Bible Commentaries

The sons of ^a Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: [which] three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD; and he slew him.

(a) Though Judah was not Jacob's eldest son, yet he first begins with him, because he would come to the genealogy of David, of whom came Christ.

And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and ^b Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.

(b) Of these read (1 Kings 4:31).

The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and ^c Ram, and Chelubai.

(c) Whom Matthew calls Aram, (Matthew 1:3).

And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, ^d prince of the children of Judah;

(d) That is, chief of the family.

And ^e Caleb the son of Hezron begat [children] of Azubah [his] wife, and of Jerioth: her sons [are] these; Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.

(e) Who was called Chelubai the son of Hezron, (1 Chronicles 2:9).

And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of ^f Gilead, whom he married when he [was] threescore years old; and she bare him Segub.

(f) Who was prince of mount Gilead, (Numbers 32:40).

And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns of Jair, ^g from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, [even] threescore cities. All these [belonged to] the sons of Machir the father of Gilead.

(g) That is, the Geshurites and Syrians took the towns from Jair's children.

And after that Hezron was dead in ^h Calebephratah, then Abiah Hezron's wife bare him Ashur the ⁱ father of Tekoa.

(h) Which was a town named for the husband and wife, also called Bethlehem Ephratah.

(i) Meaning, the chief and prince.

And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi; Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan; ^k Ahlai.

(k) Who died while his father was alive, and therefore it is said in (1 Chronicles 2:34) that Sheshan had no sons.

Now the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel [were], Mesha his firstborn, which was the ^l father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron.

(l) That is, the chief governor or prince of the Ziphims, because the prince should have a fatherly care and affection for his people.

And Ephah, Caleb's ^m concubine, bare Haran, and Moza, and Gazez: and Haran begat Gazez.

(m) The difference between the wife and the concubine was that the wife was taken with a ceremony of marriage and her children inherited, while the concubine had no marriage ceremony, neither did her children inherit, but had a portion of goods or money given to them.

The sons of Salma; Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, Ataroth, the ⁿ house of Joab, and half of the Manahethites, the Zorites.

(n) The chief and principle of the house of Joab.

And the families of the ^o scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, [and] Suchathites. These [are] the ^p Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.

(o) Who were men learned and expert in the law.

(p) Read (Numbers 10:29) ; (Judges 1:16).