judah. Rehoboam ruled for 17 years. He was not a good king. Then his son Abijah ruled for about 3 years. The next king was Asa. He ruled for 41 years. For most of this time, Asa was a better king than his father was. But in the end, he refused to do what was right. When he died, his son Jehoshaphat ruled as king of Judah. He was a good king but even he was not completely loyal to the *LORD.

Verse 11 Jehoram was one of the worst of the kings of Judah. He married Athaliah, the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel who ruled *Israel. Jehoram turned away from God. He caused the people in Judah to *worship false gods. And he murdered all his brothers. He ruled for 4 years and then his son Ahaziah ruled for one year. Ahaziah did the same wicked things that his father had done. Athaliah the wife of Jehoram seized control and ruled for 6 years. She was a wicked woman as was her mother Jezebel. Athaliah tried to kill all the royal family but she did not find Ahaziah’s son Joash. His aunt took him to the priests and they hid him in the *temple. At first Joash did what was right. At that time, he served the *LORD. But after some years, Joash turned away from the *LORD and he served false gods. He ruled for 40 years.

Verse 12 Amaziah ruled for 29 years. His son Azariah ruled for 52 years. This man had two names. The other one is Uzziah. He was a strong king. But because of his *sin, he ended his days with a serious skin disease. His son Jotham took over the rule from Azariah. Jotham ruled for 16 years.

Verse 13 The next king was Ahaz and he ruled for 16 years. He was probably the worst king of Judah. He did not *worship the *LORD. He *worshipped the god Baal and other false gods. But his son Hezekiah was so different. He worked hard to bring the people back to the real God. He ruled for 28 years and then his son Manasseh ruled for 55 years. Manasseh was as bad as his grandfather was for most of his life. In the end, he did *repent of his wicked behaviour and he turned to the *LORD.

Verses 14-16 The next king Amon ruled only for a couple of years. His son Josiah was only 8 years old when he began to rule. He was loyal to the *LORD for all the 31 years that he ruled. He led the people to turn from false gods and to turn to the real God.

Josiah had 4 sons. The first son probably died before his father and so he did not rule. The 4th son, Shallum became king. His other name was Jehoahaz. He ruled a few months but the king of Egypt took him in *exile to Egypt. He died there. Then Jehoiakim ruled for about 11 years. But he was the servant of the king of Egypt for the first 4 years. Then he was a servant of the king of Babylon for three years. For the last 4 years, he was free but he was weak. His son Jehoiachin ruled for 100 days before the king of Babylon took him into *exile in Babylon.

The king of Babylon made Zedekiah (the third son of Josiah) king in Jerusalem. He ruled as a servant of the king of Babylon for 11 years.

Zedekiah the son of Jehoiakim was a nephew of King Zedekiah.

The royal family after the *exile – 1 Chronicles 3:17-24

v17-18 Jehoiachin was a prisoner in Babylon. His sons were Shealtiel, Malkiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. v19 Pedaiah’s sons were Zerubbabel and Shimei. Zerubbabel’s sons were Meshullam and Hananiah. Their sister was Shelomith. v20 Zerubbabel had 5 other sons. They were Hashubah, Ohel, Berekiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-Hesed. v21 The *descendants of Hananiah were Pelatiah, Jeshaiah and the sons of Rephaiah. The *descendants of Hananiah also included the sons of Arnan, of Obadiah, and of Shecaniah. v22 Shecaniah’s son was Shemaiah. Shemaiah’s sons were Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat. There were 6 in all. v23 Neariah had three sons. They were Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam. v24 Elioenai had 7 sons. They were Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani.

Verse 17-24 Jehoiachin, whose other name was Jeconiah, went into *exile in 597 *BC. He was a prisoner of the king of Babylon. He had these 7 sons while he was in *exile. A receipt from Babylon for food with a date of 592 *BC shows 5 of these sons. The birth of the other two was probably after that date.

Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah. But in other parts of the Bible, he was the son of Shealtiel (Ezra 3:2 and Ezra 3:8; Haggai 1:1 and Haggai 1:12; Matthew 1:12; Luke 3:27). It may be that Shealtiel had no children. When he died his brother Pedaiah took Shealtiel’s widow. It was the custom for them to marry and to have a son for Shealtiel (see Deuteronomy 25:5-6). By this means, the family of Shealtiel could continue through this son Zerubbabel.

Meshullam’s other name was Abiud (Matthew 1:13). The rest of this passage shows the family during the *exile and afterwards.

Shemaiah had 6 sons but we have names for 5. The other one probably died as a young child.

Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
BC ~ years before Christ was born.
tribe ~ The Israelites originally consisted of the 12 large families of the sons of Jacob. These families became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
kingdom ~ the place or territory where a king rules and the people over whom a king rules.
lord ~ someone with authority such as the king.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. The name probably means: ‘He is always God.’ This name has a relationship with God’s special promises to his people.
worship ~ acts to show honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God. Or, a building for the worship of false gods. The Jews had a temple in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ acts to show honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
sin ~ Sin is the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because they are guilty of sin.
repent ~ to change the mind; to turn away from sin and turn to God.
sin ~ Sin is the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because they are guilty of sin.
exile ~ When people have to live in a foreign country, they are in exile. Such a person is called an exile.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.