To the dutiful Bible reader, Chronicles can appear a bit overwhelming. As we learn, we might imagine to ourselves, I have never learn it earlier than? The brief reply is sure and no .
The books of 1 and a couple of Chronicles recount among the similar tales of Israel and Judah that seem within the books of Samuel and Kings. However Chronicler additionally gives a brand new perspective on these years by together with new materials and setting apart different tales. His selections about what to maintain and what so as to add will not be arbitrary however deliberate. And if we listen, we’ll see that the Chronicler has a definite message that we are able to study from as we speak.
First, solely 50 % of Chronicles is repeated materials from Samuel and Kings. On the one hand, it overlaps rather a lot. However however, it additionally means this half A model new ingredient of Chronicles. Which suggests we won’t ignore it!
And whereas Chronicles’ content material overlaps with earlier materials, it emerges 100 years later – giving Chronicles the good thing about hindsight and a possibility to deal with a brand new set of challenges for its era. The folks of Judah had simply returned from exile and confronted the big activity of rebuilding Jehovah’s temple in Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar. This work profoundly shapes the background of the books of Chronicles.
For those who set Chronicles aspect by aspect with Samuel and Kings, you will note that the brand new materials focuses on two major themes: David and the Temple. The Chronicler spends further time detailing the family tree of David’s household and David’s inheritance. And whereas Kings focuses on the northern kingdom of Israel, Chronicles highlights the southern kingdom of Judah, the place David’s descendants reigned.
Likewise, Chronicler provides bonus content material in regards to the temple. We learn extra particulars about David’s preparation of constructing supplies and Solomon’s building course of and dedication. The Chronicler additionally tells us of 5 distinct temple renovation tasks over the centuries. We hear the prayers of varied kings within the temple and discover out which Levites have been assigned to which temple-related duties.
These two necessary themes—David and the temple—are evident within the genealogies listed from the start of the e-book. Now, this seems like skimming Chapter 9 Family tree to open the e-book. However if you happen to do, you could miss necessary clues about what particulars are necessary to the Chronicler and why.
Regardless of their size, the genealogies don’t present an even-handed and full account of all 12 tribes of Israel. Reasonably, they focus particularly on the household of David and the tribe of Levi (you guessed it!) as a result of it was their descendants who have been initially known as to serve within the temple.
One other factor you could discover if you happen to evaluate Chronicles with Samuel is that Chronicler leaves out many of the unrepentant tales about David.
In Chronicles, David doesn’t reap the benefits of Bathsheba, nor does he lose his maintain over his sons. It’s not that the Chronicler is unaware of David’s failings; Evidently, he has Samuel earlier than him as he writes, since many tales are derived from it. However, for essentially the most half, the tales of David’s wrestle don’t advance the chronicler’s goal, with just one exception. Since it is the exception that proves the rule, let’s take a look at it extra intently.
Given the in any other case squeaky clear portrait of David in Chronicles, it’s shocking that Chronicles contains the story of David’s ill-advised census, when he ordered his commanders to register their preventing males. His failure to consider in God’s safety had disastrous penalties for the nation.
To know why this story seems in 1 Chronicles 21, we should pay shut consideration to the implications of David’s actions. David known as for a navy census towards the recommendation of his commander Joab. The observe was a flexing of David’s energy and a failure of religion in God’s safety. However quickly after the quantity got here, David realized that he had sinned and prayed for forgiveness.
In response, God allowed David to decide on his personal destiny from three choices: “three years of famine, three months of being swept away earlier than your enemies … or three days of the Lord’s sword—the times of plague within the land, the angel of the Lord destroying each a part of Israel” (1 Chron. 21:12). David selected the final possibility, deciding to give up himself and the dominion to God.
