1 Chronicles 2:9

2:1-55 Genealogies. - We are now come to the register of the children of Israel, that distinguished people, who were to dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations. But now, in Christ, all are welcome to his salvation who come to him; all have equal privileges according to their faith in him, their love and devotedness to him. All that is truly valuable consists in the favour, peace, and image of God, and a life spent to his glory, in promoting the welfare of our fellow-creatures.

(9-41) The Hezronites, who were sons of Pharez ( 1Chronicles 2:5 ), and their three lines of descent, Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai. (9) Jerahmeel.—Godpitieth. Ram.—Called Aram in our Lord’s genealogy (Matthew 1) The two names are synonyms, both meaning high, and are used interchangeably in Job 32:2 (Ram) and Genesis 22:21 (Aram). Chelubai.—Strictly, the Chelubite or Calebite, a gentilic term formed from Caleb (1Chronicles 2:18). This seems to show that we are concerned here not so much with individual sons of Hezron as with families or clans of Hezronites.

The only name given here as that of a descendant of Ethan is Azariah, of whom nothing further is known, while the name recurs frequently. Nothing more is said of the remaining sons of Zerah; they are merely set down as famous men of antiquity (Berth.). There follows in 1 Chronicles 2:9-41 The family of Hezron, the first-born son of Pharez, which branches off in three lines, originating with his three sons respectively. The three sons of Hezron are Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai; but the families springing from them are enumerated in a different order. First (1 Chronicles 2:10-17) we have the family of Ram, because King David is descended from him; then (1 Chronicles 2:18-24) the family of Chelubai or Caleb, from whose lineage came the illustrious Bezaleel; and finally (vv. 25-41), the posterity of the first-born, Jerahmeel. 1 Chronicles 2:9 לו נולד אשׁר, what was born to him. The passive stands impersonally instead of the more definite active, "to whom one bore," so that the following names are subordinated to it with את. The third person singular Niph. occurs thus also in 1 Chronicles 3:4 and 1 Chronicles 26:6; the construction of Niph. with את frequently (Genesis 4:18; Genesis 21:5, and elsewhere). Ram is called, in the genealogy in Matthew 1:3-4, Aram; comp. רם, Job 32:2, with ארם, Genesis 22:21. כּלוּבי is called afterwards כּלב; cf. on 1 Chronicles 2:18.