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Thursday 16 January 2014

1 Chronicles 11,12 - Uniting behind the task

The people recognise David as king and acknowledge that during the reign of Saul it was David who was responsible for their victories, and that God had anointed him as king to shepherd His people. There is an obvious parallel with Jesus here. Even under the Law it was Jesus who was responsible for all the "good things". Victories that were achieved, salvation that was granted, were all given by the grace of God. And, of course, God has appointed Jesus as shepherd over us. He is our ruler and the One who cares for us. Note that in all this the writer of Chronicles is assuming that the readers know about all the stuff in 1 and 2 Samuel and Kings. He is in a sense interpreting the history.
David then captured Jerusalem, this was despite the Jebusites declaring that David would never get in. Moreover, there was a reward for the one who led the attack. The message here is that although the task of rebuilding Jerusalem seemed daunting and there were many voices telling them they would never succeed (see Ezra and Nehemiah) they did succeed. Moreover, there is an encouragement to commit themselves wholeheartedly to the work.
The list of mighty warriors expands on the list in 2 Samuel 23:8-39. There appears to be a copyists error in verse 11 where it says 300, whereas it says 800 in 2 Sam 23:8. The list in 2 Samuel ends with Uriah, Chronicles expands the list.
Chapter 12 continues with lists of people who joined David. The writer is stressing commitment to David and the unity of the nation in the great task. He is trying to engender the same commitment in the people of his day.

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