1 Chronicles 3:1-24 David Down
We are finishing the line of Judah and kings as we move from David down through history. Setting the stage for what is to come.
Yes, we are STILL in the genealogy. Don’ worry, it will end someday. I’ve looked ahead and seen it! But we are not there yet. Today we get a look at the line of kings. Because David is of the tribe of Judah we are still focusing on that tribe. We will arrive at the point our author wants to take us to, with this tribe, by the end of our reading today.
How many wives did David have?! In Hebron he had six sons by six different wives. I’m all for sharing the workload but let’s get real here! These were just the first of his sons. They were all born in Hebron within a 7 ½ year period. Probably a good thing that they weren’t all from the same mother. She would have been EXHAUSTED with this pace.
David had one more wife of note after moving to Jerusalem; Bathsheba. She gave David four sons on her own. David’s other six wives gave him nine more sons between them in Jerusalem. I wonder why these nine are not listed by their mothers. This makes 19 sons for David, NOT COUNTING children by his concubines. Only one of the daughters is listed; Tamar. She is listed because her story is important to the fabric of the tapestry that is David’s life and rule.
We go back to the father to son style of genealogy again with Solomon. I wonder where he ranked, birth order, in David’s household. These names are VERY familiar as they are the names of the kings of Judah we just finished going through.
When we get to Josiah we have to branch out as three of his sons sat on the throne at one time or another. We really branch out when we get to the deportation of the people. Jeconiah/Jehoiachin was the king who surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar. Apparently he had some freedom while in captivity as he had several sons in Babylon. I count seven here. I wonder how many wives he had. Maybe only one as he was no longer a reigning king.
I’m curious about how the author lists Zerubbabel’s sons. Two sons are given then one daughter. After this five more sons are listed with the word “five” following the list. Why were they separated from the first two/three? Were they from different mothers? Were they from different important time periods? I don’t have an answer for this. Maybe the first children were born in Babylon while the rest were born in Israel. Zerubbabel was the one who rebuilt the Temple after the exile.
We drop back to the father and one son style again for seven generations. Shemaiah gets us branching out again. He had six sons. After Shemaiah we get two more generations where all the sons are listed.
I wonder why the telescoping and backing up in this long list. What happens with these ‘wide angle’ men that got them included? I guess we will have to wait and see. I have a feeling these names will crop back up again in the stories to come.
Father God, if You were authoring my family’s history where would You telescope and where would You wide angel it? There are SO MANY stories from each of us I don’t know how You choose. I’m sure the ones left out or glossed over had a LOT of stories too but there is NO WAY all the stories could be included. I’m glad You did the picking and choosing. I wouldn’t be able to do it. I can’t imagine the size of paper that would be needed to flesh out the family tree from Adam all the way to me with EVERYONE included! I get bogged down in my family from my parents on down. I honestly don’t know my ancestry beyond them. Does that make me egocentric? Or maybe just ignorant. Or maybe it just means that I’m not into genealogy. I’ll keep the stories and not worry about the begats.
