1 Chronicles 2:3. The sons of Judah — He puts Judah first, because the best part of the right of the firstborn, namely, the dominion, was conferred on him, Genesis 49:8; in consequence of which, his tribe obtained a pre- eminence among, and a kind of superiority over the rest, even before the time of David. And from David’s time, it is without doubt, that till the Babylonish captivity a kingly power continued in this tribe; Zerubbabel, also, who was their leader, when they returned to their own land, was of the same tribe. The chief reason, however, why the genealogy of Judah is set down first, is because the Messiah was to descend from him.

1 Chronicles 2:6. And Dara — If these be the same who are mentioned as the sons of Mahol, (1 Kings 4:31,) either the same man had two names, Zerah and Mahol, as was usual among the Hebrews, or one of these was their immediate father, and the other their grandfather. These are named, because they were the glory of their father’s house. When the Holy Ghost would magnify the wisdom of Solomon, he saith, he was wiser than these four men. That four brothers should be so eminent, was a rare thing.

1 Chronicles 2:7. The sons of Carmi — This man is here mentioned, because he was the son of Zimri, who was also called Zabdi, Joshua 7:18. Achar, the troubler of Israel — He who in Joshua 7. is called Achan, is here, by a small variation, elegantly and significantly called Achar, which means troubler: because he had brought Israel into great danger and distress, by the sin he committed.

1 Chronicles 2:9-10. And Ram — Who is mentioned in the genealogy of our Saviour, (Matthew 1:3-4,) and called Aram. Nashon, prince of the children of Judah — Namely, when, being come out of Egypt, they pitched under their several standards, Numbers 2:3.

1 Chronicles 2:13-15. Eliab — Called also Elihu, 1 Chronicles 27:18, unless that was another son of Jesse, as some think, not mentioned elsewhere; which would make the number to be eight, according to 1 Samuel 16:10; 1 Samuel 17:12. Or that Elihu, although there called the brother of David, might perhaps only be his kinsman, according to the usual language of Scripture. David the seventh — David was certainly the youngest son of Jesse, 1 Samuel 16:11. And if, as seems probable, one of them died soon after the time when they were said to he eight, he would of course be reckoned as the seventh.

1 Chronicles 2:17-18. Jether the Ishmaelite — By birth or habitation, but by profession an Israelite, 2 Samuel 17:25. And her sons — The sons of Azubah, who is by way of distinction called his wife, when Jerioth probably was only his concubine, and, it may seem, barren: therefore, upon Azubah’s death he married another wife, 1 Chronicles 2:19. And those other sons of this Caleb, mentioned 1 Chronicles 2:42, are his sons by some other wife distinct from all these.

1 Chronicles 2:21. The father of Gilead — It is doubtful whether the word Gilead is here the name of a man, or of the country so called: if it be the latter, the expression means, the prince of Gilead, as the word father often signifies: if the former, the Gilead intended must have been a person of noted valour, probably the great champion in those parts.

1 Chronicles 2:23. All these belonged to the sons of Machir — Partly to his own sons, and partly to his son-in-law Jair, who by reason of that dear affection which was between them, and his forsaking his own tribe and kindred to fight for them, and to dwell with them, is here reckoned as his own son.

1 Chronicles 2:24. The father of Tekoa — A known place, of which he is termed the father, because he was either the progenitor of the people who inhabited it, or their prince and ruler, or the builder of the city.

1 Chronicles 2:31. The sons of Appaim, Ishi — The plural number is often used, when one son or daughter only is spoken of, for in that one, all the posterity are comprehended. Ahlai — It is plain from 1 Chronicles 2:34-35, that this Ahlai was not a son, but a daughter.

1 Chronicles 2:34. But daughters — We read of no more than one daughter that he had: but the writer speaks in the plural number, as before, 1 Chronicles 2:31. An Egyptian, whose name was Jarha — To whom, as being a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and a faithful servant, his master Sheshan first gave his freedom, and then his daughter in marriage.

1 Chronicles 2:45. The father of Beth-zur — A place in Judah, (Joshua 15:58,) of which this Maon was the founder. The same is the meaning of the word father in several of the following verses. Madmannah, Machbenah, Gibea, &c, being the names not of persons, but of places.

1 Chronicles 2:53. The families of Kirjath-jearim; the Ithrites, &c. — The inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim were divided into several families, as Kimchi interprets it, and these here mentioned were the heads of families, denominated from Ithra or Jether, and Puhah, &c. As from Jimni came the family of the Jimnites, and from Beriah the Beriites, in Numbers 26:44. Of them came the Zareathites, &c. — Zarah and Eshtaul were two cities in the tribe of Judah, which were built by two persons of Kirjath-jearim of this name, who inhabited these places, and left two great families, who were from them called Zareathites and Eshtaulites.

1 Chronicles 2:54. The sons of Salma; Beth-lehem — That is, the inhabitants of Beth-lehem: and so of Ataroth, and the house of Joab, or, as it should rather be rendered, Beth-joab, for the writer is not speaking of a family, but of a place. The people of those towns, and the Manahethites, and the Zorites, were all the descendants of this Salma, the son of Caleb. So that, it appears, he had a very numerous posterity.

1 Chronicles 2:55. The families of the scribes — Either civil, who were public notaries, that wrote and signed legal instruments; or ecclesiastical. And these were either Levites or Simeonites, or rather Kenites, and are here mentioned not as if they were of the tribe of Judah, but because they dwelt among them, and probably were allied to them by marriages, and so in a manner incorporated with them.