The Tribe of Judah (1 Chron 2:3-4:23): Family of Hezron & Descendants of Ram

The Family of Hezron

The remainder of the genealogy of the tribe of Judah in 1 Chronicles 2:3 – 4:23 concerns the family of Hezron, as far as can be ascertained from the text, the only doubtful area being some of the small sections of genealogy in 1 Chronicles 4.

Hezron had three sons, Jerahmeel, Ram and Chelubai (1 Chron.2:9). Genealogies for each of these sections is subsequently given as follows:

Ram                     1 Chronicles 2:10-17
Chelubai/Caleb   1 Chronicles 2:18-24
Jerahmeel           1 Chronicles 2:25-55

The genealogy of Ram is presumably given first because this is the line leading to David, and ultimately to Jesus. 1 Chronicles 2:10-17 gives the genealogy of Ram’s descendants only as far as David and his family; the line is continued down to the days of the return from exile in 1 Chronicles 3. The further sections of genealogy given in 1 Chronicles 4:1-16,20 appear to relate either to the family of Jerahmeel or the family of Chelubai/Caleb.

1. The Descendants of Ram

The line from Ram to David is fairly straightforward. It is interesting to note from Exodus 6:23 that Aaron married into this line, for the fact that his wife Elisheba is said to be both the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon shows that it is indeed this line that he married into. Elisheba is in fact the same name as Elisabeth. A repetition of this Judah/Levi link occurred therefore in New Testament times when Zacharias the Levite married Elisabeth who must have been of the tribe of Judah and of the line of Ram because she was Mary’s cousin.

Nahshon, the brother-in-law of Aaron, was prominent in the early part of the wilderness journey as the prince or head of his tribe of Judah (Num.1:7; 2:3; 7:12; 10:14). Nothing is said in the Old Testament about the fact that his son Salmon married Rahab; the information is only to be found in the genealogy of Matthew 1. It is possible that Salmon was one of the spies whom Rahab gave shelter to in Jericho.

It does not seem likely that the genealogy given is complete. It was 430 years from the giving of the covenant to Abraham in Genesis 15 till the giving of the law at Sinai in the year of the Exodus (Gal.3:17). From the various pieces of information given in Genesis about the ages of the Patriarchs, it would seem that Judah was born about 170 years after Genesis 15. This leaves only 4 generations to cover a period of 260 years, possible but not likely. We have put the gap between Ram and Amminadab on the grounds that such a gap is most likely to be in the period of which there is no Scriptural record, when Israel were growing into a nation in Egypt.

A second gap seems likely in the period of the Judges. We have already suggested (Bible Student Sept/Oct ’77 p.127) that from the entry into Israel until Saul is 357 years. The 4 generations from Salmon to Jesse seem insufficient for this, as men were not by then living to great age. We have suggested that the gap occurs between Salmon and Boaz. Nahshon appears at the start of the wilderness journey and, since Salmon married Rahab, he was amongst those who entered the land, so there is little doubt that Salmon was Nahshon’s actual son.

There are two good reasons for supposing that Jesse was literally the grandson of Boaz and Ruth. Firstly, there is the setting of the book of Ruth between Judges and Samuel, which suggests that the events related therein occurred at the end of the period of Judges. Secondly, there is the fact that David sent his parents to Moab (1 Sam.22:3-4) so that they should be safe from Saul. The choosing of Moab is surely because Jesse’s grandmother Ruth was a Moabitess. If the Moabite ancestry went back several more generations the link would be much more tenuous.

A gap between Salmon and Boaz is therefore suggested. Elimelech, husband of Naomi, was related to Boaz and there was a nearer kinsman whose name is not given (Ruth 3:12). Quite a family must, therefore, have sprung from this line at the time of the settlement of the land, and this has been shown as coming from Salmon and Rahab. The details of Elimelech’s family as given in Ruth are incorporated into the genealogy; it should be noted that we are not told which of the sons of Elimelech married Orpah, and which Ruth.

Coming now to Jesse and his family, the genealogy shown is based upon the ideas put forward by Sister Ray Walker in the second article of her series “Jesse’s Rod” (Bible Student May/June ’76 p.59) which seem to fit the facts of the case very well. Readers are referred to the article in question for the evidence for this reconstruction of the genealogy; a summary follows here.

Jesse had seven sons by his wife (1 Sam.16:10, 17:12), one of whom is not named in Chronicles and who presumably died when young, perhaps in his teens. The first three of these sons are named in 1 Samuel 16:6-9 and 17:13, the other three are named only in 1 Chronicles. David was the son of a concubine, perhaps a foreigner. This concubine had previously had two daughters Zeruiah and Abigail. We have disagreed slightly with “Jesse’s Rod’ in showing both these as the daughters of Nahash (2 Sam.17:25), more for the sake of simplicity than for any positive reason. When this concubine was taken by Jesse, her two daughters were presumably adopted into the family of Jesse and are hence described as sisters in 1 Chronicles 2:16. In fact they would have been half-sisters of David and step-sisters of the other seven.

It is interesting to note the prominence of David’s nephews when David became king. The three brothers, Abishai, Joab and Asahel, were all warriors in David’s army. Abishai was one of David’s band of followers during the period when they were fleeing from Saul (1 Sam.26:6) and continued to serve in David’s army when David became king; Joab, of course, became commander in chief of David’s army (2 Sam. 8:16), and Asahel was killed while a young warrior by Abner (2 Sam.2:19-23). Amasa, another nephew of David, was appointed commander in chief of the army of Absalom (2 Sam.17:25) his cousin, was forgiven by David, who promised to make him commander in chief instead of his cousin Joab (2 Sam. 19:13); and was then treacherously assassinated by Joab (2 Sam.20:8-10).

Another of David’s nephews, Jonadab, Shimea’s son, became friendly with David’s eldest son Amnon. He is described as a “very subtil man” (2 Sam.13:3), and it was his clever, but immoral, advice that led to the rape of Tamar by Amnon, and the subsequent murder of Amnon by Absalom. There are lessons here, both in our choice of friends and our reaction to the bright ideas of others.

We hear nothing more of the brothers of David except for Eliab. Assuming that he is to be equated with the Elihu of 1 Chronicles 27:18 (rather than the latter being the “missing” son of Jesse), then he was appointed by his half-brother David to be a ruler of Judah. He had a daughter called Abihail who married a son of David (2 Chronicles 11:18 RSV). This connection will be developed in our next piece of genealogy, God Willing.