GEMS IN GENEALOGY (PART 3)

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Sons of David

These were the sons of David born to him in Hebron:

The firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel;

the second, Daniel the son of Abigail of Carmel;

the third, Absalom the son of Maakah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;

the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith;

the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;

and the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah.

These six were born to David in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and six months.

David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years, and these were the children born to him there:

Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon.

These four were by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel.

There were also Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet — nine in all. All these were the sons of David, besides his sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.

The Kings of Judah

Solomon’s son was Rehoboam,

Abijah his son,

Asa his son,

Jehoshaphat his son,

Jehoram his son,

Ahaziah his son,

Joash his son,

Amaziah his son,

Azariah his son,

Jotham his son,

Ahaz his son,

Hezekiah his son,

Manasseh his son,

Amon his son,

Josiah his son.

The sons of Josiah:

Johanan the firstborn,

Jehoiakim the second son,

Zedekiah the third,

Shallum the fourth.

The successors of Jehoiakim:

Jehoiachin his son, and Zedekiah.

The Royal Line After the Exile

The descendants of Jehoiachin the captive:

Shealtiel his son, Malkiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah.

The sons of Pedaiah:

Zerubbabel and Shimei.

The sons of Zerubbabel:

Meshullam and Hananiah.

Shelomith was their sister.

There were also five others:

Hashubah, Ohel, Berekiah, Hasadiah and Jushab-Hesed.

The descendants of Hananiah:

Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, and the sons of Rephaiah, of Arnan, of Obadiah and of Shekaniah.

The descendants of Shekaniah:

Shemaiah and his sons:

Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah and Shaphat — six in all.

The sons of Neariah:

Elioenai, Hizkiah and Azrikam—three in all.

The sons of Elioenai:

Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah and Anani — seven in all.

1 Chronicles 3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

This is the third devotion in a nine devotion series titled Gems in Genealogy where we’re looking at interesting gems found embedded in the midst of the Chronicler’s lists, lists easily overlooked when we are reading our Bibles. Let’s look at today’s gems from 1 Chronicles, Chapter 3

GEM 1

David had LOTS of kids. Did you know that?

We do know about some of his children:

Amnon became obsessed with his sister Tamar who was a virgin. Luring her into his room, he raped her and then sent her away. Essentially, he had ruined her life because an unmarried woman who was not a virgin was an outcast in society. Scriptures tell us that a devastated Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her ornate robe, signs of deep emotional distress and mourning. Her life was ruined (2 Samuel 13).

We’re next introduced to Absalom who hated Amnon so much for what he did to Tamar that he had him killed two years after the incident and it was done in the presence of the rest of his brothers. Absalom fled after Amnon’s death and David mourned the loss of Amnon, although he wished to reconcile himself to Absalom. That happened two years after Absalom returned to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14).

So it looked as if order had been restored in David’s family but it hadn’t. For Absalom conspired against David with the plan of killing him and taking over the throne. The threat was so great that David had to flee Jerusalem for his safety (2 Samuel 15). David formed a fighting force and there was a deciding battle between Absalom’s army and David’s. David’s army, blessed by God, routed Absalom’s men and Absalom himself was killed by three javelins plunged into his heart after his hair became tangled in a tree, taking him off his mount and leaving him dangling. Scriptures tell us that David mourned Absalom’s death despite how his son had wronged him (2 Samuel 18).  

And so Amnon and Absalom were problematic. That would have been enough for any father to have to deal with but David wasn’t done with troubles from his children. For as we look at 1 Kings, Chapter 1, we find that David’s fourth son, Adonijah, proclaiming himself king without his father’s blessing. David had already pronounced that Solomon would assume the throne after his death.

Scriptures tell us that Adonijah was feasting with his followers at the time David was anointing Solomon and making him king. The celebration was so loud that Adonijah, not knowing what was transpiring, sought to find out what was going on. When he learned his brother had been appointed king, he first fled and clung to the horns of the altar before going before Solomon and begging for his life to be spared. Solomon did pardon his brother (1 Kings 1) but Adonijah was not done conspiring. After working through Bathsheba to request marriage Abishag, who had been David’s nurse, Solomon, angered by the request had his brother put to death (1 Kings 2).

I could write volumes about Solomon but we’re well versed in his life and many successes. I will touch on him in Gem 2.

