INTRODUCTION
1. Background
God used the history of the ancient kingdom of Israel to reveal truths about himself and his relationship to humankind. But while he inspired the OT writers of the books of both Kings and Chronicles to interpret this history, their theological messages are distinct. If 1 and 2 Kings, composed after the final collapse of the kingdom in 586 B.C., concentrates on how sin leads to defeat (2Ki 17:15, 18), then 1 and 2 Chronicles, coming after the two returns from exile in 537 and 458 B.C., recounts, from the same record, how “faith is the victory” (2Ch 20:20, 22). Readers today may therefore find strength from God, knowing that his moral judgments (Kings) are balanced by his providential salvation (revealed in Chronicles).
2. Date and Authorship
While Chronicles contains no direct statement about the circumstances of its own composition, still a fairly clear picture does emerge from the biblical data. The last-recorded event in 2 Chronicles is the decree of Cyrus in 538 B.C., permitting the Jews to return from their exile in Babylon (36:22–23). One genealogy in 1 Chronicles (3:17–21) includes King Jehoiachin’s grandson Zerubbabel, who led this return in the following year, and it goes on to name two of Zerubbabel’s grandsons—Pelatiah and Jeshaiah—thus extending the time to about 500 B.C. The sons of four other men are then mentioned, but without indication of their place in the genealogy. The last of these is Shecaniah, whose line reaches down to seven great-great-grandchildren (3:24). So if Shecaniah belongs to the same general period as King Jehoiachin (born 616), these four additional generations would again suggest a time around 500 B.C. as the earliest possible date for Chronicles.
Recent discoveries have produced external evidence by which the latest possible date for the books may now be set. The discovery of fragments of an actual manuscript of Chronicles among the Dead Sea Scrolls makes a third-century date difficult to maintain; thus it is imperative to place the Chronicler’s activity in the Persian period (c. 538–333 B.C.). More specifically, if we accept the tradition that the OT canon was finalized during the general period of the Persian monarch Artaxerxes I, who died 424 B.C. (cf. Ne 12:22, where the reference to Darius II—who was crowned in 423—is the last historical allusion to appear in the OT), then Chronicles would have to have been written before 420. If its composition, moreover, is associated with the work of Ezra, the Aramaic language found in the book that bears Ezra’s name matches that of the Elephantine papyri, which likewise belongs to the fifth century B.C.
Relationships between the books of Chronicles and Ezra provide the most important single clue for fixing the date and also the authorship of the former volume. Since Chronicles appears to be the work of an individual writer, who was a Levitical leader, some identification with Ezra the priest and scribe (Ezr 7:1–6) appears possible from the outset. This conclusion is furthered, moreover, by the personal qualities that the writer displays. The literary styles of the books are similar, and their contents have much in common: the frequent lists and genealogies, their focus on ritual, and their joint devotion to the law of Moses. Most significant of all, the closing verses of 2 Chronicles (36:22–23) are repeated as the opening verses of Ezra (1:1–3a). Jewish tradition affirms that Ezra wrote Chronicles, along with the book that bears his name.
For those, therefore, who accept the historicity of the events recorded in Ezra—from the decree of Cyrus in 538 down to Ezra’s reform in 458–457 B.C.—and the validity of Ezra’s autobiographical writing within the next few years, the date of composition for both books as one consecutive history must be about 450 B.C., and the place, Jerusalem.
3. Sources
If Ezra the scribe is the man responsible for the present book of Chronicles, his “scribism” may well account for the careful acknowledgment of historical sources that appears through the volume. These fall into the following categories.
a. Genealogies
For the tribe of Simeon, the author of Chronicles explains, “They kept a genealogical record” (1Ch 4:33); and for Gad he identifies his sources even more closely: “These were entered in the genealogical records during the reigns of Jotham [751–736 B.C.] king of Judah and Jeroboam [II, 793–753] king of Israel” (5:17). He refers to similar official genealogical lists for Benjamin (7:9), Asher (7:40), “all Israel” (9:1), the Levitical gatekeepers (9:22), and the family of Rehoboam (2Ch 12:15); and the very nature of his book suggests numerous others that just did not happen to be so mentioned.
b. Documents
Since the Chronicler not only describes how the Assyrian king Sennacherib “wrote letters” against Judah but then goes on to cite excerpts from them (2Ch 32:17–20), these too seem to represent a literary source (cf. an immediately preceding message that is quoted as deriving from this same monarch, vv.10–15). The book also concludes with a proclamation made by the Persian king Cyrus, which he “put in writing” (36:22–23). Another kind of documentary source underlies the detailed descriptions of the Solomonic temple in Jerusalem, because references are made to the plans “of all that the Spirit had put in his [David’s] mind” for it (1Ch 28:11–12)—and not just in his mind, but “‘All this,’ David said, ‘I have in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me’ ” (v.19).
c. Poems
The author alludes to songs of praise in the words of David and Asaph in 2Ch 29:30 (cf. the titles to Pss 50; 73–83), and in 35:25 to laments for Josiah that were chanted by Jeremiah (not to be identified with his later, canonical Lamentations over Jerusalem). Neither is actually quoted, though the allusions suggest the author’s use of poetic sources (cf. David’s reemployment of Pss 95:1–5; 96; and 106:1, 47–48, which Ezra did quote in 1Ch 16:8–36).
d. Prophecies
Among its sources Chronicles refers to at least eleven different prophetic books: those by the earlier prophets Samuel, Gad (1Ch 29:29), Nathan (1Ch 29:29; 2Ch 9:29), Ahijah (2Ch 9:29), Shemaiah (12:15), and Iddo, including both the “visions of Iddo” (9:29) and his “annotations” (13:22); and those by the later prophets Jehu son of Hanani (20:34), Isaiah, including both his “vision” (the OT book, 32:32) and his last history of Uzziah (26:22), and Hozai (33:19, perhaps meaning simply a book of “the seers”). Second Chronicles alludes (36:22) to the fulfillment of Jer 29:10, and the author seems to quote from Jer 29:13–14 in 2Ch 15:4 (unless both are drawing on Dt 4:29).
e. Other histories
Ezra’s major reference work was “the book of the kings of Israel and Judah” (2Ch 27:7; 35:27; 36:8; et al.). He also refers at one point to the “annals of King David” (1Ch 27:24, which may have been part of the same work) and to the “annotations on the book of the kings” (2Ch 24:27). But though much material from the canonical books of 1 and 2 Kings does reappear in Chronicles, these cannot be the source here cited, since passages such as 1Ch 9:1 and 2Ch 27:7 refer to “the book of the kings” for additional data on genealogies and wars, about which nothing further actually occurs in our canonical books. So while Ezra did use this major reference work directly, it must have been some larger court record—authentic but now lost—from which both Kings and Chronicles drew.
All in all, 57.8 percent of the text of Chronicles exhibits verbal parallels with other portions of the OT. These include especially the Pentateuch and Joshua for the genealogies and other such listings, and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings for the history.
4. Occasion and Purpose
When Ezra returned from Babylon in 458 B.C., his heart was set on enthroning God’s law in the postexile community of Judah (Ezr 7:10). He took immediate steps to restore temple worship (7:19–23, 27; 8:33–34) and to eliminate a number of mixed marriages that had arisen between certain Jews and their pagan neighbors (chs. 9–10). Based on powers granted him by the Persian king (7:18–25), Ezra seems to have been the one who commenced the refortification of Jerusalem (4:16), though subsequently thwarted by bitter Samaritan opposition (vv.17–23; cf. Ne 1:3–4). Not until 444, when Ezra was joined by Nehemiah, were the walls actually finished (Ne 6:15–16) and the law of Moses formally recognized by the community (ch. 8). Yet if Ezra was the Chronicler, then the appearance of his book about 450 becomes explainable as a concrete literary means to aid in the achievement of his purpose of rebuilding the theocracy (i.e., the acknowledgment of God as their king).
5. Theology
Ezra honors the transcendent majesty of God (1Ch 29:11) and quotes statements from past history describing him as above all gods (2Ch 2:5), dwelling in heaven (6:18; 7:14), and ruling all earth (20:6). The Lord’s presence must be mediated, therefore, by his “name” (which carries the force of his person, 12:13), especially in the temple (1Ch 22:7; 29:16), and by his Spirit, especially for communications (1Ch 12:18; 2Ch 15:1; 24:20). Angels occupy a greater place in Chronicles than in the corresponding parts of the other OT histories (1Ch 21:12 or 21:18, 20, 27), as does also the Lord’s mediation through Satan (21:1).
Yet God can be immanent as well, intervening into history (1Ch 12:18; cf. 2Ch 20:13) in answer to human prayers and songs (2Ch 14:11; 18:31; 20:9–12). The continuity of his concern is emphasized by the phrase “God of [the] fathers,” used in quotations (1Ch 29:20; 2Ch 20:6) and by the Chronicler himself (2Ch 13:18; 15:12); and his covenant love for Israel (6:14) is recognized even by foreigners (2:11; 9:8). The Lord is the God of revelation, who fulfills his predictions (10:15; 36:21) and keeps his promises (1Ch 17:26: 2Ch 1:9; 6:15). Prophets of God who appear in Chronicles (but not in Kings) include Iddo (2Ch 13:22), Azariah son of Oded (15:1, 8), Eliezer (20:37), and Jeremiah (35:25; 36:12, 21–22). Corresponding attention is given to the written Mosaic Law, which must be taught (17:9) and honored (31:4, 21).
6. Theological Themes and Interests
A careful reading of Chronicles shows that the author has certain recurring theological interests that he promotes throughout his work.
a. Promise of God
The Lord takes center stage and leaves no doubt as to who is in charge. Thus, rather than giving political, sociological, military, or economic explanations—or stating immediate causes for events—the author presents God as the Lord of history and the cause of its events.
The prominence of God may be seen in several incidents. God put Saul to death and gave the kingdom to David (1Ch 10:14); God routed the armies of Jeroboam when he attacked Abijah (2Ch 13:13–16); God destroyed the mighty army of Zerah when it battled Asa and his smaller forces (2Ch 14:12–13); the Lord established the kingdom of Jehoshaphat (2Ch 17:5) and defeated a military alliance of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir even before the Hebrew army began to fight (2Ch 20:22–23).
Perhaps the finest example of God’s direct, divine intervention in history may be seen in the way he utterly destroyed the mighty army of Sennacherib when that proud Assyrian ruler dared to challenge the power of the Almighty and to compare him to the gods of the other nations (2Ch 32:16–22).
b. Retribution
The idea of sowing and reaping is hardly new to Chronicles, but it is modified in at least two ways. (1) The burden of obedience lies primarily on the shoulder of the king of the nation. (2) The principle does not work automatically or mechanically. The sovereign ruler is often warned by a prophetic word; hence the ruler can repent and avert a calamity or military defeat (cf. 2Ch 7:14).
c. Vocabulary
The author’s third theological interest is his constant use of standard vocabulary and expressions like “seeking God,” “pure heart,” “faithfulness,” and “forsaking the LORD.” Because seeking God and being faithful to him bring about his blessings, it is not surprising to find many exhortations and injunctions to do so.
d. Things used in worship
A fourth interest is the ark, the temple, and the priesthood. Two chapters cover the transporting of the ark to Jerusalem; eight chapters deal with the preparation for building the temple. Three chapters describe the actual construction of the temple, and three more cover its dedication. Furthermore, three chapters cover Josiah’s reforms, with special emphasis on the restoration of the central sanctuary and its functions.
e. Worship
A fifth interest is closely related to Israel’s worship at the temple. The Chronicler is concerned about the nature of true worship as opposed to correct ceremony. This concern for the right attitude of the heart may be traced in two ways. First, the word “heart” (GK 4222) is used some thirty times in Chronicles. Thus the activity of seeking God should be accompanied with the right inner attitude. A second way of tracing the Chronicler’s concern for true worship may be seen from his treatment of Hezekiah’s reform. Hezekiah is portrayed as one of the godliest Judean kings.
f. Kingdom
A sixth interest is the kingship in Israel. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Judah are often treated as if they are one and the same entity (cf. 1Ch 28:5; 29:23). The kingdom is important as the guardian of the temple. After the division of Solomon’s kingdom, the Judean kings regularly expressed their commitment to God in terms of religious reforms (cf. reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah). True worship in Israel was not preserved by godly priesthood but by godly kingship.
g. History
A seventh interest is seen from the way the Chronicler records historical events. For example, it is not enough for him to describe the building of the temple; he must go beyond that and point out the striking resemblance of this event to the construction of the tabernacle in the desert.
h. Omissions
A final interest of Chronicles is in the material that he chose to omit from his discussion of Israel’s history. From the reign of David, he deleted three main blocks of material. He left out the events found at 1Sa 15–31. Also deleted is the material found in 2Sa 1–4. The third block of omitted material involves David’s sin with Bathsheba and the problems that followed it (2Sa 11–1Ki 2, with the exception of the census).
Concerning the reign of Solomon, Chronicles omitted the struggle between Solomon and Adonijah for the throne, the steps Solomon took to solidify his position, and the material dealing with Solomon’s many foreign wives, with the resultant spread of idolatry and God’s punishment of the king for this sin (1Ki 11).
After the division of Solomon’s kingdom, the Chronicler did not deal with the northern kingdom on its own terms and for its own intrinsic interest. Instead he dealt with it only as it came into contact with the kingdom of Judah.
The Chronicler recorded a history of Israel in which he chose both to emphasize certain points and to delete some material. This was no plot or attempt to suppress the truth. In developing his theological commentary on the events of the past, he left out certain elements that did not contribute to the point he was emphasizing. Those who want another perspective on history can read the former prophets or recite the facts that were well known to Israel.
EXPOSITION
I. Genealogies (1:1–9:44)
A. Patriarchs (1:1–54)
Chronicles begins with nine chapters of genealogies. Their purpose was to show the place that the 450 B.C. postexilic community of Judah occupied within total history. They serve two practical functions. (1) For the immediate situation, genealogies were important in providing the framework within which true Hebrews could establish their genealogical roots and by which religious purity could be maintained against outside groups and influences.
(2) For the church’s overall perspective, the genealogies reflect the providential design that marks the sweep of history from Eden onward. Particular names serve as reminders of God’s dealings in the past; and the genealogies’ focus on David and his dynasty embodies the OT hope for the future Messiah, with the meaningfulness that this provided for Ezra’s generation.
1–4 Ezra’s survey commences with Adam, not just Abraham, the father of the Hebrews. This points to the unity of the race (Ac 17:26) and to the universality of God’s redemptive program within history (Ge 3:15). Verses 1–4 are compiled from Ge 5. Seth’s brothers, Abel and Cain, with the latter’s line (Ge 4:17–25), are omitted as irrelevant.
5–7 Verses 5–23 are drawn from the “table of nations” in Ge 10:2–29. The seven sons of Japheth founded the people of Europe and northern Asia (e.g., from Javan comes Greek Ionia; from Gomer, the ancient Cimmerians of the Russian plains; and from Madai, the Medes and Persians of Iran. Tubal and Meshech were ancestors of the eighth-century Tabali and Mushki, who inhabited the Turkish plateau, according to contemporary Assyrian inscriptions). Areas proposed for the first two Greek subgroups in v.7 include Elishah (in south Greece) and Sardinia; the latter two—“Kittim and Rodanim”—denote the islands of Cyprus and Rhodes.
8 The four sons of Ham founded ethnic groups in Africa and southwestern Asia (e.g., Put in Libya on the Mediterranean coast of Africa west of Egypt; and Cush, or “Ethiopia”).
9–11 Yet the five listed sons of Cush founded tribes that extended eastward from the coast of the Red Sea, across southern Arabia, to the Kassites in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. The second river of Eden can thus be said to border Cush (Ge 2:13), and Babylon and Assyria pertain to the Cushite leader Nimrod (10:8–11).
12–16 The Hamitic Philistines were “sea peoples” before settling in Palestine, coming from the Casluhim, who were of Egyptian origin but are related to the Minoan culture of Caphtor (Crete) and the southern coast of Asia Minor (Am 9:7).
17 The five sons of Shem produced the peoples who remained closest to humankind’s original home in west-central Asia. Yet they ranged from Elam, north of the Persian Gulf, to Aram in Syria and Lud (Lydia) in central Turkey.
18 The name Eber forms the root of “Hebrew”; but this patriarch was ancestor not only of Abraham (v.27), but also of a number of other unsettled people, known in ancient history as Habiru or Apiru.
19–23 The only “dividing up” of the earth to which Genesis makes reference in its post-diluvian context is that which occurred at the confusion of languages at Babel (Ge 11:1–9). The name Peleg seems to have been derived from this event (see NIV note).
24–27 The list of names from Shem to Abram sums up the table of Ge 11:10–26. Both men constitute significant reminders of God’s special relations with his people: the first, as the initial example of the Lord’s association with a particular part of humanity, i.e., the Semites (Ge 9:26), and Abraham as a climactic witness to divine election (12:2; 17:7). The latter’s change of name is explained in Ge 17:5.
28–34 The information on the families of Abraham and Isaac is identical with that found in Ge 25:1–4, 9, 13–16. Abraham’s nomadic Arabian descendants through his two subordinate wives, Hagar and Keturah, are given first, before the biblical record focuses on Sarah’s son, Isaac, who was the child of promise. Arabs became increasingly influential in Judah (cf. Ne 4:7–6:l) after occupying Ezion Geber at the northeast end of the Red Sea in 500 B.C.
35 The remainder of ch. 1 summarizes the “table of Edom” in Ge 36:4–5, 11–13, 20–28, 31–43—with few scribal corruptions in spelling. The subject of the rest of 1 and 2 Chronicles is Jacob (Israel) and the Twelve Tribes that descended from him; but before the record focuses on this younger of Isaac’s twin sons, it lists the elder brother, Esau, and the Edomite tribes that he founded. They were Israel’s closest “brothers” (Ob 10, 12) and near neighbors, after Arab pressure forced them into southern Judah fifty years prior to Ezra.
36–37 Timna, a daughter of Seir (v.39), became a subordinate wife of Esau’s son Eliphaz (Ge 36:12) and was later honored by having her name bestowed on an Edomite chieftain and his district (36:40; cf. 1Ch 1:51).
38–41 Seir belonged to a group called “Homes” (Ge 36:20), the ancient Hurrians, a major people of Mesopotamia. Some had settled in Edom (= Seir) before the coming of Esau (Dt 2:12, 22).
42 Uz was the name of the home of the patriarch Job (Job 1:1), who may thus have been an early Edomite descendant of Esau (cf. La 4:21). Similarly, Esau’s son Eliphaz, the father of Teman (v.36), seems to have been in the ancestry of Job’s friend Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 2:11).
43–54 The death of King Hadad (v.51) is not mentioned in Ezra’s biblical source (Ge 36:39), perhaps because Hadad II was still living when Moses wrote this part of the Pentateuch, a thousand years before the writing of Chronicles.
B. Judah (2:1–4:23)
1. The clan of Hezron (2:1–55)
Chapter 2 resumes the specific development of the nation of Israel. It continues from 1:34, where the two sons of Isaac had been introduced. Since the line of the elder, Esau, was summarized in 1:35–54, Ezra can now concentrate on the younger of the twins, Israel. But while our Chronicler lists all twelve of the sons of Israel-Jacob, his attention quickly focuses on Judah (v.3), the description of whose tribe occupies the next two and one-half chapters. Indeed, after a supplement on those portions of the tribe of Simeon that remained as neighbors to southern Judah (4:24–43), the genealogies of Chronicles devote themselves principally to Benjamin (chs. 8–9) and the priestly tribe of Levi (ch. 6). Only chs. 5 and 7 are left, for outlines, respectively, on the tribes of Transjordan and north Israel. The land that was occupied by the Jews who returned from the Babylonian exile consisted primarily of the tribal territories of Judah and Benjamin. Also, the people who made up Ezra’s community were largely from these same two tribes (Ezr 1:5; 10:9), which had composed the former southern kingdom. In his effort to maintain national purity, it was therefore natural that the Chronicler should concentrate on these particular genealogies. Judah was especially prominent (Ezr 4:4, 6): from it the very name “Jew” is derived.
Among the ten-listed grandsons of Judah (1Ch 2:5–6; 4:21–22), the primary interest of this chapter (from 2:9 onward) rests on Hezron, the elder son of Perez, from whom were descended some of the leading elements of Judah’s later population. Hezron’s third son, Caleb, in his turn received major attention in two sections (vv.18–20 and 42–55; cf. 4:1–4), though Hezron’s second son, Ram, is presented first, because he embodies the messianic hope of Israel: from him comes the family of David (2:10–17).
1 Verses 1–2 are drawn from Ge 35:22–26 and Ex 1:1–5. All the passages list in first place Jacob’s six sons by his wife Leah (from Reuben through Zebulun), in the order of their birth; and the Pentateuchal sources place the four sons of the handmaids (Dan through Asher, in their order of birth) after Jacob’s younger son by his wife Rachel, namely, Benjamin.
2 Chronicles, however, follows Genesis in placing Joseph before Benjamin; and before them both it puts Dan, following Zebulun, perhaps because these last two receive no further treatment in Chronicles.
3–4 These verses reflect the sordid dealings that Judah, his sons, and his Canaanite daughter-in-law Tamar had with each other (Ge 38; esp. vv.2–7, 29–30; cf. 46:12). Yet God in his grace used Tamar to be an ancestor of David and of Jesus Christ (Mt 1:3)!
5 Since Judah’s first two sons died without issue, and since his third son is taken up in ch. 4 (vv.21–23), the present section focuses on the remaining two, as listed in Ge 46:12 and Nu 26:21.
