come into the text only through a mistake occasioned by the preceding לאביגיל, for no reason is apparent for any strong emphasis which might be implied in the ל being placed on the name of Absalom. The addition of אשׁתּו to עגלה (1Ch 3:3) seems introduced only to conclude the enumeration in a fitting way, as the descent of Eglah had not been communicated; just as, for a similar reason, the additional clause “the wife of David” is inserted in 2Sa 3:5, without Eglah being thereby distinguished above the other wives as the most honoured. The concluding formula, “six were born to him in Hebron” (1Ch 3:4), is followed by a notice of how long David reigned in Hebron and in Jerusalem (cf. 2Sa 2:11 and 2Sa 5:5), which is intended to form a fitting transition to the following list of the sons who were born to him in Jerusalem.
Verses 5-9
In Jerusalem thirteen other sons were born to him, of whom four were the children of Bathsheba. The thirteen names are again enumerated in the history of David, in 1Ch 14:7-11, which in the parallel passage, 2Sa 5:14-16, only eleven are mentioned, the two last being omitted (see on the passage). Some of the names are somewhat differently given in these passages, owing the differences of pronunciation and form: שׁמעה is in both places שׁמוּע; אלישׁמע, between Ibhar and Eliphalet, is in 1 Chron 14 more correctly written אלישׁוּע. Elishama is clearly a transcriber's error, occasioned by one of the following sons bearing this name. אליפלט, shortened in 1Ch 14:6 into אלפּלט, and נוגה, are wanting in 2Sa 5:15, probably because they died early. אלידע, 1Ch 3:8, 2Sa 5:16, appears in 1Ch 14:7 as בּעלידע; the mother also of the four first named, בּתשׁוּע, the daughter of Ammiel, is elsewhere always בּת־שׁבע, e.g., 2Sa 11:3, and 1Ki 1:11, 1Ki 1:15, etc.; and her father, Eliam (2Sa 11:3). בּתשׁוּע has been derived from בּתשׁוע, and בּתשׁוע is softened from בּתשׁבע; but אליעם has arisen by transposition of the two parts of the name עמּיאל, or Ammiel has been altered to Eliam. Besides these, David had also sons by concubines, whose names, however, are nowhere met with. Of David's daughters only Tamar is mentioned as “their sister,” i.e., sister of the before-mentioned sons, because she had become known in history through Amnon's crime (2 Sam 13).
Verses 10-16
The kings of the house of David from Solomon till the exile. - Until Josiah the individual kings are mentioned in their order, each with the addition בּנו, son of the preceding, 1Ch 3:10-14; the only omission being that of the
