Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 8:33

"And Ner begat Kish; and Kish begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchi-shua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal." — 1 Chronicles 8:33 (ASV)

Regarding the house of Saul, it is not said here that Saul’s immediate family was settled at Gibeon. From 1 Samuel 10:26, 1 Samuel 15:34, and 2 Samuel 21:6, we learn that Gibeah, or “Gibeah of Saul,” was the seat of the king. It is gratuitous to suppose that the chronicler has confused two different places.

And Ner begot Kish. 1 Samuel 9:1 gives the following pedigree of Kish: Kish son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Bechorath, son of Aphiah; and 1 Samuel 14:51 states that Kish the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner, were sons of Abiel. The omission of intermediate names is not uncommon in these lists. We may, therefore, suppose that some members of the genealogical series are here omitted between Ner and Kish. The father of Abner was, of course, only a namesake of the present Ner, which is perhaps a clan, not an individual.

Saul begot Jonathan. So 1 Samuel 14:49 and 1 Samuel 31:2 state, except that the former passage has Ishui for Abinadab. This seems to be a case of double naming. Others identify Ishui with Ishbosheth.

Abinadab. Compare Nadab, 1 Chronicles 8:30. Both are probably Divine titles, meaning “the father (that is, Jehovah) is noble.” Compare Kammusu Nadbi, “Chemosh is my prince,” the name of a Moabite king, mentioned by Sennacherib. Ner and Kish also both occurred in 1 Chronicles 8:30 as Gibeonite clans. Here they (or at least Kish) can be considered personal names.

Esh-baal. In 2 Samuel 2:8, this name appears as Ish-bosheth, David’s rival king. Esh-baal (“man of Baal”) is the true name. Ish-bosheth (“man of shame”) is a kind of euphemism, avoiding the very mention of an idol. Similarly, the Merib-baal (“Baal strives,” or rather, perhaps, Meri-Baal, “man of Baal”) of 1 Chronicles 8:34 appears in 2 Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 9:6, and other passages, as Mephibosheth, where probably the right reading is Meribbosheth.

In the same way, idols are referred to as “abominations.” For example, 1 Kings 11:5 mentions Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon (that is, their god); this term is used elsewhere. Beth-el, the sanctuary of the golden calf, or rather bullock, is called Beth-aven. Thus, what was known as the house of God is termed a house of wickedness (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Joshua 7:2). (See Note on 1 Chronicles 8:30.)