6 Except for Zimri, these Zerahites can be identified from 1Ki 4:31 as later descendants, not immediate “sons,” of Zerah. Ezra singled them out as examples of God-given wisdom (cf. v.20) during the Solomonic period. Heman and Ethan, moreover, became authors of inspired psalmody (Pss 88–89), with which Ezra’s concern for proper worship caused him to be involved. These authors must not, however, be confused with David’s musicians, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan (1Ch 15:19), who were from the tribe of Levi, not Judah (cf. 6:33–44).
7 Carmi is another Zerahite, identifiable from Jos 7:1 as an immediate son of Zimri. While the latter has been equated with Zerah’s son Zimri, he really appears (in Jos 7:17–18) to belong to the time of his direct grandson Achan. The last named is here called Achar (“disaster”) because he was a “bringer of disaster” on Israel. The name reminds us of his sin under Joshua at Jericho and how God’s judgment may bring consequent disaster on his people (Jos 7:25; cf. 6:18 and the naming of the place as Achor in 7:26).
8–10 Verses 9–12 are drawn from Ru 4:19–22. This passage furnishes the chief links in the ancestry of David, but it is by no means complete: three centuries elapse between Ram son of Hezron and Nahshon son of Amminadab, whose leadership “of the people of Judah” dates to the days of Moses in the desert (Ex 6:23; Nu 1:7; 2:3) and whose son Salmon married Rahab the prostitute after the fall of Jericho (Mt 1:5).
11–12 Another three centuries elapse before we reach Boaz the husband of Ruth, who were the grandparents of Jesse the father of David.
13–15 These verses supplement 1Sa 16:6–9 on Jesse’s family. Following his sixth son, Ozem, this source mentions another brother (1Sa 16:10; 17:12) before David, but he is not named; he may have died soon after these events.
16–17 The genealogies of these four warriors, made famous under their half-uncle David (cf. 2Sa 2:18–19; 19:13), are drawn from 2Sa 2:18 and 17:25; but apart from this latter passage, we would not have known that their mothers, Zeruiah and Abigail, were step-daughters of Jesse, born to David’s mother by her presumed earlier marriage to Nahash.
18–19 The remainder of ch. 2 (vv.28–55) tabulates the descendants of the other sons of Hezron, through lists that have not been preserved elsewhere in Scripture. Some of the names that follow designate whole communities that sprang from his line; e.g., Tekoa (v.24), Beth Zur (v.45), Kiriath Jearim, Bethlehem, or Beth Gader (vv.50–54). Hezron’s son Caleb is not to be confused with Moses’ spy of the same name (1:15), who appeared three hundred years later.
20 Bezalel is recalled as the Calebite whose craftsmanship, given by the Spirit of God, equipped him to superintend construction for the Mosaic tabernacle (Ex 31:2–5; cf. 2Ch 1:5). An interval of centuries seems again to separate his father, Uri, from their ancestors, Caleb’s son Hur. The last named should thus be distinguished from their contemporary, the leader Hur, who joined Aaron in upholding the hands of Moses (Ex 17:10, 12; cf. 24:14).
21–22 The Transjordanian conquests of Jair, a later descendant of Hezron’s son Segub, also occurred under Moses. These are documented in Nu 32:41 and Dt 3:14, where Jair is called a son of Manasseh, through Segub’s mother, the daughter of Makir (vv.21, 23), rather than through his father, Hezron.
23–24 The total of sixty towns includes Jair’s twenty-three plus a remaining thirty-seven at Kenath (Nu 32:42); they may also be combined under Jair’s name (Dt 3:4, 14; Jos 13:30). Their loss to the Arameans may have occurred in the early ninth century, since by King Ahab’s day (853 B.C.) Ramoth Gilead lay on the frontier (1Ki 22:3).
25–40 The descendants of Jerahmeel (vv.25–41) came to occupy a broad area in the Negev of southern Judah. Some critics dismiss the Jerahmeelites as aliens; but while they can be mentioned with the Kenites (1Sa 30:29), who had a truly foreign origin, and can even be described in parallel with Judah (1Sa 27:10), Jerahmeel himself is stated to be the firstborn son of Hezron, into whose clan foreign elements may subsequently have come to be incorporated. Sheshan’s daughter who married Jarha (v.35) is probably the Ahlai mentioned in v.31.
41 The Elishama here named represents the twenty-third generation after Judah. With a lapse of some eight hundred years, this would bring us to about 1100 B.C., or to the generation of Jesse the father of David. Proposed identifications of Elishama with the priest of that name (2Ch 17:8), in about 850 B.C., are thus unlikely chronologically and impossible because of the latter’s tribe (Levi, not Judah).
42–46 The closing verses of the chapter revert to the family of Caleb. The line of descent shows that individuals are intended, though their associated groups did occupy such centers in Judah as Hebron, Mareshah, and Ziph.
47 The relationship of the six sons of Jahdai to Caleb is not given.
48–49 Caleb’s “daughter” Acsah was only a distant descendant of Caleb the son of Hezron, though she was an immediate daughter of Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the faithful spy (listed in 4:15). She is remembered as the bride of Othniel, the first of the judges (Jdg 3:9–11), having been promised to him for his conquest of Debir (Jos 15:15–19; Jdg 1:11–15).
50–53 Ephrathah (v.50) is a variant form for the name of Caleb’s wife Ephrath (v.19).
54–55 The Kenites were originally a foreign people (Ge 15:19), some of whom, by marriage or by adoption, became incorporated into the tribe of Judah (cf. the instance of the family of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, Nu 10:29–32; Jdg 1:16, 4:11). There is always room among the people of God for those who come to him by faith (Ex 12:38, 48; Eph 2:19). The clan of Recab later included the reformer Jehonadab (2Ki 10:15, 23), who preserved the purity of his descendants by retaining their primitive forms of nomadic life (Jer 35:6–10).
2. The family of David (3:1–24)
This chapter chronologically follows ch. 2, which had traced several of the branches of the tribe of Judah down to the time of Israel’s united kingdom. At this point, however, the record restricts itself to the royal line of David (2:15) and carries it through five centuries, to about 500 B.C. The prophecy of Jer 22:30 in 597 had made it clear that no purely human descendant of his line could ever legitimately again occupy the throne; and when the Persians authorized the restoration of the Jewish community from Babylon in 538, they permitted no kingship.
Yet the Davidic family maintained its importance. It was represented in the return to Palestine, it supplied civic leaders for Judah (including her first two governors, down through 515 [Ezr 5:2, 15]), and Zechariah prophesied that it would continue to do so (Zec 12:7–10). This house held the ultimate hope of Israel. The Messiah would someday arise from it, that Son of David whom postexilic prophecy identified as more than human. He would be God’s “fellow” (Zec 13:7, KJV), pierced as a man but acknowledged as deity (12:10). He would bring redemption from sin (13:1) and God’s kingdom on earth (14:9).
1–9 This listing of David’s children repeats and supplements 2Sa 3:2–5; 5:13–16; and 13:1. Daniel, his son by Abigail, is named, alternatively, Kileab in 2Sa 3:3.
The list of younger sons (vv.5–8) is repeated in 14:3–7. Solomon was chosen to succeed David (22:9) rather than one of his older brothers, at least three of whom were murdered in inner-family struggles. The third son listed in v.6 (omitted in 2 Samuel) is Elpelet (cf. 14:5); his early death may account for David’s choice of a longer form of this same name for his younger brother, Eliphelet (v.8). The next to last son (v.8) was originally named Beeliada (14:7), meaning “The (divine) Master knows.” But this was changed (both here and in 2Sa 5:16) to Eliada (“God knows”), to avoid the idolatrous implications of Baal. In 2Sa 13 is a report of the scandal of Tamar’s rape by her half-brother Amnon and the vengeance by her brother Absalom.
10–16 The remainder of the chapter lists the Davidic line of succession, first to the throne (vv.10–16, following the order that is in 1 and 2 Kings), and then, during the Exile and beyond, to such nonkingly leadership as they may have enjoyed (vv.17–24, which are new).
Azariah (v.12), as used here (and in 2 Kings), represents the throne name of Uzziah, as is used elsewhere in Chronicles (cf. Isa 6:1). Similar is the name Shallum (v.15; cf. Jer 22:11) for Jehoahaz (2Ch 36:1–4; 2Ki 23:31–34). Though younger than Jehoiakim, he was preferred to him for the throne, following Josiah’s death in 609 B.C; and though older in fact than Zedekiah (2Ch 36:2, 11), he is here listed after him, probably because his reign was so much shorter. Josiah’s firstborn son, Johanan, is not mentioned elsewhere and may have died young.
The name Jeconiah (v.16; shortened to Coniah in Jer 22:24, 28; 37:1; see NIV note) means “Establishes (does) the LORD”; it usually has its elements transposed into Jehoiachin (2Ch 36:9–10; 2Ki 24:8–17), which means “The LORD establishes.”
17 Shealtiel was the physical son of Neri (Lk 3:27) but must have become the legal (adopted) son of Jeconiah soon after the latter’s captivity in March 597 B.C., since five out of the seven sons are mentioned on a Babylonian ration receipt dated to 592.
18 Shenazzar has been equated with Sheshbazzar (“prince of Judah,” at the return in 538–537, Ezr 1:8); both seem to be shortened forms of the Akkadian Sin-aba-usur.
19–20 Shenazzar was succeeded as the first Persian governor of Judah (Ezr 5:4, 16) by his nephew Zerubbabel (2:2), physically the son of his next older brother Pedaiah, but reckoned as the legal son of the oldest brother, Shealtiel (Ezr 3:2, 8; Hag 1:1, 12; Mt 1:12; Lk 3:27). Shealtiel may have died without having children, so that his brother would have raised up seed to his name according to the custom of the levirate (Dt 25:5–10). The authenticity of many of the names that follow is confirmed by archaeological evidence from sixth and fifth centuries seals and letters.
21 The Hebrew text does not have “and” to introduce “the sons of Rephaiah, of Arnan . . .” These are not stated to be further grandsons of Zerubbabel but are presumably contemporaries of Jeconiah the captive whose relationship to him has not been preserved.
22–24 Since only five names now appear in the list of Shemaiah’s six sons (v.22), one must have fallen out.
3. Other clans of Judah (4:1–23)
None of the genealogies of Judah recorded here appears elsewhere in Scripture. Verses 1–8 supplement ch. 2 on the clan of Hezron, a son of Judah’s fourth son Perez. In particular they concern four sons of Hur (cf. v.4), who were grandsons of Hezron’s third son Caleb, and eight branches of his fifth son Ashhur. Verses 9–20 describe the situations of eight leaders in Judah: Jabez, Kelub, Kenaz, Jehallelel, Ezrah, Hodiah, Shimon, and Ishi. However, while they too might be classified under Hezron, their exact relationship to him remains unknown, either because of gaps in Ezra’s own sources or because of a lack of care in subsequent scribal transmission. Verses 21–23 outline the clan of Judah’s third son Shelah (cf. 2:3).
1 Author Ezra expected his readers to recognize (from 2:5, 18, 50) that the five descendants of Judah, from Perez to Shobal, were not brothers but successive generations. “Carmi” must therefore be a scribal error (caused by 2:7?) for Caleb (Kelubai; cf. NIV note on 2:9).
2 These data supplement 2:52 on Hur’s first son Shobal, where Haroeh had appeared as a variant for Reaiah.
3–5 Similarly v.3 on Hur’s fourth son and v.4 on his fifth and sixth sons supplement 2:19; and vv.5–8, on the family of his uncle Ashhur, supplement 2:24.
6–8 “Haahashtari” is not a proper noun but is adjectival and designates “one descended from A(ha)shtar.”
9–10 Jabez’s prayer of faith became an occasion of grace, so that God kept and blessed him, rather than causing him “pain” (“Jabez” means “he causes pain”).
11–12 Ir Nahash (v.12; cf. NIV note, “city of copper,” or “coppersmith”) is Khirbet Na-has, on the west side of the Arabah, south of the Dead Sea.
13–14 Though originally a foreign Kenizzite (whether of Canaan, Ge 15:19, or of Edom, 36:42), Othniel was adopted into Israel’s tribe of Judah and became the first of the judges (see 2:49, 55). He who is adopted into the people of God can even become a leader.
15 Caleb was Othnie’s brother; but he was sufficiently older (Jdg 1:13; 3:9), having belonged to the previous desert generation, among whom he was honored as one of the two faithful spies (Nu 13–14).
16 The settlement of Jehallelel’s descendants, with those of Calebite Mesha, at Ziph (cf. 2:18, 42) in the southeastern part of Judah (Jos 15:24), confirms the preexilic authenticity of Ezra’s source, since in his own day Judah’s southern border failed to reach even to Hebron.
17–20 The wife of Mered intended in v.17 is Bithiah (v.18). Her identification as a daughter of Pharaoh would locate this event during the early part of Israel’s sojourn in Egypt (before 1800 B.C.), the union probably being made possible because of Joseph’s prominence.
21–23 Mareshah, in southwest Judah, experienced dual settlement (cf. v.16), both from these descendants of Judah’s third son, Shelah, and from his fourth, Perez (2:4).
Over long periods Israel’s genealogical clans could be associated with particular places, be organized into particular guilds—whether of linen workers (here), of potters (v.23), or of scribes (2:55)—or be maintained by particular royal patronage (4:23), a situation that has been confirmed archaeologically by means of distinctive pottery marks.
C. Simeon (4:24–43)
Because of their massacre of Shechem (Ge 34:24–30), the patriarchs Simeon and Levi were condemned to have their tribes scattered among Israel (49:5–7). The subsequent faithfulness of the Levites (Ex 32:27–29) converted their situation into one of blessing and of priestly leadership (Dt 33:8–11). But the Simeonites remained accursed (omitted altogether in the tribal blessings of Dt 33). Simeon was granted lands in Palestine only within the arid southwestern portions of Judah (Jos 19:1–9; cf. 15:26, 28–32, where these appear among territories that Joshua had previously assigned to Simeon’s more favored neighbor); and it campaigned cooperatively with Judah in their conquest (Jdg 1:3).
Chronicles records first the primary genealogy of Simeon (4:24–27), then its list of towns (vv.28–33), and finally a summary of two of its later migrations (vv.34–41, 42–43). For after the division of Solomon’s kingdom in 930 B.C., elements of Simeon either moved to the north or at least adopted its religious practices (cf. the inclusion of Beersheba along with the shrines of Ephraim that are condemned in Am 5:5), so that they are counted among the northern tribes (2Ch 15:9; 34:6). Other Simeonites carried on in a semi-nomadic life in isolated areas that they could occupy, such as those noted at the close of this chapter (v.41 dates to Hezekiah, 726–697 B.C.).
24 This list of Simeon’s sons comes from Nu 26:12–13, which reflects Ge 46:10 and Ex 6:15, though with variations in spelling and with the omission of a third son, Ohad. The next son’s name, Jarib, has been corrected by the Syriac to read Jachin, as in the other lists.
25–37 These verses constitute a supplement preserved only in Chronicles. Mibsam and his son Mishma should not be confused with Ishmaelites of the same names (1:29–30).
Beth Biri (v.31) is the Chronicler’s postexilic designation for Beth Lebaoth (Jos 19:6), and for Shaaraim we should read (with Jos 19:6) Sharuhen, a historically significant city located in this area.
38–40 The name Gedor has been emended, with the LXX, into Gerar, a city south of Gaza toward Philistia in the west (cf. 2Ch 14:13–14). Yet the presence of Meunites (see below on v.41) and the direction of Simeon’s other recorded attack, toward Seir (vv.42–43), suggest a Gedor “overlooking the Dead Sea” to the east.
In v.40 the Canaanites, as a branch of the Hamites (1:8), seem to be intended here.
41–43 The Meunites constitute an Edomite tribe; see 2Ch 20:1 (cf. 26:7). The phrase “remaining Amalekites” (v.43) implies some previous avenging work, i.e., of Saul (1Sa 14:48; 15:7) and of David (1Sa 30:17; 2Sa 8:12), against these ancient enemies of God’s people (cf. Ex 17:8–13; Dt 25:17–19). Yet the tribe of Simeon was motivated as well by economic factors of overpopulation (v.38) and shortage of pasture (vv.39, 41).
D. Transjordan Tribes (5:1–26)
Though the OT’s postexilic restoration centered in Judah, the population included elements from all twelve tribes, whose identity the Chronicler was anxious to perpetuate (cf. Ezr 6:17; 8:35). Chapter 5 concerns those once settled east of the Jordan rift. Even prior to Joshua’s conquest of Canaan in the west, Moses’ people had suffered a series of unprovoked attacks from the kings in Transjordan (Nu 21:21–23, 33). But all this had been of God (Dt 2:30) and resulted in the Israelites’ acquisition of the whole territory from the Arnon (midway on the east shore of the Dead Sea) northward, and on through Gilead and Bashan. Moses then granted these areas (Nu 32:33–42), respectively, and at their own request, to Reuben (the subject of 1Ch 5:1–10), Gad (vv.11–17), and half of the tribe of Manasseh (vv.23–24; cf. 7:14–19, on their western half).
The remaining verses of ch. 5 describe an early, joint military campaign (vv.18–22, elaborating v.10)—in which God rewarded their faith and their prayers with a great victory over the Ishmaelites—and their later deportation to Assyria (vv.25–26), as the result of collective apostasy.
1 Reuben’s crime of incest with his father’s subordinate wife Bilhah (Ge 35:22) cost him his rights of the firstborn (49:4), which involved a double portion of inheritance (Dt 21:17). This was transferred to Joseph, first son of Rachel, the wife whom Jacob-Israel loved (Ge 49:25–26; cf. 48:20–22, on Joseph’s double-tribed status, through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh). Joseph’s leadership was first exercised personally (Ge 50:21), then later through Joshua (an Ephraimite), and thus for three more centuries (cf. Jdg 8:1–2; 12:1–6).
2 Yet Judah eventually became strongest: Jacob’s prophecy of this tribe’s preeminence over the other (Ge 49:8), and even of a scepter (v.10), was fulfilled in David’s kingship (2Sa 5:1–3; cf. 7:8), which entailed the effective rejection of Joseph (Ps 78:67–70), and was rendered eternal through David’s Greater Son, who was also God’s Son (2Sa 7:14), Jesus the Messiah (Mt 1:1).
3 Reuben’s four sons are listed just as in the Pentateuch (Ge 46:9; Ex 6:14; Nu 26:5–6), but Ezra’s data in the rest of the chapter are unique to Chronicles.
4–5 The text does not say from which of Reuben’s sons Joel was descended.
6 The Assyrians exiled the Israelite border tribes in 733 B.C. (vv.22, 26; 2Ki 15:29).
7–9 The settlement in the areas mentioned here (named also in Nu 32:38) preceded 850 B.C., since they are claimed as Moabite in Mesha’s inscription, as well as subsequently (Jer 48:1, 22; Eze 25:9).
10 Saul himself fought in Transjordan (1Sa 11:1–11), but with the Ammonites instead of the Hagrites, and at Jabesh Gilead, not far east of the river.
11 The plains of Bashan, extending from the gorge of the Yarmuk and thence north and east of Galilee, pertained to Manasseh (v.23). By wide scattering Gad’s outposts reached them; but its major settlements lay in Gilead, south of the Yarmuk (cf. v.16).
12–15 The Gadite Buz is not otherwise known and is not to be confused with Abraham’s nephew, Buz, the son of Nahor (Ge 22:21).
16 Sharon refers here, not to the coastal plain north of Philistia (Jos 12:18), but to broad pasturelands somewhere in Transjordan.
17 The reigns of Jotham and Jeroboam II extended from 793 to 731 (to 753, for the latter, in Israel; and 750–731, for Jotham, in Judah).
18–19 Hagar was the mother of Ishmael, whose twelve sons, in turn, included Jetur (NT “Iturea,” Lk 3:1) and Naphish (Ge 25:12, 15; cf. the presence of such Arab tribes with Moab in Ps 83:6), Though “the battle was God’s” (v.22), his people still had to initiate it!
20–22 God’s divine presence did not mean that his people would not have to cry out in the battle; but when they did, he vindicated the prayers of those who trusted in him. The great numbers taken, including one hundred thousand people, shows this to have been no mere raid but a total, permanent occupation.
23 Senir was the Amorite name for Mount Hermon (Dt 3:9).
24–26 Since Pul was the private name of Tiglath-pileser III prior to his accession in 745 B.C., the NIV has properly translated: “God stirred up the spirit of Pul . . . that is, Tiglath-Pileser.” The Lord used even Assyrians to accomplish his purposes (Isa 10:5–6).
E. Levi (6:1–81)
The tribe of Levi became Israel’s hereditary religious leaders (see comments on 4:24–43). Ezra took special pains to ensure their presence within the second return, which he led back in 458 B.C. (Ezr 8:15–20); and from the very start, postexilic Judah depended on their proper service (1:5; 3:8; 6:18–20). Levi included the priesthood, so that Ezra himself was careful to present his Levitical credentials (7:1–5), going back to Aaron, Israel’s initial high priest. Authentic genealogy, indeed, was essential for investiture (cf. 2:59–63)—hence the practical relevance of this chapter to the Chronicler’s own day.
Yet a deeper and more abiding significance lies in the nature of Israel’s priesthood as types. Their service in the sanctuary reflected a heavenly pattern (Ex 25:9, 40; Heb 8:2, 5); and the atoning acts performed by Aaron’s descendants were but foreshadows of that ultimate sacrifice, accomplished by Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, by the offering up of himself once and for all (Heb 9:14, 24–25). Chapter 6 commences with Pentateuchal citations and concludes with territorial lists taken from Joshua, but it consists primarily of materials not found outside Chronicles.
1–2 Levi’s sons always appear in this order based on age (Ge 46:11; Ex 6:16; Nu 3:17; 26:57). Kohath is singled out (Ex 6:18; Nu 3:19) as the ancestor of the priestly group.
