1 CHRONICLES 26-29

Heart Issues
David prepares for his son to take over as king. He does this willingly and excitedly, trying to set his son up for the best. I love this picture of fatherhood and I want to emulate this as well. I also love chapter 28 and David’s praise of God and talk about God’s ownership of everything. God is the one who gives and we are only the ones who receive. We do not deserve anything, but God gives and we should always give back because it was His anyway. I also was challenged by the section on God’s knowledge of our heart and how he searches it to know our intentions. David could say purely that he had given out of a clean heart. I want to always have the same motive and not see that money as something I could have used elsewhere. David had extensively planned for the temple and had received the word from the Lord on its construction. David had an awesome love for the Lord and wanted to see His name glorified.

Notes
-The body of God is shown here again as all of the Israelites fulfilled their different duties for the good of the nation.
-The amount of gold, silver, bronze, and gems are amazing. A talent is roughly 66 lbs when converting to US measurements.
-I bet the temple was so amazing, I can’t believe anyone would tear it down. I wish we could still see it today, it was lined with silver, marble, gold, gems, and bronze.

1 CHRONICLES 22-25

Heart Issues
Some of the main notes I take from these chapters are the importance of a name and the value of fathering a son. Both of these of course are heavy on my heart right now as we prepare for our firstborn son. God has truly blessed us in giving us a child, but specifically giving us a son. We pray that he may walk with the Lord and be a strong warrior for Him. We thank God for the life he will live and for all that he will accomplish for our Father. David spoke words of life and wisdom to his son Solomon, even though Solomon was very young at this point. David had made great preparations for his son to follow through with the building of the temple. I want to be a father like this, I want to set my son up for success and pass on all that I know that he may be stronger than me. He calls him to be strong and courageous, to follow the Lord, and follow the laws of Moses. He gives him guidelines, encouragement, and direction that’s what all sons would want. Again, you see people being set apart for specific services to the Lord. I am also intrigued at how much they trusted casting lots and knowing that God even controlled how the lots fell.

Notes
-Those in charge of singing and worshipping God were also those who would prophesy. That is a pretty cool link.
-It is so incredible to see the amounts of precious materials that David had amassed for the Lord’s house, but of course that was all by the Lord’s hand. Who has ever given to the Lord what wasn’t His anyway?
-God did not want David to build His temple because of the great amount of blood that had been shed at the hands of David. I am still trying to understand this more. God is a god of peace but called his people into battle multiple times and gave them the victory because they trusted in Him.

1 CHRONICLES 19-21

Heart Issues
David began to look at what he had to offer instead of trusting in God. He had seen God do so much yet he wanted to know how many men he had to see if he could do all that he wanted to do. This is definitely my struggle in life. I struggle to trust God to go far beyond what I am capable of, but I let my strengths shine forth and for me to receive all the praise. I need to recognize my need for God more and more all the time. He and He alone can bring people to himself, raise up disciples and laborers, I am just a piece of the puzzle. I am so thankful that God does use me despite my struggle with pride and self-confidence. I want more friends like Joab that will tell me to my face when I am doing sinful things or am relying on myself. Joab was a true friend to speak this boldly to the king.

Notes
-The entire battle between the Ammonites and the Arameans started because of a misunderstanding and began with a nice gesture. This can be like our arguments with people sometimes.
-David’s fighting men killed men as big as Goliath as well, if not bigger. When the bible says huge, its not playing around.
-The writer of 1 Chronicles omits a lot about David’s life that makes him look bad, but goes into detail about the number of fighting men. There is no story here of Bathsheba, Absalom’s rebellion or his murder of Uriah. All of that is hinted at in the first section of chapter 20 where he said that kings go off to war, but David stayed in Jerusalem.
-David, in all probability, slackening in his piety and confidence toward God, and meditating some extension of his dominions without the Divine counsel or command, was naturally curious to know whether the number of fighting men in his empire was sufficient for the work which he had projected.

