1 Chronicles 3 explained: David's Family Line Through Exile

Sons born in Hebron (vv. 1-4)

David ruled from the town of Hebron for seven and a half years, and each of these six sons had a different mother. Three of them, Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah, appear in Samuel and Kings in stories of rape, murder, rebellion and a grab for the throne.

Sons born in Jerusalem (vv. 5-9)

Bathsheba's sons include Solomon, who became king, and Nathan, through whom Luke's gospel later traces Jesus' family. The name Eliphelet appears twice, perhaps because an earlier son died young and the name was reused, and Tamar is the daughter whose rape by Amnon is told in 2 Samuel 13.

The kings of Judah (vv. 10-16)

These are the kings who ruled from Jerusalem after Solomon, the crown passing from father to son for an unusually long run. Near the end it passes between brothers and relatives, a sign of the chaos before Babylon conquered the kingdom, and Shallum is probably the king also called Jehoahaz.

Jehoiachin the captive (vv. 17-19)

Jehoiachin, also called Jeconiah, was a king taken prisoner to Babylon, and this list shows David's family surviving that disaster. Zerubbabel, who later led a return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple, is called Shealtiel's son elsewhere but Pedaiah's son here, and scholars are unsure why.

Generations after the exile (vv. 19-24)

These mostly unknown names carry David's line on for several more generations, though verse 21 is hard to follow and may have been garbled in copying. For people rebuilding their lives after exile, the list showed that the royal family, and the hopes tied to it, had not died out.

Key verse: 1 Chronicles 3:17

Something to think about

When a family or a whole people loses almost everything, what keeps their sense of who they are alive?