What Does 1 Chronicles 2:10 Mean?

**I.—(**10-17) The descent of David from Amminadab, of the house of Ram. The royal line naturally takes precedence of the other two. Ruth 4:18-22 gives this line from Pharez to David. (Compare the genealogies of Christ, Matthew 1 and Luke 3) Nahshon is called chief of Judah in Num. ii 3 (comp. 1Chronicles 1:7; 1Chronicles 7:12), at the time of the Exodus. (11) **Salma.**—So in Ruth 4:20; but in 1Chronicles 2:21, Matthew 1:4, and Luke 3:32, Salmon. (13-17) The family of Jesse (Heb., *Yishai* in 1Chronicles 2:12, but *‘Ishai* in 1Chronicles 2:13). Seven sons are here named. 1Samuel 17:12-13 states that Jesse had eight sons; and from 1Samuel 16:6-10 (Heb.) it appears that he had that number. In both passages, Eliab, Abinadab, and Shimma (Heb., *Shim‘â,* here and at 1Chronicles 20:7) occur, the last under the form Shammah. He is called Shimei (2Samuel 21:21); but Shimeah == Shim’ah (2Samuel 13:3; 2Samuel 13:32); and this appears to have been his real name. (14, 15) **Nethaneel . . . Raddai . . . Ozem.**—Not named elsewhere in the Scriptures. The son of Jesse, omitted in our present Heb. text, is called Elihu in the Syriac version, which makes him seventh and David the eighth. The name Elihu occurs in 1Chronicles 27:18 for Eliab. (16) **Whose sisters were Zeruiah, and Abigail.**—Literally, *And their sisters,* &c. If the reading in 2Samuel 17:25 be correct, these two women were daughters of Nahash, who must therefore have been a wife of Jesse. Abigail (there called Abigal) was mother of the warrior Amasa, who became Absalom’s general (2Samuel 19:13), and was afterwards assassinated by Joab (2Samuel 20:10). **Abishai.**—*Abshai,* here and elsewhere in the chronicle. **Joab,** the famous commander-in-chief of David’s forces (see 1Chronicles 11:6-8); and for Joab and Abishai, who, like Asahel, was one of David’s heroes (1Chronicles 11:20; 1Chronicles 11:26), comp. 1Chronicles 18:12; 1Chronicles 18:15; 1Chronicles 19:10 *seq.,* 1Chronicles 21:2 *et seq.,* 1Chronicles 27:24. David’s champions were thus his immediate kin, just as Abner was to Saul. (17) **Jether the Ishmeelite.**—Incorrectly called “Ithra an Israelite” in 2Samuel 17:25. The later abhorrence of alien marriages seems to have been unknown in the age of David. The name of Zeruiah’s husband is unknown. **II.—The Calebite stock** (1Chronicles 2:18-24).