1 CHRONICLES 17-18

Heart Issues
David begins these chapters with desiring that God would have more than he did. I want to think of God in the same way, I want to give God the glory and long for His name to be made great, and not my own. He is awesome and only by God’s hand, as it is revealed here, did David do any of what he had accomplished. God gave David the victories and goes on to promise him much more. David was taken from being a shepherd to the king and a great king, whose name is still renowned in our time. David continued to call himself the Lord’s servant, not the Lord’s king. I like that as well, and I can quickly look for titles and ways to promote myself, when I really long to give it up for God, for that is where life is truly found. David is also promised one of the greatest promises a dad can have – that His son will succeed and also be made great. I haven’t even had my son yet, but if I had that promise from the Lord already I would be totally pumped. 17:16 is where I want to be – who am I or what is my family that you have taken me this far? David’s excitement gets to him as he gets to v. 26 and he proclaims that the Lord is God!! God you do deserve all of my praise and all that I have does come from your hand. Thank you for your grace and for pulling me out of my self-will and placing me on your path. I still need your help consistently to resist my pride and continue in humility. I can make it about me so quickly, thank you for hearing my prayers Lord Jesus.
Notes
-The promise is actually for Solomon, but God does not tell David which son it will be at this point. That would be crazy as a dad to have multiple sons and know that one was going to be made great in the sight of the Lord and all Israel. Who would have thought it would have been the son of Bathsheba?
-David was given many victories by the Lord, and He stored up the gold, silver, and bronze that was later used for the temple.
-Nathan shows up multiple times to keep David on track. It is cool that David keeps a prophet as such a close friend to be able to deliver the messages of God to him.
-David’s throne being established forever and some of these promises seem to be false, but when taken into account that Jesus came from the line of David these prophecies hold true. Israel still has hard times later on, but Jesus comes as redeemer and calls out people unto Himself from Israel but also from the Gentiles as well.

1 CHRONICLES 15-16

Heart Issues
It is cool to see how God had gifted all of the Levites in different ways to praise Him and fulfill their duties as priests. The Body is always such a cool concept and amazing work of our creative and intricate God. He makes so many people and all are different. I love the psalm of praise here as well. Some of the main points that are repeated are about giving God the praise that He is worthy of, remembering and proclaiming His amazing deeds, and near the end all of creation cries out to God in praise. There is another part that says to tremble before God and this people definitely knew that part of God as well. A quick list of attributes would be – wonderful, holy, worker of wonders, miracles and justice, covenant keeper, one who blesses, great, worthy of praise, to be feared, creator, splendor and majesty, strong, joy, He reigns, Savior, a God of people. What an awesome God we serve, it is so good sometimes to be reminded of how amazing and worthy of our lives He is. I love finding these treasures in scripture and letting my praise burst forth to God along with these that sang this psalm so long ago. I also love to see how they celebrated yet again as the ark was moved and the presence of God was lifted up.

Notes
-15:29 is part of where the song “Undignified” comes from, the rest of the story is found in 2 Samuel 6:20-23.
-It is funny how some commentators still try to fight against the use of instruments in the praise of God. It is a very difficult thing to do when looking at this passage. God didn’t strike anyone down for playing the drums, trumpet, or other instruments.

1 CHRONICLES 13-14

Heart Issues
Today I am challenged most of all by the story of Uzzah and his touching of the ark. It seemed like such a good thing to do to try to save the ark from falling and was such a sudden knee-jerk type of reaction that makes one stop upon this story and begin to ask why. It stuns us at the wrath of God and the quick execution of it without delay for Uzzah’s attempt at repentance or to even think about his actions. This story helps us even more understand the holiness of God and its not that he doesn’t love Uzzah, its just a representation of His holiness being unable to allow a man – one who is utterly depraved from birth and marred by sin – to touch His presence. I love verse 8 as well – it is an awesome picture of people truly celebrating the presence of God. The celebrated with all their might – that reminds me of loving the Lord my god with all my strength. David’s relationship with God in chapter 14 is remarkable. I love to see him talking directly with God and hearing His voice. God led David in both battles and saw him through the victory. All glory goes to God, not David, but it would be easy to become prideful because the rest of the world grew in fear of David, not God.
Notes
-This law (Numbers 4:15-20) shows that only the Levites could see the holy things, but no one could touch them.
-David does not take the ark into his house, but He still speaks to God himself and hears the voice of God.
-The Philistines show up a lot in scripture as the opposition to God’s people. They lived in Philistia and worshipped false Gods – mainly Dagon.
-David begins here to build his palace and take true residence as king.

1 CHRONICLES 11-12

Heart Issues
David was called out by God for His specific purpose. It is cool to know your calling and walk in exactly what God has for you. It is cool to know that God has specifically called us to Loveland and that He will do amazing things here as we continue to be faithful and watch Him work. Even the people of Israel knew of God’s call and direction for David through the prophet Samuel. I am blown away by these stories about David’s mighty men. These are like Rambo stories and I think its awesome that God’s power was what was so amazing through them and not just their own strength. I also find myself thinking about God and his creation – he created the 7 ½ foot tall Egyptian just to show how powerful he was through Benaiah in destroying him. 1 spear against 300 men, wow! It’s easy for me to begin to place greatness on Benaiah or David or Jashobeam, but it is all summed up well in verse 9 as their power is because the Lord was with them. Its also so amazing how God can rally such a diverse group of people together and cause them to work together. These would all be men of great pride and would be hard to consolidate into a group, but God could bring them together under David as He had prepared in advance to bring together the Israelites under one head. These are the days the Israelites had longed for. Finally, a godly king that has even been brought forth by a prophet.
Notes
-Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba’s husband, was one of David’s mighty men, interesting.
-Jerusalem has always been central to the Israelites because of this event.
-They could shoot bows and sling stones with either hand, that’s pretty sweet. The different tribes were known for different parts of war, a good picture of God bringing together people and what unity can do amidst people that are so different.

