People in Bible times had no last names, so it was customary to refer to someone as “the son of ” or daughter of “their father.” We read of “Saul son of Kish” and “David son of Jesse”—a convenient way of connecting the person’s first name with a family.

A curiosity: The great prophet Elijah was never referred to as “son of ” anyone. He was only referred to as “Elijah the Tishbite,” meaning he came from a place called Tishbe. Bible readers have enjoyed speculating that the great prophet who did not die but was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2) is not mentioned as having any earthly father, as almost all men were.

From J. Stephen Lang, 1,001 Things You Always Wanted to Know about the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006).