1 Chronicles 2 Study Notes

2:9 Returning to the main line: Perez had Hezron (see note at v. 5). Now the line splits three ways based on Hezron’s three sons: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai. Of these, Ram’s line is the main one, and this time it gets mentioned first. Chelubai is another version of the name Caleb. There are many different men named Caleb in the list that follows.

2:10-12 Ram’s line of descent connects through Boaz to Jesse, the father of David.

2:13-17 In this passage we are given the names of David’s six older brothers and his two much older sisters Zeruiah and Abigail. These two were probably from an earlier marriage of David’s father Jesse since according to 2Sm 17:25, their father was Nahash. So presumably Jesse married Nahash’s widow. Zeruiah had three sons—Abishai, Joab, and Asahel—who were roughly David’s age, and who would later become leaders in David’s army. Abigail married an Ishmaelite named Jether and gave birth to Amasa, who would become the leader of Absalom’s army against David. These four were David’s half-nephews. Also see the note at 27:18.

2:18-24 We go back to Hezron, son of Perez, who left a sizeable number of descendants—one of them even after his own death. His son Caleb (called Chelubai in v. 9) also had a number of sons.

2:25-33 The third line of descent coming from Hezron, joining those of Ram and Caleb, is that of Jerahmeel. His son Ram was the nephew of Hezron’s brother, Ram.

2:34-35 Sheshan had been mentioned in v. 31, the sixth generation descendant of Jerahmeel. He did not have a male heir, but a daughter named Ahlai. Jarha, his Egyptian servant, provided him with a grandson named Attai to carry on the family name.

2:36-41 The list of Jerahmeel’s descendants continues from Attai onward.

2:42-55 We have already had a list of the descendants of Caleb (Chelubai), the son of Perez. This time the descendants mentioned are not individual people but the populations of towns that could trace themselves back to him in direct and indirect ways.