First Chronicles 8:24 is a short line in a long genealogy, and its meaning is simple: it names one of the men descended from Benjamin, placing him in the family line that the chronicler is carefully tracing. The verse does not teach a doctrine on its own, but it shows that the Bible treats every name in the family of God’s people as worth recording. The line belongs to the genealogies of the tribe of Benjamin, which the Chronicler compiled for returning exiles who needed to know who belonged to which family.
Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah…
1 Chronicles 8:24 (WEB)
What 1 Chronicles 8:24 Means
The verse is a list of names, and the chief thing it says is that Hananiah, Elam and Anthothijah are sons in a particular household. The word “sons” in Hebrew genealogies often means descendants more broadly, so the list can name a father’s line, its branches, or later generations. Hananiah comes first in the line, followed by Elam and Anthothijah, who appear as relatives within the same family group.
What the verse does not do is explain why these men are named or tell us anything about their deeds. It does not promise blessing to those who share their name or describe a moral lesson. A reader who expects a sermon in this line will be disappointed, and a reader who looks for the grace hidden in the record will find that the list itself carries weight. The verse affirms that the Chronicler saw every name as part of God’s larger story of a people kept across generations.
The Context of 1 Chronicles 8:24
First and Second Chronicles were written after the return from exile in Babylon, most likely in the late fifth or early fourth century before Christ, and tradition has long linked them with Ezra. Their first audience was a community trying to re-establish its identity in the land, so genealogies mattered for questions of inheritance, temple service and who could claim a place among God’s people. The author gathers information from earlier records and reworks it for that purpose.
Verses 21 through 27 form a block of names that moves through the family of Benjamin, with Hananiah sitting among other descendants from Shimei, Beriah and Elpaal. Reading the verse inside this run shows it as one link in an unbroken chain. The meaning shifts from a single name to a demonstration that the people of Israel remember and recount each household, which is what the returning community most needed to hear.
Key Phrases in 1 Chronicles 8:24
Psalm 139:13
For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
(WEB)
This verse speaks of God forming a person in the womb, pairing well with 1 Chronicles 8:24 by showing that each individual life is known and purposed by God, not merely recorded as a name in a list.
Revelation 21:27
There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
(WEB)
This verse describes the book of life in the New Jerusalem, extending the idea of divine record-keeping from family genealogies into the eternal story of God’s people, which gives the earlier lists a deeper frame.
A Short Prayer From 1 Chronicles 8:24
Lord, you know every name and every story that has led to this day. Thank you that you keep records of families and people whom the world may never remember. Help me to trust that my life, however small it feels, is held in your hands and woven into your larger purpose.
Give me faith to honor the generations before me and to pass on something good to those who come after. When I feel overlooked, remind me that you see me clearly and remember me by name. Amen.
