Jews have lived in almost every country on the planet. Yet only in Israel have they been self-governed.
Turning the page to 1 Chronicles chapter 3, we realize we’re now tracing the royal bloodline, especially from verse 10 and following. It is, in fact, a table of contents for the rest of the Chronicles. It’s more than a play on words to say that, in what follows, we might better describe these folk not as the “royals,” r-o-y-a-l-s, but as the “roils,” r-o-i-l-s, because from here on, as the dictionary defines the word, everything is “moving in a turbulent or disturbing manner.” Verses 1-9 list David’s children, first grouped geographically, with those born while David “reigned seven years and six months” at Hebron, and those born while he ruled “in Jerusalem…thirty-three years” (v 4). They are also recorded matrilineally, associated with David’s many wives. The second part of the chapter (vv 10-16) lists the chain of Judah’s kings from Solomon to Zedekiah, similar to the genealogy in Matthew 1:7-11. Now between verses 16 and 17 there is an invisible break. As Matthew explains the subdivision, “from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations” (Mt 1:17). Notice that the word “all” is inserted before the first group, “all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations,” but not in the other two groupings. There are gaps. Sometimes grandfathers are listed as fathers (Pedaiah is Zerrubabel’s father; Shealtiel is his grandfather, 1 Chron 3:17-19). David here is the seventh (2:15), but the eighth in 1 Samuel 16:10-11. Evidently, David had a nephew older than he, who could precede him in the inheritance. We shall soon meet these characters again, and the next time it will be as part of the great drama of the ages.