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

This is one of those passages which I struggle with what to write every year.  As with last year the things I am going to write about are things which I would not even have noticed if I did not need something to write about.   I found it curious that, after writing about the sons of Benjamin, but before discussing the sons of Naphtali, the writer mentions that the Shuppites and Huppites were descendants of Ir, and the Hushites were descendants of Aher.  However, at no place does he tell us from whom Ir and Aher were descended.  From the placement, I assume that the Shuppites, Huppites, and Hushites were all descendants of Benjamin, but I do not know for sure.  The Shuppites and Huppites have additional significance in that Makir, a descendant of Manasseh married a woman from their number.

I also want to note that we again have a portion in this passage which tells us that this book was compiled by those who returned to the Land of Israel after the Babylonian Exile.  Many scholars hold that the entire Old Testament was compiled at around that time.  In fact, some people have concluded from the genealogies included here, and the way that they are presented, that the Old Testament was compiled from other sources in order to provide support for the idea that those who returned from Exile should rule the land.  I think those people are on to something when it comes to the motivation in compiling the books of Chronicles.  However, I think that the way in which the “Chronicler” made his bias in favor of those whose genealogies were “pure”, while most of the other Old Testament books lack that clear bias suggest other origins for those books.   I will also point out that while the “Chronicler” had his own agenda in compiling these two books, God had His purposes for them.  I believe that God made use of the “Chronicler’s” personal motives to accomplish His greater purpose.

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