1 CHRONICLES 7-10

Heart Issues
Today I am inspired by the Levites and their diligence to serve the Lord in such varied ways. The watchmen protected the Tabernacle and opened it each day. They were meant to watch and protect – that seems like a warriors job, not a priest, but God had called them to do that as well. There were musicians and chefs, and God had designed each for their specific purpose. How incredible it is to see the body at work. Also, I am excited today to get into the story of Saul. Saul was very wicked and we caught a small glance of his demise, but little of his life. He was truly wicked and God issued this judgment for his unfaithfulness to God, opposition to the word of God, and consulting a medium before God. He was the king of God’s chosen people and did not seek God. It is interesting that the Philistines here are the ones who overthrow Saul and David helped Saul destroy them previously through his fight with Goliath. God is a just and righteous God. He has now appointed one who He called out from birth (and even before birth) to lead His people. I am excited to read the stories of David once again, however bloody they may be.
Notes
-It seems that it could have been the census that David did that so angered God that we get these statistical numbers of fighting men.
-We find that the Levites took great care of the Tabernacle and were provided for as they served the Lord there. What a tiresome, but noteworthy job of being a watchman for the tent of the Lord.
-We are about to see the beginning of the Davidic Kingdom and how it differs from Saul’s Kingdom.

1 CHRONICLES 3-6

Heart Issues

I find myself looking very skeptically at the most quoted verse of 1 Chronicles. It was a huge thing for a little while, and then it died out pretty quickly too. The prayer of Jabez always struck me as a very selfish prayer that Americans latched onto very easily and quickly. Anytime we can ask God for more blessings and more territory and for Him to keep us from harm, of course that is the American prayer. The most important part of our prayer lives is to continue to try to be in tune with God and His will so that we may pray according to it. We are guaranteed to suffer and be persecuted if we are truly following and standing boldly for Christ. We are not guaranteed wealth, prosperity, and freedom from pain. I think the reason it died out so quickly is because many people were praying this prayer and not seeing it answered the way they wanted it to be answered. So they gave up. It is also very interesting to me to look through all of the names and to recognize many from the Old Testament stories and to look forward to reading about them again as we study together. In the end of chapter 4 we begin to see war start happening and yet it doesn’t seem wrong in context of the chapter or time period. I am still trying to understand the concept of war in those days and the way in which it fits into the story of God. I am also greatly encouraged that I am having a boy when I read through these chapters. It is was seen as very important to keep your line and name going through having a son and the firstborn son was truly a blessing from God. Lastly, these chapters help me even more rely upon the accuracy of scripture and when such great detail is recorded that has been backed up a great deal of the time already when put to scrutiny, I am left in awe.

Notes
-We see more battles in chapter 5.
-The temple musicians were handpicked by David it seems and the Levites were the priests and received the first lot – their choice of the land they wanted to inhabit.
-Aaron is still a key figure here as His sons are the only priests that are allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. It is awesome to see the grace of God even here as Aaron helped fashion a golden calf for the people to worship and God forgave Him and still let him and his descendants be the priests of Almighty God.

1 CHRONICLES 1-2

Heart Issues
When I first opened to see the long genealogies I was disappointed, and thought how pointless it would be. Then I began to read the commentary on the chapter and it actually meant more than I thought. I am still blown away at thinking about the verse in Malachi 1:2-5 where God declares that He loved Jacob and hated Esau. It is hard to deal with that theologically. I am also intrigued by God’s view of the generations and His care for families. It is also cool to see the little notations on certain people. It makes me think about what notation would be placed by my name. Would it just say “the father of” or would it go on to say something about my character and honoring God with my life. Many of the notations though are negative and it shows that one stupid thing can scar you and defame your name for life and the future memory of you.
Notes
-The first thing to know about genealogies is that only the men were notated in that time period. The writer here had a specific purpose in what he was writing and who would make it in the genealogies. For example Cain and Abel didn’t make it as Adam’s descendants.
-The purpose of the first part was to show that Noah was a descendant of Adam. After Noah obviously all of the earth was flooded and everyone died except for Noah’s family. So they repopulated the earth following the flood and the wicked earth.
Japheth – fair skinned – dwelt in the islands of the Mediterranean
Ham – black – Egypt and Lybia (not fully black, but very dark)
Shem – dark – father of the Israelites and used to show here his descendants to the line of Abraham
-Jacob is later named Israel and chapter 2 starts out with his sons. His sons then each have territories that make up all of Israel. Then you go through and see significant things about how the Lord views the families and their generations.