9 All these were the sons of David, in addition to the sons of his servant-wives; and Tamar was their sister.
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. And he was so deeply in love that he became ill because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin, and so it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother: and Jonadab was a very wise man. And he said to him, O son of the king, why are you getting thinner day by day? will you not say what your trouble is? And Amnon said to him, I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. Then Jonadab said to him, Go to your bed, and let it seem that you are ill: and when your father comes to see you, say to him, Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread, and get the food ready before my eyes, so that I may see it and take it from her hand. So Amnon went to bed and made himself seem ill: and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let my sister Tamar come and make me one or two cakes before my eyes, so that I may take food from her hand. Then David sent to the house for Tamar and said, Go now to your brother Amnon's house and get a meal for him. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was in bed. And she took paste and made cakes before his eyes, cooking them over the fire. And she took the cooking-pot, and put the cakes before him, but he would not take them. And Amnon said, Let everyone go away from me. So they all went out. Then Amnon said to Tamar, Take the food and come into my bedroom, so that I may take it from your hand. So Tamar took the cakes she had made and went with them into her brother Amnon's bedroom. And when she took them to give them to him, he put his arms round her and said, Come to bed, my sister. And answering him, she said, O my brother, do not put shame on me; it is not right for such a thing to be done in Israel: do not this evil thing. What will become of me in my shame? and as for you, you will be looked down on with disgust by all Israel. Now then, go and make your request to the king, for he will not keep me from you. But he would not give attention to what she said: but being stronger than she, he took her by force, and had connection with her. Then Amnon was full of hate for her, hating her with a hate greater than his earlier love for her. And he said to her, Get up and be gone. And she said to him, Not so, my brother, for this great wrong in sending me away is worse than what you did to me before. But he gave no attention to her. Then he gave a cry to the servant who was waiting on him and said, Put this woman out, and let the door be locked after her. Now she had on a long robe, such as in past times the king's virgin daughters were dressed in. Then the servant put her out, locking the door after her. And Tamar, in her grief, put dust on her head; and she put her hand on her head and went away crying loudly. And her brother Absalom said to her, Has your brother Amnon been with you? but now, let there be an end to your crying, my sister: he is your brother, do not take this thing to heart. So Tamar went on living uncomforted in her brother's house.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 3
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 3 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 3
This chapter gives an account of the sons of David, born to him both in Hebron and in Jerusalem, 1 Chronicles 3:1, and of his successors in the kingdom, to the Babylonish captivity, 1 Chronicles 3:10, and of his family, to the coming of the Messiah, 1 Chronicles 3:17.
Now these were the sons of David,.... The six following born in Hebron, who are reckoned in the same order as in 2 Samuel 3:2, only here the second son is called Daniel, who there goes by the name of Chileab; he had two names, the reason of which see there; and here David's wife, Eglah, is said in the Targum to be Michal, Saul's daughter; see Gill on 2 Samuel 3:5, to which is added an account of his reign both in Hebron and Jerusalem, agreeably to 2 Samuel 5:5.
And these were born unto him in Jerusalem,.... Whose names follow, in all nine; there are but seven mentioned in 2 Samuel 5:14 the reason of which see in the notes there; See Gill on 2 Samuel 5:14. See Gill on 2 Samuel 5:15. See Gill on 2 Samuel 5:16. it may be observed that Bathsheba is here called Bathshua, and her father Ammiel, whose name is Eliam in 2 Samuel 11:3, names of much the same signification.
These were all the sons of David,.... By his wives:
beside the sons of the concubines; who are not reckoned, and how many they were is not known; he had ten concubines at least, 2 Samuel 15:16 and 2 Samuel 20:3.
And Tamar their sister; not the sister of the sons of the concubines, but of his other sons, and only of Absalom by the mother's side, of whom see 2 Samuel 13:1.
And Solomon's son was Rehoboam,.... From hence to the end of the fourteenth verse, David's successors are reckoned, according to the order of their reign, unto Josiah and his sons:
Solomon, Rehoboam, Abia, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, in all sixteen.
