Bird's-eye view
We come now to a list of names that can make the modern eye glaze over. We think of genealogies as the Bible's equivalent of Grape Nuts, something you just have to get through to get to the good stuff. But we are commanded to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and that includes these lists. This is not filler. This is the line of the covenant, the golden thread of God's promise to David running through the fabric of history. The Chronicler, writing to the returned exiles, is reminding them of their identity. They are not just a ragtag bunch of survivors; they are the people of the promise. This list is a testament to God's brute faithfulness. It is a catalog of kings, a mixture of the good, the bad, and the downright ugly, and yet God's purpose was not thwarted by any of them. Through this very line, with all its kinks and knots, the Messiah would come. This is a record of God's long patience and His unswerving commitment to His own glory through the seed of David.
What we see here is the covenant working its way through history like a river. Sometimes it flows through green pastures under the care of a good king like Hezekiah or Josiah, and other times it seems to disappear into a swamp of idolatry under a Manasseh or an Ahaz. But it never stops. God's promise is the riverbed, and the human choices of these kings are the water, sometimes clear, sometimes muddy. But the destination is fixed. That destination is the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we read these names, we should not see a dry list. We should see a drama, a history of grace stubbornly refusing to be defeated by sin.
Outline
- 1. The Unbroken Royal Line (1 Chron 3:10-16)
- a. From Solomon to the Divided Kingdom Turbulence (1 Chron 3:10-11)
- b. A Procession of Good and Evil Kings (1 Chron 3:12-14)
- c. The Final Kings Before the Exile (1 Chron 3:15-16)
Context In 1 Chronicles
The book of Chronicles was written after the Babylonian exile. The people are back in the land, but they are a shadow of their former glory. They don't have a king on the throne, and they are living under the thumb of a foreign power. The temptation to despair, to think that God had forgotten His promises to David, would have been immense. The Chronicler is writing to combat this spiritual amnesia. He begins with Adam and marches all the way down to his own day, showing one thing above all else: God keeps His word. These opening chapters, filled with genealogies, are the bedrock of his argument. They are the family tree of the covenant. Chapter 3 specifically focuses on the house of David, the royal line. This isn't just about who begat whom; it's about the preservation of the Messianic hope. By laying out this unbroken chain, the author is telling his readers, "God's plan has not been derailed. The promise is still in effect. The line still exists, and from this line, the King will come."
Verse by Verse Commentary
10 Now Solomon’s son was Rehoboam, Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,
The list begins straightforwardly enough. Solomon, the great king, is followed by his son Rehoboam. And right there, with that first name after Solomon, the trouble starts. Rehoboam was a fool. His arrogance and obstinacy split the kingdom in two. You would think the covenant promise might be in jeopardy from the get go. But the text just says, "Rehoboam, Abijah was his son..." The line continues. God's covenant is not contingent on the wisdom or competence of the men who carry the name. Abijah was not much better. Asa, on the other hand, was a reformer, a good king who brought the nation back to God, for a time. And Jehoshaphat was largely a good king as well, though he had a disastrous weakness for making alliances with the wicked kings of Israel. So right here in this first verse, we have the whole story in miniature: folly, faithfulness, and failure, all bundled together in one family line. But the key is the succession. "Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son." The promise marches on.
11 Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,
Here the line gets darker. Joram married the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, the wickedest royal pair in Israel's history, and he brought all their idolatrous filth into Judah. He murdered his own brothers to secure his throne. Ahaziah followed in his evil ways and was killed in Jehu's bloody purge. His mother, Athaliah, then tried to exterminate the entire royal line. She almost succeeded. But God preserved one infant, Joash, who was hidden away in the temple for six years. Think about that. The entire promise of God to David, the hope of the Messiah, was hanging by the thread of one baby's life, protected by a faithful priest while a murderous queen reigned. The Chronicler lists these names calmly: "Ahaziah his son, Joash his son." He states it as a fact because God's promise is a fact, more solid than any political turmoil or murderous plot. God's plan is never in real jeopardy, even when it appears to be on life support.
12 Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son,
The rollercoaster continues. Amaziah started well but finished poorly, turning to idolatry after a military victory. Azariah, also called Uzziah, was a powerful and effective king for most of his reign, but his pride led him to usurp the role of the priests, and God struck him with leprosy. Jotham was a good king, a righteous man. The line continues, a mix of obedience and pride, blessing and judgment. God is patiently working with flawed men. He is not looking for perfection in the line, because He is the one who is perfect. He is simply maintaining the line until the perfect Son of David arrives.