The plague was really devastating with many unnecessary deaths attributable to David’s foolishness. However in judgment, Yahweh confirmed compassion to the nation by stopping his angel from destroying extra folks – just like the second on Mount Moriah, when Abraham was about to kill his son Isaac and Yahweh known as him to cease (Genesis 22:9-14). . The narrator additionally tells us precisely the place the angel of the Lord was when the plague stopped in its tracks—”Arouna stood within the subject of the Jebusite” (1 Chron. 21:15).
This location is essential to the general plot of the e-book. Threshing flooring have been the place folks processed their grain crops by pulling heavy equipment over the wheat stalks to separate the grain from the chaff. When potential, they carried out this work on hilltops in order that the wind may blow away the chaff, leaving solely the nutrient-rich grain behind.
So, David purchased the threshing flooring of this main hilltop from the Jebusites, constructed an altar there to supply burnt choices and fellowship choices, restore fellowship with Jehovah, and thank him for his mercy. Considerably, “the Lord answered him with hearth from heaven on the altar of burnt providing” (1 Chron. 21:26)—a dramatic response that was echoed in the course of the constructing of the tabernacle (Lev. 9:24). David logically concluded that this is able to be the correct place to construct the temple, saying, “Right here shall be the home of the Lord God, and the altar of burnt providing for Israel” (1 Chron. 22:1). However, you could bear in mind, his son, not David, will tackle the job.
The chronicler lastly attracts these threads collectively in a dramatic improvement in 2 Chronicles: “Then Solomon started to construct the temple of the Lord on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, the place the Lord appeared to his father David. It was underneath the threshing flooring of the Jebusite Araunah, the place given by David” (3:1)—the place the place God confirmed mercy to David by sparing the Israelites, and the place the place God likewise spared Isaac. The Chronicler would not need us to overlook this!
Why inform this unflattering story about David in a e-book that paints an in any other case optimistic image of him? The catastrophe of the census is important as a result of it finally results in the institution of the placement of Solomon’s Temple, which is one other key theme of the e-book. It was right here that God confirmed mercy to the Israelites and supplied dramatic proof of His presence and blessing.
The chronologist wished to spotlight the significance of rebuilding the temple for his personal era and reuniting those that have been known as to serve in it, who had simply begun after returning house. They desperately wanted a way of continuity with the previous and a few assurance that God’s presence would as soon as once more grace their group. And if we skip over the books of Chronicles, assuming they’re “repetitive,” we could miss God’s name to our personal era to prioritize temple-building.
We face an analogous activity as we speak: how can the church rebuild after a worldwide pandemic? How can we get well after so many public scandals and deep divisions? But the duty of our era is to not rebuild a bodily temple however to lean into our collective id because the physique of Christ. Particularly within the West, the place expressive individualism is so valued, the e-book of Chronicles provides a much-needed corrective. It isn’t about that me, it is about God’s folks doing God’s work on the planet. And by underscoring our shared mission, we are able to rediscover our sense of goal.
“Due to this fact, you might be now not foreigners and strangers, however fellow residents with God’s folks and members of his family, constructed on the inspiration of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself because the chief cornerstone,” wrote the apostle Paul. “In that the entire constructing unites and turns into a holy temple of the Lord. And in him you are also being constructed collectively right into a habitation the place God lives by his Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).
This isn’t a single mission. As Paul and Sosthenes say elsewhere, “Know ye not that ye yourselves are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). The youAll listed here are plural: “Do not all of you know that y ‘All God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwell in all all of you?” One doesn’t go on an architectural tour to admire a single brick, however to face in awe of buildings product of hundreds of thousands of well-placed bricks.
For us as we speak, temple-building includes assembly collectively commonly, in search of God collectively, studying to like each other properly, and discovering easy methods to honor God collectively in our era. No particular person alone can show the fullness of God’s glory to an observing world. Rebuilding God’s home is a bunch mission—and all of us want one another.
Carmen Pleasure Eames is an affiliate professor of Outdated Testomony at Biola College and creator Bear the identify of God And Being the picture of God. He’s at the moment writing his subsequent e-book, Being God’s Household: Why the Church Nonetheless Issues.
