following names are subordinated to it with את. The third person singular Niph. occurs thus also in 1Ch 3:4 and 1Ch 26:6; the construction of Niph. with את frequently (Gen 4:18; Gen 21:5, and elsewhere). Ram is called, in the genealogy in Mat 1:3-4, Aram; comp. רם, Job 32:2, with ארם, Gen 22:21. כּלוּבי is called afterwards כּלב; cf. on 1Ch 2:18.
Verses 10-15
The family of Ram (1Ch 2:10-12), traced down through six members of Jesse. - This genealogy is also to be found in Ruth. 1Ch 4:19-21; but only here is Nahshon made more prominent than the others, by the addition, “prince of the sons of Judah.” Nahshon was a prince of Judah at the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt (Num 1:7; Num 2:3; Num 7:12). Now between him, a contemporary of Moses, and Pharez, who at the immigration of Jacob into Egypt was about fifteen years old, lies a period of 430 years, during which the Israelites remained in Egypt. For that time only three names - Hezron, Ram, and Amminidab - are mentioned, from which it is clear that several links must have been passed over. So also, from Nahshon to David, for a period of over 400 years, four generations - Salma, Boaz, Obed, and Jesse - are too few; and consequently here also the less famous ancestors of David are omitted. שׂלמא is called in Rth 4:20-21, שׁלמה and שׂלמון. In 1Ch 2:13-15, seven sons and two daughters of Jesse, with those of their sons who became famous (1Ch 2:16, 1Ch 2:17), are enumerated. According to 1Sa 17:12, Jesse had eight sons. This account, which agrees with that in 1Sa 16:8-12, may be reconciled with the enumeration in our verse, on the supposition that one of the sons died without posterity. In 1Sa 16:6. and 1Ch 17:13, the names of the eldest three - Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah - occur. Besides ישׁי, we meet with the form אשׁי (1Ch 2:13); and the name שׁמּה is only another form of שׁמעה, which is found in 2Sa 13:3 and in 1Ch 20:7, and is repeated in 2Sa 13:32 and 2Sa 21:21 in the Kethibh (שׁמעי). The names of the other three sons here mentioned (1Ch 2:14 and 1Ch 2:15) are met with nowhere else.
Verses 16-17
The sisters of David have become known through their heroic sons. Zeruiah is the mother of the heroes of the Davidic history, Abishai, Joab, and Asahel (cf. 1Sa 26:6; 2Sa 2:18; 2Sa 3:39; 2Sa 8:16, and elsewhere). Their father is nowhere mentioned, “because their more famous mother challenged the greater attention” (Berth.). Abigail was, according to 2Sa 17:25, the daughter of Nahash, a sister of Zeruiah, and so was