And the sons of Josiah were, the firstborn Johanan,.... Of whom we nowhere else read; he probably died before his father Josiah:
the second Jehoiakim: whose name was Eliakim, changed for the former by the king of Egypt, when, he deposed his younger brother, and set him on the throne, 2 Kings 23:24.
the third Zedekiah; whose name was Mattaniah, but changed by the king of Babylon, when he placed him on the throne in the room of his brother's son, 2 Kings 24:17,
the fourth Shallum: the same with Jehoahaz, who was first made king in the room of his father; but reigning so short a time, and making so mean a figure, is mentioned last, see Jeremiah 22:11.
And the sons of Jehoiakim; Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son. This is not the Zedekiah mentioned in the preceding verse; for he was not the son but the uncle of Jeconiah, unless he should be called his son because he succeeded him in the kingdom; but he seems to be another of that name, nowhere else mentioned, and not the son of Jeconiah in any sense; he is not reckoned among them in the following verses, but of Jehoiakim.
And the sons of Jeconiah,.... For though he was pronounced childless, Jeremiah 22:30, that respects not his having no children in any sense, but none to succeed him in the kingdom:
Assir; which signifies bound, or a prisoner, because, as Kimchi thinks, he was born in a prison, his father then being a captive in Babylon; but rather it refers to Jeconiah himself, and is an appellation of him, and to be rendered:
the sons of Jeconiah the captive: which agrees best with the Hebrew accents:
Salathiel his son; the same that is called Shealtiel, Haggai 1:1 who was both the proper son of Jeconiah, and who succeeded him, as some think, in the honour and dignity the king of Babylon raised him to.
Malchiram also,.... That is, was a son of Jeconiah as well as Salathiel, and so the rest that follow:
and Pedaiah, and Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah; Kimchi says these were the sons of Salathiel; but I rather think they were the sons of Jeconiah, and brethren of Salathiel, because of what follows.
And the sons of Pedaiah were, Zerubbabel and Shimei,.... Here arises a difficulty, since elsewhere Zerubbabel is said to be the son of Shealtiel, Haggai 1:1 some think this is not the same Zerubbabel here as there; so GrotiusF21In Luc. 3. ; but I see no reason for that; but this difficulty may be removed by observing, that if Pedaiah was a son of Salathiel, as Kimchi thinks, then Zerubbabel, being his grandson, may be called his son, as grandsons are sometimes called sons in Scripture; or rather, Salathiel, having no children, adopted Zerubbabel, his brother's son, and made him successor in the government; so that he was the son of Pedaiah by birth, and of Salathiel by adoption; or else Salathiel dying without children, his brother Pedaiah, according to the law, married his widow, and by her had Zerubbabel, who was the proper son of Pedaiah, and the legal son of Salathiel:
and the sons of Zerubbabel; Meshullam: who is called Abiud, Matthew 1:13 another son of his, with their father, is mentioned in this verse, and five more in the next. From hence to the end of the chapter, the genealogy is carried on from the captivity of Babylon, out of which Zerubbabel came, to the coming of Christ; and if Ezra was the writer of this book, as is generally thought, who was contemporary with Zerubbabel, this account must be written by another hand: and it may be observed, that it is carried on in the same number of generations as in Matthew; and here it stands thus:
Zerubbabel, Hananiah, Jesaiah, Rephaiah, Arnan, Obadiah, Shecaniah, Shemaiah, Neariah, Elioenai, Anani; in Matthew thus, "Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Sadoc, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, Joseph"; the difference in names may be accounted for by their having two names; and it is remarkable that the Targum makes Anani to be the King Messiah, who was to be revealed; which, though it makes one generation less to his time, yet plainly shows that the Jews expected the Messiah to come at the end of this genealogy, and about the time Jesus the true Messiah did. Anani is reckoned by other Jews a name of the Messiah, who is said to come in the clouds of heaven, which "Anani" signifies; see Gill on Daniel 7:13.