1 CHRONICLES LESSON 3


     We will begin this lesson in I Chronicles 2:1 "These [are] the
sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and
Zebulun," I Chronicles 2:2 "Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad,
and Asher."

     When these twelve sons were born, their father was using the
name, Jacob, instead of Israel. Jacob is the name generally used when
speaking of the family. Israel is the name used when he and his family
became a nation. "Jacob" means trickster. "Israel" means having power
with God, or God's fighter. Jacob tricked his brother out of his
birthright, and received the right hand blessing. Israel fathered the
twelve tribes, which Moses led out of Egypt to the promised land.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun were all sons of
Abraham by Leah. I do not know why Dan is mentioned by himself, and
before Rachel's children, Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel's maid, Bilhah,
was the mother of Dan. Naphtali was the second son of Bilhah. Gad and
Asher were sons of Leah's maid, Zilpah. These twelve sons of Jacob
were the twelve tribes of Israel. God will have Moses lead them out of
Egypt, and give them their inheritance in the promised land. It was
this group of people that God intrusted his law to. They were
classified as God's people.

     I Chronicles 2:3  "The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah:
[which] three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the
Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of
the LORD; and he slew him."

     Perhaps, Judah is mentioned first because it will be through this
tribe that God will bring the Messiah. He will be the Lion of the
tribe of Judah. "Er" means watchful. The mistake that Judah made,
here, was marrying a Canaanitish woman. Er was killed by God for his
sins, probably, the worship of the false gods of his mother. Onan
refused to marry Tamar, his brother's widow and raise a child for him.
God killed him, also. Shelah was the young son, which Judah refused to
give Tamar to wife.

     I Chronicles 2:4 "And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez
and Zerah. All the sons of Judah [were] five."

     We must remember how this happened. Tamar's husband died, and his
brothers should have married her and given her a son by their brother.
It was really, the father, Judah's place to see that they did what
they were supposed to. When they did not, she disguised herself as a
harlot and slept with Judah. These two sons are from that union. The
lineage to David goes through her son, Pharez. Pharez's twin was
Zerah.
Zerah's descendents were called Zarhites, Ezrahites, and Izrahites.

     I Chronicles 2:5 "The sons of Pharez; Hezron, and Hamul."

     The lineage leads through Hezron known, also, as Esrom. "Hamul"
means pitied, or spared. Very little is known of him.

     I Chronicles 2:6 "And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and
Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all."

     There is little known in the Bible of these five sons of Zerah.

     I Chronicles 2:7 "And the sons of Carmi; Achar, the troubler of
Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed."

     It is assumed from the trouble that came on the sons and
daughters of Achar, that this line died out. Joshua 7:24 "And Joshua,
and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver,
and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his
daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent,
and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor."
Joshua 7:25 "And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD
shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones,
and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones."

     I Chronicles 2:8 "And the sons of Ethan; Azariah."

     This line ends with Azariah, because there is no further mention
of him.

     I Chronicles 2:9 "The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto
him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai."

     Hezron was the father of the Hezronites. He was, also, called
Esrom. The lineage that leads to David goes through his son, Ram.
"Jerahmeel" means whom God loves, or God will be compassionate. His
descendents are called Jerahmeelites. Chelubai is elsewhere called
Caleb. "Ram" means high. In the New Testament, he is called Aram.

     I Chronicles 2:10 "And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat
Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah;"

     Sometimes, Amminidab is spelled with just one m. The lineage
continues through Amminadab. "Amminadab" means people of liberality.
His daughter, Elisheba, was married to Aaron. Nashon is sometimes
spelled Naasson. He was called captain. He was a prince of Judah,
since God was King.

     I Chronicles 2:11 "And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat
Boaz,"

     Salma is the same as Salmon. He married Rahab and had a son named
Boaz. "Boaz" means fleetness. He is, also, called Booz of Rachab. He
marries Ruth the Moabitess. They are the great-grandparents of David.

     I Chronicles 2:12 "And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse."

     The name "Obed" means worshipper. The neighbors of Naomi gave
Obed his name. Jesse is called a Bethlehemite, and an Ephrathite.
Jesse had eight sons. His youngest was David.

     I Chronicles 2:13  "And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and
Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third," I Chronicles 2:14
"Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth," I Chronicles 2:15 "Ozem the
sixth, David the seventh:"

     In 1 Samuel 16:10, Jesse had eight sons, so one of them is left
out here. It is, possibly, because one of the sons had died early. He
was, possibly, left out, because he never married, or had children.
Eliab was the first son shown to Samuel to choose a king from among
Jesse's sons. He was, also, one of the brothers at the front line when
David killed Goliath. His daughter, Abihail, married Rehoboam and they
had three children. Abinadab was, also, at the front line. He, too,
had been shown to Samuel, and turned down by the prophet. In fact, all
of the sons of Jesse were turned down by Samuel, until David. David
was anointed king. Shimma was, also, at the battlefront. He was known
as Shimeah, Shammah, and Shimea. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is
directly descended from him. There is very little known of the others.
David, of course, is the eighth, and he is in the direct lineage of
Jesus.  "David" means beloved of God. David was the second king of the
united twelve tribes of Israel.