3 This Amram is a family ancestor, separated by some 250 years and nine generations from the father of Moses and Aaron (cf. Ex 6:20; Nu 26:59) and from about five thousand Amramites living in their day (cf. Nu 26:62). Of the sons of Aaron (derived from Ex 6:23; Lev 10:1; Nu 3:2; 26:60), the first two died for their sacrilege (Lev 10:2; Nu 26:61); and the succeeding line of priests is here traced only through Eleazar (cf. Ex 6:25; Nu 25:7).
4–7 Some links have been omitted from the priestly genealogy: the twenty-one generations after Eleazar, down through Jehozadak at the Exile (v.15), span more than eight hundred years; and forty years per generation seems overly high. The list includes no descendants of Eleazar’s younger brother, Ithamar, who held office during the last of the judges and the early kingdom—e.g., Eli, Phinehas III, Ahitub, Ahimelech I (= Ahijah?), Abiathar, and Ahimelech II (1Sa 14:3; 22:20; 2Sa 8:17). Other preexilic high priests are not listed either.
8 Serving under David in 1000 B.C. was Zadok (2Sa 8:17; 15:24), son of Ahitub II (not to be confused with Ahitub I, noted above as the grandfather of David’s other priest, Abiathar, who was of the Ithamar branch). Some critics reject Zadok’s Hebrew genealogy and label him a Jebusite, perhaps to be associated with Melchizedek (see Ge 14:18).
9 Zadok’s grandson Azariah I became high priest under Solomon, 970 B.C. (1Ki 4:2).
10 Azariah II, “who served as priest in the temple Solomon built,” would thus belong later and, allowing for gaps to include the long-lived Jehoiada (2Ch 24:15), could be the high priest who resisted Uzziah’s trespass against the temple and its priesthood in 751 (26:17).
11–15 Hilkiah (v.13) discovered the Book of the Law of the Lord given through Moses (2Ch 34:14), the event that led to Josiah’s reformation of 622. Seraiah (v.14) suffered martyrdom to the Babylonians in 586 (2Ki 25:18); but his son Jehozadak was father of Jeshua (or Joshua), Judah’s famous high priest of the return from captivity fifty years later (Ezr 3:2; 5:2; 10:18; Hag 1:1; Zec 3:1; 6:11).
16–30 The divisions of the three Levitical clans are those found in Ex 6:17–19 and Nu 3:18–20 (cf. Nu 26:58). Since Korah (v.22) is known to have come from the clan-patriarch Kohath through the branch of Izhar (vv.37–38), Amminadab could possibly be an alternative name for it. Korah was the leader who rebelled against Moses and whom the earth swallowed (Nu 16:32). Assir, Elkanah I, and Ebiasaph were then his sons (Ex 6:24) and not successive generations.
Uriel (v.24) may be the Levite who led the entire Kohathite clan in David’s day (15:5). Comparisons of v.25 with vv.35–36 show that this is not the Elkanah of v.23 but rather the great-great-great-great-grandson of his brother Ebiasaph, i.e., Elkanah II.
Zophai, Nahath, and Eliab (vv.26–27) appear to be variant names for Zuph, Toah, and Eliel (vv.34–35). The Levite Elkanah IV is the husband of Hannah and the father of Samuel, the judge and prophet.
31–32 In his zeal for the proper worship of God, Ezra makes affirmations about the Davidic musicians (cf. Ezr 2:41). The “Tent of Meeting” was for God’s meeting Israel (Ex 29:42–43), not for the people with each other!
33–38 David’s musician Heman, 1000 B.C., is eighteen generations removed from Moses’ adversary Korah, in 1445.
39–43 The name of Asaph’s ancestor Shimei (v.42), the immediate son of Gershon (v.17), seems here to have been transposed with that of Jahath. The similarity then of five out of the six names of his descendants—from Jahath through Ethni (v.41)—to those of his brother Libni—Jehath to Jeatherai (vv.20–21)—has led some interpreters to assume that this must be an erroneous doublet, drawn from a single tradition. Yet 23:10 confirms the existence of Jahath as a legitimate, parallel branch of Gershon’s younger son Shimei; and a deliberate reuse of names among brothers’ sons is not infrequent (cf. the name Mahli, vv.19, 47, or how the Mahli of v.19 took for his child the name of this same older son of Gershon, i.e., that of his cousin Libni, v.29).
44–53 Ethan and Kishi (v.44) appear also as Jeduthun and Kushaiah (15:17). Verses 50–53 repeat vv.4–8 on the priestly line from Aaron, down to Zadok and Ahimaaz. This confirms that the Zadokite priests, alone among the Levitical divisions in David’s day, had the authority to make a sacrificial atonement (v.49). It also furnishes a transition to the subject of the priestly cities that follows.
54–55 The remainder of ch. 6 lists the forty-eight towns that were assigned to the various branches of the tribe of Levi. As Jacob had predicted, they did become scattered among Israel (Ge 49:7). The list is taken from Jos 21. Ezra’s reference to “the first lot,” which went to the Aaronic priests, confirms the record that when Joshua distributed the land in 1400 B.C. among the western nine and one-half tribes and Levi, he accomplished it by means of a lottery (Jos 4:2; 21:10).
56–60 The lands of Hebron (v.56) had been promised to Caleb by both Moses and Joshua (Jos 14:6–15). On the six cities of refuge (v.57), see Nu 35; Dt 19:1–10; Jos 20. Hilen (v.58) is the Chronicler’s postexilic name for Holon (Jos 15:51; 21:15).
61–81 The nonpriestly Kohathites (v.61) also received towns out of Ephraim (v.66) and Dan (Jos 21:5, specifically Eltekeh and Gibbethon, 21:23). The latter are required in v.68 to make up the subtotal of ten, where they are missing due to textual corruption. Jokmeam (v.68) is the Chronicler’s postexilic name of Kibzaim (Jos 21:22).
F. Benjamin and Five Other Tribes (7:1–9:44)
1. Summaries (7:1–40)
Just as in the case of the two and one-half tribes of Transjordan (cf. the introductory discussion to 5:1–26), Ezra was concerned to perpetuate clan frameworks for other members of the former northern kingdom. Some representatives had associated themselves with Judah at the Fall of Samaria in 722 B.C. (cf. 2Ch 30:1–2), or even previously (11:13–16); and Josiah’s expansion a century later embraced many more (34:6; cf. 1Ch 9:1). Others regained their place among God’s people during the Exile of 586–538 (cf. Eze 37:15–23) and were able to return to Judah under Zerubbabel or under Ezra himself (cf. the casual allusion in Lk 2:36 to Anna of the tribe of Asher, one of the “ten lost tribes”). In the buffer zone between north and south lay Benjamin, which could include even the northern religious center of Bethel (Jos 18:22). It is summarized in ch. 7, along with the Ephraimite tribes, but is treated in greater detail in chs. 8 and 9 as Judah’s major ally, both in the preexilic kingdom and postexilic restoration (1Ki 12:21, or the “two-twelfths” implied in 11:30–31, and Ezr 4:1).
This chapter outlines the clan structure that characterized Benjamin and five other tribes. Its sources are Ge 46 and Nu 26, but most of the later genealogies and other data lack biblical parallels. No mention is made of either Dan or Zebulun. Possibly these tribes had little influence or relevance among the Jews who made up Ezra’s community.
1 The sons of Issachar appear as listed in Nu 26:23–24, with Puah as a variation on Puvah. Issachar’s sons are also listed in Ge 46:13 and Nu 26:24.
2 Among the valiant descendants of Tola may have been the later judge who bore that clan name (Jdg 10:1).
3–5 For Izrahiah and his four sons, even with “many wives,” to have “36,000” warriors seems unlikely, as does the total of 145, 600 for just one tribe of the twelve. This appears to be the first of nine passages in Chronicles where “thousand”) might better be translated as “chief” (a similar Hebrew word). Hence we should read in v.2: 22 chiefs, 600 (men); in v.3: 36 chiefs; and in v.5: 87 chiefs.
6 Among the sons of Benjamin, Bela and Beker correspond to Ge 46:21 (cf. Nu 26:38). The third, Jediael, is not mentioned elsewhere. Other sons appear in 8:1–2.
7–12 The figures, as in v.3, should best be read: v.7, as 22 chiefs, 34 men; v.9, as 20 chiefs, 200 men; and v.11, as 17 chiefs, 200 men. Ir and Aher (v.12) may be shortened forms for the names of Bela’s youngest son Iri (v.7) and younger brother Aharah (8:1; cf. Nu 26:38).
13 Naphtali’s sons correspond to those listed in Ge 46:24 and Nu 26:48–49, with minor changes in spelling. Bilhah was the servant of Rachel and the mother of Naphtali (Ge 30:3–8).
14 That Manasseh had an Aramean concubine may have reminded Ezra’s readers of the racially mixed Samaritans in their own day (2Ki 17:24, 29; Ezr 4:2–3). As appears from the more complete record of western Manasseh in Nu 26:29–33, Asriel and Shemida (v.19) were the immediate sons of his grandson Gilead (cf. Jos 17:2).
15–19 Zelophehad (v.15) came three centuries later. His was the case raised by his daughters that prompted Moses’ laws about female inheritance rights (Nu 26:33; 27:1–11; 36:1–12).
20–24 Of Ephraim’s four sons noted in vv.20–21, 23, only Shuthelah had been recorded previously (Nu 26:35); Ezer and Elead had probably joined the families of their grandfather Joseph’s brothers, who had settled in Goshen, only to be slain there on the northeastern border of Egypt by Palestinian raiders who came down from their birthplace in Gath.
25–29 Joshua is listed eight generations after Rephah. Taking Rephah’s father as Ephraim’s fourth son Beriah (v.23), we perceive Joshua’s birth (c. 1500 B.C.; cf. Jos 24:29) to have been eleven generations after Joseph’s, corroborating the approximately four-century interval that separated these two leaders.
30–40 The list of Asher’s children plus two grandsons reproduces Ge 46:17 (cf. Nu 26:44–46). Shomer’s brother Helem (v.35) appears in v.32 as Hotham. Father-son sequences between verses suggest that Ulla (v.39) may be a variant name for Ara in v.38. In v.40 the numeral “thousand” should probably be read “chief”; hence, 26 chiefs (see comment on v.3).
2. Benjamin (8:1–40)
First Chronicles 8 forms a major supplement to the summary of Benjamin given in 7:6–12. Its opening verses, however, on his first generations in Egypt, are based on Nu 26:38–40 (rather than on Ge 46:21, as in ch. 7). Verses 6–28 are almost without biblical parallel; they outline the genealogy of two family groups as these developed after the Hebrew conquest and resettlement of Canaan: the Benjamite household of Ehud, Israel’s second judge (vv.6–7), and that of Shaharaim, some of whose great-grandchildren lived in the neighborhood of Jerusalem (v.28). The remainder of the chapter concerns the relatives who lived near them and who formed the ancestry of Saul, part of whose descent had been given in 1 Samuel.
Chronicles elaborates on this material, not simply because of the significance of King Saul and his family, as it continued a dozen generations after him, but primarily because of the importance of Benjamin as a tribe, which ranked second only to Judah in postexilic society, and because of the status it provided for many within its clan framework (cf. introductory discussion on ch. 2, and Ne 11:4, 7, 31, 36).
1–2 The name of Benjamin’s third son, Aharah (Aher, 7:12), corresponds to Ahiram in Nu 26:38 (Ehi, in Ge 46:21), as do also those of the grandsons Addar (= Ard) and Naaman (v.3).
3–5 The second name in the list of Bela’s sons (Gera) reappears as the seventh name (v.5); the former may have died prematurely.
6–7 Some five hundred years separate the latter Gera from his descendant Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite judge (Jdg 3:15). The nature of the civil rivalry that led Ehud’s son Gera to deport his own clansmen remains unknown.
8–13 Though Shaharaim’s movement to Moab seems to locate him in Palestine in Ehud’s general period (cf. the Benjamite towns mentioned in vv.12–13), his exact ancestry is lacking. The divorce of his first two wives demonstrates even further the moral deterioration of Israel during c. 1300 B.C. (cf. the previous Benjamite outrages condemned in Jdg 19:22–28; 20:12–14). The victory over the men of Gath (v.13) preceded their major Philistine reinforcement in 1200 B.C.
14–27 Meshullam, Heber (v.17), Ishmerai (v.18), and Shimei (v.21) seem to be variants for the names of Elpaal’s sons Misham, Shemed, Eber, and Shema, as listed earlier (vv.12–13).
28 The phrase “all these” then identifies Beriah’s and Shema’s sons (vv.14–16, 19–21), brothers (vv.17–18), and grandsons (vv.22–27) as the ones living about Jerusalem.
29–32 When Mikloth and his son Shimeah (v.32) are said to live not only (following the lit. Heb.) “over against” their brothers (Mikloth’s immediate family, in vv.30–31), but also “with” their relatives, we conclude that Mikloth’s otherwise unidentified father Jeiel (cf. 1Sa 9:1 and the variant form, Abiel) should be grouped with the sons of Beriah and Shema.
33 Jeiel’s fifth son, Ner, was the grandfather of Saul, the first king of Israel (1043–1010 B.C.), and also the father of Abner, Saul’s military commander and uncle (1Sa 14:50–51). Abinadab (1Sa 31:2) appears elsewhere (1Sa 14:49) as Ishvi. Abinadab’s brother’s name, Esh-Baal (meaning “man of the [divine] Master”), is changed throughout 2Sa 2:8–4:12 to Ish-Bosheth (“man of shame”); for the Hebrew word baal could be treated as a proper noun designating the shameful idol of that name. 34 Similarly Merib-Baal (“warrior of the Master”) appears in 2Sa 4:4–21:7 as Mephibosheth (“one who scatters [?] shame”).
35–40 The warriors’ “grandsons” (v.40) represent the thirteenth generation after Mephibosheth, who was five at the death of Saul and Jonathan in 1010 B.C., which brings us to the Exile of 586.
3. Jerusalem’s inhabitants (9:1–44)
Chapter 9 continues the Chronicler’s discussion of preexilic Benjamin (begun in 7:6) by cataloging the family groups that lived in Jerusalem just prior to its capture and destruction in 586 B.C. In addition to Benjamin (vv.7–9), these included clans from Judah (vv.4–6) and especially from Levi because of its key functioning in the temple services: whether from among the priests (vv.10–13), the nonpriestly Levites in general (vv.14–16), or the more specialized gatekeepers (vv.17–19). This in turn leads into a description of their duties (vv.20–34). Jerusalem did, however, lie within the tribal boundaries of Benjamin (Jos 18:16, 28), and it had already received some discussion in the preceding chapter (8:28, 32); hence its inclusion at this point. Such information about former population groups and activities, in what was still the nation’s capital city, was of prime importance to Ezra and his colleagues in their efforts to restore legitimate theocracy to Judah in their own postexilic situation.
1 This transition verse shifts the reader’s attention away from the tribal registers that have gone before. “The book of the kings” designates a court record now lost (see the introduction).
2 The NIV’s phrase “the first to resettle” represents words that are, literally, “the dwellers, the first ones.” In the present context the event that separates the Chronicler from “the first ones” is defined as the Babylonian captivity (v.1); hence the dwellers should probably be understood as the former, preexilic Jerusalemites (cf. the introduction to this chapter).
The “temple servants” (GK 5987) were literally “given ones.” They might consist of captives who had been spared but enslaved to temple service. Early Hebrew examples include certain Midianite women (Nu 31:35, 47) or the people of Gibeon (Jos 9:22–23), but their organization as a class is credited to David (Ezr 8:20).
3 Individual Jerusalemites who had come from Ephraim or other northern tribes receive no further mention, since the list that follows cites only major clan leaders.
4–9 For “Shilonites” (v.5), read Shelanites, as in Nu 26:20, since Perez (v.4), Shelah, and Zerah (v.6) make up the divisions of Judah (2:3–4).
10–13 Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, and Jakin, with Malkijah and Immer (v.12), are the names of the second, first, twenty-first, fifth, and sixteenth of the twenty-four priestly courses established by David (24:7–18), rather than names of individuals. The fact that Azariah IV (v.22) is the son of Hilkiah (see 6:13) dates this listing to shortly after 622 B.C.
14–16 Shemaiah came from Merari, the third of the three Levitical clans. Mattaniah belonged to the first, Gershon, through Asaph, one of David’s chief musicians. Obadiah was again of Merari, through the chief musician Jeduthun (= Ethan; cf. 6:44), while Berekiah’s ancestor Elkanah bears a frequently reappearing Kohathite name.
17–18 Since the temple faced east, the “King’s Gate” was the main gate (cf. Ac 3:2, in NT times), i.e., the king’s entrance (Eze 46:1–2) and most honored station. Ezra’s phrases “camp” of the Levites and God’s “Tent” (v.19; cf. NIV note) recall how Levi once encamped on the four sides of the tabernacle (Nu 3:25–38).
19–20 Though Korah had been slain (see 6:22), his line continued. Coming from Kohath—the second clan but also that of Moses, Aaron, and the priests—the Korahites were even honored, by appointment as gatekeepers under Aaron’s faithful grandson, Phinehas I, on whom God bestowed the Levitical covenant of peace (Nu 25:11–13). Their status continued, through Kore, whether denoting Korah’s immediate grandson of this name (1Ch 26:1) or a later Kore in 725 B.C. (2Ch 31:14), down to this Shallum a century later.
21 Since both Meshelemiah and Zechariah served under David (26:8–11), this “Tent of Meeting” (cf. 6:32) would seem to refer to the curtained form of God’s house (16:1; 17:1; cf. 22:1 and Ps 30 title) erected prior to Solomon’s permanent temple (see v.19, NIV note).
22–24 It was appropriate that Samuel, himself a Korahite (6:27) and one of the doorkeepers in his youth (1Sa 3:15), should have anticipated David in their final organization (1Ch 26). The way Israel could commit to them “their positions of trust” indicates something of how the righteous live by faith, or trust, in God (Hab 2:4; Ro 1:17).
The number of their chiefs could vary: 94 under David (26:8–11); compare 139 among the first return (Ezr 2:42) and 172 under Nehemiah (Ne 11:19).
25–29 Twenty-four guard stations (26:17–18) and 216 chosen gatekeepers (212, v.22, plus the 4 leaders of vv.26–27, who stayed permanently in Jerusalem) works out exactly to nine people for each post. If we assume eight-hour shifts, this would require seventy-two men on duty, one week out of every three; twelve-hour shifts would require forty-eight on a week’s duty, once every four or five weeks.
30 Reference seems to be to spices used for the holy anointing oil, for those who mixed it were a closely restricted group (Ex 30:33, 38).
31 “The offering bread” refers to the flat cakes that were used in the grain offerings (Lev 2;6:14–18; 7:9–10).
32 “The bread” refers to “the bread of the Presence” that was set out in rows on the golden table to symbolize the communion of the redeemed with God (Lev 24:5–6).
33 The musicians mentioned here are the leaders named in vv.14–16.
34 This verse then sums up all the Levitical inhabitants of Jerusalem (vv.10–33).
35–44 The rest of ch. 9 reverts to reproducing the lines of Benjamin that lived near Jerusalem. It virtually repeats 8:29–38 on the family of Saul; but its purpose here is to introduce the tragic conclusion to his reign (ch. 10).
II. The Reign of David (10:1–29:30)
A. Background: the Death of Saul (10:1–14)
Having established Israel’s historical setting and ethnic bounds in the preceding genealogies (chs. 1–9), the Chronicler now enters his main subject, the history of the Hebrew kingdom, with its theological conclusions. His central character is David, on whom the remainder of 1 Chronicles focuses (chs. 10–29). David’s devotion led him to set up the institutions of public worship that Ezra was so eager to maintain. David’s heroic personality exemplifies the success that God bestows on those who trust in him. His posterity, moreover, constitutes the ruling dynasty of Judah throughout the rest of its independent history (the content of 2 Chronicles) and would bear its ultimate fruit in the eternal kingdom of Jesus the Messiah. Practical aims like these also explain why Ezra omitted the less edifying events of the reign of Saul; for he moves directly from the king’s Benjamite genealogy (9:35–44) to his death (ch. 10), which precipitated David’s rise to the throne (v.14). First Chronicles 10:1–12 derives directly from 1Sa 31, with slight differences in the choice of the details described; vv.13–14 then point up the chapter’s negative doctrine: God condemns those who forsake him to failure.
1 The Philistines were a Hamitic people, but of Minoan background rather than Canaanite (see on 1:12). Before the year 2000, some had settled on the southern coast of Palestine (the very name of which means “Philistine land”) and encountered Abraham (Ge 21:32; cf. 26:14). They remained after Joshua’s conquest in 1400 (Jos 13:2–3) and only temporarily lost certain of their cities to Judah (Jdg 1:18). Shamgar’s skirmish with them in 1250 (3:31) was successful but simultaneously demonstrates Israel’s material disadvantage to their presence (cf. 1Sa 13:19–22). With the Fall of Crete to widespread barbarian movements in 1200, the “remnant . . . of Caphtor” (Jer 47:4) reinforced the earlier Philistines on Asia’s Canaanite mainland.
For a century, following a crushing defeat of the Peleset (generally conceded to be the Philistines) by Pharaoh Rameses III, the Philistines seemed content to consolidate their city-states; but then in three waves they almost overwhelmed Israel. The first extended for forty years, including Samson’s time (Jdg 10:7; 13:1; 1Sa 4), but was broken in 1063 B.C. by Samuel at the second battle of Ebenezer (1Sa 7:13); and the second wave, for perhaps ten years, by Saul at the battle of Micmash in 1041 (14:31). Now 1Ch 10, which dates to 1010 B.C., marks the onset of the Philistines’ last major advance and period of oppression, which would be broken some seven years later by David (1Ch 14:10–16).
Mount Gilboa lay at the head of the great east-west Valley of Esdraelon, below Galilee, so that its loss by Israel enabled the Philistines to penetrate to the Jordan and even beyond (1Sa 31:7).
