1 Now these were David's sons, whose birth took place in Hebron: the oldest Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite woman;
While David was in Hebron he became the father of sons: the oldest was Amnon, son of Ahinoam of Jezreel; And the second, Chileab, whose mother was Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom, son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; And the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah, the son of Abital; And the sixth, Ithream, whose mother was David's wife Eglah. These were the sons of David, whose birth took place in Hebron.
And David, hearing that Nabal was dead, said, May the Lord be praised, who has taken up my cause against Nabal for the shame which he put on me, and has kept back his servant from evil, and has sent on Nabal's head the reward of his evil-doing. And David sent word to Abigail, desiring to take her as his wife. And when David's servants came to Carmel, to Abigail, they said to her, David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife. And she got up, and going down on her face to the earth, said, See, I am ready to be a servant-girl, washing the feet of the servants of my lord. Then Abigail got up quickly and went on her ass, with five of her young women, after the men whom David had sent; and she became David's wife. And David had taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, to be his wife; these two were his wives.
And David and his men were living with Achish at Gath; every man had his family with him, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, who had been the wife of Nabal.
Now after this, it came about that Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and David's son Amnon was in love with her.
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Commentary on 1 Chronicles 3 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 3
1Ch 3:1-9. Sons of David.
1-3. Now these were the sons of David, which were born unto him in Hebron—It is of consequence for the proper understanding of events in the domestic history of David, to bear in mind the place and time of his sons' birth. The oldest son, born after his father's accession to the sovereign authority, is according to Eastern notions, the proper heir to the throne. And hence the natural aspirations of ambition in Ammon, who was long unaware of the alienation of the crown, and could not be easily reconciled to the claims of a younger brother being placed above his own (see on 2Sa 3:1-5).
3. Eglah his wife—supposed to be another name of Michal, who, though she had no son after her mockery of David for dancing before the ark [2Sa 6:16, 20], might have had one previous to that time. She has the title of wife appended to her name because she was his proper wife; and the mention of her name last probably arose from the circumstance that, having been withdrawn from David and married to another husband but afterwards restored, she had in reality become the last of his wives.
5. four, of Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel—or, "Bath-sheba" (2Sa 11:3), and there her father is called "Eliam." Of course Solomon was not her "only son," but he is called so (Pr 4:3) from the distinguished affection of which he was the object; and though the oldest, he is named the last of Bath-sheba's children.
6. Elishama and Eliphelet—Two sons of the same name are twice mentioned (1Ch 3:8). They were the children of different mothers, and had probably some title or epithet appended by which the one was distinguished from the other. Or, it might be, that the former two were dead, and their names had been given to sons afterwards born to preserve their memories.
8. nine—The number of David's sons born after his removal to Jerusalem, was eleven (2Sa 5:14), but only nine are mentioned here: two of them being omitted, either in consequence of their early deaths or because they left no issue.
1Ch 3:10-16. His Line to Zedekiah.
10. Solomon's son was Rehoboam, &c.—David's line is here drawn down to the captivity, through a succession of good and bad, but still influential and celebrated, monarchs. It has rarely happened that a crown has been transmitted from father to son, in lineal descent, for seventeen reigns. But this was the promised reward of David's piety. There is, indeed, observable some vacillation towards the close of this period—the crown passing from one brother to another, an even from uncle to nephew—a sure sign of disorderly times and a disjointed government.
15. Zedekiah—called the son of Josiah (compare Jer 1:3; 37:1), but in 2Ch 36:19 he is described as the brother of Jehoiachin, who was the son of Jehoiakim, and consequently the grandson of Josiah. Words expressive of affinity or relationship are used with great latitude in the Hebrew.
Shallum—No king of this name is mentioned in the history of Josiah's sons (2Ki 14:1-29; 23:1-37), but there is a notice of Shallum the son of Josiah (Jer 22:11), who reigned in the stead of his father, and who is generally supposed to be Jehoahaz, a younger son, here called the fourth, of Josiah.
1Ch 3:17-24. Successors of Jeconiah.
17. the sons of Jeconiah; Assir—rather, "Jeconiah the prisoner," or "captive." This record of his condition was added to show that Salathiel was born during the captivity in Babylon (compare Mt 1:12). Jeconiah was written childless (Jer 22:30), a prediction which (as the words that follow explain) meant that this unfortunate monarch should have no son succeeding him on the throne.
18. Malchiram also—As far as Jeconiah, everything is plain; but there is reason to suspect that the text in the subsequent verses has been dislocated and disarranged. The object of the sacred historian is to trace the royal line through Zerubbabel; yet, according to the present reading, the genealogical stem cannot be drawn from Jeconiah downwards. The following arrangement of the text is given as removing all difficulties [Davidson, Hermeneutics]:—1Ch 3:17. And the sons of Jeconiah the the captive, Salathiel (Shealtiel, Ezr 3:2; Ne 12:1; Hag 1:12, 14; 2:2) his son. 1Ch 3:18. And the sons of Salathiel; Zerubbabel and Shimei; and the sons of Zerubbabel; Meshullam, Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister. 1Ch 3:19. And Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushab-hezed. 1Ch 3:20. And Malchiram, and Rephaiah, and Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. 1Ch 3:21. The sons of Hananiah; Pelatiah and Jesaiah; the sons of Rephaiah; his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah.