Good morning! What are we to think when bad things happen to apparently good people? Today in 2 Chronicles 9-12, we conclude a description of Solomon’s reign and then see what comes with his son Rehoboam’s rise to the throne. The Chronicler interprets events theologically, trying to identify the role of God in civil war and defeat. By identifying suffering as God’s will, and as divine punishment for sin, the author opens up the possibility for changing circumstances by changing hearts. The “cause and effect” may work for a theological historian writing after the fact, but I have a harder time accepting this logic to make sense of much suffering today.
Month: May 2016
2 Chronicles 6-8
Good morning! While yesterday we had chapters detailing the Jerusalem temple’s construction, today (2 Chronicles 6-8) we hear the prayers by which the temple is made holy, before a chapter of miscellaneous accounts associated with Solomon’s rule. The main theme raised by this passage concerns the temple’s status as the house of God.
2 Chronicles 1-5
Good morning! Today’s reading from 2 Chronicles 1-5 may inspire a sense of déjà vu in you. These chapters, first introducing Solomon and then focusing on the temple, are a near-complete echo of texts we’ve already heard in 1 Kings. There are five chapters in this passage, but because so much of it is familiar it will hopefully not take too long to read.
1 Chronicles 27-29
Good morning! Today in 1 Chronicles 27-29 we glimpse the military and commercial concerns of the king, return to David’s vision for building the temple, and then witness David hand the reins to his son Solomon. Everything here is done with the confident clarity and ceremony we’ve come to expect from the Chronicler.
1 Chronicles 24-26
Good morning! Today’s passage (1 Chronicles 24-26) is the middle of nine chapters dedicated to the temple. Today we see more of the people who contributed to proper functioning of the temple, Jerusalem, and Israel as a whole.
1 Chronicles 21-23
Good morning! After bringing the ark back to Jerusalem, then consolidating the kingdom and defeating enemies, David is now on to the third and final major task that the Chronicler focuses on: preparing for the temple’s construction. The process starts today in 1 Chronicles 21-23, but it’s of such importance to this writer that the whole narrative of the building extends another dozen chapters beyond today.
1 Chronicles 17-20
Good morning! Today’s passage (1 Chronicles 17-20) largely reiterates the military battles and conquests of David that we read in 2 Samuel 7-8, 10 and 21. As you can tell from that list, much of David’s biography is left out of this revised history! What matters to the Chronicler aren’t the “messy details” of David’s life (Jonathan, Bathsheba, Absalom, etc), but David’s unerring faithfulness. The strategic storytelling here illuminates by omission, at least when held up against the 2 Samuel version of these events.
1 Chronicles 13-16
Good morning! Today’s passage (1 Chronicles 13-16) focuses on the ark of the covenant and its journey in stages from the frontier of Israel to the heart of sacred community and worship in Jerusalem. Much of this is very familiar from our recent reading of 2 Samuel (to the point of near-identical paragraphs), but the Chronicler leaves out any parts of the record that might reflect unfavorably on King David, here treated as the paragon of royal righteousness.
1 Chronicles 10-12
Good morning! Today in 1 Chronicles 10-12 we return to something more resembling narratives, though because this is Chronicles many of the narratives are also composed of lists. All the vignettes we read today are familiar because we’ve heard them previously in Samuel or Kings.
1 Chronicles 8-9
Good morning! Today’s reading of 1 Chronicles 8-9 gets us through more of the “flyover country” in the middle of the Hebrew Scriptures. Again we have a list of tribal descendants, this time from Benjamin on down, including Saul and Jonathan. Chapter 9 sounds at first like it lists the people who returned to Judah after the exile, the “first to live again in their possessions”. But it also catalogues the Levites who did this or that for the tabernacle, in the time of David before there ever was a temple. The portion of this chapter describing the various areas of tabernacle service is slightly more interesting that genealogical lists, because it helps us appreciate all that went into tabernacle and temple service: gatekeepers, utensil monitors, bakers, and singers, to name a few. Happy reading!
Please join discussion of this passage at the Daily Bible Facebook group, or comment below. The passage for tomorrow is 1 Chronicles 10-12. Thanks for reading!
Pastor Oby Ballinger 