The tables now continue to deal with Judah, but have special reference to David. The names of nineteen of his sons are given. Six of them were born in Hebron, and four were the sons of Bathshua. There were nine others. From these nineteen, one, Solomon, is selected; and the descent is traced through him, through the kings of Judah, and right on into the period of captivity.
The peculiar quality of the Book of Chronicles is very evidently marked in this chapter in that in the reference to Solomon and his three brothers no mention whatever is made of the sin of David. They are spoken simply of as the sons of Bathshua, who is, of course, Bathsheba. Indeed, nowhere in the books are any of the sins of David referred to, except the sin of numbering the people. If, as is perhaps likely, these books were written by Ezra, we can perfectly understand these omissions. In the return of the people to their land he was supremely conscious of the government of God and the unbroken continuity of His progress toward the fulfillment of purpose. From this standpoint it was not his business to speak of the sins of the chosen instruments but, rather, simply to deal with the channels through which the divine procession moved.