2 On Saul’s sons, see 8:33.
3–4 Saul’s fear of “abuse” (GK 6618), if the Philistines should take him alive (cf. Jdg 16:21), drove him to suicide, which was unprecedented in the OT (though cf. later occurrences in 2Sa 17:23; 1Ki 16:18). This testifies to the Philistines’ cruelty despite material culture (cf. v.9 and today’s use of “Philistine” as a byword for barbarism).
5 The context makes clear that Saul’s death occurred at his own hands (see also comments on 2Sa 1:6–10, where an Amalekite reported to David that he had killed Saul, probably hoping for a reward).
6 Those of Saul’s house who stood with him (“all his men,” 1Sa 31:6) died together at Gilboa; others, however, both of his sons and troops, did survive (1Ch 8:34–40; 2Sa 2:8; 21:8). Alternatively, this may be the Chronicler’s way of intimating the otherwise omitted data in 2Sa 1–4 on Ish-Bosheth.
7–10 According to 1Sa 31:10, the Philistines hung Saul’s body on the walls of Beth Shan, a major city between Gilboa and the Jordan; the deity in whose temple they put his armor was Ashtoreth, goddess of sex and war. Saul’s head was placed in another’s temple, that of the vegetation god Dagon (cf. 1Sa 5:2–5). The validity of the two buildings has been attested archaeologically by the discovery of both temples in Beth Shan’s ruins of this period.
11–12 The men of Jabesh Gilead in Transjordan remained faithful to Saul, their deliverer thirty years earlier (1Sa 11:1–11).
13–14 Saul’s unfaithfulness consisted of disobeying God’s words through Samuel (1Sa 13:8–9; 15:2–3) and of consulting the spiritist at Endor (28:7–13) instead of persevering—he had made some inquiry of him (v.6)—in prayer for divine grace.
B. David’s Rise (11:1–20:8)
In this section, the author covers the period between 1003 and about 995 B.C., during which David rose to the zenith of his power. The seven and one-half years of disputed succession, civil war, and Philistine domination (2Sa 1–4) that followed Saul’s death in 1010 (cf. 2Sa 5:5) are passed over. But they are not denied: Ezra’s observation in the opening verse of the section (11:1), that Israel came to “Hebron” to anoint David, constitutes a tacit recognition of his initial installation there, but only by his own tribe of Judah (2Sa 2:4, 10b); of the rejection of his appeal to the other tribes to the north and east (vv.5–6); and of their eventual choice of Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth, 1005–1003 (vv.8–10a).
Instead, Chronicles amplifies the record of 2Sa 5–10, which includes David’s capture of Jerusalem and its establishment as a new political capital for him and his supporters (1Ch 11–12); his achievement of independence from the Philistines (ch. 14); his return of the ark of the covenant, which made Jcrusalem the religious capital of united Israel (chs. 13; 15–16); and the triumphant advance of his armies in every direction (chs. 18–20). Only the account of David’s personal kindness to Jonathan’s lame son Mephibosheth (2Sa 9) is omitted.
The heart of this section is found in God’s prophecy to David through Nathan (ch. 17): “I have been with you wherever you have gone.. . . I will subdue all your enemies” (vv.8, 10). The Lord’s “great promises” (v.19) applied not only to David, but to “my people Israel” as a whole (v.9)—not only in the early tenth century B.C., but for “the future of the house of your servant” (v.17). Its assurances are applicable to Ezra’s struggling postexilic community; to the present church of Jesus, whom David predicted: “He will be my son” (v.13; cf. Ps 110:1; Mt 22:42–45); and to that yet future kingdom of the Messiah, whose “throne will be established forever” (v.14).
1. David established in Jerusalem; his heroes (11:1–12:40)
The section’s initial subdivision documents David’s ascendancy. Following his consecration as king over a reunited Israel (11:1–3), one of his first acts was to capture and then to strengthen Jerusalem (vv.4–9; cf. 2Sa 5:1–10). The Chronicler then proceeds to describe David’s heroes: “the Three” (vv.10–19), two of the major commanders (vv.20–25), and “the Thirty” (vv.26–47; cf. 2Sa 23:8–39). The concluding list in ch. 12, however, is unique to 1 Chronicles. It describes the military leaders and tribal officers who came over to David before his final anointing and who played a primary role in his eventual elevation to the kingship (v.38). It suggests David’s growing popular support beyond the four hundred men of 1Sa 22:2 (later six hundred, 27:2).
1 The phrase “all Israel” is characteristic of the Chronicler’s concern for the unity of God’s people. Emphasis here falls on the portions of Israel that had so far not recognized David’s kingship.
2 The Lord’s appointment of David dates back some twenty years to his first anointing, in the privacy of his family, by Samuel (1Sa 15:28; 16:1–13). As David then demonstrated his ability for leadership (18:5, 16), he was increasingly recognized as standing in line for the throne (23:17; 25:30), even by Saul himself (24:20; 26:25). At Saul’s death David had received a second anointing, over Judah (2Sa 2:4); and Abner had started the preparation for his total rule (3:10).
3 This third anointing was preceded by a “compact” (lit., “covenant”; GK 1382) before the Lord, by which both king and people acknowledged their mutual obligations under God. Such a “constitutional monarchy” was unique in the ancient Near East, for the only effective curb against despotism is one’s personal belief in God and commitment to his higher kingship. Contrast the reputation for clemency and the religious scruples of even a weak Hebrew monarch like Ahab (1Ki 20:31; 21:3–4, 27–29) with the natural (unrestrained) ruthlessness of his Canaanite wife, Jezebel (21:7–10).
4–5 Allusions to Jerusalem appear first in the Ebla tablets of 2400 B.C. The city is described as Salem in reference to Abraham in 2000 (Ge 14:18) and as Urusalim in the Egyptian Amarna letters, which may confirm the Hebrew conquest in 1400. Jerusalem had led a southern Canaanite alliance against Joshua (Jos 10:1–5), who defeated its army and executed its king (10:10, 26; 11:7, 10). The tribe of Judah overran the defenses of the city itself (Jdg 1:8), but the Jebusites soon reoccupied it. For almost four centuries Judah had been unable to win back Jerusalem and drive out its Canaanite inhabitants (Jos 15:63; Jdg 1:21; 19:10–11), which helps explain the latter’s overconfidence against David (1Ch 11:5; 2Sa 5:6). David had posted notice long before of his intention against the haughty city (1Sa 17:54).
While 2Sa 5:6 identifies the attackers only as “David’s men,” Chronicles includes “all the Israelites” (cf. v.10 and 12:38, which concede the primary role exercised by David’s particular followers).
6 The king’s offer that whoever “leads the attack,” i.e., first penetrated Jerusalem, would become commander over the armies of united Israel may represent an attempt on his part to replace his effective but self-willed nephew Joab, who had been leading the forces of Judah up to this point (cf. 2Sa 3:39). Joab nevertheless retained his post by bravely achieving the initial entrance, ascending a concealed watershaft from the Gihon spring so as to end up within the city walls.
7 David’s relocation to Jerusalem was a strategic move. It provided him not only with an impregnable citadel militarily, but also with a neutral site politically as a capital, lying as it did on the border between Judah and the northern tribes (cf. Washington, D.C.). He called it “The City of David.” Near Eastern conquerors not infrequently named cities after themselves.
8–9 “Terraces” (GK 4864; lit., “Millo”; cf. NIV note) means “filling.” These “terraces” had been built so that the city’s eastern walls could extend far enough down the steep Kidron slope to encompass the Gihon watershaft, and they suffered a continuing need for repair (1Ki 11:27; 2Ch 32:5).
10 The remainder of the chapter is a catalog of David’s mighty men, introduced at this point because of the significant role they played in his rise to the kingship and in his establishment at Jerusalem. Their listing, down through Uriah the Hittite (v.41), corresponds to one of the appendices in 2 Samuel (2Sa 23:8–39), with minor variations. Twelve of their number reappear as commanders of the twelve corps into which David’s troops were later organized (1Ch 27).
11 The hero’s sensational victory was actually over eight hundred men (2Sa 23:8). Three hundred seems to be a scribal error, perhaps influenced by the number that appears in v.20 or by the nature of the numerical symbols employed.
12 David’s greatest champions were “the Three,” though the record of the third, Shammah (2Sa 23:11), has accidentally been dropped.
13–14 After the words “the Philistines gathered there for battle,” we should insert the material supplied in 2Sa 23:9 (following this clause) and on into v.11 (through a similar clause).
15 Next to “the Three” ranked “the Thirty”—which was apparently the original number in this legion of honor among David’s men. Second Samuel 23:24–39 actually lists thirty-seven, including the outstanding “Three” and the two commanders; and 1Ch 11:41b–47 adds sixteen more, as new heroes were added to the group. Which ones of the “Thirty” performed the deed that follows is not stated.
The Valley of Rephaim, where the Philistines encamped, lies southwest of Jerusalem. Its mention connects this event with their first campaign against David (14:8–9), even before his capture of the city. David had thus retreated to his old outlaw stronghold at Adullam (1Sa 22:l; 2Sa 5:17). Its citation constitutes another allusion to David’s difficult rise to power, which the Chronicler never seeks to conceal.
16–18 David poured out the water he had longed for as a libation offering to the Lord (Lev 23:37), showing both how precious he considered his men, who had risked their lives to get it, and how centrally he placed God in his own life.
19 David called the water their “blood,” since life does depend on its presence (cf. Ge 9:4; Lev 17:14; Dt 12:23).
20–21 Abishai was David’s half-nephew. His heroism was demonstrated by his having volunteered to go down at night with David into Saul’s camp (1Sa 26:6–7). He had also been a joint commander, with his brother Joab, against the forces of Ish-Bosheth and Abner (2Sa 2:24). He was later to lead divisions in the wars against the Ammonites (10:10), Absalom (18:2), and Sheba (20:6). The locale of this incident has not been preserved, but it may have occurred when Abishai commanded an expedition against Edom (1Ch 18:12).
22 The NIV phrase about Moab’s “best men"reads in the Hebrew the “’art’el [GK 738] of Moab.” ’Ari’el must here be used, not in its impersonal sense of “the altar-hearth of God” (Isa 29:1–2, 7), but in its personal sense (lit., “the lions of God)”; that is, Benaiah overcame “the mighty lions (of Moab),” with the superlative use of “God.”
23–25 When the spear of Benaiah’s Egyptian opponent is said to be like “a weaver’s rod,” the reference is to the heavy shaft of a loom that holds the threads taut; i.e., this was a massive weapon. For such heroism he became commander of David’s professional Cretan and Philistine troops (1Ch 18:17) and later of Solomon’s entire army (1Ki 4:4).
26 The roster of the Thirty begins at this point and must have been first formulated some time before David became king of all Israel; Asahel, the youngest of David’s half-nephews, was killed pursuing Abner in his uncle’s war against Ish-Bosheth (2Sa 2:18–23). Elhanan, son of Dodo, should not be confused with Elhanan son of Jair, the hero who slew the brother of Goliath (1Ch 20:5).
27 The phrase “the Harorite” has two scribal errors and should read “the Harodite,” i.e., “a man from Harod,” the pool near Mount Gilboa where Gideon tested his men (Jdg 7:1–7). But while the place names are subject to a measure of control, a number of the personal names (vv.27–38) differ from those found in the parallel list in 2Sa 23:25–36, perhaps partly because of later spelling patterns in Ezra’s day, some 475 years after the writing of 2 Samuel.
28–31 Benaiah from Pirathon (v.31) is not to be confused with Benaiah the commander (vv.22–25) from Kabzeel, near Beer Sheba, in the south.
32–47 “Ahijah the Pelonite” (v.36) should read “Eliam [= Ammiel, 1Ch 3:5] the Gilonite” (cf. 2Sa 23:34), the father of Bathsheba and a son of David’s counselor, Ahithophel (2Sa 11:3), who did come from Giloh (15:12).
12:1 Among those who supported David prior to his rise over all Israel (11:3), the first group listed in 12:1–7) is datable to the sixteen months just before Saul’s death in 1010 B.C. They came to Ziklag, the town on the southwestern border of Judah, over which David had been appointed as a vassal ruler by Achish, the Philistine king of Gath (1Sa 27:5–7).
2 The warriors were from Benjamin and were significant both for their individual prowess and for the fact that even though they were Saul’s fellow tribesmen, they recognized David as God’s appointed sovereign.
3–7 Though Ishmaiah (v.4) is not listed among the Thirty, at one time he served as their commander (cf. also v.18 and 11:21). The five Korahites (v.6) were of Levi (see 6:22; 9:19) but probably lived in Benjamin.
8–15 Those listed from Gad joined David even earlier while he was still in Judah in his desert stronghold, presumably the cave of Adullam (11:15; 12:16; cf. 1Sa 22:1). Jeremiah (v.13), the tenth Gadite leader, differs from the fifth (v.10) in that his Hebrew name has a longer form. During the first month (March/ April), the Jordan is in its spring flood (cf. Jos 3:15; 4:18), which makes the Gadites’ achievement in vv.14–15 all the more noteworthy.
16–18 The Holy Spirit literally “clothed himself with” Amasai (v.18). So inspired, his devotion to David as God’s chosen servant is then expressed in Hebrew poetry.
19–22 The leaders from Manasseh arrived just before Saul’s death at Gilboa, which lay in the western part of Manasseh’s territory. David, however, was sent away from the actual battle, as explained in 1Sa 29. The Philistine commanders’ mistrust and fear of David are stated clearly in 1Sa 29:4–5. The Manassites’ help against the raiders is explained in 1Sa 30.
The NIV rendering “like the army of God” (v.22) reflects a Hebrew phrase that is literally “like the camp of God” (cf. 11:22). It may be connected to the idea expressed in the divine name “LORD of hosts [= armies]” in 11:9 (NIV, “LORD Almighty”), which can refer to the armies of Israel. Here, however, David’s multitude may be compared, poetically, with the heavenly hosts, whether of stars (Dt 4:19; Ne 9:6; Ps 33:6) or of angels (Ge 32:1–2; Ps 103:20–21).
23 The chapter concludes by enumerating the officers who came to Hebron seven and one-half years later to turn over the entire nation to him (bringing us back to 11:1).
24–37 Although some have defended the accuracy of the large numbers given in these verses or have suggested that they are deliberate hyperbole, since these delegations are limited to specially equipped leaders “famous in their own clans” (v.30; cf. v.25), presumably the same that are cited at the beginning of the next chapter as “commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds” (13:1)—the numbers given should probably not be read as bare totals but, in v.24, for example, as “six (commanders of) thousands, eight (commanders of) hundreds.” There were, as we might say, 6 colonels and 8 captains, for a total of 14, not 6,800. Notice what would otherwise be the incongruously small totals in v.28 with Zadok and 22 officers, or v.32, the apparently large delegation of 200 chiefs from Issachar. The number of officers assembled thus amounts to 398 (not 340, 800 in Hebron at one time!).
Among the warriors from Levi (vv.27–28), Jehoiada the priest seems to have been father of Benaiah, the major commander (11:22; 27:5), while Zadok, still young at this time, may be the Aaronite who became the colleague of Abiathar and later, under Solomon, his successor as high priest (29:22; 1Ki 2:35; 4:4).
The men of Issachar (v.32) “understood the times” and thus cast their lot with David rather than Saul.
38–40 The three-day feast at David’s accession was an immediate, historic celebration; but it points to the doctrine of the future, messianic feast (Ps 22:29; Isa 25:6; Rev 19:7).
2. The ark sought (13:1–14)
This chapter (esp. from v.6 onward) parallels the first part of 2Sa 6:1–11. Chronologically the events it describes followed David’s wars with the Philistines (2Sa 5:18–25), and perhaps the construction of his palace as well (5:11–12; cf. 1Ch 14:1). But to the Chronicler the account of David’s search for the ark of God takes precedence over these other matters, to which he turns in the next chapter (14:1–2, 8–17). Logically in his mind, piety has greater significance than civil action. Ezra’s primary concern was to lead the members of his postexilic Jewish community into an enthusiastic commitment to the faith and the practices enjoined in the law of Moses (Ezr 7:10). He therefore describes next the king’s attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, which illustrates a renewed desire on Israel’s part to seek God (1Ch 13:3) and to worship him (v.8). Even the temporary suspension of David’s attempt (vv.9–13) became a demonstration of the necessity for exact conformity to the divine standards for worship, while the blessing that attended Obed-Edom’s care for it (v.14) exemplified God’s positive reward for one’s devotion.
1 David consulted the military leaders, as in 2Sa 6:1.
2 But the Chronicler adds other details, whether of a more democratic character, i.e., calling in “the whole assembly” (“all the peopie,” v.4), or of a more religious, including “priests and Levites,” those consecrated to “the will of the LORD our God.” The phrase “the rest of our brothers” is literally “our brothers that are left.” This may reflect something of the seriousness of the third major Philistine oppression against Israel, 1010–1003 B.C. (see 10:1), which David had just broken (2Sa 5:20, 25).
3–4 The ark was a gold-covered chest, which contained among other items the stone tablets of the Decalogue (cf. Heb 9:4), which witnessed to God’s covenant with his people. The ark was the most holy object in the whole system of Mosaic worship, for it served primarily as a sacramental symbol of the very presence of God, whose glory cloud was enthroned above it (v.6; Ex 25:22; cf. 1Sa 4:7). Israel, however, lapsed into a mechanical concept, that God was necessarily present with the ark. To overcome such superstitious notions about their having “God in a box,” the Lord thus allowed his holy ark to be captured at the disastrous first battle of Ebenezer, about 1085 B.C. (1Sa 4:10–11). But once this lesson had been absorbed, he resumed his manifestations of power from over its golden cover, the mercy (atonement) seat.
Disrespect toward the holy object led to divine plagues, first against the pagan Philistines and then against the men of Judah at Beth Shemesh, who felt compelled to remove this fearful presence from their sight (1Sa 6). For eighty years, therefore, it rested in the house of Abinadab at Kiriath Jearim (1Sa 7:1), some eight miles west of Jerusalem on the border between Benjamin and Judah.
Characteristic of the religious insensitivity that marked the entire period of David’s predecessor, the ark had not been sought in the days of Saul. One possible exception is noted in 1Sa 14:18; and even at this point the ark may not have been brought out but only asked for.
5 David assembled “all the Israelites,” specified in 2Sa 6:1 as thirty thousand men. They gathered from Lebo Hamath in the north, in the valley between the Lebanons, to as far away as “the Shihor,” traditionally understood as an Egyptian word meaning “pool [or stream] of Horus,” perhaps here identifying a watercourse in Egypt’s eastern delta.
6–9 “Baalah of Judah” (from 2Sa 6:2)—or here, lit., “Baalath . . . that [belongs] to Judah”—is a Canaanite name for Kiriath Jearim (or Kiriath Baal, in Jos 18:14). Uzzah and Ahio were sons, or descendants, of Abinadab (2Sa 6:3). The locations of “the threshing floor of Kidon” (called by the variant name “Nacon,” 2Sa 6:6) and of “Perez Uzzah” (v.11; cf. NIV note) remain unknown.
10 The severity of the divine judgment against Uzzah, even though his action had been well-intentioned, provided an illustration to all future generations of the necessity for reverence and for absolute conformity to God’s directives concerning his holy objects. The transgression in this instance was twofold. (1) The ark should not have been placed on a cart but carried by hand, as David himself later acknowledged (15:13). True, the Philistines had previously transported it on a wagon (1Sa 6:11), but they had acted in heathen ignorance. (2) It should not have been touched. Even its authorized carriers, Levites of the clan of Kohath (cf. 15:2)—which Abinadab may or may not have been—had long ago been warned against this by Moses, on pain of death (Nu 4:15).
11–12 David’s anger is psychologically explainable, if not ethically justifiable; for it was he who had the overall responsibility for the course of these events. But his anger rapidly turned to fear. His unwillingness, as he said, to “bring the ark of God to me,” meant, in effect, that he did not want to bring it to his capital in Jerusalem, the city of David, that was so closely identified with himself.
13–14 Obed-Edom the Gittite (i.e., a resident of Gath) was indeed a Levite of the clan of Kohath, family of Korah (26:1, 4). As a Korahite gatekeeper (15:18, 24, and also a musician, v.21), he met the requirements of the law for service as a caretaker of the ark; and he was signally blessed.
3. Independence from the Philistines (14:1–17)
On the whole ch. 14 reflects its source in 2Sa 5:11–23, with a few additions. The events it describes do not seem to fit the three-month interval that elapsed between chs. 13 and 15, during which the ark remained with Obed-Edom (13:14; 15:25). They rather precede this (cf. introductory discussion to ch. 13). After summarizing certain aspects of his family (vv.1–7), Ezra delineates the king’s first international crisis, that of his confrontation with the Philistines (vv.8–17). For when David had finally fled from Saul’s kingdom (c. 1012 B.C.), he had become a Philistine vassal (1Sa 27:1–28:2); and during his years at Hebron, which parallel the period of their third major oppression of the Hebrews (1010–1003; see 10:1), the Philistines probably considered him as just another client king. Yet with his anointing as monarch over the reunited Israel, David became a threat they could no longer ignore (v.8). They attacked immediately, even before David had been able to occupy Jerusalem (11:7; see 11:15). But because he looked to the Lord for his strength and for his strategy, he was able to beat back two Philistine offenses, to secure the independence of God’s people, and to terminate forever the threat of Philistine conquest and oppression. The teaching of ch. 14 has a valid principle for Christian believers: “God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army [i.e., your enemies]” (v.15).
1–2 Some scholars have dated Hiram’s kingship over Tyre to about 969–936 B.C., which is in the time of Solomon rather than of David (cf. 2Ch 2; cf. 8:18; 9:10, 21). But Chronicles (and 2Sa 5:12) associates the construction of David’s palace with David’s being “established . . . as king” before the ark came to Jerusalem (15:1); so it may not be out of place to think of earlier dealings with Hiram of Tyre (who would subsequently become king) or even that David had entered into some kind of relationship with Hiram’s father Abibaal, which was renegotiated with Hiram and continued into the reign of Solomon. In any event, this palace witnesses to how a pagan monarch may be used to serve the people of God (cf. Isa 23:18).
