1 Chronicles 12:1-40 - Disciples from all nations

12:1-40

Even though David was banished by Saul, men came to join him and became his warriors. In fact men joined him from all sorts of groups, and many of these were able and skilful men. Still more joined David at Hebron. In gospel terms this parallels men believing the gospel from all people groups. WE may start off small, but God has a plan, and it is to draw people from every nation, tribe and tongue, to make disciples of all nations. Those who join bring their own abilities and riches into God’s kingdom. The returnees in Jerusalem should not give up, nor should we ever lose heart.

1 Chronicles 11:1-47 - All Israel came together to David at Hebron

11:1-3

David becomes king over Israel. \the emphasis in this chapter is that things happened according to God’s plan, and when they did things went well. All Israel welcomed David. What a pity that all Israel did not welcome Jesus, the true shepherd of God when He came! 

11:4-9

We then read of the taking of Jerusalem (call Jebus at the time). The Jebusites declared that they would not succeed, nevertheless David conquered the fortress of Zion. People declaring that we will not succeed is not unusual and is actually of no account. If God has said we will succeed, then we will do so. Jerusalem had been given to David and to Israel by the Lord. This would be an encouragement to the returnees. We should always remember what God’s long term plans are.

11:10-47

 We now get yet another list, but this time not another genealogy, but a list of David’s mighty warriors and their exploits. They succeeded because the Lord gave them victory, sometimes in the most amazing situation and against the odds. The lesson for the returnees is that though their situation was difficults, God could give them victory.

1 Chronicles 10:1-14 - Why Saul died.

10:1-14

At last we have reached a part that is not full of genealogies. This chapter tells of the death of Saul and his sons. More can be read about this in ! Samuel 31. Here it is v13 and 14 that are crucial, summing up why these things happened. Namely, Saul was unfaithful to the Lord, and did not enquire of Him. Instead Saul enquired of a witch. “So the Lord put Him to death and turned the kingdom over to David.

1 Chronicles 7:1-9:44 - And so it goes on

7:1-12

And there seems to be no end to the genealogies. The tribes in this chapter were part of the northern kingdom of Israel, the ones in 7:4-19 come from west of the Jordan (transJordanian tribes). There seems to be an emphasis on the numbers of fighting men.

7:13

The info here comes from Gen46:24 and Num 26:48,49.

I am afraid i am just going to skip the next few chapters of genealogies.

1 Chronicles 6:1-81 - The sons of Levi

6:1-30

And still the lists go on (and on), a whole chapter of them, devoted to the tribe of Levi. 6:4-15  gives the high priests, with some missed out (eg Jeheoida , 2 Kings 12:2, two Azariahs , Eli and Abiathar) Ezra 7:1-5 repeats much of the list. 

6:31-47

We now get the temple musicians. Music has always been an important part of worship

6:48-53

There was atonement for sin, but it had to be carried out in the way ascribed by the Lord. It was important for them to realize this. For Kings makes plain that Israel had suffered because of her sin. Not realising the need to address the sin problem is a fatal mistake, but there is then the danger that we will think “we’ll do things this way”, it needs to be done God’s way.

6:54-81

The Levites were not given their own allotment of land, but were distributed throughout Israel. Every  tribe provided something for the priests.

1 Chronicles 5:1-26 - Reuben, Gad and Manasseh

5:1-17

Reuben was the first born, but did not have the primacy normally due to the first born, this was because of his sin. It is a consistent principle in the Bible, old and new testaments, that sin matters and has consequences. We do well to remember this. So his firstborn rights passed to Joseph.

Chapter 5 gives details for the tribes east of the Jordan, i.e. Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. God was committed to “All Israel”.

5:18-22

Here we get the first account of a battle, their victory against the Hagrites. The key points are (i) they won because of God’s help; (ii) they received this help because they trusted God; (iii) they cried out to God in the midst of the battle.

5:23-26

The account of Manasseh is given in contrast to the previous example. They were unfaithful to God, prostituting themselves  to false gods, so they were taken into exile by Tiglath-Pileser.

1 Chronicles 4:1-43 - other clans

4:1-10

While David was in one sense “the main man”, God’s covenant and promise applied to all Israel, so we get more genealogies. In 4:9,10 we get Jabez, the “prayer of Jabez” was quite “a thing”  a few years ago. His name meant “pain”, or, at least, sounds like the Hebrew for pain. He prayed and God granted his request. One can imagine the prayer and situation of Jabez being very relevant to the returnees. Israel had become a byword for disgrace, and they had suffered much. Moreover,  they wanted God’s blessing and for their territory to be increased. So God granting Jabez’s prayer would be an encouragement to them.

4:11-43

In 4:15 we get yet another Caleb. 4:24 onwards gives the genealogy for Simeon.