Obviously I haven't been updating this blog regularly. I've had some other projects demanding my attention and I just am not able to maintain a regular posting schedule. Even though this is supposed to run over the course of a year, I would like to simply pause for a while until I can get back on track and then pick up where I left off, starting 2 Chronicles. Maybe in the fall.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Day 124-8 1 Chronicles 15-29
David brought the ark of the lord to Jerusalem and celebrated with a lot of music. He was about to build a temple for the ark too, but God told him not to via a nearby prophet. God also told David that He would raise up David’s son and establish his rule forever. This son would build a house for God and God will be his father, never withdrawing His love. David’s son was Solomon who did build the temple and I don’t think God ever did get really angry with Solomon. Israel hardly lasted forever though, under the rule of David’s line. It split into two nations and then a few generations later both were taken prisoner and carted off to Babylon. I think a lot of people would argue that this promise to David is actually about Jesus. The word son seems to be pretty much interchangeable with a more general idea of a descendant in a lot of these stories and Jesus was a descendant of David’s.
With God happy, David won battle after battle with the Israelite army against everyone around them. Everything was going great until David ordered a census taken of all the fighting men in Israel. For some reason, this was a horrible, sinful thing for him to have done. This story is really strange, but it already came up at the end of 2 Samuel so there’s no real need to go over it again.
David had a son, Solomon, and he wanted to start early cashing in on God’s promises about the son of David. David made a lot of preperations for the temple Solomon would build, saying that Solomon was young and inexperienced so he was just getting things set up for him, he was just helping. My mom used to help me write essays the same way when I was young. It can be a little frustrating.
At the end of his life, David made Solomon king of Israel and delegated groups of Levites to different tasks around the temple according to their families. Then chapters 23 through 26 of 1 Chronicles give a breakdown of the Levite family tree and the divisions of the priests. Levites were assigned by David to be musicians, gatekeepers, treasurers and other things in the new temple. The word prophecy is used around the musicians a lot, which seems like a new development. The role of music so far in scripture seems like it’s mostly been to talk about how awesome God is or to record some historical event in verse so people will remember it better. Music seems to be a big deal to David though and these temple musicians sound like they actually have some connection to God through their music. This raises further issues though because, if that’s true, and being a musician is supposed to give these Levites the ear of the Lord, David is way overstepping his authority appointing them. Kings don’t get to make prophets, prophets make kings.
The rest of the book is a list of military and government officials under David’s administration up until Solomon is crowned king and David handed over to him the plans for the temple. David had drawn up plans for every part of the temple in such detail that there were already designated weights for the gold to be used for the forks and sprinkling bowls inside. David was not taking any chances on this temple not turning out the way he wanted it. From the story in 1 Kings it sounded like Solomon had no trouble planning and building the temple on his own, but by this account, it seems that all Solomon really needed to do was say go and David’s temple would essentially start building itself.
David then took up a collection from the whole assembly for the building fund, gave thanks to God, had Solomon acknowledged as the new king of Israel a second time, and then died.
Day 123 1 Chronicles 12-14
This is a summary of the story of David as he took over Saul’s office as king of Israel. A lot of men follow him as the Lord is on his side.
The brevity with which 1 Chronicles covers these important figures and events brings to mind the time I spent in high school and college doing my best to follow the teachings of the Buddha. No matter what is happening, whatever crisis, the universe continues onward. Any issue seems trivial when compared to the progress of creation as a whole. There are epic battles, great heroes, incredible acts of valor, and then the next thing happens and none of it matters anymore. Time marches onward.
Imagine if one simple sandstorm had happened at the wrong time and robbed us of the book of 1 Kings the same way some series of events has obviously robbed us of the books of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah. All we would know of David would be based on the couple chapters we have in Chronicles talking about him and his men being great warriors. How would that have changed our idea of king David the shepherd, the vulnerable father and reluctant leader of the nation of Israel appointed by the prophet Elijah?
Day 122 1 Chronicles 9-11
Wow, I could have saved myself a lot of time reading through 1 Kings if I’d known about this section. It basically recounts the short version of that whole book.
I’m glad we have both versions to compare though. It’s interesting which facts each account considers important. 1 Kings tells like a story at it’s core, something that could be told to the kids. This version in Chronicles is for the historical ledger though. It tells who begat whom and not much else.
It still mentions Saul falling on his sword, but none of the stuff about Samuel, Elijah or Elisha pulling the strings behind the scenes. This section is pretty clearly written after the exile in Babylon so maybe the prophets just got marginalized over the years. After all, kings leading armies around make a way better story than a dusty old man hiding out uneventfully by a stream in the wilderness.
Day 121 1 Chronicles 7-8
Geneologies for the tribes that no one really seems to care about as much. Naphtali, Asher, Benjamin. Saul came from Benjamin, so there’s some extra care given to his line.
This section also covers the half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, which I think are kind of under-valued. For one thing, Manasseh seems to be involved somehow in every third major even that happens in Israel. Come to think of it, Ephraim seems to have more than their fair share of important people and events too. If you look at all the Josephites together, they’re pretty major players in the shaping of Israel.
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