David’s Sons

1 Chronicles 2 gives a family tree for Judah. The following chapter focuses in on the royal family of David. The overall structure is chiastic:

A. Sons born in Hebron.

B. List of six sons born in Hebron, with mothers.

C. He reigned in Hebron for seven years and six months.

C’. He reigned in Jerusalem for 33 years.

B’. List of four sons born of Bath-shua, and nine more whose mothers are not listed.

A’. All the sons of David.

Two things stand out. First, the entire list of Hebron sons are identified by reference to their mothers. Each of the six sons has a different mother, while the only mother listed for Jerusalem is Bath-shua (Bathsheba). There is a hint of the later prophetic image of Zion as a mother of children, as the sole mother of Israel.

Second, the numerology is significant in several ways. David has a half-Israel of sons (6) in Hebron, but has 13 sons in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is an Israel + 1, or an Israel with the full 13 tribes (2 Joseph tribes). The fact that the Jerusalem sons begin with son #7 suggests a sabbatical theme for the Jerusalem sons. David is enthroned in Hebron, but he enters his rest when he makes Jerusalem his capital, at the same time he brings the ark of the covenant into the city. David and Yahweh both enter Sabbath rest in Jerusalem.

Solomon is, importantly, the tenth son, the fourth of those born in Jerusalem. As tenth son, he matches the “tenth generation” theme already indicated in the first chapter of 1 Chronicles: Noah is ten generations from Adam, Abraham ten generations from Noah, each a “new Adam.” Solomon is only one generation from David, but he is the tenth son overall, a hint of the new-Adam theme. The fact that he is the fourth son links him with his ancestor Judah, who was the fourth son of Jacob but became the preeminent one. Solomon is a new Judah, the founder of the royal tribe of Israel.