1 Chronicles 2:18 - Meaning and Application

The people mentioned in the earlier paragraph are mostly those we meet, and hear much about, in other parts of Scripture. But very few of the people in this paragraph appear anywhere else. It seems the tribe of Judah kept their family records more carefully and fully than any other tribe, and we must see God’s hand in that, because it helped preserve the line of Christ.

Here we find Bezalel, the master craftsman who led the building of the tabernacle (Exodus 31:2). We also find Hezron, son of Pharez (1 Chronicles 2:5), who became the father of this large family. His sons, Caleb and Jerahmeel, were very fruitful, and Hezron himself also had children in old age, since he left his wife expecting a child when he died (1 Chronicles 2:24).

This Hezron was one of the seventy people who went down with Jacob into Egypt (Genesis 46:12). There his family grew, as other families did under oppression. We can only think he died during Israel’s slavery in Egypt, and yet the text says he died in Caleb-Ephratah, that is, Bethlehem, in Canaan (1 Chronicles 2:24). Perhaps, even while most of the people stayed in Egypt, some more active families went into Canaan now and then and gained a foothold there, though they later lost it.

The achievements of Jair, mentioned here (1 Chronicles 2:22-23), were already described in Numbers 32:41. It seems likely they happened long after the conquest of Canaan. The Jews say Hezron married his third wife when he was sixty years old (1 Chronicles 2:21), and another wife later (1 Chronicles 2:24), because he deeply wanted children in the line of Pharez, from whom the Messiah would come.

We also hear of one man who died without children (1 Chronicles 2:30), another in the same condition (1 Chronicles 2:32), and one who had no sons, only daughters (1 Chronicles 2:34). Those who suffer in any of these ways should not think their case is strange or new. God rules family life with unquestioned power, as he chooses, giving children, withholding them, or giving only one sex. He does not have to satisfy us, but we must accept what pleases him.

For those who love him, he will be better than ten sons. He can give them in his house a place and a name better than sons and daughters. So those who are childless should not envy families that are full and growing. Should our eye be resentful because God’s is good?

Here is also a man who had only one daughter and gave her in marriage to his servant, an Egyptian (1 Chronicles 2:34-35). If this is mentioned as a credit to him, then we must think this Egyptian had become a convert to the Jewish faith and was a man of uncommon wisdom and virtue. Otherwise, it would not have been fitting for a true-born Israelite to give his only daughter to him. If Egyptians become believers, and servants prove themselves worthy, neither their birth nor their former status should keep them from honor. Such a man this Egyptian servant may have been, so that the woman who married him could be as happy as if she had married one of the leaders of her tribe.

The family line of several people ends, not with a person, but with a place or land. One is called the father of Kirjath-jearim (1 Chronicles 2:50), and another of Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 2:51), which later became David’s city, because those places were assigned to them when the land was divided.

We also find some families described as families of scribes (1 Chronicles 2:55), meaning they kept learning alive in their homes, especially knowledge of Scripture, and taught the people to know God well. Among so many great families, it is good to find some that were families of scribes. If only all the Lord’s people were prophets, and all the families of Israel were families of scribes, well taught for the kingdom of heaven and able to bring out of their storehouse both new things and old.