Week 33 Study Page - 1st Chronicles 15-29 & 2nd Chronicles 1-11
Week # 33 Study Page
1st Chronicles 15-29
2nd Chronicles 1-11
Suggested Daily Reading Breakdown:
Sunday: 1st Chronicles 15-18
Monday: 1st Chronicles 19-22
Tuesday: 1st Chronicles 23-26
Wednesday: 1st Chronicles 27-29
Thursday: 2nd Chronicles 1-4
Friday: 2nd Chronicles 5-7
Saturday: 2nd Chronicles 8-11
Degree of Difficulty: 7 out of 10. While this week's reading from Chronicles is sprinkled with some lists and censuses like the ones that made last week's reading so difficult, they are fewer and shorter, and the majority of our reading is a return to historical narrative which reads more like a novel. The word count of this week's reading is longer than normal, we're pacing ahead so that we can take the long chapters of the prophet Jeremiah at a slower pace. Most of the narrative that we will be reading this week is a repeat of stories that we read in 2nd Samuel and 1st Kings. We'll talk about the differences between the account below, but for the purpose of reading, i would suggest that you forsake comparisons between the two accounts until you're done reading them. Instead of approaching each account with "how is this different than 2nd Samuel?" just let the Chronicler tell his story. When you're done with your reading, is the best occasion to think back upon how this story differs from the one you read in February. In addition to the barely readable list of levites in 1st Chronicles, you'll also encounter building material lists for Solomon's temple. There is almost nothing for the modern reader to glean from these lists, just keep your eyes moving and hurry on to the adjacent passages.
About the Book(s)
1st Chronicles
Date of Authorship: If Ezra was the author of Chronicles, then these books were written in the middle of the 5th century BC (460-440). Those who do not believe Ezra to be the author usually suggest a date slightly more recent than that, and a few believe that it may have been written as recently as the 4th century BC.
Author: While the text of Chronicles claims no author, the Jewish Talmud claims that its author is Ezra, the priest. When these notes refer to the author of Chronicles, he will be referred to as "the Chronicler."
Purpose: The books of Chronicles intend to retell the story of God's people for an audience late in their history, several decades after the exile, with special emphasis on the Davidic covenant, the proper place of worship, and the certainty of God's punishment. you'll notice that Chronicles focuses much more on the kingdom of Judah at the expense of the account of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Chronicler views Judah as the vehicle of God's outworking of His promises, and will focus on this kingdom in his history. Chronicles is much more than just a retelling of the books of Samuel and Kings. In the Hebrew canon (Jewish Bible) 1st and 2nd Chronicles are the last book, after even Ezra and Nehemiah which record events later than those recorded in Chronicles. Chronicles occupies this special position because it retells the whole Old Testament story in a way which emphasizes the most important themes for postexilic Israel: 1) the Davidic covenant and lineage which was awaiting its ultimate fulfillment, and 2) the function and continuity of the priesthood.
Distinction from Samuel and Kings: One major distinction between the account of Chronicles and Kings is that Chronicles appears to be written much later than both of those accounts, and likely even uses them (Samuel and Kings) as source material. While these are the same stories of David and Solomon and the following kings of Judah, they are being told to a people who have been returned and restored from exile who we're wondering how God's plan for Israel related to their current situation under Persian / Greek control. Because the author is telling these 5th/4th century Israelites about the promise and certainty of both the Davidic kingship and the temple, he omits the stories of David struggling (no account of Bathsheba / Uriah, no rebellion of Sheba or Absalom) and focuses on the blessing of God toward David and his family, and makes the crucial connection between the kingship of David, and the Temple of God in Jerusalem.
As You Read Notes
1st Chronicles 20:1-3: A Covenantal History
Compare the difference between these two accounts
2nd Samuel 11:1-3
The Conquest of the Ammonites
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
1st Chronicles 20:1-3
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins. David took the crown from the head of their king—its weight was found to be a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones—and it was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
The author of Samuel is telling us the story of David, while the Chronicler is telling us the story of God's covenant with David. If you were simply relaying the story of David's life, the omission of Bathsheba would be a glaring one. However, the transgressions and struggles of David are not the concern of the Chronicler who is writing to show the post-exilic Israelites the everlasting covenant that God made with David and His (God's) temple in Jerusalem.
