Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/86

22 the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah of Abital; the sixth, Ithream by Eglah his wife. Six were born unto him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years. And these were born unto him in Jerusalem: Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel: and Ibhar, and Elishama, and Eliphelet; and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia; and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. All these were the sons of David,

2. Geshur] Cp. ii. 23, note.

3. Eglah his wife] In 2 Sam. iii. 5 "Eglah David's wife," where however David is probably a wrong reading for the name of a previous husband of Eglah.

5—9 (= ch. xiv. 4—7 and 2 Sam. v. 14—16).

5. Shimea] in xiv. 4 and 2 Sam. v. 14 (R.V.) Shammua.

Nathan] Through him our Lord's descent is traced in Luke iii. 31.

Solomon] Only here are other sons besides Solomon attributed to Bath-sheba.

Bath-shua] is a slight variation in pronunciation of Bath-sheba.

the daughter of Ammiel] of Eliam (perhaps a by-form of Ammiel) in 2 Sam. xi. 3. An Eliam son of Ahithophel, David's counsellor, is mentioned in 2 Sam. xxiii. 34; Bath-sheba may therefore have been grand-daughter to Ahithophel. Notice that the Chronicler does not call Bath-sheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite; he nowhere refers to David's great sin; cp. xx. 1—3, where the silence of Chron. on this matter is specially to be noted.

6. Elishama] in xiv. 5 and 2 Sam. v. 15 Elishua, no doubt the right reading, for otherwise (cp. ver. 8) we have two sons of David named Elishama.

Eliphelet] in xiv. 5 Elpelet. Eliphelet cannot be right, for it occurs again as the name of the thirteenth son in ver. 8. Elpelet may be right here and Eliphelet in ver. 8, for according to Hebrew custom two brothers might bear names of similar sound and significance. But both Eliphelet and Nogah, the following word, are lacking in 2 Sam. v. 15; and are probably only textual errors due to dittography.

8. Eliada] so in 2 Sam. v. 16, but in 1 Chr. xiv. 7 Beeliada (i.e. Baaliada, "The Lord—the Baal—knows"). This seems to have been changed to Eliada (i.e. God knows), when the title Baal had come to have only heathen associations, and was accordingly repudiated by the Jews: see the note on viii. 33.