     I Chronicles 2:16 "Whose sisters [were] Zeruiah, and Abigail. And
the sons of Zeruiah; Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three."
I Chronicles 2:17 "And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa
[was] Jether the Ishmeelite."

     These were, probably, step-sisters of David. They, probably, had
the same mother and different fathers. They were daughters of Nahash,
and not Jesse. Zeruiah was the mother of three of David's generals,
Abashai, Joab, and Asahel. Abigail is not the same Abigail, who
married David, after David killed her husband, Nabal, who had insulted
him.  Amasa is David's nephew. Amasa joined Absalom in the rebellion
against David. Joab killed Amasa.

     I Chronicles 2:18  "And Caleb the son of Hezron begat [children]
of Azubah [his] wife, and of Jerioth: her sons [are] these; Jesher,
and Shobab, and Ardon."

     This is returning back earlier to Caleb, or Chelubai. It appears,
that Jerioth and Azubah are the same person.  Nothing much is known of
these sons.

     I Chronicles 2:19 "And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took unto him
Ephrath, which bare him Hur."

     Ephrathites were people who lived in Bethlehem.

     I Chronicles 2:20 "And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezaleel."

     Hur was grand-father, and Uri was the father of Bezaleel. The
Bible tells us that God empowered Bezaleel to do the work in the
construction of the tabernacle and all of its beautiful work. Aholiab
was his assistant. In Exodus chapter 31 through chapter 37, we read
more about all that he did. Here is just a little about that. Exodus
31:2 "See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of
Hur, of the tribe of Judah:" Exodus 31:3 "And I have filled him with
the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge,
and in all manner of workmanship," Exodus 31:4 "To devise cunning
works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass," Exodus 31:5 "And
in cutting of stones, to set [them], and in carving of timber, to work
in all manner of workmanship."

     I Chronicles 2:21  "And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter
of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he [was]
threescore years old; and she bare him Segub."

     This reverts back, again, to Hezron. This is speaking of Abiah,
the sister of Gilead. Machir, her father, was Manasseh's oldest son.
At the age of 60 years, Hezron and Abiah had a son named Segub.

     I Chronicles 2:22 "And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty
cities in the land of Gilead."

     Moses counts Jair as being from the tribe of Manasseh. He settled
in Argob bordering on Gilead. It appears, that he was involved in
taking 60 of the towns, but he is allotted 23 for his family.

     I Chronicles 2:23 "And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns
of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, [even]
threescore cities. All these [belonged to] the sons of Machir, the
father of Gilead."

     It appears, that Jair took these cities from Machir, who was his
relative. Machir was his great-grandfather. The cities were actually
Machir's sons'.

     I Chronicles 2:24 "And after that Hezron was dead in Caleb-
ephratah, then Abiah Hezron's wife bare him Ashur the father of
Tekoa."

     This is two different statements. Hezron died in Caleb-ephratah.
His last son by Abiah was Ashur, the father of Tekoa. Ashur was born
after the death of his father. Tekoa is, probably, not a person, but a
town in Judah.

     I Chronicles 2:25  "And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of
Hezron were, Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, [and]
Ahijah."

     Ram, above, is the nephew of Ram through whom the lineage to
David flows. Very little is known of these sons.

     I Chronicles 2:26 "Jerahmeel had also another wife, whose name
[was] Atarah; she [was] the mother of Onam."

     "Atarah" means crown. Very little else is known of her, or Onan.
                        1 Chronicles 3 Questions


1.  Who were the sons of Israel?
2.  What was Israel's name, before it became Israel?
3.  What does "Jacob" mean?
4.  What does "Israel" mean?
5.  In verse 1, what order are the names of the sons given?
6.  Who will lead them to their promised land?
7.  Who were Judah's three sons by the daughter of Shua?
8.  What happened to Er?
9.  Why did God kill Onan?
10. Tell how Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, happened to have two sons
    by him?
11. Which one of her sons does the lineage to David go through?
12. What is another name for Hezron?
13. What does "Hamul" mean?
14. Quote Joshua chapter 7 verses 24 and 25.
15. Which of Hezron's sons does the lineage to David go through?
16. Chelubai is called _________ elsewhere.
17. "Ram" means _________.
18. What is Ram called in the New Testament?
19. What does "Ammiadab" mean?
20. Nashon is sometimes spelled _____________.
21. Salma is the same as ___________.
22. Who was his wife?
23. Who was their son?
24. Who did Boaz marry?
25. What was the name of their son?
26. Who named him?
27. What does "Obed" mean?
28. How many sons did Jesse have?
29. How many do verses 13 and 14 give?
30. Why is there a discrepancy?
31. Who was the most famous son of Jesse?
32. Who were his sisters?
33. Three of Zeruiah's sons were David's _____________.
34. Who sided with Absalom against David?
35. Who was Bezaleel?
36. Quote Exodus chapter 31 verses 2, 3, 4, and 5.
37. Who did Hezron marry, when he was 60 years old?
38. Who had 23 cities in the land of Gilead?
39. Ashur was born _______ the death of his father.
40. What was Tekoa?