I Chronicles Chapter 3
Please read: I Chronicles 3 –
The descendants of King David are recorded here and there are 19 names listed. What some may find surprising is that David had more than one wife. And even more surprising is that there were more children that were not listed, that he had with concubines. We know that this was not God’s plan; His plan was one man and one woman in a covenant of marriage. But David, like so many other kings of the ancient world, viewed having many children as a sign of wealth and status.
In verses 10-16 the chronicler traces the blood line from David’s son Solomon down to Jeconiah who was taken captive by the Babylonians. This same line of descendants were the men who sat on the throne of Judah beginning with Solomon’s son Rehoboam the first king of the split kingdom. And then from verse 16 to the end of the chapter the family tree is traced from Jeconiah as the chronicler portrayed the preservation of the Davidic line even while held captive the Babylonians.
Let's Reflect
1. When David became king of all of Israel he was not yet on a throne in Jerusalem. Where did the first few years of his reign begin?
2. How many years did he reign as king in Jerusalem?
3. Thank goodness we are not given the names of all of the sons of Solomon, David’s son. But instead verse 10 begins a recording of the first-born sons (or typically the first-born) and grandsons of David who sat on the throne in Jerusalem. What was Solomon’s son’s name who reigned after him?
4. Solomon was not David’s first-born son. Here in this chapter his mother is called Bathshua, the woman that David committed adultery with. What name are we more familiar with for this woman?
5. This succession of sons taking the throne one after the other lines up exactly as we read in I and II Kings with one exception. The reign of Athaliah for 7 years. Athaliah was the wife of Jehoram and after her son Ahaziah was killed she took the throne over. She murdered all of her dead husband’s descendants so that she could remain in power. But a little boy, a son of Ahaziah was hidden and he became the next king. What was the little boy’s name? See the end of verse 11.
6. When we reach verse 17 what is said of King Jeconiah?
7. Zedekiah followed after Jeconiah and was set up as king of Judah but was actually just a vassal king for the Babylonians. There weren’t many people left in Judah to be king over. From that point the Bible lists 9 generations (if I counted correctly) that followed Jeconiah. Why are these genealogical records so important if there was no longer a king on the throne in Jerusalem?
