1 Chronicles 3:12

3:1-24 Genealogies. - Of all the families of Israel, none were so illustrious as the family of David: here we have a full account of it. From this family, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. The attentive observer will perceive that the children of the righteous enjoy many advantages.

And Solomon's son was Rehoboam,.... From hence to the end of the fourteenth verse, David's successors are reckoned, according to the order of their reign, unto Josiah and his sons: Solomon, Rehoboam, Abia, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, in all sixteen.

Verse 12. - Azariah. This name is found in 2 Chronicles 26:1 ; 2 Chronicles 27:2 , as Uzziah; but in the Second Book of Kings it is found sometimes as Uzziah and sometimes as Azariah in the very same chapter (cf. 2 Kings 15:13 and 17, 23 and 32, and see Gesenius, 'Lexicon,' sub voce ). We have the name as Azariah in Matthew 1:8, 9 . 1 Chronicles 3:12

Azariah - Elsewhere in Chronicles called uniformly "Uzziah" ( 2 Chronicles 26:1 , 2 Chronicles 26:3 , 2 Chronicles 26:9 , 2 Chronicles 26:11 , etc.), but called indifferently "Azariah" and "Uzziah" in Kings ("Azariah" in 2 Kings 14:21 ; 2 Kings 15:1 , 2 Kings 15:6 , 2 Kings 15:17 , 2 Kings 15:23 , 2 Kings 15:27 , etc.; "Uzziah" in 2 Kings 15:13 , 2 Kings 15:32 , 2 Kings 15:34 ).

1Ch 3:10-16. His Line to Zedekiah. 10. Solomon's son was Rehoboam, &c.—David's line is here drawn down to the captivity, through a succession of good and bad, but still influential and celebrated, monarchs. It has rarely happened that a crown has been transmitted from father to son, in lineal descent, for seventeen reigns. But this was the promised reward of David's piety. There is, indeed, observable some vacillation towards the close of this period—the crown passing from one brother to another, an even from uncle to nephew—a sure sign of disorderly times and a disjointed government.

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, 1 Chronicles 3:10-14 ; the only omission being that of the usurper Athaliah, because she did not belong to the posterity of David. But in 1 Chronicles 3:15 four sons of Josiah are mentioned, not "in order to allow of a halt in the long line of David's descendants after Josiah the great reformer" (Berth.), but because with Josiah the regular succession to the throne in the house of David ceased. For the younger son Jehoahaz, who was made king after his father's death by the people, was soon dethroned by Pharaoh-Necho, and led away captive to Egypt; and of the other sons Jehoiakim was set up by Pharaoh, and Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar, so that both were only vassals of heathen lords of the land, and the independent kingship of David came properly to an end with the death of Josiah. Johanan, the first-born of the sons of Josiah, is not to be identified with Jehoahaz, whom the people raised to the throne. For, in the first place, it appears from the statement as to the ages of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim in 2 Kings 23:31 , 2 Kings 23:36 ; 2 Chronicles 36:2 , 2 Chronicles 36:5 , that Jehoahaz was two years younger than Jehoiakim, and consequently was not the first-born.

In Jeremiah 22:11 it is expressly declared that Shallum, the fourth son of Josiah, was king of Judah instead of his father, and was led away into captivity, and never saw his native land again, as history narrates of Jehoahaz. From this it would appear that Shallum took, as king, the name Jehoahaz. Johanan, the first-born, is not met with again in history, either because he died early, or because nothing remarkable could be told of him. Jehoiakim was called Eliakim before he was raised to the throne ( 2 Kings 23:24 ). Zedekiah was at first Mattaniah ( 2 Kings 24:17 ). Zedekiah, on his ascending the throne, was younger than Shallum, and that event occurred eleven years after the accession of Shallum equals Jehoahaz. Zedekiah was only twenty-one years old, while Jehoahaz had become king in his twenty-third year. But in our genealogy Zedekiah is introduced after Jehoiakim, and before Shallum, because, on the one hand, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah had occupied the throne for a longer period, each having been eleven years king; and on the other, Zedekiah and Shallum were sons of Hamutal ( 2 Kings 23:31 ; 2 Kings 24:18 ), while Jehoiakim was the son of Zebudah ( 2 Kings 23:36 ). According to age, they should have followed each other in this order - Johanan, Jehoiakim, Shallum, and Zedekiah; and in respect to their kingship, Shallum should have stood before Jehoiakim. But in both cases those born of the same mother, Hamutal, would have been separated.