1 Chronicles - Chapter 5

The chronicler continues to list the family trees of the various sons of Israel.  We are now in Chapter 5 and we reach two of the tribes which would have been expected to have been listed sooner.  Reuben was the first born son, but he is not listed first.  It is explained that he lost his rights as first born when he slept with his father's concubine Bilhah (told in Genesis 35).

The first born rights then went to Joseph, who effectively received a double portion through his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.  Half of the tribe of Manasseh is covered in this Chapter, with the other half and Ephraim covered in Chapter 7.

This delayed recording of the first born and the replacement first born draws attention to the fact that Judah has already been covered in Chapters 3 and 4.  The primacy of Judah rests no on their relationship to Israel, but rather on their relationship to Jesus.