Outside of that, we don’t hear much about any other of David’s sons and daughters but there were many of them. Look at the size of his family:

Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel;

the second, Daniel the son of Abigail of Carmel;

the third, Absalom the son of Maakah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;

the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith;

the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;

and the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah.

These six were born to David in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and six months.

David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years, 5 and these were the children born to him there:

Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon. These four were by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel. There were also Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet — nine in all. All these were the sons of David, besides his sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.

All and all, 19 sons and a daughter – and that doesn’t count any children he had by his concubines. Now THAT's a big family!

GEM 2

Where David had a ton of children, most of them sons, Solomon did not. In fact, the Bible only speaks of one son, Rehoboam who would succeed Solomon and proceed to divide Israel as a result of his leadership. After that, the lineage of Rehoboam would rule over the southern kingdom of Judah, a long line of kings who were good and bad as described by the scriptures, with most of them bad which would be in step with the one who got it all started – Rehoboam.

Here’s the scorecard of Judah’s kings after Rehoboam:

- Abijah - Bad - Heart not devoted to the Lord (1 Kings 15:3)

- Asa - Good - Did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (1 Kings 15:11)

- Jehoshaphat - Good - In everything he followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. (1 Kings 22:43)

- Jehoram - Bad - He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. (2 Kings 8:18b)

- Ahaziah - Bad - Did evil in the eyes of the Lord. (2 Kings 8:27a)

- Athalia – Bad – The only queen in this list. She took the throne for herself after Ahaziah’s death and proceeded to try and kill off the entire royal family but scriptures tell us that Jehosheba, daughter of King Jehoram, took her baby brother Joash and fled, harboring him safely in the temple for six years. He would assume the throne after Athalia was put to death on the palace grounds (2 Kings 11).  

- Joash - Good - Began to reign at age seven (2 Kings 11:21). Did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him (2 Kings 12:2).

- Amaziah - Good - He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Kings 14:3a).

- Azariah - Good - He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done (2 Kings 15:3).

- Jotham - Good - He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Kings 15:34)

- Ahaz - Bad - He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. (2 Kings 16:2b-4)

- Hezekiah - Good - He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. (2 Kings 18:3a)

- Manasseh - Bad - He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. (2 Kings 21:2-3)

- Amon - Bad - He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. He followed completely the ways of his father, worshiping the idols his father had worshiped, and bowing down to them. 22 He forsook the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in obedience to him. (2 Kings 21:20-22)

- Josiah - Good - He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. (2 Kings 22:2)

Of note, natural order of succession started to fall apart here in Judah. Jehoahaz took the throne and there is no mention of him in the Chronicles. He was 23 when he took the throne and only lasted three months. Scriptures tell us he did evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 23:31-32) so chalk up another bad king.  

- Johanan - Never ascended to be king. No reason given.

- Jehoiakim - Bad – He succeeded Jehoahaz and did evil in the eyes of the Lord (2 Kings 23:37)

- Zedekiah and Shallum – Like Johanan, they never ascended to be king. No reason given.

- Jehoiachin - Bad - He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. (2 Kings 24:9)

- Zedekiah - Bad - He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. (2 Kings 24:19)

In the end, 19 Judean rulers followed Rehoboam. Only eight were good. It’s little wonder why Judah and the people ended up in exile.

GEM 3

At the end of 1 Chronicles, Chapter 3, we’re provided with a list of royalty after the exile which begin with the offspring of Jehoiachin, the former king of Judah just before Judah was taken away by the Babylonians.

Surely one of them would lead the Israelites back to Jerusalem, right?

Well, the truth of the matter is that none of them did.

For as the first chapter of Ezra opens with the Persian king Cyrus allowing the Israelites to return to Jerusalem (you’ll recall the Persians had defeated the Babylonians), we find the king entrusting articles belonging to the temple of the Lord as well as the exiles to the leadership of a man named Sheshbazzar who we’re told was a prince of Judah (Ezra 1:8). Cyrus would later appoint Sheshbazzar as governor over the restored kingdom of Judah.

We don’t know much about Sheshbazzar’s heritage beyond this. What we do know is that he doesn’t appear on the list of the Chronicler.

What did we learn from these gems?

David had loads of kids, the kings after Solomon were mostly bad, doing evil in the sight of God which led to His judgment, and a relative unknown became the man to lead the Israelites back to the promised land and the holy city of Jerusalem.

We’ll see what gems chapter 4 holds tomorrow.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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