Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834], at sacred-texts.com
1 Chronicles Chapter 2
The sons of Israel - The order of the names here approximates to an order determined by legitimacy of birth. A single change - the removal of Dan to the place after Benjamin - would give the following result:
(1) The six sons of the first wife, Leah.
(2) the two sons of the second wife, Rachel.
(3) the two sons of the first concubine, Bilhah.
(4) the two sons of the second concubine, Zilpah.
Dan's undue prominency may, perhaps, be accounted for by his occupying the seventh place in the "blessing of Jacob" Gen 49:16.
The sons of Zerah - Here, for the first time, the writer of Chronicles draws from sources not otherwise known to us, recording facts not mentioned in the earlier Scriptures. Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, sons of Zerah, are only known to us from this passage, since there are no sufficient grounds for identifying them with the "sons of Mahol" (marginal reference).
"Achan" Jos 7:1 seems to have become "Achar," in order to assimilate the word more closely to the Hebrew term for "troubler," which was from the time of Achan's sin regarded as the true meaning of his name Jos 7:25-26.
David the seventh - Jesse had eight sons, of whom David was the youngest Sa1 16:10-11; Sa1 17:12. Probably one of the sons shown to Samuel at Bethlehem did not grow up.
Sisters - i. e. half-sisters. Abigail and Zeruiah were daughters not of Jesse, but of a certain Nahash, whose widow Jesse took to wife Sa2 17:25.
From the present passage, and from the fact that Abishai joined David as a comrade in arms before Joab Sa1 26:6, it would seem that, although Joab was pre-eminent among the three Sa2 2:13, Sa2 2:16, Abishai was the eldest.
Jether the Ishmeelite - See the marginal note and reference.
In the remainder of this chapter the writer obtains scarcely any assistance from the earlier Scriptures, and must have drawn almost entirely from genealogical sources, accessible to him, which have since perished.
Azubah was Caleb's wife; Jerioth his concubine. He had children by both; but those of Azubah are alone recorded.
Jair, who had three and twenty cities - The places called "Havoth-Jair" in the earlier Scriptures (see Num 32:41 note), which appear to have been a number of "small towns," or villages, in the Ledjah, the Classical "Trachonitis."
Rather, "And Geshur and Aram (i. e. the Geshurites Deu 3:14 and Syrians) took the villages of Jair from them:" recovered, that is, from the new settlers the places which Jair had conquered.
All these belonged to the sons of Machir - Rather, "All these were sons of Machir," i. e. Segub and Jair, with their descendants, were reckoned sons of Machir, rather than sons of Hezron, although only descended from Machir on the mother's side. The reason of this seems to have been that they cast in their lot with the Manassites, and remained in their portion of the trans-Jordanic region.
And Ahijah - There is no "and" in the original. Hence, some would read: "the sons" were born "of" or "from Ahijah," the first wife of Jerahmeel (see the next verse).
A third line of descent from Caleb, the son of Hezron, the issue probably of a different mother, perhaps Jerioth Ch1 2:18. The supposed omissions in this verse have been supplied as follows:
(1) "Mesha, the father of Ziph; and the sons of Ziph, Mareshah, the father of Hebron;" or
(2) "Mareshah, the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah, the father of Ziph, Hebron."
Ziph, like Jorkoam Ch1 2:44 and Beth-zur Ch1 2:45, is the name of a place where the respective chiefs ("fathers") settled. Similarly Madmannah, Machbenah, and Gibea Ch1 2:49, Kirjath-jearim (Jos 9:17 note), Bethlehem and Beth-gader (Jedur, Ch1 2:51) are unmistakeable names of places in the list, names which it is not probable were ever borne by persons.
Caleb the son of Hur - Hur was the son, not the father, of Caleb Ch1 2:19. The text should perhaps be read: "These (the list in Ch1 2:42-49) were the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah, were Shobal, etc."
Ataroth, the house of Joab - Rather, "Ataroth-beth-Joab," probably so called, to distinguish it from Ataroth-Adar, a city of Benjamin Jos 18:13. It is uncertain from what Joab it derived its distinctive appellation.
Kenites - It is remarkable that Kenites - people of a race quite distinct from the Israelites Gen 15:19 - should be attached to, and, as it were, included in the descendants of Judah. It seems, however, that the friendly feeling between the two tribes - based on the conduct of the Kenites at the time of the Exodus Exo 18:10-19; Num 10:29-32; Sa1 15:6 - led to their intermixture and almost amalgamation with the Israelites, Kenite families not only dwelling among them but being actually regarded as of one blood with them.