Good morning! Today is another good day for those who want unique baby-name suggestions! 1 Chronicles 6-7 continue the lists of descendants from the various tribes of Israel. Among the Levites, notice Aaron, Moses, and Miriam, plus a host of other characters we heard about in the Pentateuch. In the list of which musicians and other Levites served in the tabernacle, the writer emphasizes again that only Aaron and his descendants make offerings on the tabernacle altars, underscoring the separation of duties we learned earlier. Among those in Benjamin’s tribe, Saul is curiously not listed (though there’s a different list in chapter 8 that includes him). I also wonder why the Naphtali list is so short, and Bilhah his mother is uniquely listed as their ancestor also. Surely, there must be a story there! The same is true of the daughter of Ephraim (or Beriah), who in 7:24 is described as building “both Lower and Upper Beth-horon” plus some other places. Unfortunately, we don’t get the stories here, so are left to wonder and speculate.
Month: May 2016
1 Chronicles 3-5
Good morning! Today in 1 Chronicles 3-5 we continue with genealogical lists, grouped according to the tribes of Israel. In chapter 3, we’re already up to David, Solomon, and their further descendants. You’ll recognize here the names of those who ruled as kings of Judah, as well as all their siblings. Many saints and sinners comprise these lists, but the names are passed over without comment for now. This same thorough cataloging of ancestors continues in chapters 4 and 5 with the descendants of Judah, Simeon, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Some years ago, the “Prayer of Jabez” was common in certain Christian circles, a righteous example of praying for prosperity that could be emulated. This is proof that even in genealogical lists, there is occasional gold to be discovered or contrived. Happy reading!
Please join discussion of this passage at the Daily Bible Facebook group, or comment below. The passage for tomorrow is 1 Chronicles 6-7. Thanks for reading!
1 Chronicles 1-2
Good morning, and welcome to the month of May! Today we start reading a final “chunk” of historical texts (Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah) before the wisdom and later prophetic parts of the Hebrew Scriptures. The books of Chronicles trace and summarize the same biblical narratives we have been reading since January 1st. Chronicles begins with the first ancestors, traces the action of God in history of God through the call to Hebrew people, then to the founding of the united monarchy, its dissolution, and then the divinely-sanctioned lineage of King David in the kingdom of Judah. While we cover much of the same ground as the books of Samuel and Kings, “the Chronicler” focuses more on Judah rather than northern Israel. Until the stories of Saul, David and Solomon, Chronicles consists mainly of genealogical lists, which will challenge us to find meaning in dry texts. My Old Testament professor once said that Chronicles really should have been left on the cutting room floor when our versions of the Bible were assembled, but perhaps this repeat will remind us how many stories and people we have already encountered in the past four months. We may also give ourselves permission to do a bit more scanning than in-depth reading for a few days.
Pastor Oby Ballinger 