May be attentively read with much profit. The Spirit in chap. 2. first presents the parentage of David, while in chap. 3:10-16 the kings of Judah are given down to the captivity.
The line of the high priests from Aaron unto the captivity is given in 1 Chron. 6:3-15, with the exception of Eli and his descendants. These latter were descended from Ithamar (1 Chron. 24:3), but the curse from God rested on the house of Eli (1 Sam. 2:29-34):-
“Their priests fell by the sword;
And their widows made no lamentation.”
Sheshan married his daughter to his servant Jarha, an Egyptian, and their children were reckoned with Israel (1 Chron. 2:34-41). On the other hand Mered the son of Ezra married Bithiah, the daughter of Pharash (chap. 4:17, 18), and had sons. Had Joseph's wise advice been followed (Gen. 46:33, 34) as years rolled on, there had not been these mixed marriages. Manasseh and Ephraim do not appear to have ever aspired to become nobles in Egypt. Before Beriah was born, it had gone evil with the house of Ephraim, whose posterity is named down to Joshua, who led Israel on to victory in the Land of Promise (chap. 7:20-27).
The prayer of Jabez (chap. 4:9, 10) has made his name famous. Who was Jabez? And from whom descended? No connecting link is given in chap. 4. to show that he was born of Judah; in the midst of whose family register his name suddenly appears. Was that “coast,” which the Lord enlarged in answer to his prayer, called after himself? If so, chap. 2:55 favors the impression that he was of the family of the Kenites, who were the descendants of Hohab, a Cushite, who came with Israel at Moses' express invitation (Num. 10:29), and his children dwelt among the people of Judah (Judg. 1:16). A Kenite could not claim a portion in Israel, on the ground that he was of Israel; yet he might call on the God of Israel, and ask to be blessed with Israel.
To 1 Chron. 6:33, 38 we are indebted for clearly establishing the fact that Heman, the central one of the three leading singers of Israel (compare verses 33, 39, 44) was the grandson of the prophet Samuel; and that both were descendants of that very man Korah, who led the great rebellion in the wilderness. The children of Dathan and Abiram went down with their parents alive into the pit. “Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not” (Num. 26:11). These appear to have left their father alone in his wickedness; and of the sons of the very man that disputed the authority of Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, came that prophet who spake unto Israel, and said, “It is Jehovah that advanced Moses and Aaron, &c.” (1 Sam. 12:6, 8).
Many of the Psalms are expressly dedicated “To the sons of Korah,” of whom, in the days of David, Heman was the leading representative. He had a numerous family (1 Chron. 25:5).
The sons of Moses “the man of God” could not, like their brethren the sons of Aaron, officiate as priests. They were named of the tribe of Levi (1 Chron. 23:14-17). During David's reign, “Shebuel the son of Gershom,” Moses' eldest son, was “ruler of the treasures “; while Shelomith, descended from Moses' second son, was, with his brethren, the custodian of “all the treasures of the dedicated things,” given expressly for the maintenance of the house of Jehovah (1 Chron. 26:24-28). The honorable position they were privileged to occupy, in David's kingdom, enables us to point to the sons of Moses as a striking example of the fulfillment of that gracious promise, “The children of Thy servants shall continue; their seed shall be established before thee.”
Nor were “the sons of the stranger” overlooked at a time when the Lord so bountifully blessed Israel. For the Spirit of God, “when He writeth up the people,” graciously includes in the list of David's mighty men, Zelek the Ammonite (1 Chron. 11:39), Uriah the Hittite (verse 41), and Ithmah the Moabite (verse 46). In this connection we would also mention the name of Ittai the Gittite, whose faithfulness to David, when a fugitive (2 Sam. 15:19-23), rebuked an ungrateful nation, and was rewarded by his being made one of the chief commanders of David's army (2 Sam. 18:2). Honorable mention is also made of Oman the Jebusite, who readily offered to give his threshing-floor, oxen, and implements, to his acknowledged sovereign lord the king of Israel (1 Chron. 21:18-28).