3 David’s taking “more wives” was a historical fact but a moral failure, directly contrary to the law (Dt 17:17). This sin led to a whole series of disasters later on (2Sa 11:27; cf. the implications of 13:4, 32, and even 1Ki 1:5–6).
4–7 The list of David’s younger sons has appeared also in 3:5–8.
8 The statement that David “went out to meet” the enemy summarizes several preceding events, including raids by the Philistines (v.9), his own initial retreat to the stronghold of Adullam (2Sa 5:17), and the exploit of his heroes at the well of Bethlehem (1Ch 11:15).
9 The Valley of Rephaim lay southwest of Jerusalem and formed part of the boundary between Judah and Benjamin (Jos 15:8). It may correspond to the “Valley of Baca” (Ps 84:6), due to the balsam trees that were there (vv.14–15). These are named, literally, “weepers” (beka’im) because of their drops of milky sap.
10–12 Trusting in God’s promise of victory, David completely routed the Philistines at Baal Perazim (cf. NIV note), so that he and his men took away their idols (2Sa 5:21) and burned them, as required in the law (Dt 7:5, 25).
13–15 Against the Philistines’ renewed invasion, the Lord guided David into an encircling movement. The signal for springing this ambush was a supernatural “sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees,” perhaps similar to the miracle recorded in 2Ki 7:6.
16–17 David’s striking the Philistines down “all the way . . . to Gezer,” on the Philistine border, signified their total expulsion from Israelite territory.
4. The ark brought to Jerusalem (15:1–16:43)
While the transfer of the ark from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem occupies but ch. 6 in 2 Samuel, it takes up three in this book: ch. 13, which carries the account up to its turning aside to the house of Obed-Edom, and chs. 15–16, on its final move into Jerusalem. This latter section parallels 2Sa 6:12–20, but with a number of additions. These include David’s elaborate preparations, both to prevent any recurrence of the tragedy that had brought about Uzzah’s death (15:1–15), and also to ensure an appropriate retinue of singers (vv.16–24); his provision of a model psalm of thanksgiving, that was used on the occasion of the ark’s actual installation into its new tent-abode (16:7–36); and his establishment of a permanent Levitical organization to maintain the regular services of worship before the ark in its Jerusalem sanctuary (vv.4–6, 37–42).
By the time of Ezra, Jerusalem had become more important religiously than politically; and so it has remained, even up to the present. Our Chronicler therefore resumes the narrative, begun in ch. 13, on how the ark came to be brought inside the city; for it was this event that started the transformation of Jerusalem into the religious capital of Israel. It remained only for an angelic revelation to David—that Mount Moriah, on its north side, was to be the site for the altar of God (= “the house of God,” 22:1; 2Ch 3:1)—to establish the Lord’s ultimate centralization of Hebrew religion at this sanctuary. It became the fulfillment of what Moses had long before predicted, that the Lord God would choose a place out of all their tribes for his name to dwell; to his holy hill his people were to come for pilgrimage and sacrifice (Dt 12:5–7, 11–12).
1 It was the time needed for constructing these Davidic “buildings,” clearly more than the three months during which the ark remained with Obed-Edom (13:14), that causes 14:1 to be dated before ch. 13 (cf. 14:1 and 2).
At this point David “prepared . . . a tent for the ark” (cf. v.12). His primary reasons are given later (16:1–4). For it was not simply that reports had reached him of God’s blessing on the household of Obed-Edom (2Sa 6:12)—indicating both that the danger surrounding Uzzah had passed and that similar blessings might now be anticipated for Jerusalem as well (!)—but he had a religious motivation, seeking to establish a center of prayer and praise to the Lord (16:4).
2 Chapter 15 (here and in v.13) gives a further explanation for Uzzah’s disaster (cf. 13:10): the Levites should have carried the ark, as prescribed in Dt 10:8.
3–4 So when David assembled Israel to bring the ark the rest of the way into Jerusalem, he was careful to ensure the presence of priests and Levites (named in v.11). The latter are then particularly enumerated in vv.5–10, along with the total number of their followers, some 862 in all.
5–10 In addition to the three major clans of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, Merari (vv.5–7)—there appear three subgroups within Kohath: those of his third and fourth sons, Hebron and Uzziel (vv.9–10), and of Elizaphan (here), who in particular was one of the three sons of Uzziel (Ex 6:22; Lev 10:4). With the passage of generations, these must have gained sufficiently in numbers or in importance to warrant their separate representation.
11–15 David’s order to the Levites to “consecrate themselves” (GK 7727) involved certain prescribed ritual washings and the avoidance of any form of ceremonial defilement (Ex 19:10, 14–15; Lev 11:44).
16 The worship of God frequently takes the appropriate form of joyful song; and this occasion, on which the ark of the covenant was conducted into Jerusalem with a glad procession, marked the historical beginning of the ministry of the Levitical singers in Israel. Concerning the musical instruments specified, the second, the “harp” (GK 4036), was more of a zither; the third, “cymbals” (GK 5199), literally means “those which cause [people] to hear” (cf. v.19). Their function seems to be that of marking time, by sounding clearly and loudly.
17–19 From the prominent clan of Kohath, Heman son of Joel, who was in turn a son of the prophet Samuel (6:28, 33; 1Sa 8:2), was in first place among the musicians appointed for the occasion by the Levites themselves (also in v.19, but contrast 16:5–7). With Heman were Asaph and Ethan, from the other two clans—all three of whom continued on, serving as the chief musicians under David’s subsequent permanent arrangements (16:37, 41–42).
20 Aziel is a shortened form of the name Jaaziel (v.18). The phrase “according to alamoth” occurs also in the title to Ps 46. Since this noun means “maidens, virgins,” such as are mentioned as beating tambourines in ceremonial processions of singers and other musicians (Ps 68:25), it may indicate music produced in a soprano register.
21 The phrase “according to sheminith” occurs also in the titles to Pss 6 and 12. The word is derived from the root for “eight” and is usually thought to indicate music in a lower octave, in contrast to the preceding verse, though it might indicate an instrument that had eight strings.
Obed-Edom the Gittite was, in his hereditary position, a gatekeeper (v.18; or “doorkeeper,” v.24). But in recognition of his faithful care for the ark during the preceding three months (13:14; cf. also the attendant risk, v.12), he was honored with a place among the zither players; and his post was subsequently made permanent (16:5, 38). Berekiah and Elkanah then took over some of the “keeping,” and carrying, duty en route.
22–23 The position of Kenaniah is uncertain. Though not listed in v.11 with the Levitical leaders, he is still designated “the head Levite.” The NIV joins him with the preceding musicians as in charge of the singing. Yet the chief musicians have already been designated (v.17); and it seems better here to join Kenaniah with the following “keepers” (vv.23–24) and to translate the word rendered “singing” (GK 5362) in its more basic sense of “burden” or “load” (cf. v.27, “carrying the ark”). Verse 22 (and v.27) then says that Kenaniah was the head Levite in charge of the central task of transporting the ark. The thought of 26:29—where Kenaniah was “assigned duties away from the temple,” over external and material affairs rather than directing in worship—corresponds to this.
24 Seven priests are singled out as trumpeters (cf. 16:6). Blowing on silver trumpets was the one aspect of ceremonial music that had been legislated through Moses and was a function reserved for them (Nu 10:8). Jehiah is probably the gatekeeper Jeiel of vv.18, 21, and 16:5, though why he should be singled out for honor along with Obed-Edom is not explained.
25–26 The whole assembly, including the elders and commanders, sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams; that is, David personally was responsible for the offering up of just one animal of each of these kinds (cf. 2Sa 6:13). God is said to have “helped the Levites,” i.e., they were not struck down, as Uzzah had been (13:10).
27–29 The “ephod” (GK 680) was a surplice, or cape, worn in worship (Ex 28:6; 1Sa 2:18). Beneath it David wore a robe of white linen—as did also the Levites—but in his enthusiastic devotion, dancing, and celebrating with all his might before the Lord, he seems to have removed an outer garment and uncovered himself in a way that his wife Michal considered “unkingly” (2Sa 6:20). David’s uninhibited love for God stands in stark contrast to the rigid, unsympathetic attitude of this daughter of Saul (cf. 2Sa 6:21–23).
An evidence preserved in writing of the “shouts” (GK 9558) with which the ark was brought up to Jerusalem may be found in Ps 24. Composed by David, it could hardly have had a more fitting occasion for those cries of praise: “Lift up your heads, O you gates . . . that the King of glory may come in” (v.7; cf. also Ps 132:8).
16:1 The statement that “they,” i.e., the qualified Levites, “presented . . . offerings,” just as “they” constituted the ones who “brought . . . and set” the ark in its place, provides background for clarifying the words in the next verse about “David . . . sacrificing” (see also in 2Sa 6:13, 17). While each OT worshiper, according to the law of Moses, was expected to lead his own sheep to the sanctuary and slay it (Lev l:3–5a; 3:2a), only the Aaronic priests were entitled to offer up the blood or other portions on the altar (1:5b; 3:2b, 5).
In addition to burnt offerings, there were “fellowship offerings.” The latter not only symbolized atonement, as choice parts were burned in sacrifice on the altar, but also depicted the restored fellowship with God that comes as a result of the reconciliation. Most flesh from the fellowship offerings was eaten by the people themselves, sitting down, as it were, as guests at God’s table, celebrating the restoration of their peace (fellowship) with him (Lev 7:15).
2 Though David’s sacrifice was accomplished through the mediation of qualified priests, he still invoked God’s blessing on the people (cf. v.43 and Solomon’s similar act in 1Ki 8:55–60). Some of those matters often associated with priests—such as praying for blessings (Nu 6:24–26) or wearing linen robes and ephods (cf. 15:27)—were not necessarily restricted to the sons of Aaron.
3 The king’s gifts to the people consisted of bread, eshpar (GK 882), and raisins. Eshpar occurs only here and in 2Sa 6:19. It may mean “a cake of dates,” but the present contextual reference to the flesh of animals, as used in Israel’s feasting, could favor a “portion of meat.”
4 David’s appointment of Levites to minister in music and praise to God marks a significant advance in the history of Israel’s worship (cf. 15:16). His previous arrangements for music (15:16–21, 24, 27–28) had been devised for just the one occasion; but now a continuing service is envisioned (cf. 16:37 42). The initial experiment must have proved to be eminently successful! But David acted on divine command, conveyed through the prophets Nathan and Gad (2Ch 29:25). For with the ark permanently enshrined in Jerusalem (though cf. 2Ch 35:3), those Levites who had formerly been charged with its transport could now be reassigned to other appropriate duties, such as gatekeepers; and in particular the “singers” came to assume a leading role in Judah’s public devotion. Their presence constitutes a distinctive stress within Chronicles.
5 The king’s elevation of Asaph to be the chief musician, confirmed in v.37, denotes a shift away from the Levites’ own choice of Heman as the leader, up to this point (see 15:17). No reason is given, though Asaph did represent the senior Levitical clan of Gershon (6:39–43). Personal ability may also have been a contributing factor, for Asaph and his descendants are listed as composers for twelve of the inspired OT psalms (Pss 50, 73–83). The name “Jeiel” represents “Jaaziel” in 15:18, 20.
6 Of the seven priestly trumpeters who participated in the procession into Jerusalem (15:24), only the sixth, Benaiah, to whom was added a Jahaziel, was permanently assigned to service before the ark; the others probably returned to their duties at the tabernacle, which remained still at Gibeon (see v.39).
7 This verse introduces a model psalm of thanksgiving that has, with only slight modifications, been taken over from the OT Psalter of the period, as follows: vv.8–22 = Ps 105:1–15; vv.23–33 = Ps 96; and vv.34–36 = Ps 106:1, 47–48. That the king “committed” (GK 5989) his poem “to Asaph” sheds light on the phrase found in so many of the psalm titles: “For the chief musician.” What David composed, the Levitical musicians were to perform in worship.
8–12 After four introductory verses exhorting God’s people to praise him, the call to “remember” (GK 2349) his “wonders” of old summarizes the message of Ps 105. This psalm, one of the OT’s great surveys of the Lord’s faithfulness, is a reminder that was particularly appropriate at this turning point in Israel’s history.
13 One of David’s few changes in the text of Ps 105 (v.6) occurs here, where he substitutes the name Israel for that of the grandfather, Abraham. He may have felt that his reference to the immediate ancestor of the twelve Hebrew tribes was more fitting on this national occasion.
14–17 The “covenant” (GK 1382) was God’s legal instrument for the redemption of his people. Through it he graciously bequeathed an inheritance of reconciliation with himself to those who were its qualified heirs, i.e., those who met its condition of sincere faith in his promise (Ge 15:6; Heb 11:6). Though the instrument of redemption was first revealed in Eden to fallen Adam (Ge 3:15), it was confirmed to Noah (9:9) and to Abraham (1Ch 16:16) and his chosen seed (Ge 17:7; Ex 19:5–6; Gal 3:29) for a “thousand generations.” Its ultimate accomplishment depended on the death of Jesus Christ, the divine testator (Heb 9:15–17), an event symbolized under the anticipatory older testament by the shedding of sacrificial blood (Ex 24:6–8; Heb 9:18–22).
18–22 The Hebrew patriarchs wandered without a home of their own; for though they had been promised Palestine, it was in fact only their descendants who received it (Heb 11:9): David’s contemporary audience. The titles by which the patriarchs are described possess, at this early period, more generalized meanings than those they came to have later. They are called “anointed” (GK 5431) in the sense of being set apart by God’s Spirit—a phrase elsewhere used specifically for prophets (1Ki 19:16), priests (Ex 29:7), and kings (1Sa 2:35), with whom the presence of the Spirit was symbolized by a visible anointing with oil, and ultimately for Jesus (Christ = Messiah = “Anointed One”; 1Sa 2:10; Ps 2:2; Ac 10:38).
The patriarchs are also called “prophets” (GK 5566), in the sense of being recipients of God’s special revelation—a title later used specifically for those who proclaimed God’s revealed will (cf. Ex 7:1–2). Abraham was thus designated a “prophet,” at the time of God’s special protection against Abimelech, the Philistine king of Gerar (Ge 20:7); others of the patriarchs did, however, make specific predictions (e.g., Jacob, Ge 48:19; 49:1). Psalm 105:16–45 then continues Israel’s history on into the career of Joseph, the descent into Egypt, and the Lord’s deliverance of the Hebrews in the Exodus, on the desert journey, and right up to the conquest of Canaan; but David now turns to another source.
23–26 With its appeal for “all the earth” to honor the Lord, Ps 96 identifies itself as one of a series of six liturgical hymns (Pss 95–100) stressing the Creator’s royal majesty. A recurring and key phrase, quoted in 1Ch 16:31, is this: “The LORD reigns” (Ps 96:10, but also 97:1; 99:1). Such a theme was of course particularly relevant on this occasion, during which “the King of glory” (Ps 24:7–10) entered Jerusalem—and David quoted the entire psalm.
27–28 David’s expression “in his [God’s] dwelling place” represents a change from the original phrase in Ps 96:6, “in his sanctuary,” appropriate enough for use before the tabernacle at Gibeon (1Ch 16:39), but less so before the ark was in its new location in the city of Jerusalem.
29–32 The idea of people coming “before him” (v.29) took on fresh reality with the arrival of the ark, over which the cloud of God’s presence rested (Nu 7:89). All people are told to worship the Lord in (lit.) “an adornment of holiness.” The NIV’s “his holiness” adds an unwarranted pronoun and shifts the phrase into a characteristic of God rather than of his worshipers (cf. NIV note).
33 While earlier messianic prophecies had foretold our Lord’s universal, millennial reign (Ge 49:10; Nu 24:17; 1Sa 2:10), these words—“he comes”—may be the first in all of written Scripture (though Job 19:25 may well have been spoken earlier) to set forth the doctrine of the glorious second coming of Jesus Christ.
34–36 Having quoted all of Ps 96, David concluded his model hymn with the opening and closing verses of Ps 106. Like Ps 105, with which he began, Ps 106 too is a historical psalm. It has less emphasis, however, on God’s faithfulness and Israel’s waywardness and its results, up through the period of the judges (106:34–47), truths still very much needed by those who had witnessed the fate of Uzzah.
The prayer “gather us and deliver us from the nations” (v.35) was particularly fitting in light of the third Philistine oppression, just ended (cf. 10:1; 13:2; 14:8, 16); this release may in fact account for David saying, “O God our Savior,” whereas the original in Ps 106:47 had been, rather, “O LORD our God.”
Midway in v.36 the quoted model hymn ceases and Ezra’s narrative resumes, with the response of “all the people,” those who were present then at that time with David. Yet what they responded is itself a continuation of the quotation from Ps 106:48, demonstrating that the quoted material belongs to the time of David and not simply to that of Ezra (cf. v.7).
The people’s first exclamation, “Amen” (lit.,“firm, steady”; GK 589) could be rendered “True indeed!” Their second, “Praise the LORD” represents the familiar plural contracted form of Ps 106’s halleluyah (i.e., “Hallelu Yah).”
37 A daily ministry, now before the ark, was fitting, since this holy object represented the continuing presence of God with his people. It was “the ark of the covenant,” with its testamentary promise, “I am the LORD [Yahweh, ‘the One who is present’; GK 3378; cf. Ex 3:12, 14] your God” (v.4; cf. v.15, or Ge 17:7–8).
38 Hosah had not been mentioned previously. He was another doorkeeper, though of the clan of Merari (26:10–11), compared to Obed-Edom of Kohath (vv.1, 4). Obed-Edom’s father is also named for the first time and is not to be confused with Jeduthun (alternate name for Ethan) the chief musician (vv.41–42), both because Ethan belonged to the clan of Merari, and because the name as given here in the consonantal text is really Jedithun. Obed-Edom continued in his double post of both musician (v.5) and doorkeeper (cf. 15:21).
39–40 Zadok (see comment on 6:8), however, was sent back (cf. 15:11) to Gibeon to serve as high priest at the tabernacle, which continued to exist as Israel’s primary sanctuary for sacrifice (v.40) till Solomon’s construction of the Jerusalem temple (2Ch 1:13; 5:5). Abiathar, on the other hand, seems to have remained at the capital (cf. 27:34), which may account for David’s double high-priesthood (18:16).
41–43 God’s “love” (GK 2876; also in v.34) refers to his loyalty to the provisions embodied in the covenantal relationship (see comment on 19:2; cf. Ge 21:23; Ps 136:10).
5. Nathan’s prophecy (17:1–27)
As indicated in the introductory analysis of chs. 11–20, the heart of 1 Chronicles is to be found in ch. 17. Its substance is drawn from 2Sa 7 and largely corresponds to it, as it sets forth the abiding significance of the person and work of David. Chronologically ch. 17 came after the termination of the wars chronicled in ch. 18 (cf. 17:8, and as explicitly stated in 2Sa 7:1); and it should be dated about 995 B.C.
The chapter contains three major sections. (1) David desired to erect a permanent temple for the ark, which was not granted (vv.1–6). (2) God promised that even though David could not build a house for him, the Lord would still build a house for the king (vv.7–15). Just as God had prospered David up to this point, so he would continue to prosper his kingdom. The next member of the dynasty would construct the temple (vv.11–12). Then, in what was eschatological time for David (NT times for us), his ultimate successor in this human dynasty would also be acknowledged as the Son of God (v.13); and in time to come, the Son of David would establish God’s kingdom on earth (v.14). (3) The king praised God for such incredible grace (vv.16–27).
1 By quoting David’s full statement, “the ark of the covenant of the LORD” (cf. 2Sa 7:2, simply, “the ark of God”), the Chronicler calls initial attention to the significance of this chapter within the history of covenantal thought (cf. v.12). Nathan the prophet had already been God’s agent to guide David in organizing the Levitical musicians (cf. 16:4), and he is best known for how he would later rebuke David for his sin with Bathsheba (2Sa 12). Nathan aided Solomon in the latter’s rise (1Ki 1:10–11) and recorded some of the historical sources on which Ezra was able to draw for his own work (1Ch 29:29; 2Ch 9:29).
2–3 In reply to David’s inquiry about building a temple, Nathan did tell him to “do it.” But this was his immediate, human reaction: unofficial, noninspired (God’s word did not come to him till that night), and, as it turned out, wrong.
4 While 2Sa 7:5 had been content to record God’s question, “Are you the one to build me a house?” Chronicles includes his strong prohibition: “You are not the one to build me a house.” The reason, given only later (in 22:8; 28:3), lay in David’s ruthless warfare (cf. 2Sa 8:2). Yet Chronicles preserves another addition over 2 Samuel: the Hebrew text says literally, “build me the house.” The idea of there being such a house was legitimate, just that David was not the one to build it.
5–6 Historical precedent shows that since the days of the Exodus, God had not “dwelt in a house,” except briefly in Eli’s building at Shiloh (1Sa 3:3); and this had been destroyed by the Philistines after the first battle at Ebenezer (Jer 7:12).
7–9 For v.9, the context (cf. 2Sa 7:1) suggests, and the Hebrew permits, a past rather than a future rendering: “I have provided . . . and have planted them so that they have a home . . . and are no longer disturbed.” God’s words that the wicked do not oppress Israel “as they did at the beginning” serve as a reminder of the sufferings of the Hebrews in Egypt (Ex 1:13–14).
10–11 God’s promise to “build a house” for David is a play on words: the king could not build God a house, i.e., a structure “of cedar” (v.6); but God would build him one, i.e., a dynasty of descendants (“offspring”).
