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CHAPTER 2 Sep. 19 
These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 2Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 
The Children of Judah
3The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah; which three were born to him of Shua’s daughter the Canaanitess. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh; and He killed him. 4Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. 5The sons of Perez: Hezron, and Hamul. 6The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Dara; five of them in all. 7The sons of Carmi: Achar the troubler of Israel, who committed a trespass in the devoted thing. 8The son of Ethan: Azariah. 9The sons also of Hezron, who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram and Chelubai. 
The Children of Ram
10Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah; 11and Nahshon became the father of Salma, and Salma became the father of Boaz, 12and Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse; 13and Jesse became the father of his firstborn Eliab, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, 14Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, 15Ozem the sixth, David the seventh; 16and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab and Asahel, three. 17Abigail bore Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite. 
The Children of Caleb
18Caleb the son of Hezron fathered children by Azubah his wife, and by Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab and Ardon. 19Azubah died, and Caleb took to him Ephrath, who bore him Hur. 20Hur became the father of Uri, and Uri became the father of Bezalel. 21Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he took as wife when he was sixty years old; and she bore him Segub. 22Segub became the father of Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. 23Geshur and Aram took the towns of Jair from them, with Kenath, and its villages, even sixty cities. All these were the sons of Machir the father of Gilead. 24After that Hezron was dead in Caleb Ephrathah, then Abijah Hezron’s wife bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa. 
The Children of Jerahmeel
25The sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were Ram the firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem and Ahijah. 26Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. 27The sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were Maaz, Jamin and Eker. 28The sons of Onam were Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur. 29The name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail; and she bore him Ahban and Molid. 30The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim; but Seled died without children. 31The sons of Appaim: Ishi. The sons of Ishi: Sheshan. The sons of Sheshan: Ahlai. 32The sons of Jada the brother of Shammai: Jether and Jonathan; and Jether died without children. 33The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. 34Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. 35Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant as wife; and she bore him Attai. 36Attai became the father of Nathan, and Nathan became the father of Zabad, 37Zabad became the father of Ephlal, Ephlal became the father of Obed, 38Obed became the father of Jehu, Jehu became the father of Azariah, 39Azariah became the father of Helez, Helez became the father of Eleasah, 40Eleasah became the father of Sismai, Sismai became the father of Shallum, 41Shallum became the father of Jekamiah and Jekamiah became the father of Elishama. 42The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph. The son of Mareshah was Hebron. 43The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem and Shema. 44Shema became the father of Raham, the father of Jorkeam; and Rekem became the father of Shammai. 45The son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth Zur. 46Ephah, Caleb’s concubine, bore Haran, Moza and Gazez; and Haran became the father of Gazez. 47The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jothan, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah and Shaaph. 48Maacah, Caleb’s concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah. 49She bore also Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbena, and the father of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. 50These were the sons of Caleb, the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath Jearim, 51Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Beth Gader. 52Shobal the founder of Kiriath Jearim was the ancestor of the people Haroeh and half of the people of Menuhoth. 53The families of Kiriath Jearim: The Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites and the Mishraites; of them came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites. 54The sons of Salma: Bethlehem and the Netophathites, Atroth Beth Joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites. 55The families of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came of Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

Commentary


2:4 Israel's sinfulness seems to be emphasized in the various 'interruptions' in the flowing list of names. Thus it is sometimes stressed that a man did not have many children (e.g. :4,6,16), as if to indicate that God's blessing was not with him (there seems an undoubted connection in Old Testament times between blessing and number of sons). Thus information such as that Jether died without children, Sheshan had no sons but daughters, Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers had few children… (2:32,34; 4:27) all this would have been read as highly significant in spiritual terms. Some outstanding weaknesses amongst the patriarchs are recorded (e.g. 5:1), and the fact that the duty of the priests was to make an atonement for Israel (6:49) appears to be an obvious detail added in passing- until it is appreciated that these records are highlighting the weakness of Israel. This is one of the major lessons from Chronicles.
2:12 Boaz's marriage to a Gentile is not highlighted; simply "Boaz begat Obed", whereas others' marriage out of the faith is recorded in the same chapter (2:3,34). The same action- in this case, marriage to a Gentile- can be done by different people with different motives. For one it may be an act of righteousness, for another- a sin. Thus when Uzziah acted as a priest he was condemned for it (2 Chron. 26:17-21), but when David (as a non-Levite also) did the same, it was a reflection of his spirituality. Seeing the inner motives and spirituality of others are hidden to us, we must be very careful not to judge by outward appearances; and we must resign all ultimate judgment to God, not least because of our total inability to make it.
2:16 Zeruiah was a sister of David, and David laments how her sons were very “hard” (2 Sam. 3:39; 16:10; 19:22). The fact that the hardness of those three men seems to be associated with their mother would lead us to conclude that David's sister Zeruiah was an extremely hard woman. Inevitably there must have been strands of hardness in David too (consider his treatment of Uriah, his intended massacre of Nabal's encampment, torturing the Ammonites etc.); and yet more often than not, we get the impression that David was a real softy. His experience of life made him progressively more soft, whilst his sister and nephews went the other way. Truly could he comment towards the end of it all that God’s gentleness had made him great (2 Sam. 22:36).
2:18 It’s unusual for the name of the wives or mothers to be recorded as we have here and in :24; perhaps the idea is to show the significance of women in Caleb’s family. 
2:22 Some Jews reject our belief that Jesus is the promised seed of Abraham and David by claiming that Hebrew genealogy wasn’t reckoned through women in Biblical times. But that isn’t the case. We see here that Jair's father was of the tribe of Judah, yet in Num.32:41 he is described as "the son of Manasseh", showing that his mother must have been of the tribe of Manasseh. His descent was reckoned through his mother rather than his father. Likewise :34 records that Sheshan "had no sons, but daughters". According to the objection that genealogy cannot be reckoned through the woman, Sheshan would have no subsequent genealogy. However, he is described in :31 as having a son, presumably from the fact that he gave his daughter in marriage to his Egyptian servant (:34). Thus his seed was still reckoned through a woman. Note that Hiram is described as "the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan" (2 Chron.2:14). 
2:46 Some of the names given to children seem to hint at a weakness in the parents. One wonders why Caleb called his illegitimate son "Haran”, after the city which Abraham left behind in order to attain God's promises. 
2:48 Caleb’s concubine- The genealogies seem to stress the weakness and occasional strength of the people of God. Occasionally the list of names is interrupted by a piece of information which indicates God's awareness of their spirituality. For example, the fact some men had more than one wife or a wife from a nation other than Israel is often recorded (as here and also in 1:32; 2:3,26,35; 4:18; 5:1; 7:14; 8:8). The way these interruptions occur in the lists of names stands out. This is surely to indicate two things: that many faithful men made mistakes in this area of life, and secondly that all down the centuries God has not forgotten that they married out of the faith, or that they allowed the pressures of their surrounding world to influence them to break away from the ideal one man: one woman standard of Eden. These two facts provide us with both warning and comfort, in that although God is sensitive to failure, He is still able to justify men, to count them as if they are righteous for the sake of their covenant relationship with Him, even though (e.g.) their married life was not completely in order.
2:54 Bethlehem clearly refers to the city rather than a person of that name. Chronicling which Israelite families came from which towns in Judah confirms the suggestion made on 1:1 that these records were written up in the context of the return from exile clarifying who came from which town (see too 4:28-34).