1 Chronicles 9

1Ch 9:1-26.

ORIGINAL

REGISTERS OF

ISRAEL AND

JUDAH'S

GENEALOGIES.

1. all Israel were reckoned by genealogies--From the beginning of

the Hebrew nation, public records were kept, containing a registration

of the name of every individual, as well as the tribe and family to

which he belonged. "The book of the kings of Israel and Judah" does not

refer to the two canonical books that are known in Scripture by that

name, but to authenticated copies of those registers, placed under the

official care of the sovereigns; and as a great number of the

Israelites

(1Ch 9:3)

took refuge in Judah during the invasion of Shalmaneser, they carried

the public records along with them. The genealogies given in the

preceding chapters were drawn from the public records in the archives

both of Israel and Judah; and those given in this chapter relate to the

period subsequent to the restoration; whence it appears (compare

1Ch 3:17-24)

that the genealogical registers were kept during the captivity in

Babylon. These genealogical tables, then, are of the highest authority

for truth and correctness, the earlier portion being extracted from the

authenticated records of the nation; and as to those which belong to

the time of the captivity, they were drawn up by a contemporary writer,

who, besides enjoying the best sources of information, and being of the

strictest integrity, was guided and preserved from all error by divine

inspiration.

2. the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions--This chapter

relates wholly to the first returned exiles. Almost all the names recur

in Nehemiah

(Ne 11:1-36),

although there are differences which will be explained there. The same

division of the people into four classes was continued after, as before

the captivity; namely, the priests, Levites, natives, who now were

called by the common name of Israelites, and the Nethinims

(Jos 9:27;

Ezr 2:43; 8:20).

When the historian speaks of "the first inhabitants that dwelt in their

possessions," he implies that there were others who afterwards returned

and settled in possessions not occupied by the first. Accordingly, we

read of a great number returning successively under Ezra, Nehemiah, and

at a later period. And some of those who returned to the ancient

inheritance of their fathers, had lived before the time of the

captivity

(Ezr 3:12;

Hag 2:4, 10).

18. the king's gate--The king had a gate from his palace into the

temple

(2Ki 16:18),

which doubtless was kept constantly closed except for the monarch's

use; and although there was no king in Israel on the return from the

captivity, yet the old ceremonial was kept up, probably in the hope

that the scepter would, ere long, be restored to the house of David. It

is an honor by which Eastern kings are distinguished, to have a gate

exclusively devoted to their own special use, and which is kept

constantly closed, except when he goes out or returns

(Eze 44:2).

There being no king then in Israel, this gate would be always shut.