MY SHORT REPORT 1 CHRONICLES 1-17
The link that brought you to this page and the page title are a bit of a misnomer, because this short report is not long enough to cover so many chapters of the Bible. What the link and the title do, however, is track where we are in our plan to read through the entire Bible in 1 year. May each report pique your interest and help you to draw near to God. The Bible, James 4:8, tells us if we do so God will draw near to us. Works cited are at the end of the report. Internal links provide additional information.
BIBLE READING—WEEK 18—1CHRON 1 – 1CHRON 17: Last week’s Short Report looked at the fall of the Kingdom of Israel, which was led by a series of ungodly kings, and removed from God’s sight (2Kg 17:18) by the Assyrians and become known as the Ten Lost Tribes. This happened because Israel broke faith with God, His Law and the Mosaic Covenant. This week’s Short Report looks briefly at some key figures in the Hebrew genealogies and considers the circumstances and make-up of the returning exiles from Babylonia, with the overarching view of how everything fits into God’s plan, and finishes with a key verse.
As the Concordia Reference Bible says, “Chronicles was written for the exiles who had returned from the Babylonian Captivity to remind them that they were still God’s chosen people” (p. 463). After 70 years away from Israel, and subject to a foreign government, the returning “captives” needed to get back to basics about their place in God’s plan, so a review of their lineage and history was in order.
Along those lines, the Expositor’s Bible Commentary tells its readers: "If Kings, composed after the final collapse of the kingdom in 586 B.C., concentrates on how sin leads to defeat (2 Kings 17:5, 18), then Chronicles, coming after the two returns from exile in 537 and 458 B.C., recounts, from the same record, how ‘faith is the victory’ (2 Chron 20:20, 22). Readers today may therefore find strength from God, knowing that his moral judgments (Kings) are balanced by his providential salvation (revealed in Chronicles)" (Payne, 303).
1 Chronicles starts with eight chapters of genealogies—dry reading for sure. It seems very clear that genealogies are in the Bible for God's glory, not man's; they show that we are the work of His hand—a fact that would be very important to those returning to Israel from the Captivity. The highest reason to show genealogies is to point to Christ. For instance, the first genealogy is Adam’s, and the very moment that Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden mankind needed a Redeemer, so Adam’s lineage points forward to Christ.
In the 5th chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul makes several important distinctions between Adam and Christ. Through Adam all of mankind became sinners (original sin) and are subject to judgment, condemnation, and death (vv. 12-16). On the other hand, in Christ Jesus we find grace, justification, righteousness, and life (vv. 16-21).
Today, among other things, we see Noah as a type of Christ who built an ark to save a remnant of holy people, just as Jesus builds His Church to hold all of God’s elect. No doubt the returning exiles were reminded, in Noah, of God’s promise to never again destroy the earth by the waters of a flood, and could see a hope of new beginnings that God continues to offer.
In Abraham, the exiles were reminded the God chose him to be the father of the Hebrew nation and that they were still living in the Abrahamic Covenant, which included the sign of circumcision, and was “an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:13). In Jesus’ time they were still calling Abraham their father (John 8:39). Today, we remember that Jesus said to the Jews of His day, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (v. 58).
In David and Solomon the Israelites were able to look back and see that God was faithful in delivering the land He promised to Abraham and to his offspring, a land they were about to resettle a second time. Also, in David they were reminded of the promised Messiah, who would be called the Son of David (cf. Luke 18:38).
In his introduction to 1 Chronicles, Wendland points out the great expectations the returning exiles must have had at the prospect of rebuilding the temple, but he uses Ezra 3:12-13 to spotlight their dismay when the oldest survivors, who had seen the original temple and knew its glory, saw the new foundation they had laid—a pitiful replacement—and “burst into tears” (p. 6). He also says the Chronicles was used to encourage the people of God by using the power of His Word. Thus, Wendland continues, “God preserved the Jews as a people distinct from the godless nations around them” (p. 7). Not only did God shelter the Jewish people when they returned, He protected them as they were led away to Babylonia and while they were there (Daniel; Esther).
The Babylonian Captivity involved the citizens of Judah, that is the Israelites living in the Southern kingdom, which consisted, above all, of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (1 Kings 12:21), but also Levites from Hebron—a city of refuge in Judah’s ancestral territory (Joshua 20:7)—as well as God-fearing people of the northern tribes, “for they fell to him [King Asa] out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him” (2 Chronicles 15:9).
The Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary agrees that all of the 12 tribes were represented in the Southern Kingdom when it tells its readers, “The statement that ‘large numbers had come over to him from ‘Israel’ illustrates how God’s purpose in dividing Solomon’s kingdom was in fact being achieved: a faithful ‘remnant’ was being gathered and preserved” (Barker, 2:648).
The 2 Chronicles – People’s Bible Commentary also voices agreement that God was gathering a remnant from the Northern Kingdom within the Kingdom of Judah when it says, “Asa was able to summon together a group truly representative of all Israel for the festival he had in mind” (p. 181). It goes on to say the festival was the Feast of Weeks, described in Leviticus 23, (cf. Pentecost in Acts 2), and was an opportunity for the next generation to proclaim their dedication to God and the Mosaic Covenant (Wendland, p. 182).
Along with the lineage, key figures, and history in Chronicles there is an unnumbered psalm of David. Wendland tells his readers “it appears as portions within three different psalms (Psalms 105, 96, 106), rather than as the single work we find here” (1 Chronicles, 179). It is a psalm of thanksgiving and praise that tells of God’s faithfulness and His sovereignty over all the people of the earth. Verse 13 would be especially important to remind the exiles who returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple about their place in God’s plan because they were His elect. It reads: “O offspring of Israel his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!” In the Lutheran Difference we are told: “Even before He created the world, God chose (‘elected’) those whom He will save in Christ” (p. 576).