12 While God did not here employ the term covenant, what he revealed was one; and it is so designated subsequently (2Sa 23:5; Pss 89:3, 34; 132:11–12). This Davidic covenant was the sixth, and last, to be established in OT times (see ZPEB, 1:1007–10), the new covenant of Jer 31 not being established until NT times. God’s plan had moved onward from the Edenic (Ge 3:15), Noachian (9:9), Abrahamic (15:18), and Sinaitic covenants (Ex 19:5–6), through the Levitical (Nu 25:12–13; cf. 1Ch 9:19), down to this revelation; and it involves three stages.
(1) God promised David a successor, the “one who will build” the temple, i.e., Solomon, an identification confirmed by God’s words in v.11: “one of your own sons.” (2) God promised to “establish his throne” as a continuing dynasty. (3) That throne would be established “forever,” a feature made possible by Jesus Christ, who, as God’s Son (see the next verse), is the only one to possess a rule that is endless (Lk 1:32–33); and in this lay David’s own salvation (2Sa 23:5). As Messiah he would set up his kingdom, in human hearts, at his first coming (Da 2:44a; Lk 17:21), though its external realization over the world awaits his second coming (Da 2:44b; Lk 17:24).
13 This verse along with Ps 2:7, 12, is one of the major OT revelations on the deity of the Messiah. It foretells Jesus’ being uniquely God’s Son (Heb 1:5; cf. Ac 13:33; Heb 5:5), for it is not really applicable to Solomon (cf. 22:10) or to any other of David’s more immediate successors (by some sort of “double fulfillment”). Jesus, however, combined in his own Person a perfect humanity and full deity (Mt 22:42–45; Php 2:9), so that he might, by the one, become an accredited substitute for sinful people in his death (Heb 2:17–18; 1Pe 2:24), and yet, by the other, be able to compensate infinitely for their sins and restore them to heaven and to God the Father by his resurrection (Jn 1:18; 14:6).
14–15 Unlike David’s predecessor, Saul, whom God removed (v.13), Jesus would possess a permanent status over God’s kingdom. Here again the Chronicler brings out more of the personal messianic character of God’s words to Nathan (2Sa 7:16 had included only his speaking in the more impersonal terms of David’s “kingdom” and “throne”).
16 The king’s sitting “before the LORD” suggests that he went to the tent that was enshrining the ark (16:1).
17–21 In the phrase “as . . . the most exalted of men” (v.17), the first word in the Hebrew is a rare noun meaning a “turn”; the correct rendering may be “the turn of mankind to come,” i.e., “the generation to come.” David was expressing his awe at God’s favor, compared to his own lowly origin (v.7).
22–26 That Israel is the Lord’s “people” and that he is “their God” (v.22) restates the central promise of the Lord’s reconciling testament (cf. 16:15 and 37), found from Ge 17:7 to Rev 21:3.
27 David’s conclusion is one of faith in God’s words: claiming the immediate blessing and affirming its eternal outcome.
6. Conquests and administration (18:1–17)
The order of chapters in this part of Chronicles (cf. 18:1; 19:1) is based on the sequence found in 2Sa 8, which is topical rather than chronological. The subject of the chapter is twofold: David’s wars of conquest—to the west, against Philistia (v.1); to the east, against Moab (v.2); to the north, against the Arameans of Syria (Aram; vv.3–11); and to the south, against Edom (vv.12–13)—followed by a descriptive survey of his administration (vv.14–17). The theme, twice repeated (vv.6, 13), is one of encouragement to all believers: that the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.
1 The NIV’s “In the course of time” actually indicates no more than a succession of topics. By strict chronology ch. 18 precedes ch. 17, and ch. 19 (introduced by the same phrase) likewise precedes ch. 18 (cf. v.3). David was now able to take the offensive and capture Gath, the most inland of the five Philistine cities (2Sa 8:1), which made it the one most threatening to Judah (20:6, 8; cf. 1Sa 5:8; 17:52).
2 Though the Chronicler does not seek to cover up David’s acts of vengeance (cf. 20:3), he does omit the details about his harsh treatment of Moab (2Sa 8:2).
3 Zobah was an Aramean state of Syria lying northeast of Damascus and south of Hamath. The attempt of its king Hadadezer to “establish his control along the Euphrates” could refer to some early, eastward campaign but seems rather to be based on the situation in 19:16, his gathering of forces along this river, with the aim of recouping the losses that he suffered because of his first defeat by Israel (detailed in 19:6–15).
4 Seven thousand is probably the correct number for the “charioteers” (cf. 19:18) that David took captive (cf. 2Sa 8:4). To preserve the peace David took the strong measure of hamstringing most of the enemy’s chariot horses.
5–8 The towns of Tebah (cf. NIV note to v.8) and Cun (called Berothai, 2Sa 8:8) lay in the Coele Syria valley between the Lebanons. The tribute that David gained (cf. v.11) contributed to the vast resources (outlined in 22:2–5, 14–15) that he furnished to Solomon for making “the bronze Sea,” etc. (cf. 2Ch 4:2–5, 18).
Major Covenants in the Old Testament
| COVENANTS | REFERENCE | TYPE | PARTICIPANT | DESCRIPTION |
| Noahic | Ge 9:8–17 | Royal Grant | Made with “righteous” (6:9) Noah (and his descendants and every living thing on earth— all life that is subject to man’s jurisdiction) | An unconditional divine promise never to destroy all earthly life with some natural catastrophe; the covenant “sign” being the rainbow in the storm cloud |
| Abrahamic A | Ge 15:9–21 | Royal (land) Grant | Made with “righteous” (his faith was “credited to him as righteousness,” v.6) Abram (and his descendants, v.16) | An unconditional divine promise to fulfill the grant of the land; a self-maledictory oath symbolically enacted it (v.17) |
| Abrahamic B | Ge 17 | Suzerain-vassal | Made with Abraham as patriarchal head of his household | A conditional divine pledge to be Abraham’s God and the God of his descendants (cf. “As for me,” v.4; “As for you,” v.9); the condition: total consecration to the Lord as symbolized by circumcision |
| Sinaitic | Ex 19–24 | Suzerain-vassal | Made with Israel as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and as the people the Lord has redeemed from bondage to an earthly power | A conditional divine pledge to be Israel’s God (as her Protector and the Guarantor of her blessed destiny); the condition: Israel’s total consecration to the Lord as his people (his kingdom) who live by his rule and serve his purposes in history |
| Phinehas | Nu 25:10–13 | Royal Grant | Made with the zealous priest Phinehas | An unconditional divine promise to maintain the family of Phinehas in a “lasting priesthood” (implicitly a pledge to Israel to provide her forever with a faithful priesthood) |
| Davidic | 2Sa 7:5–16 | Royal Grant | Made with faithful King David after his devotion to God as Israel’s king and the Lord’s anointed vassal had come to special expression (v.2) | An unconditional divine promise to establish and maintain the Davidic dynasty on the throne of Israel (implicitly a pledge to Israel) to provide her forever with a godly king like David and through that dynasty to do for her what he had done through David— bring her into rest in the promised land (1 K¡ 4:20–21; 5:3–4). |
| New | Jer 31:31–34 | Royal Grant | Promised to rebellious Israel as she is about to be expelled from the promised land in actualization of the most severe covenant curse (Lev 26:27–39; Dt 28:36–37, 45–68) | An unconditional divine promise to unfaithful Israel to forgive her sins and establish his relationship with her on a new basis by writing his law “on their hearts”— a covenant of pure grace |
Major Types of Royal Covenants/Treaties in the Ancient Near East
| Royal Grant (unconditional) | Parity A covenant between |
Suzera in-vassal (conditional) |
| A king’s grant (of land or some other benefit) to a loyal servant for faithful or exceptional service. The grant was normally perpetual and unconditional, but the servant’s heirs benefited from it only as they continued their father’s loyalty and service. (Cf. 1Sa 8:14; 22:7; 27:6; Est 8:l.) | equals, binding them to mutual friendship or at least to mutual respect for each other’s spheres and interests. Participants called each other “brothers.” (Cf. Ge 21:27; 26:31; 31:44–54;1Ki 5:12; 15:19; 20:32–34; Am 1:9.) | A covenant regulating the relationship between a great king and one of his subject kings. The great king claimed absolute right of sovereignty, demanded total loyalty and service (the vassal must “love” his suzerain) and pledged protection of the subject’s realm and dynasty, conditional on the vassal’s faithfulness and loyalty to him. The vassal pledged absolute loyalty to his suzerain— whatever service his suzerain demanded— and exclusive reliance on the suzerain’s protection. Participants called each other “lord” and “servant” or “father” and “son.” (Cf. Jos 9:6, 8; Eze 17:13–18; Hos 12:1.) |
Commitments made in these covenants were accompanied by self-maledictory oaths (made orally, ceremonially or both). The gods were called upon to witness the covenants and implement the curses of the oaths if the covenants were violated.
©1985 The Zondervan Corporation
9–13 Instead of Abishai (cf. 11:20) overcoming the eighteen thousand Edomites (v.12), 2Sa 8:13 speaks of David’s supreme leadership; and the title to Ps 60 names Joab (the senior commander, v.15; cf. on 11:6) as a conqueror of twelve thousand.
14–15 Within David’s “cabinet” some of the civil officers seem to have followed the pattern of Egyptian administration. The post of Jehoshaphat the “recorder” (lit., “one who reminds”; GK 4654) corresponds to the Egyptian “chief of protocol,” whose responsibilities included audiences and communications.
16–17 Shavsha (Seraiah, 2Sa 8:17), with no father listed, seems himself to have been foreign; his office was “secretary [of state]” (GK 6221). Benaiah (cf. 11:23), in contrast to Joab (v.15), who led the general Israelite militia, commanded David’s standing force of professional, foreign troops: the Kerethites, a people connected with the Philistines (1Sa 30:14; Eze 25:16), probably Cretans, and the Pelethites, seemingly a shortened name for the Philistines themselves.
7. Victories over Ammon (19:1–20:3)
The climax of David’s international struggles came in 995 B.C. (before the birth of Solomon, 2Sa 12:24) and arose out of two campaigns against the Ammonites. These people were related to the Hebrews (cf. v.1) and lived directly east of them in the portion of Transjordan that lies east of the Jabbok River (Dt 3:16), as it flows northward before bending west to enter the Jordan. A major teaching value to be found in 19:1–20:3 is summarized by Joab’s words of trust and encouragement in v.13: “The LORD will do what is good in his sight.”
1 On “in the course of time,” see comment on 18:1. “The Ammonites” were descendants, by incest, of Abraham’s nephew Lot (Ge 19:36–38). During the chaotic days of the Hebrew judges, they had been guilty of repeated incursions against the Israelite tribes to their west (Jdg 3:13: 10:7–9, 17–11:33; 1Sa 11:1); but they had been first repelled and then subdued by Saul (1Sa 11:11; 14:47).
2 Their late king “Nahash” would hardly have been the same oppressor who had precipitated Saul’s elevation half a century earlier (1Sa 11:1) but may have been his son. The latter’s relationship to David had been one of hesed (GK 2875), meaning not so much “kindness” as “loyalty” to covenanted treaties and their obligations (cf. 16:41). These may have had their origin in the common threat that both men faced in Saul, perhaps when David had been fleeing from him some twenty years earlier. One might compare the help that David received from the neighboring king of Moab (1Sa 22:3).
3–5 Hanun’s shaving of David’s emissaries is explained in 2Sa 10:4 as involving half their beards. For an Oriental this was an insult of the worst sort, and particularly after David’s expression of faithful concern (v.2; cf. the vengeance in which it resulted, 20:3).
6 The quantity of silver paid out by Hanun for mercenary support amounts to over thirty-seven tons. The value, however, represents a unique, once-and-for-all payment, sent in desperation. “Aram Naharaim” occupied land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; this was area that provided reinforcements for the second Syrian (Aramean) advance (v.16). The Chronicler uses its more general name to include the states of Beth Rehob and Tob, mentioned in 2Sa 10:6, 8 (cf. Ge 36:37).
7 In the light of 2Sa 10:6, the total of 32,000 mercenaries seems to include foot soldiers and horsemen (cf. v.18) as well as charioteers. The same verse has 1,000 in the contingent from Maacah. Their gathering point was near “Medeba” in north Reuben in Transjordan (Jos 13:16), though why they selected this location southwest of the Ammonite border is not known.
8–9 Joab’s battle with Ammon was finally engaged before the gates of “their [capital] city,” i.e., Rabbah (v.15; 20:1), the modern city of Amman.
10–13 After appealing to his men to do their utmost for their people and their God (cf. 1Co 16:13), Joab in faith committed the outcome to the will of the Lord (cf. the same sort of balance that is stresses in one’s spiritual salvation (Php 2:12–13).
14–15 Joab did not at this time follow up the victory by laying siege to Rabbah; it may have been too late in the year (cf. 20:1).
16 This regathering of Aramean forces beyond the Euphrates seems to provide the setting for 18:3.
17–18 In the light of 18:4, the Chronicles figure of 7,000 charioteers seems to be the original that lies behind the seven hundred in 2Sa 10:18. Likewise, Chronicles’ identification of 40,000 as “foot soldiers” is the correct reading, as opposed to Samuel’s “horsemen” (see NIV note), because the figure approximates the total of 20,000 plus 22,000 foot soldiers given in 18:4–5.
19 The “vassals” of Hadadezer included his client kings (2Sa 10:19).
20:1 Springtime marked the end of the rainy season and permitted the resumption of warfare. The Chronicler’s statement that “David remained in Jerusalem” suggests to his readers, without having to retrace all the sordid details, what 2Sa 11:2–27 records on David’s shameful adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her incorruptible husband, the king’s hero Uriah (1Ch 11:41).
2 –3 Joab did, however, summon David to Rabbah in time for its capitulation (2Sa 12:27–29), so that his ruler was present to take the crown from the head of Ammon’s national idol, Milcom (NIV note; cf. 1Ki 11:5, 33; Zep 1:5)—its very weight in gold (“about 75 pounds,” NIV note) precluded any wearing of it by a person. The author of 2Sa 12:31 adds “work at brickmaking” to the labor with saws, picks, and axes.
8. Philistine wars (20:4–8)
Ezra’s treatment of David’s ascendancy (1Ch 11–20) concludes with the record of three incidents that occurred during battles with the Philistines. Even as the preceding section (19:1–20:3) had elaborated on one aspect of the survey of David’s conquest (ch. 18)—namely, the Ammonite struggle, as the basis for the Aramean wars that were introduced in 18:3—so the present, brief section elaborates on David’s Philistine wars and capture of Gath, which had been mentioned in 18:1 (cf. the references to Gath in 20:6, 8). The first two incidents are not pinpointed historically but also seem to belong to the period between the two initial Philistine offenses against David in 1003 B.C. (14:8–17) and the rest that God granted him from his enemies about 995 (17:8; 2Sa 7:1).
4 On “in the course of time,” see comment on 18:1. “Gezer” may indicate the general location of the otherwise obscure place-name Gob (2Sa 21:18); the former identifies the border city the Philistines had retreated to after David’s victories in his war for independence (cf. 14:16).
The champion “Sibbecai,” from the Judean town of Hushah (4:4), was one of David’s “Thirty” heroes (11:29) and the commander of his eighth corps (27:11). The Philistine “Sippai” (“Saph,” 2Sa 21:18), whom he overcame, is traced back to the “Rephaites,” an ancient people (Ge 14:5) noted for their large size (Dt 2:21). Except for those remaining in the kingdom of Og in Bashan, the Rephaites had generally died out by the time of Moses (Dt 3:11).
5 This second battle too took place in Gob (2Sa 21:19). “Lahmi” was brother to Goliath, the well-known victim of David’s heroism (1Sa 17). But perhaps because of his unfamiliar and indeed unique name, a later copyist of the parallel passage in 2Sa 21:19 introduced a small but far-reaching corruption, as if Elhanan had killed Goliath himself. On the “weaver’s rod,” see comment on 11:23.
6–8 The use of the article with “Rapha” (also in v.8) suggests that this is not a personal, individual name, except perhaps in the sense of an eponymous ancestor of “the Rephaites” (v.4).
C. David’s Latter Days (21:1–29:30)
1. The census (21:1–30)
After 995 B.C., about twenty years elapsed between the concluding events in David’s rise to power (chs. 11–20) and the resumed narrative of deeds performed in the latter part of his reign, which occupies the balance of the book (chs. 21–29). The intervening period was one of crisis and personal failure on David’s part, triggered by his sin of adultery with Bathsheba (2Sa 11). This in turn set off a chain reaction of crime: the king’s murder of Uriah (ch. 11) and a series of similarly wanton acts on the part of Amnon (ch.13), Absalom (chs. 14–19), and even such less obviously motivated rebels as Sheba (ch. 20).
Since Absalom’s revolt occupied a total of eleven years (2Sa 13:23, 38; 14:28; 15:7, variant reading), or about 990–979, 1 Chronicles brings us down to about 975. Here our Chronicler takes up his account with David’s census (see also 2Sa 24). His reasons for a gap of this length are not difficult to surmise: little of what transpired during those two decades would encourage a postexilic Judah, before whom Ezra was seeking to portray a piety that characterized David at his best.
With the census (1Ch 21), however, a chain reaction of a different caliber was inaugurated. Despite its sinful inception, it provided the immediate setting for God’s revelation of the site of his temple and for the preparation that ensued (ch. 22). This in turn leads into David’s administrative arrangements, whether in matters of religious (chs. 23–26) or civil organization (ch. 27). First Chronicles concludes with a final charge from David that both Solomon and all Israel would continue faithful to their God (chs. 28–29). Events like these definitely were germane to the purpose of the Chronicler. Beyond the opening chapter, however, there is no direct parallel elsewhere in the OT.
For the events of ch. 21, Scripture presents us with no less than four explanations (see vv.1, 3). Yet however complex the motivation for Israel’s census and for the disaster that followed, Ezra’s record now serves a double function. On the one hand, the various aspects of David’s repentance remain exemplary for readers up to this moment (cf. vv.8, 13, 17, and 24). On the other hand, the decision of God to establish his altar and temple at Moriah in Jerusalem have affected all history (cf. Rev 11:1); for this mountain became the focus of the Holy City (v.2), where his Son was crucified (v.8). And it will continue to affect history; for from this “city he loves” (Rev 20:9), he will someday rule the nations of earth (v.4; cf. Isa 2:2–4) and then eternally heal the dwellers of his new earth (Isa 65:17–19; Rev 21:1–2; 22:2).
1 For the first time in Scripture, the word “Satan” (GK 8477) appears without the definite article as a proper noun. He is still “the adversary” (as in Job 1–2; Zec 3:1–2), with his changeless malice toward God and human beings; but Satan has now become his name. David’s numbering of his people was thus brought about, in the first instance, by the devil’s hatred of God’s people and of God himself (cf. Job 1:11; 2:5).
Yet 2Sa 24:1 goes deeper and shows that Satan, the instrument (cf. 1Ki 22:22–23; Job 1:12; 2:6), was actually being used to accomplish “the anger of the LORD . . . against Israel.” That is, the disaster that was brought on because of the census served to punish the nation (1Ch 21:7) for her sins, including repeated revolts against God’s anointed king, David. The last revolt under Sheba had terminated only shortly before (cf. the introductory discussion to ch. 21). Furthermore, there were God’s ultimate and positive goals, ensuring that the results of it all would mean the establishment of his altar and temple (cf. above).
2–3 There was also the immediate, human factor—meaning David’s own motivation—that was evil (vv.7–8, 17) and, as Joab dared point out to the king, contributed to “bring guilt on Israel.” A census was not in itself wrong (cf. the God-directed census in Nu 1 and 26). But on this occasion David seems to have ordered this because he was placing his trust in “multiplied troops” rather than in the promises of God (contrast 27:23 with Ps 30:6, the title of which indicates its composition at this time; cf. 22:1).
4 The route of Joab and his officers “throughout Israel” is outlined in 2Sa 24:4–6; and v.8 adds that it took almost ten months.
5 The total figures that they gathered require clarification in two directions. (1) In comparison with those given in 2Sa 24:9, Ezra’s sum of 1,100,000 for all Israel is larger than Samuel’s 800,000, which probably did not include the regularly organized army (note the lack of an “all” before “Israel”) of 288,000; but his sum of 470,000 for Judah is a bit smaller than Samuel’s 500,000, which may here simply be a round number. (2) On the basis of the noun that means either “thousands” or “chiefs” (cf. 7:3–4; 12:24), we should probably think in terms of a muster of 1,570 outstanding military figures and not necessarily of over a million and a half “men . . . who could handle a sword.”
6–7 Joab’s exemption of Levi from this census (the tribe was numbered in 23:3) had precedent, because of that tribe’s special religious status (Nu 1:49–50). This fact may also explain his deliberate exclusion of Benjamin, since both Jerusalem (with God’s ark) and Gibeon (with the tabernacle, v.29) lay within its borders (Jos 18:25, 28). We do know that his work was interrupted by God’s “wrath [that] came on Israel” (1Ch 27:24), in this very Benjamite area (21:15).
8 David’s confession resulted from his troubled heart or conscience (2Sa 24:10), perhaps pricked by Joab’s rebuke.
9 “Gad” the “seer” had already counseled David, both before he became king (1Sa 22:5) and after (2Ch 29:25), and was later to compose one of the source documents for his reign that was used by Ezra (29:29).
10–12 The alternate punishments set before David were of approximately equal severity. God’s instrument for executing the plague would be “the angel of the LORD.” Compare the similar situations both before (1Sa 6:3–6) and after (2Ki 19:35). But while those cases may have involved the divine angel of the covenant (cf. Ex 23:20–21; Mal 3:1), presumably preincarnate appearances of Christ, this one apparently did not; it was simply an ordinary “angel.”
13 The king’s submission to the word of the Lord through his prophet is both commendable and sets apart Hebrew religion from the lack of such ethical restraint within paganism generally (cf. 11:3). David wisely chose punishment from God (a plague) rather than that from other people (an invasion).
