I am using 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 references the attack on Rabbah, where David sent the army out under Joab and remained behind in Jerusalem without mentioning his sin with Bathsheba. It mentions that David sent the army out at the time of year when kings normally go to war, which appears to me to be a slight criticism of David. After that, David went to war with the Philistines and defeated them. The passage focuses on the fact that David’s men defeated and killed multiple giants who fought for the Philistines. David’s warriors defeated bigger and stronger warriors (the Philistine giants) because they put their trust in God, not their own abilities.

    It is in this context that David called for a census. This leads me to believe that David desired the census in order to know how large an army he could muster. Based on the accounts of David’s wars we find elsewhere, all of his wars up to this point had been responsive. In none of the accounts of David’s census does it tell us why it was a sin for David to do so. However, the timing as relayed in this passage and Joab’s response suggests that David’s request for a census demonstrated a lack of faith that God would provide sufficient warriors for the needs of the kingdom. Another possible explanation for what sin David was committing is that this census was preparation for drafting an army to go to war. All of the accounts we see up to this point imply that the army of Israel consisted of those warriors who chose to answer the call to arms.

I am using 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.

    When David decided to build a Temple for God, the prophet Nathan initially told him to go ahead. But that night Nathan received a message from God telling David not to build it, that one of his descendants, one of David’s sons, would build a house for God. I do not read Hebrew, but as I understand it, the word translated as son here does not necessarily mean just the male’s fathered by someone. It is sometimes used to reference all of the male descendants of that person (e.g. “sons of Abraham” does not necessarily mean just Ishmael, Isaac, etc, but may refer to all of those to whom God’s promises to Abraham apply). My point in bringing this up is that this prophecy did not necessarily apply to Solomon building the Temple. Indeed, while I believe that this prophecy did predict Solomon building the Temple, I more firmly believe that its true meaning was a reference to Jesus building the Church. Solomon’s throne was not established forever, after his death the kingdom was split and some time later the Babylonians destroyed the kingdom altogether. Further, when the Temple was built, God did not live within it, although it did hold a place dear to His heart. On the other hand, Jesus will rule from His throne for all eternity. More importantly, God lives within the house which Jesus built for Him, the Temple which is the Church

I am using 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.

    I am not sure how much of this I will be writing about. However, first I will comment on the obvious that just about everyone who comments on this passage comments on. When David first attempted to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he put on quite a big celebration. He had a new cart built to transport the Ark and gathered all of the leaders of Israel. This was probably a bigger celebration than his coronation, considering that it appears that he was acknowledged as king by the various groups of Israelites over a period of time. Then, just before they got to Jerusalem, one of the Levites guiding the cart the Ark was on touched it and was killed immediately and impressively. This would have been viewed as a bad sign about David’s kingship by everyone, including David. So, David immediately arranged for the Ark to stay at that location.

    Shortly after the abortive attempt to move the Ark to Jerusalem, the Philistines mustered their armies to remind the Israelites who was in charge in the area. David decisively defeated them in the first battle and the Philistines withdrew. A short time later the Philistines returned and once again David defeated them, although he used different tactics this second time. What makes these two battles significant is that they were evidence that God had not abandoned David. During this same time period, David asked his advisers to figure out what had gone wrong. He spent some time turning Jerusalem into not just the place he ruled from but into a capital city. He had some land in the city consecrated for the worship of God. Then David once again attempted to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. This time he was successful.

    When David began his preparations for the second attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem he said something very significant. He told the religious leaders that the reason things went wrong the first time was because they (including himself) had not asked God how they should go about moving the Ark. I want to point out that David learned this lesson from his two battles with the Philistines. Just as with his plans for moving the Ark the first time, David thought he knew what tactics to use against the Philistines. But he asked God what tactics he should use anyway. When he first went to move the Ark, he skipped that step. That is an important lesson for us. We need to ask God for guidance and direction, even, maybe even especially, when we “know” what to do.

I am using 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.

    From here to the end of 2 Chronicles this book (the evidence is that 1 and 2 Chronicles were written as one book and later divided, probably to facilitate making copies) mirrors the accounts recorded in 1 and 2 Kings. While there is overlap between these stories and those stories, the Chronicles tell some different stories, or information about the same stories not contained in the Books of Kings. As an example, of that the Books of Kings contained stories about the fighting men who followed David before and after he took the throne, but today’s passage contains some information not in those stories.