1st Chronicles 21: David's fighting Men Census
At the height of David's successes as a ruler, He decides to take a census of the fighting men. Not only is this a bad decision on the part of David, we are told here that "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David" to do this. A census would simply be a count of how many able-bodied soldiers there were in the kingdom, and this would seem - to us modern readers - to be a completely reasonable thing to do, so why was David punished for it? Here, again, the accounts of Chronicles and Samuel diverge. In Samuel 24, it appears that the census was taken as a means of collecting a tax possibly to give a guilt offering to God, but here in 1st Chronicles there is no preceding offense, so it appears that the violation concerned not trusting God to lead the Israelite army into victory. As mentioned above, the Chronicler frequently skips over the transgressions and struggles of David in his account; so why does he include this one? I believe the answer is two-fold:
This story would serve as a perfect instruction to the post-exilic Israelites to trust God for their deliverance. They would have been subjects of a greater, foreign empire and desirous of their independence. From this account of David they would learn that God's promise of an everlasting kingdom depended on His might, and not their own.
This story provides the occasion for special honor given the the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, which David would purchase, and which would become the site for the Temple constructed by Solomon
In our reading this week, we'll observe two Israelite kings making disastrous decisions; David here ordering a census, and Rehoboam threatening to increase the work-load of the Israelites (discussed below). Notice a commonality between these two decisions - they were both made against the recommendation of the King's advisers. Here the Chronicler shows us the virtue and wisdom of heeding good advice.
1st Chronicles 21:29: the Tabernacle at Gibeon
This week's reading began with the account of David bringing the Ark of the Covenant from the home of Obed Edom into Jerusalem. Notice where it is placed when it arrives there:
After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. (1st Chronicles 15:1)
The Ark went into a tent of David's own construction in Jerusalem - not* in the Tabernacle where it belongs. This was not a new development. The Ark was brought out from the Tabernacle in Shiloh by the sons of Eli in 1st Samuel 4 so that they could carry it into battle against the Philistines. The Ark was captured by the Philistines there, and it was never reunited with the Tabernacle ever again. The Ark would not be put into its proper place until Solomon's temple was completed, more than 80 years after it was removed from the Tabernacle in Shiloh.
Priests still ministered at the Tabernacle, but it did not remain in Shiloh, In 1st Samuel 21 David encounters the high priest and the Tabernacle in the Judean town of Nob, and here in 1st Chronicles 21 we read that it had been moved to Gibeon. Gibeon is located just six miles northwest of Jerusalem. Solomon's first act as King is to go to Gibeon to worship
2nd Chronicles 2:16: Lumber from Lebanon
Lumber was an extremely rare commodity in the promised land, yet much of it was required for David and Solomon's building projects. Fortunately for them, Israel's neighbor to the north-west was renowned around the Mediterranean world for this particular export. Lebanon is the region north of Israel along the Mediterranean coast. It includes the prominent cities of Tyre and Sidon. The Bible often refers to the people who occupy this territory as the Phoenicians. From this region came Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, and, along with lumber, Lebanon often exported the worship of Baal to their Israelite neighbors.
The trade in cedar logs from Lebanon is well attested in Egyptian and Assyrian sources. Transport of the logs along the Palestinian coast south would have involved either tying them together into rafts, which required staying very close to shore for fear of storms breaking them up, or loading them on ships. Assyrian reliefs show Phoenician ships both loaded with logs and towing them. Reliefs at Sargon's palace show cedar-log rafts being floated down the river for use in his building projects. Joppa was the closest port to Jerusalem in antiquity and was the natural debarkation point for the logs. From Tyre to Joppa was nearly one hundred miles; the inland trek from Joppa to Jerusalem was about thirty-five miles (IVP Bible Backgrounds Commentary, 424)
2nd Chronicles 10: The Division of Kingdoms
Our reading ends with the nation of Israel being divided into two kingdoms. This division is the practical result of Rehoboam's foolishness in rejecting the Elder's requests for a lighter work load, and threatening an even harsher rule. However, above the practical level we know from 1st Kings 11:11 that this division is ultimately the consequence of Solomon's unfaithfulness to God.
At the very beginning of this account, it is clear that Rehoboam is in political trouble. He had to go up from Judea, his home-region and the center of his political power, to be made king in Shechem which is the center of political power for the northern tribes. Compare this moment to when David was recognized as king by the tribal leaders in 2nd Samuel 5:1 - they came to* David in Hebron (Judea). Rehoboam's lack of insight and administrative finesse in the negotiations are foreshadowed by the meeting site.
The divisions between the Northern and Southern tribes are not a new phenomenon to this occasion in the narrative. This division reared its head in the dispute for the throne between David and Saul's son Ish-Bosheth in 2nd Samuel 2, and Sheba' revolt in 2nd Samuel 21. All 12 tribes had been held together during the reign of Saul, David, and Solomon, only because they possessed a great deal of political skill and (the later two) reigned over a period of prosperity. However, the elements that held these entities together under a singular government were only 2-3 generations old. Now, under Rehoboam, the cost of unity and the differing perspectives of north and south easily drove a wedge between them when it became clear to the Northern tribes that Judah and the Davidic house had no intention of compronising with their requests for more local autonomy and lower taxes.