I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    I noticed in this passage that it repeatedly stressed that no preference was shown in assigning the duties to the priests and Levites. We should follow this model in selecting people to accomplish the necessary tasks in the Church. I am not suggesting that we should use lots for the purpose (although that might be a good idea for some of them). The important part is that we do not show preference. Not only was no preference shown, but significant effort was made to ensure that everyone could see that no preference was shown. The selection was process was open so that everyone knew how and why a certain person was selected for a particular task. The passage tells us that no regard was given to age or experience. However, it does point out that all of those selected for the various musical duties were accomplished musicians. Elsewhere it talks about there being many qualified officials among the descendants of Levi and Aaron. This implies to me that while the various tasks were divided up without preference, those tasks were divided up among those who were known to be qualified. I am a firm believer that in the Church we should assign tasks according to whether people are capable of performing them, not based on how well we like the people, or their age and experience. The only criteria should be: are they qualified? In addition, we need to make sure that our procedure for selecting people for jobs in the Church is open so that everyone knows how people were chosen and that favoritism was not shown to one individual over another in the process.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    I do not know that I ever noticed this before, but David took the census AFTER completely defeating two enemies of Israel. It seems as if, after his success against the Ammonites and the Philistines, he decided to go on a campaign of expansion. David was given a choice of three punishments for his sin: three years of famine, three months of destruction by his enemies, or three days of plague. David chose the three days of plague. He knew that it would be easier for himself and his people to recover from suffering of shorter duration than the longer, even if the devastation was greater. It is a facet of human nature that we generally recover better from a devastating experience of short duration than a more minor suffering of long duration. This is a principle which we would do well to remember, and factor in, when we consider options in our criminal justice system.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    When David wanted to build a Temple, a house for God, God told him not to do so. God reiterates that His home is not a house, is not a building of any sort. God is not fixed to one locale. Other gods were specific to certain locales, but God is not so limited. The Tabernacle was the perfect idiom for God’s home. It was mobile and could be moved from place to place. Furthermore, God proclaimed that he would build a house for David. It would not be a house made of stone and timber. Rather it would be a house made up of David’s descendants who would serve the Lord. This passage reminds us that we, as humans, are constantly trying to limit God by building structures to contain Him. Sometimes those structures are buildings. Sometimes they are the organizations we create. We often do this with the best of intentions. Whatever our intentions, God has to intervene to remind us time and again that He is not limited to those structures, nor is He limited by those structures. We, the people who worship Him, are where He desires to live. We need to allow God to live in us. We need to live lives that make God welcome. When we do not behave in a holy manner we are desecrating the only Temple God desires.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    When David decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he expected that it would result in nothing but good for him and his people. However, while the Ark was being transported, someone touched it in a manner other than what had been laid out by God. That man was instantly struck dead. This frightened and angered David, how could God do such a thing when David was trying to honor Him? However, we see that over time David realized that the death was caused by his, and his men’s (including the man who was killed), mistakes. They had not followed God’s instructions. David discovered that having good intentions is not enough. We need to not only have good intentions, we need to also do the right thing.

    I love the psalm/song which David wrote to celebrate when he finally brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. He calls on us to praise God and rejoice. The phrase which stands out to me today is this: “Each day proclaim the good news that He saves…Tell everyone about the amazing things He does.” To whom have I proclaimed the good news about God today?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    I mentioned yesterday that one gets an idea of how the Old Testament was put together by reading this Book. As I read today’s passage it occurred to me that the person (or people) who put this Book together did not possess the complete copies of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. I would guess that they had fragments of those books, and either other written sources or oral traditions. In an attempt to keep alive a record of their faith for future generations they combined their various sources into this Book. It seems obvious to me that if the collator of this Book had access to complete copies of those other books he would not have included these stories. Later other groups of returning Exiles brought complete copies of those other books. Reading this reminds me of how hard people of faith have worked to preserve the history of how God has worked. I pray that I may show the same dedication to preserving the stories of God’s people for future generations.

    I believe that the above insight provides sufficient reason to have read this passage. However, this morning, as I read this, I thought about the lesson we get from the story of David opining that he would like some water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem. The lesson is that leaders need to be careful about what they say. Some of their followers may take action based on the leader’s expressed desire that the leader would not want them to do.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    Today’s passage is more genealogies and land grants. However, wedged in there while talking about the tribes east of the Jordan is an important lesson. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh were successful in their early conquests because they cried out to God and trusted Him. However, they were later taken into exile because they were unfaithful to God. After they conquered the land and became wealthy they began to worship the gods of the peoples whom God had destroyed to make room for them. This is an important lesson for us. God will be with us if we trust Him and call on Him. However, disaster will find us if we do not remain faithful to Him. I would like to point out that this disaster is not God punishing us for our unfaithfulness (more on God’s punishment in a moment). The disaster which follows our being unfaithful to God is the natural consequence of our actions. God will mete out punishment for our unfaithfulness in an effort to discipline us and turn us from our sin before those sins bring disaster. God loves us and tries to show us the consequences of our sins while there is yet time to turn from those sins.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    This is another passage which I have trouble with reading. However, I can see why it is here. This list is clearly not a comprehensive list. Rather it is a list of relatively important persons. I need to remember to refer back to here when reading about personalities elsewhere in the Bible. For example, it is here that it most clearly lays out that Joab and his brothers were David’s nephews. We, also, learn here that Amasa, whom David appointed to replace Joab as commander of his army, and whom Joab subsequently killed, was David’s nephew and Joab’s cousin. Understanding that puts a whole new light on both David’s selection of Amasa and of Joab’s killing him.