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1 Chronicles 2 Bible study: David the seventh
1 Chronicles gives Judah's family first (2:3), and the line to David keeps passing the firstborn by: Er (2:3), Hezron's firstborn Jerahmeel (2:25), Jesse's firstborn Eliab (2:13), down to "David the seventh" (2:15). Paul says Jesus "was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3).
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“Ozem the sixth, and David the seventh;”
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“In 1 Chronicles 2, Hezron's firstborn is Jerahmeel, not Ram.”
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What's really going on
Judah goes first
"These are the sons of Israel" (2:1), and Judah is fourth in the list: "Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah" (2:1). But when the book begins to give each son's family, it starts with Judah: "The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah" (2:3). Judah's families run from here to 4:23. When the book reaches Reuben, it explains: Reuben "was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and the genealogy is not to be listed according to the birthright" (5:1). "For Judah prevailed above his brothers, and from him came the prince; but the birthright was Joseph’s" (5:2). Near the end of the book David says it of his own family: "For he has chosen Judah to be prince; and in the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel" (28:4).
Where it leads to Jesus
Born of David's offspring
1 Chronicles 2:15leads toRomans 1:3
The chapter runs from Judah (2:3) through Hezron, Ram and Nahshon to Boaz, Obed and Jesse, and ends Jesse's sons with "David the seventh" (2:15). Paul opens Romans with the Good News of God "concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3), "who was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:4). Romans doesn't cite 1 Chronicles 2; the link it makes is David's line.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 1 Chronicles 2
That was a taste
The rest of 1 Chronicles 2 is waiting in Favor
- Past the firstborn
- Stories hiding in the names
- "The troubler of Israel"
- Bethlehem in the lists
- 17 questions as you read
- 9 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
בְּכוֹרbekhorsay be-KHOR
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "first-born". Strong's: "first-born; hence, chief". The word comes seven times in this chapter: Er (2:3), Eliab (2:13), Jerahmeel (2:25), his son Ram twice (2:25, 2:27), Mesha (2:42), and "the firstborn of Ephrathah" (2:50). The line to David runs through none of them. It runs through Perez, not Er (2:3-5); through Ram (2:9-10), not Jerahmeel, "the firstborn of Hezron" (2:25); and to "David the seventh", not "his firstborn Eliab" (2:13-15). Of Reuben, whose birthright "was given to the sons of Joseph", the book says, "the genealogy is not to be listed according to the birthright" (5:1).
For your group
1 Chronicles 2 Bible study questions
- 1Again and again the line to David passed the firstborn by (2:3, 2:13-15, 2:25). Where have you seen God work through someone others would have passed over? Has that someone ever been you?
- 2Achar is remembered in one line: "the troubler of Israel" (2:7). If your life were summed up in one line, what would you want it to say, and what are you doing now that shapes it?
- 3The chapter keeps names we know nothing else about, even men who "died without children" (2:30, 2:32). What does it mean to you that God's book keeps ordinary families and unfinished lines?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 1 Chronicles 2 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home