    Yesterday, I mentioned that it was curious that so many members of Saul’s clan lived in Jerusalem and suggested a couple of ideas about how that happened. In today’s passage, we are told that while David was in Ziklag under the protection of the King Achish of Gath (a Philistine), a group of warriors related to King Saul joined him there. So, while King Saul was pursuing David to kill him members of Saul’s clan went over to David’s side. In addition to these relatives of Saul, other members of Saul’s army deserted him and went to serve under David. Some even did so while David was preparing to march with the Philistine army against King Saul. Further it tells us that after Saul’s death, when David set up his capital in Hebron many warriors joined him desiring for him to become king over Israel. This suggests that one of the reasons that Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, and that of Saul’s son Ishbosheth, negotiated with David was because David’s forces were becoming progressively stronger. Basically, we are told that David did not become king over Israel by conquest. Rather he became king because the fighting men of Israel supported him as king.

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

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

    In today’s passage we come to the reason why these extensive genealogical lists are included, the list of the families of those who returned from Exile. The genealogical lists contained up to here were designed to establish the connection of the returning Exiles to the people who lived in the land before the Exile. However, in addition to these genealogies we learn a few interesting things.

    The passage mentions that two of Ephraim’s sons were killed while on a livestock raid near Gath. Ephraim was the son of Joseph and lived his entire life in Egypt. Yet two of his sons went on a livestock raid up near Gath. This tells us that the Israelites did some far ranging raiding from their base in Egypt, at least in the early days. There is no hint of this in either Genesis or Exodus, but it explains why the Pharaoh got nervous about this numerous people living in his land. This mention provides evidence that the Israelites living in Egypt were a warrior people before being enslaved by the Pharaoh.

    Later in this passage, when it lists Saul’s family it mentions that the members of Saul’s clan all lived close to each other in Jerusalem. This intrigues me because we are led to believe that the Israelites did not control Jerusalem until David conquered the city after Saul’s death. This raises a couple of questions about when the members of Saul’s clan moved to Jerusalem. One possibility is that they moved there after the death of Saul but before David conquered the city. We know that Shimei, a member of Saul’s clan, was a politically influential person in Jerusalem by the time Absalom rebelled against David. It seems strange that David would allow members of Saul’s clan to rise to such prominence in his capital city. However, perhaps they were already living there and had some prominence when he captured it?

I am using 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.

    We don’t typically think about the tribes which lived east of the Jordan River when we think about ancient Israel. Yet, they played significant roles in the history we have. Saul established his kingship over all of Israel by coming to the defense of a city on the east side of the Jordan River. David fled to the east side of the Jordan River and made his stand against Absalom from there. I think there are several other important mentions of them as well, but I cannot think of them at the moment. In today’s passage we learn that they gained control over the land they lived in because they put their trust in God, but they eventually went into exile because they were unfaithful to God. If we put our trust in God, He will provide us with success (by His measure of success). But if we do not remain faithful to Him, He will bring trouble upon us.

I am using 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.

    Today’s passage continues tracking the genealogy of the people of Israel. In particular it tracks some of the descendants of Judah. Even more specifically it tracks the ancestry of King David and his descendants through Solomon. It is likely that the genealogy contained here was placed here to provide a base for those who returned from Exile to trace themselves back to Jacob. Of course, this genealogies were almost certainly based on that of some of those who returned from the Exile. I have read through this several times this year, and in previous years, but am unable to see a lesson here for us to learn from.
    In the middle of this passage (1 Chronicles 3:9-10) we have the mention of Jabez and his prayer. What I find interesting is that Jabez is mentioned in the middle of a genealogy, but no mention is made of who is father was, nor of any children he may have sired. Jabez’ appearance here reminds me of when an author offers up being mentioned in his next novel at a charity auction. Others have made a big deal out of his prayer and what that means for us. However, as I was looking up information on him I cam across a comment which I think is more important than God’s answer to his prayer. Jabez was given that name because his mother experienced extreme pain giving him birth. Such a name would have marked him as someone who life was stacked against. Despite that fact, Jabez was honorable and faithful in serving God. Jabez overcame his childhood.