Saul’s Descendants: After the description of the inhabitants of postexilic Jerusalem in the previous section, the last few verses of this chapter jump back to Saul. Commentators are in agreement that the Chronicler (or those responsible for the final composition) probably included the genealogy of Saul here in order to lead into the narrative section starting with the death of Saul in 1 Chronicles 10.

In 8:29–32 and 8:33–40 we already encountered a genealogy of Saul. Apart from 8:39–40, the rest of those sections are reproduced here (with only minor changes). The writer probably added the last two verses of 1 Chronicles 8 for the purpose of concluding the Benjaminite context within which Saul features. In the case of 9:35–44 the different literary context did not necessitate that the additi…