14 Punishment as such, however, remained inescapable; and “seventy thousand men of Israel fell”—a tragically appropriate sentence on a king whose sin had been that of trusting in the numbers of his troops (see v.3).
15–16 David and his civic officials, “the elders,” were already in penitence (“sackcloth”), perhaps on their way to the tabernacle at Gibeon (vv.29–30), when they saw the destroying angel with his drawn sword facing Jerusalem. But his hand was withdrawn (2Sa 24:16).
17 David’s second confession (cf. v.8) is recorded more fully here than in 2Sa 24:17. It illustrates his willingness to accept full responsibility and to sacrifice himself for his people’s sake. The latter he calls “sheep,” and Scripture frequently compares leader and people with a shepherd and his flock (11:2; cf. Ps 23; Jer 23:1–4). But while the king was indeed to blame for having “sinned and done wrong,” the plague in question was not entirely a case of an innocent nation suffering for the crimes of its leader.
18–22 The Chronicler omits Araunah’s opening question (2Sa 24:21) and moves directly to David’s words, which show his compliance with Gad’s instructions to build an altar there on his threshing floor.
23 The “oxen” would have been present to pull the wooden “threshing sledges” over the wheat. The grain offering always had to accompany the sacrifices of flesh (Ex 29:40–41; Lev 23:18; Nu 15:4).
24 By refusing to present an “offering that costs me nothing,” David confirmed the truth that God takes no pleasure in the man who yields only what involves no sacrifice. He requires of his followers a totally surrendered life (Ro 12:1; cf. Lk 21:1–3).
25 So David bought “the site”—which may have included the whole area of Mount Moriah—for 15 pounds of gold (cf. NIV note)—an enormous sum (cf. 2Sa 24:24, which notes a much smaller amount [20 ounces of silver] for the threshing floor itself).
26 God’s answer of “fire from heaven on the altar” publicly attested his acceptance both of the king’s repentance and of the altar site (cf. Lev 9:24).
27–30 Furthermore, the angel’s sword was sheathed and the plague ceased (2Sa 24:25). On the tabernacle’s contemporaneous location at Gibeon (v.29), see 16:39.
2. Temple preparations (22:1–19)
The Chronicler was vitally concerned to ensure support for the Jerusalem temple in his day (Ezr 7:15–17; 8:25–30, 33–34). No more fitting stimulus for dedication in this regard could then be found than in the example set by David when he made preparations for the construction of that temple; and this is the subject of 1Ch 22 (cf. also chs. 28–29). Ezra first summarized David’s own efforts (vv.2–5) and then recounted the words of exhortation by which he privately encouraged Solomon to carry through in its building (vv.6–16); he publicly charged the leaders of Israel to assist his son in this task (vv.17–19). Though no parallels to the chapter now appear in Scripture, Ezra must have been able to use sources that are no longer available for us today.
1 In view of the revelations of God’s presence that occurred in the preceding chapter (cf. esp. 21:15, 26), David announced that his new altar on Araunah’s threshing floor had become the designated place for Israel’s burnt offerings, and that this site on Mount Moriah (2Ch 3:1) was in fact “the house of the LORD God,” even though the building had yet to be erected. Such words therefore explain how the title to Ps 30 can simultaneously claim authorship by David and yet also be an occasion for its composition at “the dedication of the temple.” That psalm does fit historically at this point (compare Ps 30:5–6 with David’s attitudes and experiences in 1Ch 21).
2 The king began by drafting the resident “aliens” to work as stone cutters. This situation is attested by the existence of a cabinet post on corvée labor, held by Adoram (2Sa 20:24), and is confirmed by Solomon’s similar arrangements later on (2Ch 2:17–18 and 8:7–9).
3 The king’s provision of “a large amount of iron” reflects how conditions had changed during his time—known archaeologically as Iron Age I—because of the incorporation of iron-producing Philistines within the sphere of Hebrew control.
4 To handle the “cedar logs,” Solomon was later forced to draft a considerable number of Israelites (1Ki 5:13–14), though foreigners were used for the stonework.
5 Nowhere does Scripture connect Solomon’s age with some historically datable point. As a result we do not know exactly how young Solomon was about 975 B.C. After reigning forty years (2Ch 9:30), Solomon was succeeded by his son Rehoboam, then aged forty-one (12:13); and Solomon could well have had a one-year-old son at his accession in 970, if Solomon himself had been born about 990. This would make him twenty at the time. Furthermore, though David’s relationship with Bathsheba dates from about 995 (cf. the introductory discussions to chs. 17 and 19), Solomon was apparently not the first son that she bore to David but the fourth (1Ch 3:5), which brings us once again to about 990 for his birth.
6–7 That the temple was to be built “for the Name of the LORD” means more than his reputation or honor; ultimately, it means his Person. Specifically, God’s “Name” stood for the glory-cloud of his presence in the tabernacle or the temple (Dt 12:11; 2Ch 6:20).
8 The “word of the LORD” David referred to had been brought to him by the prophet Nathan, before Solomon’s birth (17:4). But the king here first revealed why God had refused him permission to build the temple: he had “fought many wars” (stated again in 28:3). The point was not simply that warfare had preempted his energies (cf. 1Ki 5:3), but that it had polluted his hands with undue bloodshed. David had become guilty of excessive violence (e.g., in 2Sa 8:2). His explanation carries serious ethical implications for us today (Mt 5:9).
9 Though Solomon’s succession was later disputed by his older brother Adonijah (1Ki 1:5–13, 24–25), he had been divinely favored, even before birth (2Sa 12:24–25); and he is here designated to “reign” over Israel, as David himself proceeded to acknowledge to Bathsheha on oath (1Ki 1:13, 30). God moreover promised Solomon a reign “of peace” (shalom; GK 8934). Fulfillment came by his having to engage in only one known battle (vs. Hamath, 2Ch 8:3).
10 In this verse David directly quotes from Nathan’s prophecy in 17:12–14 (cf. 28:6). As predicted in the first clause, Solomon did “build a house” for God’s name; and, as in the last, “the throne of his kingdom” did come to be established “over Israel forever.” The middle clause, however, where God prophesies, “He will be my son,” must he read in the light of a condition that was attached and that demanded a faithfulness that Solomon failed to achieve; it was, however, accomplished in Jesus Christ. David seems to have quoted the entire passage, including its middle part, so as to identify the more immediately relevant promises that both preceded and followed it in context.
11–13 David’s blessing on his son, in its various aspects, set a pattern for subsequent benedictions. In v.11 he particularly invoked success for Solomon as he should “build the house” (cf. 28:10). In vv.12–13 David (harking back to Jos 1:7–8) emphasized how he should keep “the laws . . . that the LORD gave Moses.”
14–16 The tremendous quantities of gold and silver that David provided add up to over forty thousand tons, a fabulous amount, with a far greater ancient purchasing value. This, together with smaller but related amounts given in 29:4, 7, constitutes the one place in Chronicles where its figures are large enough to justify invoking God’s special providence to account for them.
17–19 David’s goal, expressed here to the leaders of Israel, of bringing “the ark of the covenant . . . into the temple” was in fact accomplished in 2Ch 5:7; this act would mark the achievement of all his various efforts on its behalf, and on God’s behalf, as so far described throughout chs. 13; 15–17; 22.
3. Levitical organization (23:1–26:32)
David’s concern for the worship of God in the temple went beyond the material preparations that he made for the construction of its building, just described (ch. 22). Of even more lasting significance were the arrangements that he made for the organization of its ministering personnel, the Levites (chs. 23–26). Guided by the Lord through his prophets (2Ch 29:25), the king exercised his administrative genius to establish a system of procedures that helped maintain legitimate worship under his successors, that provided the operational framework for promoting the revival of Mosaic theocracy in the days of Ezra the Chronicler (see the introductory discussion to ch. 6), and that continued to meet the needs of God’s worshiping people on into NT times (cf. 24:10 as reflected in Lk 1:5, 8).
In 970 B.C. (26:31; cf. v.1), David took a census of the male Levites aged thirty and above; and he found that they numbered 38,000 at that time. His fundamental idea was to divide the men of the tribe into four operational units (23:1–5). The remainder of ch. 23 pauses to review the Levitical genealogies (cf. ch. 6) by outlining the main clans and family groups (vv.6–23), and this is followed by a brief survey of their duties (vv.24–32). The four units are then enumerated: a main body of 24,000 were assigned “to supervise the work of the temple of the LORD” (ch. 24; cf. 23:4), and this chapter proceeds to describe how the priestly descendants of Aaron were organized into groups (23:6), as were also the nonpriestly Levites who assisted them (vv.20–31); 4,000 others were appointed as musicians (ch. 25); 4,000 worked as doorkeepers, under whom were incorporated a variety of positions such as the temple treasurers (26:1–28); and the remaining 6,000 “were assigned duties away from the temple, as officials and judges over Israel” (26:29–32). The priests, the musicians, and presumably the temple Levites as well, were specifically assigned to twenty-four different courses. These subdivisions provided a means for rotating them in service on a monthly basis.
1 David’s full life is witnessed to by the fact that these events are dated in the fortieth, i.e., the last, year of his reign (26:31; 29:27); they are identified, indeed, as being his “last instructions” (23:27).
The process by which Solomon was then “made . . . king” is passed over in Chronicles. The unhappy details of his disputed succession (see 22:9; cf. 1Ki 1) and of the ruthless consolidation that followed on his recognition as ruler (1Ki 2) were common knowledge and contributed little to the purposes Ezra was seeking to achieve.
2–4 The Levites “thirty years old or more” were numbered, as in Moses’ day (Nu 4:3, 23), but also those down to twenty years of age. The total of 38,000 has, like so many of the figures in Chronicles, been roundly criticized, but unnecessarily so. Under Moses in the desert, a more limited enumeration of the Levites—only those who were between the age of thirty and fifty, and who were able to do the work of transporting the tabernacle—had produced a sum of 8,580 (Nu 4:47–48); and the Hebrew tribes as a whole had averaged over 50,000 warriors each (1:46; 26:51). Under David the main Levitical body of 24,000 was divided into twenty-four monthly courses; and 1,000 on duty at any one time, considering the work, is not unreasonable.
5 The instruments the king “provided” exhibit another aspect of David’s musical prowess, which was long remembered in Israel (Am 6:5).
6 The review of the genealogy of Levi, which extends from this point down through v.23, is paralleled by the listings in 6:16–30 and by those in 24:20–30. Minor variations exist in the spellings of some of the names and in other details.
7 The fact that the Gershonite “Ladan” is listed in first place connects him with Libni, which was the senior subclan of Gershon. No allusion is made to Libni’s son Jahath (as in 6:20), since the purpose of ch. 23 is not that of providing a complete genealogy but rather of marking out those divisions within the clans of Levi on which the Davidic organization was based.
8 Jehiel, Zetham, and Joel were ancient Levitical patriarchs. They should not be confused with the division chiefs of David’s day, as listed in 24:20–30 (cf. Jehdeiah, descended from the patriarch Shubael, v.20), though at certain points in ch. 24 only the patriarchal family-founders are listed, without the current chiefs (as in v.23).
9 Since the “Shimei” of this verse belongs to “the families of Ladan,” he should probably be distinguished from the Shimei of vv.7 and 10, his great-uncle (after whom he seems to have been named), the brother of Libni (6:17).
10–11 By combining the senior Shimei’s latter two families into “one assignment,” or course, David secured nine Levitical courses organized out of the clan of Gershon: six from Ladan and three from Shimei.
12–14 As in Dt 33:1 and in the title to Ps 90, Moses is set apart as “the man of God.” He ranks as perhaps the greatest human figure in the OT (Dt 34:10–12).
15–20 From the four sons of Kohath (not including the priestly descendants of Aaron, v.13), nine more courses are derived, though “the [Davidic division] chiefs” (NIV, “the first”) are specified for only the first three.
21–22 The sons of Mahli’s son Kish “married their cousins,” the daughters of Eleazar. The property of the subclan of Mahli was thus preserved intact, according to Moses’ regulation (Nu 36:6–9; cf. v.11); but this left it with only one course, of Kish.
23 The sons of Mahli’s brother, Mushi, account for three more. So to bring Merari’s courses up to six, and thus to gain a total for all Levi of twenty-four (nine, nine, and six), two more were probably derived from the four sons of the Merarite Jaaziah (24:27).
24–27 David’s Levitical census actually extended to those “twenty years old or more” (cf. Moses’ limit of thirty, v.3). Yet even Moses had later included in the tribe’s assigned work force Levites down to the age of twenty-five (Nu 8:24); and David lowered it five years further. His reasoning may have been that with the permanent establishment of the tabernacle and the ark in Jerusalem, physical requirements for the service were no longer so demanding (v.26); or it may have been that he simply anticipated increasing needs in manpower for the construction and operation of the new temple.
28–30 “The bread set out on the table” was “the bread of the Presence” (cf. 9:32). On “the grain offerings,” see 21:23. The daily services of praise by the Levites accompanied the regular sacrifices that were prescribed for every morning and evening and were offered up by the priests (Ex 29:38–39; Nu 28:3–8).
31 More elaborate sacrifices were required for the weekly sabbaths, for the beginnings of months, and for the annual feasts (Nu 28:9–29:39). The last named involved Israel’s five set celebrations, the “appointed feasts” of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (which was preceded by Trumpets and the Day of Atonement; cf. Lev 23). The first three were also designated pilgrimage feasts, for which the presence of every adult Israelite male was expected at the central sanctuary (Ex 23:14–17; Dt 16:16).
32 The author, Ezra, made it clear that the main body of the Levites were “under their brothers the [priestly] descendants of Aaron.” They were to be the priests’ helpers (v.28) in such matters as preparing the sacrifices and other matters of service and in maintaining the sanctuary, just as Moses had prescribed (Nu 3:6–9; 4:23–33).
24:1 Ezra now takes up the priests. This followed logically on his presentation concerning the Levites as a whole (ch. 23), of which they formed a part (v.13). The primary subject of the first nineteen verses of ch. 24 is how David organized the priests of his time into “divisions” or courses (GK 4713). Ezra does, however, grant this a priority in treatment, before he describes the corresponding set of courses for the rest of the Levites in vv.20–31.
2 The deaths of Aaron’s two older sons, together with the reasons involved, are recorded in Lev 10:1–2.
3 The men who advised David in establishing the courses were official representatives of the branches of Aaron’s two surviving sons: for Eleazar it was the high priest Zadok; for Ithamar, however, it was no longer Abiathar (as in 15:11), who was too old to be bothered with administrative details, but (as in 18:16) his son Ahimelech II (24:6), grandson of that Ahimelech I who had served as high priest prior to David’s own kingship (1Sa 22:9–20; 23:6).
4 By dividing the priests into “sixteen” courses taken from the descendants of Eleazar and “eight” from those of Ithamar, David secured a total of twenty-four. This made possible either a system of monthly shifts or a system of fortnightly shifts once each year.
5 The king’s impartiality is significant. Even though Eleazar, as senior surviving son, had been designated leader of the Levites and of those who worked in the sanctuary (Nu 3:32), and even though he had eventually succeeded his father Aaron as high priest (20:28), it was only the physical fact of the “larger number” (v.4) of priests who traced their ancestry to him that gave Eleazar numerical superiority in courses; those of Ithamar received an equal standing (cf. the even-handedness of Ex 28:1, 40–43).
6 Assignment was objective, by lot (v.7); it was witnessed by the king, Zadok, and Ahimelech—all three; and it was recorded by an unbiased (and otherwise unknown) nonpriestly Levite, Shemaiah. Indeed, while the Hebrew of this verse is not completely clear, it would appear that the lots alternated between Eleazar and Ithamar for the first sixteen courses, with half of Eleazar’s descendants having to accept the remaining eight.
7–19 Listings of the actual divisions appear not simply here but also at three later points in the OT, in postexilic times (Ne 10:2–8; 12:1–7; 12:12–21); and there are several incomplete references as well. The eighth course is specifically cited in the NT (cf. Lk 1:5); the names of the first, second, fourth, ninth, and twenty-fourth have been found in a manuscript at Qumran.
With the passage of time, some of the Davidic courses died out or had to be consolidated with others, and new ones were formed to take their places. At the first return from exile in 537 B.C., only four courses were registered: David’s second, third (Ezr 2:36–39; Ne 7:39–42), fifth (if Pashhur had come to represent the older Malkijah; cf. 9:12 and Ne 11:12), and sixteenth. By 520 twenty-two were again operative (Ne 12:1–7), but only half of them were the courses as originally organized by David.
Jehoiarib (v.7), who received the first assignment, headed the course that later produced the Maccabees (1Mc 2:1; 14:29). The seventh course, of Hakkoz (v.10), is documented down into the days of the Maccabees (1Mc 8:17). The eighth, Abijah, was the one under which Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, performed his priestly ministry (Lk 1:5). The family of the seventeenth course, Hezir (v.15), was prominent in intertestamental times; and the name appears on one of the major tombs in the valley to the east of Jerusalem.
20 The phrase “the rest of the descendants of Levi” identifies the bulk of the Levites, who were not descended from Aaron and who served as temple assistants. Verses 20–31 proceed to describe their allocation into divisions that corresponded to the priestly courses, just listed. For some reason the nine divisions of the clan of Gershon (23:7–11) are not discussed. The next nine (24:20–25) correspond to the family groups that arose from Levi’s second son Kohath, through his four sons, Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel (23:12–20). For each of their courses, Ezra also listed the name of the man who served as division chief during the time of David—e.g., for “Shubael” the chief was Jehdeiah—except for the four courses of Hebron, the names of whose Davidic chiefs may simply not have been available to Ezra when he was writing.
21–30 For the clause “Isshiah was the first [GK 8031],” we should read, “Isshiah was the chief” or “leader.” “Shelomoth” (v.22) is a variant of the name “Shelomith” (23:18). The last four courses listed for the clan of Merari (vv.29–30) correspond to the four Merarite family divisions as described in 23:21–23, though the only chief’s name to appear is that of Jerahmeel, representing in David’s day the Mahlite group of Eleazar and Kish, which had been consolidated into one (cf. 23:22). Two other courses, however, should probably be assigned to the groups descending from Jaaziah (cf. 23:23). Jaaziah is stated to have been a Merarite (24:27) and yet is distinguished from Mahli and Mushai, the actual sons of Merari (v.26). He may have been a later member of the clan, the numerical growth of whose offspring had reached such proportions that by the time of David they achieved separate recognition among the Levitical courses.
31 The subject of the clause “they also cast lots” must be the chiefs of the divisions of the nonpriestly Levites (cf. vv.20–30). The stated correspondence of their method of organization with that of “their brothers the descendants of Aaron” favors a similar division of their followers into twenty-four rotating courses, even though not spelled out, as it was for the latter.
25:1 Chapter 25 concerns David’s organization of the four thousand Levitical musicians (23:5) into courses of service that correspond to those of the priests and temple Levites (ch. 24). Division heads for the musicians consisted of “the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun,” the chief musicians who belonged, respectively, to the Levitical clans of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. David had commissioned them some thirty years earlier to minister before the ark in Jerusalem (16:4–7, 37, 41–42). Their service, moreover, is identified as a form of “prophesying” (cf. Heman’s description as “the king’s seer,” v.5). The association is legitimate. On the particular musical instruments, see comments on 15:16. It was with specific reference to the Levites who performed on these instruments that God, through Nathan and Gad, gave David his instructions for their designated stations (2Ch 29:25).
2 Asaph “prophesied” (GK 5547) to a degree beyond that of simply recreating the hymns of others, as directed “under the king’s supervision.” Asaph and his descendants were directly inspired to compose at least twelve of the canonical psalms (50; 73–83; cf. 1Ch 16:5).
3 Jeduthun (as in 9:16; 16:41–42), also called Ethan (see 6:44), was twice singled out in titles to the psalms as the chief musician responsible for the public presentation of King David’s compositions (Pss 39; 62).
4 The name of the Kohathite musician Heman’s fourth son, Shubael, of the subclan of Izhar, is not to be confused with the Kohathite course of the same name but drawn from the senior subclan of Amram (23:16; 24:20).
5 Heman’s status as “seer” received further witness, if he was perhaps the inspired composer of some of twelve other psalms, which were written by “the sons of Korah” (Pss 42–49; 84–85;87–88), of whom he was one (1Ch 6:33, 37). God’s blessing Heman with “fourteen sons” would be, to the Oriental mind, nothing short of a doubly perfect heritage of power. The mention of his “three daughters” reminds us that women shared in musical services (cf. Ps 68:25).
6–8 The singers “cast lots” to determine without prejudice the arrangement of the twenty-four courses, serving under the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun. Yet all took part, whether “teacher” (GK 1067), probably referring to the 288 skilled musicians of v.7 (twelve per course), or “student” (GK 9441), which suggests that all 4,000 of the Levitical musicians were involved in the allocation.
9–31 As it worked out, the third, second, and fifth courses did go, respectively, to Asaph’s three oldest sons.
26:1 The first twenty-eight verses of ch. 26 describe King David’s third unit of Levites (cf. the introductory discussion to ch. 23), i.e., the 4,000 “gatekeepers” (23:5; cf. 9:19; 15:21; GK 8788). These were the temple guards (vv.1–19); and with them were included certain other officials, such as treasurers, who were responsible for the physical operation of the sanctuary (vv.20–28). The temple itself had not yet been built; but the king seems to have made these arrangements in anticipation, while the actual casting of lots “for each gate” (v.13) may have come later, after the structures were completed. God’s assignment here to “businessmen” suggests something of the importance he attaches to each person’s part in the kingdom, material and spiritual.
