Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 9:1-44

Helpful thoughts:

• Congratulations!  When you finish the reading today, you will be done with the genealogical portion of 1 Chronicles!
  • Today’s lists include those who were returning from exile.
• There were people from the northern 10 tribes that moved south to Judah after the kingdoms divided.  So, even though the kingdom of Judah was primarily made of the southern tribes, “All Israel” was represented in the return from exile.
• Saul’s family is listed one more time in preparation for the account of his rule ending and the transition to the Davidic line.

Questions to consider:

1. What helpful things did we learn over the last 9 chapters through these genealogies?  Even though they might not be as action-packed as other passages of scripture, why are they also important?
2. Why was Israel exiled (Verse 2)?  Why did God bring them back?  What was He doing?  What would He do through this people in this land for the purpose of making a sacrifice for our breaches of faith, or our sin?

Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 8:1-40

Helpful thoughts:

• Today’s genealogy turns back to the tribe of Benjamin in order to point to the first king of Israel, King Saul.
• This tribe would have also been taken captive along with Judah.  The returning remnant from exile would have been primarily from the tribes of Levi, Judah and Benjamin.
• The name for Saul’s son in verse 33, “Eshbaal” is the same son as “Ishbosheth” from 2 Samuel 2:8.
  • He was named, Son of Baal or Son of Shame and was crowned king after Saul died.  He was David’s adversary until the uniting of Israel under David’s reign.
  • All of these sons with “Baal” in their name convey an unfaithfulness of Saul’s family to the Lord.

Questions to consider:

1. What would the chronicler want Israel to remember as they read these details about Saul’s family as they reenter the Promised Land?  What mistake had they made (1 Samuel 8:4-9) and how would that error continue to bring consequences should they continue in it?
2. In what way do we see this desire to be “Just like all the other nations” coming to pass in their names? (Remember, Baal was a pagan god worshipped by the people groups in and around Israel).
3. Should the church desire to be just like the nations (John 17:14-19)?  Why should we not concern ourselves with trying to “fit in”?  What have we been called to do? (Matthew 5:13-16)

Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 7:1-40

Helpful thoughts:

• Today’s genealogies cover the tribes of Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali (Barely, but they weren’t to be left out), the western half of Manasseh (Who lived on the western side of the Jordan River), Ephraim and Asher.
• A unique theme in chapter 7 is the repeated reference to those who were fit for military service in each tribe.  This has been attributed in commentaries as a result of the chronicler using a military census as a resource.
• Joshua, son of Nun (Verse 27), is the man who took over leadership of Israel after Moses’ death as they entered into the Promised Land.

Questions to consider:

1. As we look back through chapters 4-7, how were the tribes arranged?  Judah and Simeon were in the southern region.  Reuben, Gad and Eastern Manasseh were east of the Jordan.  The Levites were scattered all over.  What part of Israel do the tribes listed in this chapter comprise?
2. Given the varying treatment each tribe has received in these four chapters (With different features, different details, different efforts at specificity), are these genealogies just being written for the sake of keeping records?  Is this writer just really into ancestry or is there a story being told?  What features or highlights seem to be rising to the surface?
3. If the chronicler is coming back from exile and only has an old military census to work with, what might that tell us of northern Israel’s involvement in what was transpiring in the history of Israel at that point?  What was the condition of Israel?  When will Israel again have her King and truly be blessed by God (Romans 11:25-32)?

Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 6:1-81

Helpful thoughts:

• Today, we read about the Levites, including the High Priests, musicians, and where the Levites lived throughout Israel.
  • Today’s reading is longer than usual for these devotionals, but still shorter than the average chapter in any book you would read.  You can do this!
• Hilkiah (Verse 13) was the High Priest who “discovered” the written law during Josiah’s reign (2 Kings 22:8-13).
• The Levites did not have their own allotment of land in Israel but were instead given cities throughout.  They served as priests, therefore “the Lord was their inheritance” (Deuteronomy 18:1-2).

Questions to consider:

1. In what way would the Levites have been privileged and benefactors of God’s graciousness in being given these wonderful responsibilities within Israel?  In what ways would their people have felt slighted without having their own territory?  What would have to be true of their walk with the Lord to swing them toward either perspective?
2. Were these leaders godly men simply by birth?  What has to be true of any heart to be a true child of God? (Romans 2:29)
3. Whether before Christ came, or in our present day, who does a person belong to the family of God (Romans 4:1-5, 9:6-8)

Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 5:1-26

Helpful thoughts:

• Today’s tribes: Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh (Joseph’s son).
  • These are the tribes that settled on the east side of the Jordan River.
• Reuben lost the birthright due to his sin.
  • Jacob’s blessing for Reuben (Or the lack thereof) is recorded in Genesis 49:2-4.
  • The blessing was split between Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh.
  • Judah’s blessing is recorded in verses 8-12.
• The account of these eastern tribes’ commitment in Joshua 22:10-34 is quite different than the report we find near the end in today’s chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. How does our understanding of the history of Jacob, Joseph, the tribe of Judah to the line of King David, etc. help us appreciate the history we read about this this chapter and it’s genealogy?
2. What was so good about the tribe of Gad’s cry to God in verse 20?  What situation in your life calls for this kind of trust?  When we trust the Lord in the midst of our hardships, what must we also entrust to Him?
3. What did Israel turn to when they refused to trust in the Lord (Verse 25)?  What are we prone to turn to in our day?  Why is God’s will and provision better than anything the world could offer?

Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 4:1-43

Helpful thoughts:

• Judah’s and Simeon’s descendants are featured in today’s passage.
  • Simeon’s allotted land in Israel was land-locked and entirely surrounded by the tribe of Judah.
• Jabez had been a pain to his mother and thereafter desired blessing…to be a blessing.  The pain he was asking God to keep him from was the pain of being further harm to others.
  • The greatest blessing Jabez received was his relationship with God.
  • To use this verse to “pray the prayer of Jabez” to get rich and healthy, in accord with prosperity gospel theology, would be a misapplication.
• The Amalekites were a people Israel was to have defeated in God’s judgment as they came to the promised land.  Even during the reign of Hezekiah and after, the children of Israel were still fighting against them (Verses 41-43).

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways can we see God’s sovereign hand moving throughout these generations?
2. Why is the motivation of Jabez’s prayer so important?  If God gives His children wealth and health, how would He desire we use it?  If God gives His children weakness, if there are times of need, how does He want us to use it?
3. What blessings has God bestowed on His children?  What blessing have you been blessed with that you could turn to blessing for others?  For the lost?  For the church?

Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 3:1-24

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapter 3 gives the list of David’s sons, the line of the throne over Israel (And then Judah after the kingdoms divided), and goes through the exile and afterward up to the writing of the book.
• The kings of Israel and Judah had many wives as was customary in the world in those days.  However, in Deuteronomy 17:17, God had forbidden the practice.  The reasoning given proved true…of course.
• Jeremiah 22:30 promised that no one would reign in the line of Jeconiah (Or Jehoiachin…same guy).
  • Joseph, the husband of Mary and adoptive father of Jesus, is in this line.  In this way, God was faithful to this prophecy against the line, and also faithful to His promise to the line.  Jesus has a legal right to the throne of David through Joseph, and He is not under this curse because he is not Joseph’s seed.

Questions to consider:

1. What more can we learn about the history of Israel and our God in today’s passage?
2. How does the specificity of Jesus’ place in this family and in this line give even more evidence that He must be the promised Messiah?  Who else could fulfill this promised role?

Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 2:1-55

Helpful thoughts:

• Today’s genealogy moves to the nation of Israel, starting with the tribe of Judah.
• Judah’s daughter-in-law also became the mother of two of his sons (Genesis 38).
• The account of Achan’s sin is found in Joshua 7:1-26.

Questions to consider:

1. Why would it make sense to recount Israel’s heritage with the line of Judah first?  What makes Judah’s line special?
2. Why shouldn’t it surprise us that there is sinfulness involved in the line to David, and therefore in the line of Christ?  Outside of Jesus, is anyone without sin (Romans 3:10)?  What did Judah, David, Solomon, and every other person in the line of Christ need just as much as we do?

Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 1:1-54

Helpful thoughts:

• Background information:
  • 1 and 2 Chronicles were initially presented as one volume or one book that was later split into “First” and “Second” in the Greek Translation, called the Septuagint.
  • The author of the book is never stated, though traditionally it is believed to have been Ezra.  It was written somewhere around and after 450 B.C.  Generally speaking, when people refer to the writer of these books, they call him, “The Chronicler.”
  • The information and events covered in 1 Chronicles pairs with the beginning of the Old Testament (With the genealogies) up to and primarily 2 Samuel and the reign of King David.  2 Chronicles will cover the same period as 1 and 2 Kings.
  • These books were written at the time of the return of the Jews from their exile to remind them who they were, who God is, and who they were to be.
• In the first chapter, we make it from Adam to the descendants of Esau (The Edomites).  The next chapter will move to Jacob’s (Or Israel’s) line.
• Due to the flood, there was no need to have further record than the line that led directly to Noah and his sons and their descendants.  No one in the world is descended from any other line prior to the flood.
• The earth being divided during the days of Peleg refers to the scattering of the people groups after the Tower of Babel.

Questions to consider:

1. We are about to read 9 chapter of genealogies (1 down, 8 to go!).  Why do you think they might have been significant for Israel to read and know upon their return?  What can we learn about them, and about God by reading them?
2. What should the fact that every person in the world is descended from Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives teach us about humanity and races?  Is there any human being who was not made in the image of God?  Who is your neighbor?
3. As we read these different descendants of Abraham, we see people who would go to war (And still are going to war) against each other.  Why do people not treat one another as neighbors in love?  Whom would God bring about through Israel to conquer sin and deliver us from death’s grip?