Ahlai

Ahlai is named in two Chronicles genealogies. Within the surveyed witness, the Chronicler lists the name once in the Jerahmeelite line of Judah descending through Sheshan (1Ch 2:31), and once as the father of Zabad among David's mighty men (1Ch 11:41). Whether the two notices point to the same person or to two distinct figures is not addressed in the text itself; each passage simply records the name in its own context.

In the Sheshan line of Judah

The genealogy of Jerahmeel reaches Ahlai by way of Appaim and Ishi: "And the sons of Appaim: Ishi. And the sons of Ishi: Sheshan. And the sons of Sheshan: Ahlai" (1Ch 2:31). The next verses qualify the formula. The Chronicler immediately adds that "Sheshan had no sons, but daughters" (1Ch 2:34), and that one of those daughters was given to Jarha, an Egyptian slave in Sheshan's household, who became her husband: "And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his slave as wife; and she bore him Attai" (1Ch 2:35). Across these passages, the listing of Ahlai under "the sons of Sheshan" sits alongside the explicit statement that Sheshan's only children were daughters — the two notices held together in the same chapter.

Father of Zabad among the mighty men

In the catalogue of David's gibborim, Ahlai appears not as a descendant but as a father: "Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai" (1Ch 11:41). The verse names Ahlai in the same breath as Uriah the Hittite, placing Zabad on the roster of David's warriors. In this passage, the Chronicler supplies no further detail — no tribe, no place of origin, no relation to the Sheshan line of chapter 2.