Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 1-4.

I have touched on this before, but I want to make note of it again.  Even though David had brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he had not brought the tent of the tabernacle, nor the altar which was built during the time in the wilderness with it.  Those two things were still in Gibeon.  It is not clear to me why the ark was not reunited with them after it was returned from the Philistines, but it was not.  Earlier we had been told that David did not go to the tabernacle and its altar to consult God after the plague.  So, it would have been a fairly noteworthy event when Solomon went there after his coronation.  Of course the most interesting thing about that scene is the vision which Solomon had the night after offering sacrifices there.  God appeared to Solomon and told him to ask Him for whatever he wanted God to give him.  Solomon’s request and God’s response reminds me of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount when He instructed us not to worry.  Solomon asked God to give him the wisdom and knowledge he would need to lead God’s people.  God was pleased with Solomon’s request and told Solomon that He would grant his request, and because Solomon had asked for things in order to serve others and to serve God, God would also grant him the things which most people would have asked for in that situation: wealth, fame, and honor.  This is similar to what Jesus tells us will happen if we first seek the Kingdom of God.  If we seek God’s Kingdom as our first priority, God will provide for our other needs.  So, God rewarded Solomon because his heart’s desire was to serve the people whom he was chosen to lead.  In the same way, God will reward us if we seek to serve others.  While God will not necessarily reward us in the way in which He rewarded Solomon by giving him wealth, fame, and honor, if our greatest desire is to serve others, I can promise that God will reward us with the ability to do so in ever increasing amounts.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 27-29.

In today’s passage, as he gave Solomon his plans for building the temple, David told Solomon that if he sought God, he would find Him, but that if he forsook Him, He would forsake him as well (this is one of those sentences where I am so happy that we capitalize the pronoun when applying it to God).  That is an important point to which we should all pay close attention.  Those who genuinely seek God, will indeed find Him, no matter where they choose to begin their search.  However, those who forsake God will be forsaken.  But David had more to say to Solomon which also applies to each of us, “God has chosen you to…  Be strong and do the work.”  Now, not all of us, not even many of us, have been chosen to build a house for the Lord, but all of us have been chosen by God to do something for God.  Let each and every one of us be strong and do the work.  The best part of that instruction is what David says about it a little later.  As we strive to be strong and do the work for which God has chosen us, God will always be with us and will not fail us.  If we strive to be strong and to do God’s work, God will make us strong enough to accomplish whatever task He has chosen for us.  With God by our side, or, perhaps, with us by God’s side, there is nothing for us to fear, or for us to be discouraged by.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 24-26.

Today provides another example of why writing this blog helps me study the Bible.  As I was reading today’s passage with its list of priests and Levites who were assigned different roles and who was the son of who looking for something to write about I came across the mention of Asaph.  First, I thought I was reading a genealogy of Levites and how they were assigned roles in temple administration, Asaph is brought up without any mention of how he descended from Levi.  This lead me to realize that I had misunderstood the previous list of Levi’s descendants.  Once I was thinking about Asaph and the appointment of some men for the ministry of prophesying, I found it interesting that the commanders of David’s army played a role in choosing those men.  Another thing which I saw was the connection between the ministry of prophesying and music which was made here.  It strikes me that perhaps we today put too little thought into what sort of connection there is between prophesying and music.  Finally, I realized that the Asaph mentioned here is the same as the Asaph credited with the psalms of Asaph we have in the Book of Psalms.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 20-23.

