1 Chronicles 3

CHAPTER 3

The Sons of David (3:1–9)

(2 Samuel 3:2–5; 5:13–16)

1–4 See 2 Samuel 3:2–5 and comment.

5–9 See 2 Samuel 5:13–16 and comment.

The Kings of Judah (3:10–16)

10–16 These verses list the kings of Judah from Solomon’s son Rehoboam to Judah’s last king, Zedekiah.

The Royal Line After the Exile (3:17–24)

17–24 These verses list the descendants of Jehoiachin the captive (2 Kings 24:12; 25:27). Jehoiachin was Judah’s next to last king,¹⁰ but he was the one chosen by God to carry on David’s line. The writer then carries on with Jehoiachin’s line up to the sons of Elioenai (verse 24)—those descendants of David who were alive when 1 Chronicles was written.

In this section, therefore, the writer demonstrates that the house of David had not ended. True, in a political sense the descendants of Jehoiachin were no longer kings; Judah, now a province of the Persian Empire, was not permitted to have kings. Furthermore, before Jerusalem fell, the prophet Jeremiah had clearly stated that no offspring of Jehoiachin would sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah (Jeremiah 22:28–30).

But God had promised David that his throne would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:16); how was that promise going to be fulfilled? It would be fulfilled not by an ordinary descendant of David but by an “extra-ordinary” One. The newly returned exiles could look forward to the day when a Son of David, a Son of Jehoiachin¹¹—namely Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:12)—would rule forever on the throne of his father David (Luke 1:32–33). It would be through Christ that God’s purpose in establishing the nation of Israel would finally be fulfilled. Israel was meant to be a light in the world; soon the true light would be coming to give light to every man and woman on earth (John 1:9).