דברי הימים א, פרק ו׳, פסוק י״ג

The genealogy of the Kohath family traces its lineage down to Samuel the Prophet and his descendants, yet it presents a notable inconsistency when compared to earlier historical records. In previous accounts, Samuel's sons are clearly identified as Joel, the firstborn, and Abijah, the second. In this registry, however, Joel is seemingly omitted and replaced by an unfamiliar term. This discrepancy creates a fascinating puzzle regarding the true identity of Samuel's firstborn.

The primary approach among commentators is that this unfamiliar term is simply another name for Joel [מצודת דוד, רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Like many figures in biblical history, Samuel's firstborn went by two different names. Although the exact meaning of this alternative name remains unclear, it functioned entirely as his personal name.

Conversely, an alternative perspective views the term not as a personal name, but as a title meaning "and the second." According to this reading, the original registry listed the sons as the firstborn, Joel, followed by the second, Abijah. The author of the genealogical record intentionally omitted Joel's actual name because his identity was already widely known from the earlier historical accounts [רש״י, מלבי״ם]. As a result, the text reads as a continuous sequence: the firstborn, and the second, Abijah.

This second interpretation meets with strong opposition. Critics argue that it is highly illogical for a historical record to mention a firstborn without explicitly stating his name, as such an omission is completely unprecedented in biblical genealogies. Furthermore, reading the text in this manner creates structural inconsistencies with the connecting words used before Abijah's name. Because of these logical and structural issues, this opposing view concludes that the unfamiliar term must indeed be a secondary, alternative name for Joel [רד״ק].