Today’s passage discusses the plague which descended upon Israel following David’s census.  I struggle with how to express my thoughts about the ending of the plague because the wording the writer uses to describe what happened is less than completely clear.  There was some kind of event which happened at the threshing floor of Araunah.  This event led David and his advisors to build an altar there and begin offering sacrifices.  What is not clear to me is whether we are to understand that the plague stopped there before or after David made an offering there.  One way of reading this passage is that David bought the threshing floor, built an altar upon it, and began making offerings there because the plague stopped there.  Another way of reading this is that God directed David to buy the threshing floor, build an altar upon it, and began making sacrifices there and that the plague stopped when David followed those instructions.  Whichever way we are supposed to understand these events, something clearly happened at the threshing floor because the passage tells us that David was unwilling to go past it to go to Gibeon, where the tabernacle and the altar which travelled through the wilderness with it were set up.  The passage says that David and his advisors saw an angel with a drawn sword extended over Jerusalem.  The passage also tells us that Araunah and his four sons saw the angel as well.  Perhaps the reason the passage seems to indicate both that the plague stopped before David offered sacrifices at the threshing floor and that the plague stopped because David sacrificed at the threshing floor is because the writer realized in hindsight that the plague had stopped before the sacrifices were made but that David and those around him did not know that when they made those sacrifices.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 17-19.

I am torn about whether to write about what God tells David about his idea for building a temple along with David’s prayer of response, or about the timeline of David’s conquests.  I am going to start with what God told David through Nathan and see where this goes.  First, God tells David that He will provide a place for His people so that they have a home where wicked people will not oppress them.  As I read that I think both of modern Israel, which is a home for the descendants of Jacob, and the new Heaven and new Earth which God has promised to those who follow His Son.  The latter is very definitely a fulfillment of this prophecy.  Modern Israel as a home for the Jewish people of today represents a foreshadowing of that much greater home which the new Heaven and Earth will be for all of God’s people.  God shows us again and again throughout history that until all people bow to His son, wicked people will arise again and again to oppress His people.

God goes on to tell David through Nathan that He will raise up one of David’s sons who will build a house for God.  God says that He will establish this son’s kingdom and will set this son of David over God’s house and God’s kingdom forever.  Now most would interpret this as referring to Solomon, and I think we are to understand this prophecy as being fulfilled by Solomon.  But we are also to understand that it was not truly fulfilled by Solomon.  For Solomon only lived for a normal lifespan, and upon his death, the kingdom of Israel was divided.  So, clearly this prophecy also applied to another descendant of David, who would be able to forever  rule over God’s house and God’s kingdom.  That prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus Christ who built a different house for God, a house composed of those who accepted Him into their hearts, and allowed His Spirit to transform them into God’s likeness, as God had intended from the beginning.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 13-16.

The first thing which struck me in today’s passage was that David left the Ark of the Covenant in the house of Obed-Edom for a mere three months.  Yet, that was long enough for people to note the way in which Obed-Edom and his family were blessed.  It took just three months for people to notice the difference which having the Ark of the Covenant made for Obed-Edom and his family.  The thing I am noting is not that the Ark of the Covenant was magical.  No, what I am noting is that being in the presence of God transforms us in a positive way.  So, when we turn to God, it does not take long for us to begin experiencing the blessings that come from being in His presence.

The other thing I took note of is that David’s two primary priests were Zadok and Abiathar.  At the end of David’s life, Abiathar supported Adonijah when he tried to make himself king when David could no longer govern, while Zadok opposed Adonijah and supported Solomon.  Now, very little of that is in today’s passage, but what is in today’s passage is that, after bringing the Ark into Jerusalem, David assigned Zadok to continue making offerings at Gibeon, where the tabernacle was set up.  So, Adonijah administered to the Lord in Jerusalem, the capital of David’s kingdom, while Zadok did the same in Gibeon.  By being in Gibeon, Zadok was away from the court intrigue which is prevalent in any capital.  I don’t know how much this had to do with Zadok and Abiathar being on opposite sides when Adonijah attempted to make himself king, since it appears that Zadok had moved to Jerusalem by the time Absalom tried to overthrow David.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 10-12.

