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.