Shimea

March 1, 2018

King David (Mt 1:6-1:6)

“David was

The father of Solomon

By the wife of Uriah.”

 

Δαυεὶδ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Σολομῶνα ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Οὐρίου,

 

King David had 6 sons while living in Hebron for a little over 7 years, based on 2 Samuel, chapter 3.  Each son had a different mother.  After King David moved to Jerusalem, he had some more wives and concubines.  Altogether, David had at least 20 named children, as indicated in 2 Samuel, chapter 13.  Shimea or Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon (Σολομῶνα), were the 4 sons of him and Bathsheba.  However, she was not mentioned by name here but was simply called the wife of Uriah (ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Οὐρίου).  King David had Uriah killed, while committing adultery with her.  Notice that the Greek text did not say wife but only implied it, saying she from Uriah.  Solomon followed David to the throne as king, because of the intrigues of his mother Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan, as found in 1 Kings, chapters 1-2.  The Greek text used the term ‘begat’ (ἐγέννησεν) to represent the relationships between David and Solomon.  However, it seems perfectly acceptable to simply call David the father instead of saying “fathered him.”

November 5, 2014

The Levite cantor Asaph the Gershonite (1 Chr 6:39-6:43)

“The brother of Heman, Asaph, stood on his right hand, that is Asaph, son of Berechiah, son of Shimea, son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malchijah, son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah, son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei, son of Jahath, son of Gershom, son of Levi.”

Here we have a truncated reverse genealogy that goes back 15 generations to (1) Levi, but via (2) Gershom, not Kohath, even though Asaph was called a brother of Heman. There are 2 other people with the name of (15) Asaph. Some Psalms (73-83) are attributed to this Asaph as well as a group of singers who called themselves the sons of Asaph later in this book. Here we may be close to the genealogy of Gershom earlier in this chapter that mentioned Levi, Gershom, Libni, (3) Jahath, (4) Shimei and (5) Zimmah. (6) Ethan is the name of 3 people in the biblical literature including another singer from Merari. There were 8 people with the name of (7) Adaiah. (8) Zerah was the same name as Perez’s twin brother, the son of Judah. In fact there were 4 other biblical persons with the name of Zerah. (11) Baaseiah and (9) Ethni only appear here, but there were 13 biblical different people with the name of (10) Malchijah, a popular name. There are 11 people named (12) Michael, including an archangel. There were 4 people with the name of (13) Shimea in the biblical literature, including someone in the family of Merari. There were 7 different people with the name of (14) Berechiah in the biblical literature.

November 4, 2014

The descendents of Merari (1 Chr 6:29-6:30)

“The sons of Merari were Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son, Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, and Asaiah his son.”

This genealogy of (1) Merari only goes 8 deep, much shorter compared to the other 2 sons of Levi. This lineage follows (2) Mahli and not Mushi. (3) Libni is the same name as son of Gershom. There are 16 biblical persons named (4) Shimei. There 3 people with the name of (5) Uzzah. The most famous Uzzah is the one who died while transporting the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel, chapter 6. There also was a garden in Jerusalem, where King Manasseh was buried in 2 Kings, chapter 21. There were 4 people with the name of (6) Shimea in the biblical literature and it is very close to Shimei. This is the only mention of (7) Haggiah, while 4 people have the name (8) Asaiah. There is less emphasis on this clan of Levites. Their official functional roles were laid out in Numbers, chapter 4.

October 26, 2014

The sons of David at Jerusalem (1 Chr 3:4-3:9)

“David reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. These were born to him in Jerusalem Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four by Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel. Then the following nine children were born, Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet. All these were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines. Tamar was their sister.”

After David moved to Jerusalem, he took some more wives and concubines. He ruled from Jerusalem for 33 years. Once again this is taken from 2 Samuel, chapter 5. Thus there were more descendents of David than the six sons that he had at Hebron. (1) Shimea or Shammua as he was called in 2 Kings, (2) Shobab, (3) Nathan, and (4) Solomon, were the 4 sons of Bathsheba. Nathan is not the prophet mentioned later. However, Solomon followed David to the throne as king because of the intrigues of his mother Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan. The 9 other sons have unnamed mothers, (1) Ibhar, (2) Elishama, (3) Eliphelet, (4) Nogah, (5) Nepheg, (6) Japhia, (7) Elishama, (8) Eliada, and (9) Eliphelet, with 7 named in 2 Samuel. However, 2 sons, Elishama and Eliphelet were mentioned twice, unless he had 2 sons with the same name which is quite possible. The only new name is Nogah.   Thus Ibhar, Nepheg, Japhia, and Eliada are other sons whose names never appear elsewhere except in the lists of David’s sons. Thus David had at least 20 named children. At the end there is the mention of only one of their sisters Tamar, who was part of the Amon and Absalom fight in 2 Samuel, chapter 13.