In yesterday’s passage, at the beginning of chapter nine, it tells us that all Israel was taken captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.  Today’s passage begins with an account of Saul’s final battle, where he died.  It tells us that he died because he was unfaithful to the Lord.  Then it begins its account of David’s kingship.  It gives a short summary of how he became king and conquered Jerusalem in order to put his capital there.  Then it lists out the many mighty warriors who fought under his banner.  It starts by listing the Three and the Thirty, which appear to have been elite fighting units, but also appear to have been among his earliest supporters.  Then it lists men who came to follow him while he was in Ziklag, in Philistine country.  For whatever reason, the writer then gives a list of warriors who joined David’s warband while he was in the fortress in the wilderness, before he went to Ziklag.  It then goes back to mention some men who joined David when he marched with the Philistines to fight against Saul (and makes a note that David and his men did not join the fight against Saul because the Philistine leaders were afraid to have him and his men in their order of battle against Saul).  Finally, the writer lists the number of warriors sent from the various tribes to support making David king over all of Israel in place of King Saul.  I think the writer is making two points with this list of warriors who came to support David.  First, he tells us that David had a core group of men whose loyalty to David pre-dated him having any power, who began loyally following David when he was on the run from King Saul.  Second, the writer tells us that, from the beginning David had a larger army than Saul had for most of his reign.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

ay, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 7-9.

Chapter seven lists the descendants of Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher.  I assume the listing for Manasseh is intended to be for the half of the tribe which settled west of the Jordan River, since the half which settled east of the Jordan was listed previously.  I found it interesting that for some of these tribes it lists the number of fighting men which had been counted in a census, but not for all of them.  Additionally, it does not give us any idea when that number of fighting men from these various tribes was  obtained.  Once the list of tribal genealogies was finished the passage gives the family tree for Saul, both his ancestors and his descendants.  When it completes that it tells us that they were taken captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.  Then the passage gives us a list of the first to return from the Babylonian Exile, which gives us an idea about when this book was compiled.  While it is clear that this book was compiled after the Israelites began returning after the Persian conquest of Babylon, it also seems clear to me that it was compiled from various records which they brought back with them.  In fact, this part reads as if the reason for making this compilation was that the records they were sourcing were partial and they were putting the information from those partial records here because they were afraid that if they were not combined those records would be lost.  The writer references other records which he seems to believe were more complete than the records he was compiling here.  Records which have since been lost, supporting his fear that these records might be lost if he did not put them all together.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 5-6.

Reading this list it seems to me that it exists, at least in part, in order to provide a baseline to which those who returned from Exile to connect the genealogical records which they had to those Israelites who lived in the land before the Exile.  It starts off by pointing out that Reuben forfeited his rights as firstborn and that those rights were passed on to Joseph.  In making that point it also says that this change impacted both of their descendants.  The other thing which struck me is that it makes a point of identifying from among the towns given to the Levites which ones were cities of Refuge, where someone guilty of accidentally killing another man could go to avoid the revenge of the dead man’s family.  The command to create Cities of Refuge is one of those which it is unclear from reading elsewhere if it was followed.  The fact that those who compiled the books of Chronicles knew which cities were Cities of Refuge indicates that it most certainly was followed.  It is also one of those things which acts as a counterpoint to those who claim that the Israelites were not a people distinct from the Canaanites.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 2-4.

The first thing I noticed today was that the list of Judah’s descendants at the beginning of chapter two only lists those who descended from his sons by Tamar.  It is only in chapter four, at the end of the list of Judah’s descendants, just before it discusses Simeon’s descendants, that there is any mention of Shelah’s descendants.  I don’t know if that is significant, but I took notice of that fact.  Also of interest is the mention of Jabez is verses nine and ten of chapter four.  There is a book written about Jabez, which to my mind makes more of these two verses than the text supports.  What I find most interesting about Jabez is that he is mentioned in a list of genealogies, but neither his father nor his sons are mentioned.  Even the reference to his brothers does not list them by name.  So, who was Jabez?  We don’t really know.  The passage tells us that he was more honorable than his brothers, but, since the passage does not tell us who his brothers were, that does not tell us much.  However, the passage also tells us that he asked God to enlarge his territory and that God granted his request.  So, while the book about Jabez’ prayer makes more of it than the passage supports, we can learn something from Jabez.  He was honorable and therefore when he asked God to bless him and expand his territory, God  granted his request..  So, if we are honorable in our dealings, we can be sure that God will bless us as well.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.