The Chronicler had already identified two groups of gatekeepers, appointed by David when the ark was first brought to Jerusalem (16:38); and a number of later listings occurred as well, either shortly before the Exile (9:17–29) or after (Ezr 2:42; Ne 11:19; 12:25). A remarkable persistence is exhibited in the names of some of the Levitical gate-keeping families. An example appears in the first and leading group, of (Me)shelemiah (vv.1, 14), though also cited simply as Shallum (9:17, 19 [though cf. v.21]; Ezr 2:42) or Meshullam (Ne 12:25).
The name “Asaph,” father of Kore, is an abbreviation for Ebiasaph, who was a son of the rebellious Kohathite, Korah (cf. 6:22; 9.19). He should therefore not be confused with David’s contemporary Asaph, the more famous chief musician, who belonged to the clan of Gershon.
2–8 Obed-Edom (v.4) was another Kohathite descendant of Korah, who is best known for the divine blessing that he received for having faithfully cared for the ark, following the death of Uzzah (13:13–14). Though he had gained appointment as a Levitical musician, he continued also to maintain his status as a doorkeeper (cf. 15:21; 16:38). In the thirty years since the ark first came to Jerusalem, the number of those associated with Obed-Edom exhibited a net decrease of six, down to sixty-two (cf. 16:38).
9 Yet with the 18 “sons and relatives” of Meshelemiah, plus 13 more of Hosah (v.11), the total number of hereditary leaders for the sanctuary guards totals 93. By the time of Jerusalem’s fall in 586 B.C., the figure had risen to 212 (cf. 9:22), though the number of Levites available to serve under them may have become much less than the 4,000 present in David’s day (23:5).
10–11 The king had commissioned Hosah of Merari to be a gatekeeper along with Obed-Edom (16:38).
12–13 The purpose of the “lots” that “were cast” was to assign the gatekeepers to locations about the sanctuary, not, at this point, to determine periods for their rotation, as had been the case for the priests, temple Levites, and musicians (chs. 24–25).
14 “Shelemiah” (cf. NIV note) represents an abbreviated form of the name Meshelemiah (vv.1–2, 9). Together with his son Zechariah, he and his associated leaders received responsibility for two of the gates, east and north, leaving one each for Obed-Edom and Hosah.
15 Because the palace complex lay to the south of the Mount Moriah sanctuary, some have questioned the possibility of a south gate. Most of the palaces, however, were erected after David’s time (1Ki 7:1–12); and even then their presence would seem to suggest the need for such a gate, for both the rulers and the people (Eze 46:9–10). Obed-Edom was honored with this assignment toward the south and its palaces (cf. 15:21).
16 The “Shalleketh Gate” is known only to have faced west and to have been located on the “upper [or ascending] road,” probably one coming northward up through the Tyropoeon Valley from the lower city to the higher elevation of Mount Moriah. The word “Shalleketh” itself is a proper noun. “Shuppim” is not otherwise identified, but his association with Hosah suggests that he may have been another leading gatekeeper from the clan of Merari.
17 Because the east gate was the main one, six guards were assigned to it, as compared with four to the north (and to the other directions). This gave Meshelemiah ten guard posts.
18–19 With Hosah’s four posts at the west gate and two at the “court" (a term of uncertain meaning, but probably denoting a colonnade or court), his group of six stations yields a total of twenty-four guard posts that were assigned by lot (cf. chs. 24–25).
20–21 The gatekeepers’ positions of trust (see 9:22) included two major treasurerships: the one over the treasuries of the temple, with their offerings and valuable equipment (cf. 9:28–29), and the other over the treasuries of dedicated objects (vv.23–28). The former were placed in the charge of “Jehieli,” which is an adjectival form meaning “Jehielites” (the group of Jehiel). This identifies the Gershonite course number 1 of temple Levites.
22 The treasurers chosen from “Zetham an . . . Joel,” which are Gershonite courses numbers 2 and 3 (23:8), are then called “sons of Jehiel”; for the leadership was recognized as pertaining to the senior branch.
23–24 The latter treasuries were placed under the care of Levites chosen from the clan of Kohath and, particularly, from within its four listed subclans, from the “Amramite” sons of Moses. These belonged to the courses numbers 10 (“Shubael”) and 11 (“Rehabiah”).
25 In David’s day the individual treasurer for the dedicated objects was from Rahabiah, i.e., “Shelomoth” (instead of “Shelomith,” NIV). His name is not to be confused with Shelomoth, Gershonite course number 4 of the temple Levites (23:9), or with Shelomith, Kohathite course number 12, from the subclan of Izhar (23:18; cf. 24:22).
26–28 Examples of “the things dedicated by King David” (v.26) are cited in 18:11 and 2Ch 5:1.
29 The latter four verses of ch. 26 describe David’s fourth and last major operational unit of Levi, the six thousand external officials and judges (23:4). Moses himself had first directed that the Levites, who would be responsible to teach the Word of God (Dt 33:10), should perform the corresponding function of interpreting it in judgment (Dt 17:9; cf. 2Ch 19:8–11). These officers were then drawn primarily from the second and third subclans of Kohath, namely Izhar and Hebron. On the Izharite Kenaniah, King David’s “head Levite,” see 15:22.
30–31 Among the Hebronites, Hashabiah is probably that son of Kemuel who served as David’s “officer over the tribe of Levi” (27:16–17); and Jeriah identifies the senior course number 13, belonging to the subclan of Hebron (23:19). These two, between them, accounted for 4,400 (1,700 plus 2,700, v.32) of the 6,000 Levitical judges.
32 The statistic that 2,700 Levites maintained the laws of “God and . . . the king” among the tribes west of the Jordan (v.30) seems strange but indicates the importance of the district of Gilead.
4. The civil organization (27:1–34)
Having outlined David’s religious organization (chs. 23–26), the Chronicler adds ch. 27 on his civil arrangements. The year 970 B.C . had constituted a high-water mark in Israel’s political experience; and its splendor was a far cry from the impoverished condition of the Jewish subprovince that existed in Ezra’s day (cf. Hag 2:16–17; Zec 14:10). But even though it could have had little organizational relevance for the returned exiles in 450—and even less for us today—this rehearsal of past glories must have thrilled Ezra’s discouraged people with the truth that tangible political results are included in God’s decree for his faithful servants (cf. Rev 2:26).
This chapter surveys three aspects of the Davidic regime: its military system of twelve army corps, each with its own commanding general and twenty-four skilled chiefs (cf. v.1), who were committed to a term of active duty one month each year (vv.1–15); the ethnic organization of twelve listed Hebrew tribes (cf. v.17) in their various geographical regions, each with its responsible officer (vv.16–24); and the royal administration, including both the central “cabinet” executives and the overseers of the king’s properties in the field (vv.25–34).
1 A significant key to our understanding of these first fifteen verses appears in the Chronicler’s introductory emphasis on the “commanders of thousands.” When the verse concludes by referring to each “division’s 24,000 men” (there is no word for “men” in the original), the word for “thousand” (GK 547) may indicate “chief” (who could command a thousand troops) rather than numerical “thousands” (cf. 7:3–4, and the stress in 27:3 on leaders of “all the army officers for the first month”). For while the idea of a national militia of 288,000 organized into twelve corps of “24,000 men” each is reasonable enough (cf. over 600,000 in Moses’ day, Ex 12:37; Nu 1:46; 2:32; 11:21; 26:51), the alternative rendering of “24 chief men” (throughout vv.1–15) has two advantages: negatively, it relieves the capital of the congestion of some 48,000 rotating troops, who, literally, “came in and went out month by month” (NASB); and positively, it would allow the king to keep in touch with his military leaders.
2 Each “lieutenant general” who commanded one of the twelve army corps was a distinguished military figure in his own right and is cited in the roster of David’s heroes (11:11 and positively, it would allow the 47; cf. 2Sa 23:8 and positively, it would allow the 39), though with occasional variations in spelling and with facts of family information added here. “Jashobeam” was the first of “the Three” great champions (11:11).
3 Jashobeam’s ancestor “Perez” was the fourth son of Judah and founder of its major clan.
4 “Dodai” was the father of Eleazar, the second of “the Three” (see 11:12). “Mikloth was the leader,” or, as we might say, executive officer, for this second corps.
5–6 The exploits of “Benaiah” son of Jehoiada the priest (see 11:22–25; cf. 12:27–28) elevated him to the leadership of David’s Cretan guard (see 18:17). This probably explains why “his son Ammizabad” exercised actual command over the third corps. On Benaiah’s position in respect to “the Thirty,” see 11:25 and the comments on 11:15 and 12:4.
7 Holding the title of commander of the fourth corps was Asahel, the first man to be named in David’s legion of honor, which made up “the Thirty.” “His son Zebadiah was his successor,” due to Asahel’s untimely death at the hands of Abner (see 11:26).
8 Over the fifth corps was “Shamhuth the Izrahite.” This defining adjective really means “of Zerah,” the other leading clan of Judah (cf. v.3 and the equivalent term “Zerahite,” vv.11, 13). His name appears third among the Thirty (11:27).
9–15 The remaining seven generals were selected from among the next nine members of the Thirty (11:27–31). “Heldai,” commander of the twelfth (27:15), was a descendant of Othniel, the first Hebrew judge (Jdg 1:13; 3:9–11).
16–17 While most of the tribes of Israel had one outstanding individual chosen to be the ethnic “officer” (vv.16–25), two were appointed for Levi: the high priest “Zadok,” to represent its Aaronic or priestly branch (cf. 6:8; 12:27–28; 16:39), and “Hashabiah,” for the remainder (see 26:30–31). Manasseh also had two officers, corresponding to its two regional halves, west (v.20) and east (v.21) of the Jordan. The tribes of Gad and Asher remain unlisted, either because the names of their tribal officers were not available to Ezra, or because they were dropped from the text by later copyists’ mistakes.
18–20 Judah’s representative, Elihu, is called “a brother of David” (v.18). This could possibly identify the unnamed brother born between Ozen and David; but it then becomes difficult to explain why his name was not mentioned in 2:15, if he did survive (cf. 2:15). Elihu may actually have been a more distant “brother” (= relative); or the name might be a variant for Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab (2:13).
21–22 The tribal officer for Benjamin was “Jaasiel,” a “son of Abner,” who had commanded the troops of his nephew King Saul and had been the power behind Saul’s son Ish-bosheth (26:28; cf. 8:33 and 11:2).
23 The Lord’s promise “to make Israel as numerous as the stars” dates back to Abraham (Ge 15:5; 22:17; cf. 12:2; 13:16), over a thousand years before David. The king, therefore, did not order a total numbering of Israel (including minors); for that might have seemed to cast doubt on the prophecy. He did, however, sinfully decree a census of the men of fighting age, apparently through a lack of faith in God’s protection of his kingdom (cf. 21:3).
24 The Hebrew of this verse says simply that Joab “began to count but did not finish.”
25–32 In the remainder of the chapter, with its list of royal administrators, Azmaveth must have had charge of the central stores in Jerusalem, which contrasts with Jonathan’s similar post “in the outlying districts.”
The “western foothills” (v.28) constituted the piedmont area between the Philistine coastal plain and the Judean hill country. The king depended on his personal properties in all the areas such as these, rather (as far as we can tell) than on taxes, to support his growing administration. A concluding list of major counselors (v.32) supplements the earlier outlines of David’s cabinet as presented in 18:15–17 (cf. 2Sa 8:15–18; 20:23–26).
33 Hushai’s post of “king’s friend” (cf. 2Sa 15:37) may have begun on an informal and personal basis; but it became an official advisory position (cf. 1Ki 4:5). Ahithophel was the ill-fated “counselor” who deserted David for his son, the rebel Absalom (2Sa 15:12, 31; 16:20–23), but whose advice was subverted by Hushai (15:32–37; 17:1–16).
34 After his suicide (17:23), Ahithophel “was succeeded by Jehoiada,” son of the commander Benaiah (cf. 27:5); he was also the grandson of his namesake, the militant priest (see 12:27–28).
5. Final words (28:1–29:30)
The occasion for the final chapters of 1 Chronicles is a continuation of what was introduced in ch. 23: the assembling by the king of the leaders of Israel (23:2 = 28:1 and 29:1). The date is still 970 B.C. (26:31), and the subject is a final portion of “the last instructions of David” (23:27). The king’s purpose has been not simply to organize the Levites on a permanent basis (chs. 23–26), but also to arouse the whole nation to the momentous task of erecting God’s temple in Jerusalem (cf. 22:6, 11, 19). Now David once again charged the people (28:2–8) and his son Solomon (vv.9–10) to consecrate themselves to this holy effort. David then presented his son with the inspired, written plans for the temple (vv.11–19) and encouraged him for the work that lay ahead (vv.20–21). He turned also to the nation, represented by its assembled leaders, and urged on them an all-out campaign of giving for the building (29:1–5). They rose to the challenge (vv.6–9), and David praised the Lord for their devotion (vv.10–22). Solomon was then confirmed on the throne of Israel by a second ceremony of anointing (cf. v.22), and David passed on to his eternal reward (vv.22–30).
1–2 On the king’s previous desire to build a temple, see 17:1–4. The structure is here identified as “a place of rest for the ark” (Ps 132:8, 14; i.e., a more permanent one than the tent in which it had been kept heretofore, 1Ch 16:1) and as God’s “footstool” (Ps 132:7; La 2:1). The latter term points specifically to “the place of atonement” or “mercy seat” (v.11; i.e., the golden cover of the ark, over which the glory-cloud of God’s presence was enthroned; Ex 25:20–22; 2Sa 6:2).
3 David’s desire to build the temple, however, had been denied because of his excessive bloodshed (cf. 22:8). The king’s public explanation here corresponds to what he had already told Solomon privately (22:7–16).
4 David’s statement that God “chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever” must refer, not to him personally, but to his “family,” i.e., his dynasty (cf. vv.5, 7), which would culminate in Jesus Christ, who would reign forever (17:14). The divine choice had been revealed through a process of progressive elimination: from the whole of national “Israel,” through the tribe of “Judah,” down to the Davidic “family” in particular (Ge 28:14; 35:10–11; 49:10; 1Sa 16:1–3; 1Ch 17:16–17, 23–27). Compare its earlier stages of clarification: from “the seed of woman,” through Noah and Shem, to Abraham (Ge 3:15; 6:17–18; 9:26; 12:1–3).
5 Yet, in a deeper sense, what David acknowledged was not his own kingship but “the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.” He, and all of earth’s rulers, are but vice-regents, deputies who act as representatives of God to uphold his standards (29:23; 1Sa 12:14; Ro 13:1–6).
6–8 Solomon did build God’s “house” (cf. 2Ch 5:1), but as far as being “established” (GK 3922) or being “chosen” (GK 1047) to be God’s “son” is concerned, v.7 states an explicit condition: “if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws”—which Solomon was not (1Ki 11:1–11). This brought about the admonition in v.8. Moreover, between God’s words “Solomon . . . will build my house” and “I have chosen him to be my son,” the full prophecy, through Nathan, had originally included an intervening statement that shifted the point of reference beyond Solomon to the more distant future, i.e., “and I will establish his throne forever” (1Ch 17:12). That is, the fulfillment of true sonship to God the “Father” was not achieved by Solomon (cf. 22:10); it was an ideal that was actualized only in Christ.
9–10 David’s appeal to his son to serve God with his whole heart and a “willing mind” parallels his similar final admonition recorded in 1Ki 2:2–4.
11 The Hebrew phrase underlying the words “the place of atonement” is literally “the house of the atoning cover” (or of the “mercy seat”; cf. v.2). It denotes the room that housed the ark of the covenant, designated in the tabernacle as “the most holy place” and in the temple as the “inner sanctuary” (2Ch 5:7, 9).
12–18 “The plans of . . . the temple” were directly revealed to David by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (cf. v.19), even as those for the tabernacle that preceded it had been given to Moses (Ex 25:9, 40; 27:8). The major pieces of its furnishings (vv.14–18) were symbolic of the great truths of God’s salvation; and some—e.g., the altar, sea, ark, and even certain of the priestly garments—typified the atoning sacrifice, moral purity, incarnate presence, and holiness of Jesus Christ (Heb 8:5; 9:8–12, 23–24).
Ezra referred to “each table” (v.16) because, in contrast to the single table of bread of the Presence (9:32) made for the Mosaic sanctuary (Ex 37:10), the Solomonic would have ten of them (2Ch 4:8).
Since the Lord could poetically be said to ride on cherubim as on a chariot (Ps 18:10; Eze 1), they are here designated simply “the chariot” (v.18). The Chronicler’s reference is probably not to the small golden cherubim that formed part of the ark’s holy cover, which had been made long before, but rather to those larger wooden but gold-plated cherub-angels of the inner temple, which were to “shelter the ark” as a whole (2Ch 3:10–13). They emphasized the real presence of God in the temple.
19 Because the words “he gave me understanding” have no “and” before them in the Hebrew but are connected with the first part of the verse rather than its latter part, we should preferably read: “the LORD gave me understanding in writing.” David was saying that not only were the temple plans revealed by God (v.12), but that they were given to him in written form from God, to be handed to Solomon (v.11), an ultimate testimony to their divine character.
20–21 David’s final charge to Solomon (cf. vv.9–10; 22:11–16; Pss 27:13–14; 31:23–24), that he should “be strong and courageous” because the Lord would “not fail . . . or forsake” him, reflects the stirring charges of Moses to Joshua (Dt 31:7–8, 23), and of the Lord himself (Jos 1:5–9, 18; cf. 1Co 16:13).
29:1–3 David had expressed concern before about Solomon’s youthful inexperience and about his own need to compensate for this by preparing materials for the temple (v.2; cf. 22:5 and 14). The “stones of various colors” (v.2) were probably mosaic pebbles. “Over and above” (v.3) the great amounts he had already prepared (cf. 22:14), David next contributed his personal treasures.
4 Israel’s finest gold was imported from “Ophir” (cf. 2Ch 8:18). This amounted to about 110 tons of gold and 260 tons of silver.
5 The king’s appeal for each giver to “consecrate himself” (lit., “to fill his hand”; GK 3338 & 4848) was a technical phrase used to describe ordination to the priesthood; and Scripture, significantly, places the act of giving on this same level of devotion.
6–7 The “daric” was a Persian gold coin, first issued by Darius I in the century before Ezra; in David’s day this figure—the equivalent of about two and one-half talents—would have represented the corresponding weight in small pieces of the precious metal. The weight of gold contributed by David’s leaders comes to about 190 tons, and there were about 375 tons of silver. David’s example (v.4) thus incited a gift on the part of his officers that was half again as large as his own. Since it was a rarer commodity then than it is today, 3,750 tons of iron are also mentioned. The total of just the silver and gold adds up to an enormous sum by contemporary values. While the sum is only one twenty-fifth of the quantity tabulated in ch. 22, it still amounts to so much, particularly in ancient purchasing power, that it too should be recognized as the other large figures in Chronicles; it is to be accounted for through an act of divine providence. (cf. 22:14).
8–9 On “Jehiel” and course number 1 of “the Gershonite” temple-Levites, see 26:21. A “willing response” to the needs of the Lord’s worship produced great rejoicing on the part of both the king and the people; and, still today, God loves cheerful givers (2Co 9:7).
10 David’s reaction to his people’s devotion was to praise the Lord (vv.10–20). The phrase “our father Israel” here signifies the patriarch Jacob (Ge 32:28); he too (cf. v.15) had had occasion to praise God for his goodness (Ge 32:10; 33:11). The Hebrew word order could suggest divine fatherhood—“The LORD, God of Israel, our Father”—rather than a patriarchal characteristic; but see v.18.
11 This verse supplies the conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer: “For thine is the kingdom” (Mt 6:13, KJV).
12–19 The truth that “everything” we have “comes from” God is the foundation for the doctrine of stewardship. Its basis is this: since our property is his (Ps 24:1), and since we hold it only temporarily and in trust (1Ch 29:15–16), it should therefore be used for him (Lk 17:10).
20–21 When Ezra spoke of the “sacrifices in abundance for all Israel,” he probably intended fellowship offerings, the one major category of sacrifice in which all the worshipers participated, feasting as guests around the table of the Lord (cf. v.22 and 16:1).
22 The “great joy” of those at this gathering, particularly in respect to Solomon’s being “acknowledged” (GK 4887), is reflected also in 1Ki 1:40. By stating that David’s son was acknowledged for “a second time,” the Chronicler makes no attempt to conceal but rather recalls to his readers the well-known facts that he does not recount about Solomon’s first induction to the throne. This had been precipitated by the attempt of his older half-brother Adonijah to displace him (1Ki 1:25, 39). Such confirmatory rites, even to the point of reanointing, had value, particularly in cases of disputed succession (cf. 1Sa 10:1, 24; 11:14–15; 16:13, 2Sa 2:4; 5:3).
The position Solomon acceded to is here defined as that of “ruler” (v.22; GK 5592) or “leader” (lit., “a conspicuous one”). It was a characteristic title among the early sovereigns of Israel (1Sa 9:16; 13:14; 25:30; 1Ch 5:2; 11:2; 17:7). Zadok too (cf. 6:8; 16:39) was reanointed, though for him it was to the position of sole high priest, his previous colleague Abiathar having been disqualified in connection with Adonijah’s plot (1Ki 1:7; 2:26).
23–30 In his concluding summary of David’s reign, the Chronicler itemizes those aspects of his success that had the greatest appeal to Oriental thought: “long life, wealth and honor” and a “son” who “succeeded him,” which form a not inappropriate incentive for seeking the blessing of God in Occidental thought as well. First Kings, unhappily, adds specific features to David’s final characterization that are of a less complimentary nature (1:1–4, 15; 2:5–6, 8–9).
Ezra’s closing reference to his written sources, and particularly to the way Samuel, Nathan, and Gad recorded the circumstances of “Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands,” probably relates to those kingdoms that immediately surrounded Israel, so many of whom David had been enabled to incorporate within his own realm (cf. ch. 18).
The Old Testament in the New
| OT Text | NT Text | Subject |
| 1Ch 17:13 | Heb 1:5; Rev 21:7 | Father and son |