13 Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,
This is perhaps the most dramatic sequence in the entire list. Ahaz was a spectacularly wicked king. He practiced child sacrifice, offering his own son in the fire. He shut the doors of the temple. He was an apostate of the highest order. And who was his son? Hezekiah, one of the greatest reformers and most godly kings in Judah's history. This is a stunning display of grace. God can bring a Hezekiah out of an Ahaz. But then, the whiplash comes again. Hezekiah's son was Manasseh, who was arguably the most wicked king of all. He undid all his father's reforms and plunged the nation into such depths of depravity that the judgment of exile became inevitable. Yet even Manasseh, the text tells us, repented at the end of his life. The point is that the covenant is not a matter of genetic piety. It is a matter of God's sovereign grace, which can leapfrog a generation of evil or graciously save the worst of sinners.
14 Amon his son, Josiah his son.
Amon followed in the wicked ways of his father Manasseh, but his reign was short. He was assassinated by his own officials. And out of that chaos comes Josiah. Like his great-grandfather Hezekiah, Josiah was a bright light of reform and righteousness. He rediscovered the Book of the Law and led the nation in a great renewal of the covenant. He was the last good king. The succession here is stark: a wicked king is cut down, and his righteous son takes the throne. God is still sovereignly guiding the line, placing his man on the throne even as the nation barrels toward judgment.
15 The sons of Josiah were Johanan the firstborn, and the second was Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.
With the sons of Josiah, the kingdom begins to unravel completely. The succession is no longer a simple "his son." It becomes a messy tangle of political intrigue, with Babylon and Egypt treating Judah like a puppet state. Shallum is also known as Jehoahaz, who reigned for a mere three months before being carted off to Egypt. Jehoiakim was placed on the throne by the Egyptians and was a wicked and rebellious man. The Chronicler is showing us the chaos of the end. The orderly succession is breaking down, a sign of the covenant curses falling upon the nation for their persistent sin.
16 The sons of Jehoiakim were Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son.
Here we have the final kings before the lights go out in Jerusalem. Jeconiah, also called Jehoiachin, reigned for three months before being taken into exile in Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah pronounced a curse on him, that none of his offspring would prosper on the throne of David (Jer. 22:30). This seems like a fatal blow to the covenant line, but God is more clever than that. The line would continue through Jeconiah, but not the royal authority. The right to the throne would pass through another line, to be united in Christ. Zedekiah mentioned here is likely a different Zedekiah, not the final king, who was Jeconiah's uncle. The point is that even as the kingdom collapses and the kings are carried off in chains, the Chronicler is meticulously recording the names. Because the names matter. The line matters. God's promise to David has not been voided. It has simply gone into exile, waiting for the day of restoration, waiting for the true King.
Application
So what do we do with a list of old kings? First, we marvel at the faithfulness of God. Our salvation does not depend on our consistency, but on His. This list is a rogues' gallery, full of idolaters, fools, and proud men, with a few bright spots of faithfulness mixed in. It looks a lot like our family trees, and a lot like our own hearts. Yet God preserved His promise through it all. This should give us tremendous confidence. God's plan of redemption was not frustrated by Manasseh's evil, and it will not be frustrated by our sin.
Second, we see the absolute necessity of Jesus. This line of kings proves that no mere son of David could fix what was broken. The best of them, like Hezekiah and Josiah, could only bring temporary reform. The worst of them drove the nation into the ground. The line itself was incapable of producing the salvation that was needed. It could only carry the seed. It was a conduit, not the source. The source had to come from outside. God had to send His own Son, the perfect King, to sit on David's throne forever. This genealogy, with all its failures, cries out for a better King.
Finally, we should take comfort in our identity. The exiles who first read this needed to know who they were. They were the people of the promise. We also need to know who we are. In Christ, we are grafted into this story. We are children of the covenant, heirs of the promise made to Abraham and fulfilled in the Son of David. This history is our history. And it is a history that reminds us that our standing is based entirely on God's stubborn grace, which flows like a mighty river through the mess of human history, carrying all of His people safely to their final destination.