1 Chronicles 15:1-43 - Worshipping the Lord

16:1-6

The ark was set inside the tent that Dacid had pitched for it.The burnt offerings and fellowship offerings were made to the Lord.  David then blessed the people and gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins for every Israelite. Levites were appointed to minister before the Lord and to praise Him. 

16:7-36

David appointed Asaph and his associates to give praise to the Lord. We then get  a psalm, showing how the worship was to go. His actions were to be made known among the nations. The Great commission tells us to make disciples of all nations, and God told Abraham that through him all nations would be blessed. God chooses a particular people, but with the purpose of blessing all the world. They (and we) were to delight in the Lord, and to “look to the Lord and His strength”. This was a key area where Israel had failed and so ended up in exile. 

They were to remember “the wonders He has done”, we should always remind ourselves of what the Lord has done for us. They were also to remember His judgements. We need to remember that the Lord is a God of judgement, and that The father has appointed Jesus as judge. Anyone who thinks judgement has no part of the gospel is a fool.

David then reminds them of the covenant basis of the promises. We are in a covenant relationship with the Lord. So we are protected by the Lord. We should remember who the Lord is and how great a God we have.

16:38-43

After all the worship had taken place all the people, including David, left. David blessed his family.

1 Chronicles 15:1-29 - the return of the Ark

15:1-29

Having failed on the first attempt to bring back the ark, David was now more careful to follow the Lord’s ways. In particular only the levites were to carry it. He had pitched a tent for it, and gathered all Israel to welcome its arrival. The presence of the Lord was for all the nation, just as the Holy Spirit is for all people.

Special attention is given to the Levites. Even the Levites had to consecrate themselves. It  is then stated explicitly that it was because David had not used the Levites the last time that the problems arose. The people needed to realise the importance of doing things God’s way. Worship was also involved.

So the ark was brought from the house of Obed-Edom to Jerusalem, and David danced before the ark. The bringing back of the ark is ascribed to “all Israel”. Michal, the daughter of Saul and wife of David despised David for his dancing.

1 Chronicles 14:1-17 - All the nations feared David

14:1-7

David received gifts from Hiram king of Tyre to help build a palace for himself. He received blessings from other nations. Various prophets foretell of the wealth of nations coming to Israel. The Law was to go out from Israel and wealth was to come in. David also took more wives and so had more sons and daughters. This was not so good, taking wives was to be Solomon’s downfall, and sexual sin was part of David’s downfall.

14:8-17

The Philistines tried to attack David, but David defeated them. The key points here are (i) that David enquired of the Lord, and (ii) the Lord gave him victory.. The Philistines tried again. David again enquired of the Lord and he followed God’s instructions. Once again David defeated the Philistines, and fear of David among all the nations. The lesson is that if Israel feared the Lord, all would go well with them.

1 Chronicles 13:1-14 - Bring back the ark

 13:1-14

We had an account of this in 2 Sam 5,6. The ark represents the presence of God. The emphasis here is on this being relevant for “All Israel”. The important points are (i) the presence of God is crucial, during the reign of Saul Israel did not enquire of the Lord (v3). As we know initially things went wrong. The key point is that things had to be done God’s way, even the great king David could not avoid this. David was angry at the disaster, but had to do things God’s way. As a stop-gap the ark was taken to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, and the household of Obed-Edom was blessed. The presence of the Lord brings blessing.