What is the meaning of 1 Chronicles 3:4? These six sons were born to David in Hebron “Amnon, Daniel, Absalom, Adonijah, Shephatiah, and Ithream were born to him in Hebron” (1 Chronicles 3:1-3). • This line simply reports historical fact: David fathered six boys during his years in the city of Hebron, a detail that also appears in 2 Samuel 3:2-5. • Scripture records, without endorsing, David’s multiple wives. Deuteronomy 17:17 had warned Israel’s kings not to “multiply wives,” and the later turmoil among these sons (2 Samuel 13–18; 1 Kings 1) shows the wisdom of that command. • The mention of each son’s mother (1 Chronicles 3:2-3) reminds us that God sees every family member and that lineage mattered for royal succession. Yet none of these six became the promised heir—illustrating that God’s choice, not mere birth order, decides the line of Messiah (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1:6). where he reigned seven years and six months “David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months” (2 Samuel 5:4-5). • The short reign in Hebron followed a long season of waiting. After Samuel anointed David (1 Samuel 16:13), roughly fifteen years passed before he wore a crown, teaching patience and dependence on God’s timing (Psalm 27:14). • Hebron, rich with patriarchal history (Genesis 13:18; 23:19), served as a bridge between promises made to Abraham and their fulfillment in David. • During this period David ruled only Judah, while the northern tribes followed Saul’s son Ish-bosheth (2 Samuel 2:8-11). God was steadily unifying the nation under the shepherd He had chosen (Psalm 78:70-72). And David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years “Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron” (2 Samuel 5:1). After their covenant, David captured Jerusalem, renamed it the City of David, and ruled there “thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah” (2 Samuel 5:5). • Jerusalem’s selection was strategic and spiritual. Centrally located and previously controlled by Jebusites, it symbolized a fresh national start (Joshua 15:63; 1 Chronicles 11:4-9). • From Jerusalem David brought the ark of God into the city (2 Samuel 6), wrote many psalms exalting the Lord as King (Psalm 24; 122), and received the covenant promise that his throne would endure forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16), pointing straight to Christ (Luke 1:32-33). • The numbers matter: 7½ years plus 33 years equal 40 years of rule—a full, God-ordained generation (Acts 13:22; 2 Samuel 5:4). summary 1 Chronicles 3:4 grounds David’s story in concrete time and place. Six sons born in Hebron, a brief reign over Judah, and a lengthy rule from Jerusalem together trace God’s faithful hand: shaping David’s family, uniting Israel, and preparing the royal line that would culminate in the eternal King, Jesus Christ. |
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