Chronicles of woe
So, I’ve been working on one of those read-through-the-entire-Bible plans off and on for a while now. It’s actually pretty good because it alternates, roughly, half of an OT book with half of a NT book, which breaks things up nicely.
However, I cheated a while back and skipped ahead to Romans, which means that I’m looking down the barrel of 1st and 2nd Chronicles back-to-back.
Currently I’m about halfway through 1st Chronicles and, while I admit to skimming many of the genealogies, my impression so far is that it’s basically the same stories as contained in the books of Samuel and Kings with most of the good bits taken out and a much less critical perspective on the monarchy. Plus, did I mention the genealogies? It’s rough going. Any of my more biblically literate readers want to offer an appreciation of these texts?
May 10, 2008 at
I don’t know if I qualify as more literate…but I have a hard time with Chronicles. It is a like a white washing of Israel’s heroes. I read it like a piece of political propaganda. Plus, there are those genealogies.
May 11, 2008 at
Oh come on. The genealogies are densely theological statements of the extant of God’s kingdom. And the eschatology of the final statement in Chronicles creates space for the continuation of messianic expectation into the New Testament. I would offer more but I don’t have any notes handy.
May 12, 2008 at
The thing I like about the genealogies is that they are years and years where God’s providence is quietly working, and most people are just doing exactly the sort of thing they usually do: marrying, having children, perhaps having a war or an adventure here or there, and not much else, and yet this is not distinct from the providence itself. God is keeping His promise to Abraham, He is preparing for Christ, He is working good in the world through that branch of the family of Adam which is Israel. Quite nice, actually.
May 12, 2008 at
No–Chronicles is quite important because it’s a particular kind of political propaganda–it’s liturgical propaganda.
All of Chronicles is filtered and concerned with the temple and cultic continuity—and the Babylonian Exile throws a big huge monkey wrench in all of that. So (one theory goes) what we have here is a record that presents literal continuity in genealogical fashion between the priests and levites of the desert to the first and second temples. Because remember–if your priests are not from Aaron and your levites are not from Levi, you’ve got a serious legitimacy problem. The genealogies attempt to show in detail that this problem doesn’t exist.
May 12, 2008 at
1 & 2 Chron - God shows Himself as - Sovereign
Lots of info on the 12 Tribes as well as Kings David and Solomon. These books get better as they go.
One of my Favorite verses is found in 2 Chron ~
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 2 Chron 7:14 -15
Something else to help you as you read through the Bible ~ I am teaching this to our youth this year. This song is so powerful and a great Bible study looking at Who God Is Book after Book thru the Bible ~
HE IS
In Genesis, He’s the breath of life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He’s our High Priest
Numbers, The fire by night
Deuteronomy, He’s Moses’ voice
In Joshua, He is salvation’s choice
Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He’s sovereign
Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He’s the rebuilder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He’s Mordecai’s courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, wisdom’s cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover’s dream
He is, He is, HE IS!
In Isaiah, He’s Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He’s the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever faithful
In Joel, He’s the Spirits power
In Amos, the arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He’s the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He’s the great missionary
In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He’s pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zechariah, our fountain
In Malachi, He is the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings
He is, He is, HE IS!
In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, He is God, Man, Messiah
In the book of Acts, He is fire from heaven
In Romans, He’s the grace of God
In Corinthians, the power of love
In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin
Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servants heart
In Colossians, He’s the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon He’s our mediator and our faithful Pastor
In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
In James, the one who heals the sick.
In First and Second Peter, he is our Shepherd
In John and in Jude, He is the lover coming for His bride
In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords
He is, He is, HE IS!
The prince of peace
The Son of man
The Lamb of God
The great I AM
He’s the alpha and omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
and when time is no more
He is, HE IS!
Love ~ Sis