Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Chronicles 2:9
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
The only name given here as that of a descendant of Ethan is Azariah, of whom nothing further is known, while the name recurs frequently. Nothing more is said of the remaining sons of Zerah; they are merely set down as famous men of antiquity (Berth.). There follows in 1 Chronicles 2:9-41 The family of Hezron, the first-born son of Pharez, which branches off in three lines, originating with his three sons respectively. The three sons of Hezron are Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai; but the families springing from them are enumerated in a different order. First ( Ch1 2:10-17) we have the family of Ram, because King David is descended from him; then ( Ch1 2:18-24) the family of Chelubai or Caleb, from whose lineage came the illustrious Bezaleel; and finally (vv. 25-41), the posterity of the first-born, Jerahmeel. Ch1 2:9 לו נולד אשׁר, what was born to him. The passive stands impersonally instead of the more definite active, "to whom one bore," so that the following names are subordinated to it with את. The third person singular Niph. occurs thus also in Ch1 3:4 and Ch1 26:6; the construction of Niph. with את frequently ( Gen 4:18; Gen 21:5, and elsewhere). Ram is called, in the genealogy in Mat 1:3-4, Aram; comp. רם, Job 32:2, with ארם, Gen 22:21. כּלוּבי is called afterwards כּלב; cf. on Ch1 2:18. Ch1 2:10-15 The family of Ram ( Ch1 2:10-12), traced down through six members of Jesse. - This genealogy is also to be found in Ruth. Ch1 4:19-21; but only here is Nahshon made more prominent than the others, by the addition, "prince of the sons of Judah." Nahshon was a prince of Judah at the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt ( Num 1:7; Num 2:3; Num 7:12). Now between him, a contemporary of Moses, and Pharez, who at the immigration of Jacob into Egypt was about fifteen years old, lies a period of 430 years, during which the Israelites remained in Egypt. For that time only three names - Hezron, Ram, and Amminidab - are mentioned, from which it is clear that several links must have been passed over. So also, from Nahshon to David, for a period of over 400 years, four generations - Salma, Boaz, Obed, and Jesse - are too few; and consequently here also the less famous ancestors of David are omitted. שׂלמא is called in Rut 4:20-21, שׁלמה and שׂלמון. In Ch1 2:13-15, seven sons and two daughters of Jesse, with those of their sons who became famous ( Ch1 2:16, Ch1 2:17), are enumerated. According to Sa1 17:12, Jesse had eight sons. This account, which agrees with that in Sa1 16:8-12, may be reconciled with the enumeration in our verse, on the supposition that one of the sons died without posterity. In Sa1 16:6. and Ch1 17:13, the names of the eldest three - Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah - occur. Besides ישׁי, we meet with the form אשׁי ( Ch1 2:13); and the name שׁמּה is only another form of שׁמעה, which is found in Sa2 13:3 and in Ch1 20:7, and is repeated in Sa2 13:32 and Sa2 21:21 in the Kethibh (שׁמעי). The names of the other three sons here mentioned ( Ch1 2:14 and Ch1 2:15) are met with nowhere else. Ch1 2:16-17 The sisters of David have become known through their heroic sons. Zeruiah is the mother of the heroes of the Davidic history, Abishai, Joab, and Asahel (cf. Sa1 26:6; Sa2 2:18; Sa2 3:39; Sa2 8:16, and elsewhere). Their father is nowhere mentioned, "because their more famous mother challenged the greater attention" (Berth.). Abigail was, according to Sa2 17:25, the daughter of Nahash, a sister of Zeruiah, and so was only a half-sister of…
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