Bible Commentaries

From Israel to Jesse

v. 1. These are the sons of Israel, that Isaiah of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the bearer of the Messianic promise: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, the six sons of Leah,

v. 2. Dan, the older son of Rachel's maid, Joseph and Benjamin, the two sons of Rachel, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, the remaining sons of the handmaids.

v. 3. The sons of Judah, who became the bearer of the Messianic promise, Gen 49:10; 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, Gen 38:7.

v. 4. And Tamar, his daughter-in-law, bare him Pharez and Zerah, Gen 38:29-30. All the sons of Judah were five.

v. 5. The sons of Pharez: Hezron and Hamul.

v. 6. And the sons of Zerah, also known as Ezra, 1Ki 4:31 : Zimri (or Zabdi), and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara (or Darda), five of them in all. The entire family was known for the wisdom of its members, and for their skill in poetry and music, whence they were even called the sons of Mahol, that is, of musical lore.

v. 7. And the sons of Carmi: Achar (or Achan), the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed, Jos 6:18; Jos 7:1.

v. 8. And the sons of Ethan: Azariah.

v. 9. The sons also of Hezron that were born unto him: Jerahmeel, and Ram (or Aram), and Chelubai (or Caleb).

v. 10. And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah, Num 1:7;

v. 11. and Nahshon begat Salma (or Salmon), and Salma begat Boaz,

v. 12. and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse. Cf Rth 4:18-22.

v. 13. And Jesse begat his first-born, Eliab; and Abinadab, the second; and Shimma (or Shammah), the third;

v. 14. Nethaneel, the fourth; Raddai, the fifth;

v. 15. Ozem, the sixth; David, the seventh, only seven sons being mentioned here instead of the eight of 1Sa 16:10; 1Sa 17:12, because one of the younger sons seems to have died before reaching maturity and leaving children;

v. 16. whose sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah, the nephews of David: Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.

v. 17. And Abigail bare Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite, 2Sa 17:25. Thus the family of David was shown to go back directly to Judah, a fact which sets forth his importance in the Messianic story.

The Genealogy of Caleb

v. 18. And Caleb, the son of Hezron, v. 9, begat children of Azubah, his wife, and of Jerioth, who seems to have been a secondary wife, whose children were reckoned as those of Azubah; her sons are these: Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.

v. 19. And when Azubah, his rightful spouse, was dead, Caleb took unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur.

v. 20. And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezaleel.

v. 21. And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, grandson of Joseph and chief of that city east of Jordan, with its adjacent territory, whom he married when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub.

v. 22. And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead, Num 32:41; Deu 3:14; Jos 13:30; 1Ki 4:13. On his father's side Jair belonged to the tribe of Judah, but on the side of his mother he was rightly called a son of Manasseh.

v. 23. And he took Geshur and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, from the heathen inhabitants, Num 32:39-41, with Kenath and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged to the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead, Deu 3:14; Jos 13:30.

v. 24. And after that Hezron was dead in Caleb-ephratah, probably the same as was afterward called Bethlehem-ephratah, then Abiah, Hezron's wife, bare him Ashur, the father of Tekoa, a posthumous son, chief of this little town south of Bethlehem, later the home of Amos, the prophet.

v. 25. And the sons of Jerahmeel, the first-born of Hezron, were Ram, the first-born, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah.

v. 26. Jerahmeel had also another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

v. 27. And the sons of Ram, the first-born of Jerahmeel, were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker.

v. 28. And the sons of Onam were Shammai, and Jada. And the sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.

v. 29. And the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail, and she bare him Ahban and Molid.

v. 30. And the sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim; but Seled died without children.

v. 31. And the sons of Appaim: Ishi. And the sons of Ishi: Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan, the name of only one daughter being mentioned, since his sons were evidently not living at his death and had no issue: Ahlai.

v. 32. And the sons of Jada, the brother of Shammai: Jether and Jonathan; and Jether died without children.

v. 33. And the sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. This traces the genealogy in one branch of the family.

v. 34. Now Sheshan, the son of Ishi, v. 31. had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.

v. 35. And Sheshan gave his daughter, very likely the Ahlai named in v. 31. to Jarha, his servant, who doubtless had embraced the Jewish faith and was now adopted into the tribe of Judah, to wife; and she bare him Attai.

v. 36. And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad,

v. 37. and Zabad begat Ephlal, and Ephlal begat Obed,

v. 38. and Obed begat Jehu, and Jehu begat Azariah,

v. 39. and Azariah begat Helez, and Helez begat Eleasah,

v. 40. and Eleasah begat Sisamai, and Sisamai begat Shallum,

v. 41. and Shallum begat Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begat Elishama.

v. 42. Now the sons of Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel, those of his third wife, were Mesha, his first-born, which was the father of Ziph, and the sons of Mareshah, the father of Hebron.

v. 43. And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema.

v. 44. And Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkoam; and Rekem begat Shammai.

v. 45. And the son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur. Maon founded a city named after him, and then founded the colony of Beth-zur.

v. 46. And Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bare Haran, and Mozah, and Gazez; and Haran begat Gazez. The last sentence is either a fuller explanation of the foregoing words, or indicates that son and grandson bore the same name.

v. 47. And the sons of Jahdai: Regem, and Jotham, and Gesham, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph.

v. 48. Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bare Sheber and Tirhanah.

v. 49. She bare also Shaaph, the father of Madmannah, Sheva, the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsa, Jos 15:17.

v. 50. These were the sons of Caleb, who himself was a son of Hezron, v. 18, the son of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah: Shobal, the father of Kirjath-jearim; he founded this old Gibeonite town, formerly the heathen Baalah, in the northwest corner of Judah;

v. 51. Salma, the father, the founder or chief, of Bethlehem; Hareph, the father of Beth-gader, formerly known as Geder, Jos 12:13.

v. 52. And Shobal, the father of Kirjath-jearim, had sons: Haroeh (or Reaiah) and half of the Manahethites, his descendants making up half of the inhabitants of the town Manahath, near the border of Judah, toward Dan.

v. 53. And the families of Kirjath-jearim: the Ithrites, and the Puhites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites, four leading families of that territory; of them came the Zareathites and the Eshtaulites.

v. 54. The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, the people of Netophah, near Bethlehem, Ataroth, the house of Joab, another town, whose location, however, is unknown, and half of the Manahethites, the other half, Cf v. 52, the Zorites, of the border city of Zorah.

v. 55. And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez, either church or state officers belonging to the Kenite clan: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites, these words describing the functions of the three classes of scribes, all connected with divine worship, chiefly the liturgical part. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, people settling in Judah and thereby distinguished from the Kenite clan in Manasseh, the father of the house of Rechab, for the Rechabites were well known among the Jews. So wonderfully did the Lord bless the posterity of Caleb on account of his faithful stand for Jehovah in the wilderness, when ten of the spies Alled the hearts of the people with fear, Num 14:24.