In conclusion, this week’s Short Report reviewed some of the key people mentioned in the genealogies and history found in 1 Chronicles as well as the composition of the exiles that returned from the Babylon Captivity and how they all fit into God’s plan, and finished by looking at a key verse--1 Chronicles 16:13.
As the Concordia Reference Bible says, “Chronicles was written for the exiles who had returned from the Babylonian Captivity to remind them that they were still God’s chosen people” (p. 463). After 70 years away from Israel, and subject to a foreign government, the returning “captives” needed to get back to basics about their place in God’s plan, so a review of their lineage and history was in order.
Along those lines, the Expositor’s Bible Commentary tells its readers: "If Kings, composed after the final collapse of the kingdom in 586 B.C., concentrates on how sin leads to defeat (2 Kings 17:5, 18), then Chronicles, coming after the two returns from exile in 537 and 458 B.C., recounts, from the same record, how ‘faith is the victory’ (2 Chron 20:20, 22). Readers today may therefore find strength from God, knowing that his moral judgments (Kings) are balanced by his providential salvation (revealed in Chronicles)" (Payne, 303).
1 Chronicles starts with eight chapters of genealogies—dry reading for sure. It seems very clear that genealogies are in the Bible for God's glory, not man's; they show that we are the work of His hand—a fact that would be very important to those returning to Israel from the Captivity. The highest reason to show genealogies is to point to Christ. For instance, the first genealogy is Adam’s, and the very moment that Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden mankind needed a Redeemer, so Adam’s lineage points forward to Christ.
In the 5th chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul makes several important distinctions between Adam and Christ. Through Adam all of mankind became sinners (original sin) and are subject to judgment, condemnation, and death (vv. 12-16). On the other hand, in Christ Jesus we find grace, justification, righteousness, and life (vv. 16-21).
Today, among other things, we see Noah as a type of Christ who built an ark to save a remnant of holy people, just as Jesus builds His Church to hold all of God’s elect. No doubt the returning exiles were reminded, in Noah, of God’s promise to never again destroy the earth by the waters of a flood, and could see a hope of new beginnings that God continues to offer.
In Abraham, the exiles were reminded the God chose him to be the father of the Hebrew nation and that they were still living in the Abrahamic Covenant, which included the sign of circumcision, and was “an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:13). In Jesus’ time they were still calling Abraham their father (John 8:39). Today, we remember that Jesus said to the Jews of His day, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (v. 58).
In David and Solomon the Israelites were able to look back and see that God was faithful in delivering the land He promised to Abraham and to his offspring, a land they were about to resettle a second time. Also, in David they were reminded of the promised Messiah, who would be called the Son of David (cf. Luke 18:38).
In his introduction to 1 Chronicles, Wendland points out the great expectations the returning exiles must have had at the prospect of rebuilding the temple, but he uses Ezra 3:12-13 to spotlight their dismay when the oldest survivors, who had seen the original temple and knew its glory, saw the new foundation they had laid—a pitiful replacement—and “burst into tears” (p. 6). He also says the Chronicles was used to encourage the people of God by using the power of His Word. Thus, Wendland continues, “God preserved the Jews as a people distinct from the godless nations around them” (p. 7). Not only did God shelter the Jewish people when they returned, He protected them as they were led away to Babylonia and while they were there (Daniel; Esther).
The Babylonian Captivity involved the citizens of Judah, that is the Israelites living in the Southern kingdom, which consisted, above all, of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (1 Kings 12:21), but also Levites from Hebron—a city of refuge in Judah’s ancestral territory (Joshua 20:7)—as well as God-fearing people of the northern tribes, “for they fell to him [King Asa] out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him” (2 Chronicles 15:9).
The Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary agrees that all of the 12 tribes were represented in the Southern Kingdom when it tells its readers, “The statement that ‘large numbers had come over to him from ‘Israel’ illustrates how God’s purpose in dividing Solomon’s kingdom was in fact being achieved: a faithful ‘remnant’ was being gathered and preserved” (Barker, 2:648).
The 2 Chronicles – People’s Bible Commentary also voices agreement that God was gathering a remnant from the Northern Kingdom within the Kingdom of Judah when it says, “Asa was able to summon together a group truly representative of all Israel for the festival he had in mind” (p. 181). It goes on to say the festival was the Feast of Weeks, described in Leviticus 23, (cf. Pentecost in Acts 2), and was an opportunity for the next generation to proclaim their dedication to God and the Mosaic Covenant (Wendland, p. 182).
Along with the lineage, key figures, and history in Chronicles there is an unnumbered psalm of David. Wendland tells his readers “it appears as portions within three different psalms (Psalms 105, 96, 106), rather than as the single work we find here” (1 Chronicles, 179). It is a psalm of thanksgiving and praise that tells of God’s faithfulness and His sovereignty over all the people of the earth. Verse 13 would be especially important to remind the exiles who returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple about their place in God’s plan because they were His elect. It reads: “O offspring of Israel his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!” In the Lutheran Difference we are told: “Even before He created the world, God chose (‘elected’) those whom He will save in Christ” (p. 576).
In conclusion, this week’s Short Report reviewed some of the key people mentioned in the genealogies and history found in 1 Chronicles as well as the composition of the exiles that returned from the Babylon Captivity and how they all fit into God’s plan, and finished by looking at a key verse--1 Chronicles 16:13.