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1 Chronicles 9-10

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1 Chronicles 9-10

Chapter 9: Inhabitants of Jerusalem

All of Israel was recorded by their genealogy and they were inscribed into the book of the Kings of Israel (which is not the same as 1Kings and 2 Kings), these books are lost. As we have learned from the first 8 chapters of Chronicles (which is very long and dry) we find that all of these records of names and genealogies were recorded further in the “book of the Kings of Israel”.

We are reminded that Judah was carried away captive by Babylon because of their unfaithfulness to God that led them into captivity. The first inhabitants who dwelt in their possession of their cities were the Israelites. The Israelites, simply put are back in their land. The Israelites took “possession” of what was theirs and what had been promised to them since the days of Moses and Joshua.

The three categories of workers in the temple were:

Priests: were the descendants of Aaron, who had the right to sacrifice and take care of the Holy place in the temple.

Levites: were a much broader class of workers, who served in more than one way, including practical, artistically and spiritually.

Nethinim: Special servants given to the temple.

 

And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh; Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the children of Pharez the son of Judah.

 And of the Shilonites; Asaiah the firstborn, and his sons.

 And of the sons of Zerah; Jeuel, and their brethren, six hundred and ninety.

 And of the sons of Benjamin; Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hasenuah,  And Ibneiah the son of Jeroham, and Elah the son of Uzzi, the son of Michri, and Meshullam the son of Shephathiah, the son of Reuel, the son of Ibnijah;

 And their brethren, according to their generations, nine hundred and fifty and six. All these men were chief of the fathers in the house of their fathers.

 And of the priests; Jedaiah, and Jehoiarib, and Jachin, And Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God;  And Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pashur, the son of Malchijah, and Maasiai the son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer;

 And their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand and seven hundred and threescore; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.

                very able men: Translates in other texts to “mighty men of valor”, it shows that when doing the work of God in the temple it takes a man of strength, and courage. The exact same qualities as a warrior… a warrior of God.

 And of the Levites; Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari; And Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal, and Mattaniah the son of Micah, the son of Zichri, the son of Asaph; And Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, that dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites.

 And the porters (gatekeepers) were; Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brethren: Shallum was the chief;

The gatekeepers were part of a “re-institution” of the organization of the temple in the early days of the second temple. They wanted things to be like the days of King David.

Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the ruler over them in the past and God was with him. Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was porter of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  There were 212 porters chosen to be at the gates.  So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of the house of the Lord, namely, the house of the tabernacle, by wards.  In four quarters were the porters, toward the east, west, north, and south.   And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and the opening thereof every morning pertained to them.

And certain of them had the charge of the ministering vessels, that they should bring them in and out by tale. Some of them also were appointed to oversee the vessels, and all the instruments of the sanctuary, and the fine flour, and the wine, and the oil, and the frankincense, and the spices.

And some of the sons of the priests made the ointment of the spices.

Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, had the set office over the things that were made in the pans.

And other of their brethren, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the shewbread, to prepare it every sabbath.

And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night.

The Genealogy of Saul is listed, before and after. This is to demonstrate that the line of Saul was not wiped out and he did in fact have posterity.

And Ner begat Kish; and Kish begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchi-shua, and Abinadab, and Esh-baal.

 And the son of Jonathan was; Merib-baal: and Merib-baal begat Micah.

And the sons of Micah were; Pithon, and Melech, and Tahrea, and Ahaz.

And Ahaz begat Jarah; and Jarah begat Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begat Moza;  And Moza begat Binea; and Rephaiah his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son.

And Azel had six sons, whose names were; Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan.

Chapter 10: Saul Dies

The Philistines fought against Israel and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and the slain fell on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines followed after Saul and his sons and ended up killing Jonathan, Abinadab and Machishua (Sons of Saul)

The battle was strong against Saul, archers managed to hit him and he was wounded. Saul then requests that his armourbearer kill him with his sword. When Saul was dead his armourbearer decided to follow suit and also fell on the sword. The entire house of Saul was dead.

With Saul being dead the men of Israel forsook their cities and fled, which gave room for the Philistines to come in and dwell there.

The Philistines then took Saul’s head and put it in the temple of their idols. When all Jabesh Gilead heard about what had been done with Saul’s body they arose and got the bodies of Saul and his household to bury their bones under the tamarisk tree and fasted for 7 days.

The story of Saul is one of the great tragedies of the Bible. Saul was a humble man who turned to mediums in times of fear and did not look toward God. David became king over Israel.

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1 Samuel 3-4

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1 Samuel 3-4

Chapter 3: The Prophet Samuel

Eli (the priest) begins to wax old and lies down on his death bed. While he is there, at night while Samuel was sleeping, he is called by who he thinks is Eli. So Samuel wakes up and goes to see Eli, who claims he did not call him. So Samuel goes back to bed, but again hears “Eli” calling him. So he wakes up and goes to him, and again Eli tells him that he did not call him. So Samuel goes back to sleep. This goes on 3 times before Eli realizes that it is actually the Lord calling him. So Eli instructs Samuel to go back to sleep and if he is called again, then he should arise and speak back to God saying; “…Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth…” (1 Samuel 3:9). Samuel goes back to sleep.

Again Samuel is awakened by a voice calling him, so he wakes up and does as Eli had instructed him. In verse 10, it says that the Lord “stood” by him when he answered. I am going to take this that the Lord LITERALLY was standing next to his bedside, as he has done in the past and future with ALL PROPHETS that he has called. The Lord tells Samuel that he will do a thing in Israel that will cause all who hear it to tingle. Essentially he is going to destroy the wicked and a lot of people (mostly wicked people) are not going to like it. Samuel is recognized in all of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba as established prophets of the Lord God. The Lord appears again to Samuel in Shiloh.

Chapter 4: Eli Dies

The Israelites are defeated by the Philistines, more than 30,000 soldiers of Israel are killed. The Israelites try to use the Ark of the Covenant to defeat the Philistines and it works for a moment, because they get scared, but ultimately they built up enough courage an essentially slaughter the Israelites and steal the Ark of the Covenant. Eli’s sons are slain in battle and his daughter in law dies during childbirth. Eli at age 98 years old dies of an accident and breaks his neck. My guess is that he fell? Eli judged Israel for over forty years.

Judges 7-8

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Judges 7-8

Chapter 7: The Lord Chooses 300 by the Water

Gideon has 32,000 troops of Israelites with him, but the Lord tells Gideon that he wants to reduce their numbers. He explains that he doesn’t want Israel to get cocky and think that it was by their hand and power that they were able to conquer the Midianites. A smaller number of troops defeating a larger number will be a sign to the smaller group (Israel) that they could not have done it without the help of the Lord.

Gideon tells the group, that anyone who is fearful may return home. So 22,000 Israelites return home, leaving a group of 10,000. The Lord tells Gideon that this number is also too large and tells them that he will reduce their numbers even more. God commands Gideon to bring the 10,000 troops to the water where he will test them.

By the waters, Gideon tells him that every man who gets on his knees and drinks out of the river shall be sent home. But every man that drinks with his hand shall be kept with him to fight. After this little test (verses 4-6), only 300 men did not get on their knees to drink from the river.

The reason for doing this is simple, those who are down on their knees drinking the water are not as aware of their surroundings and make a poor soldier. Those however who stand on guard at the watering hole, only swooping down quickly with their hands in a cupped motion getting a little water at a time are worthy to be called soldiers. They are aware of their surroundings and will not easily be taken out by the enemy.

We can liken this to wildebeest or any other animal going for a drink at a watering hole where crocodiles are present. The crocodiles are like the enemy and the wildebeest or any other animal are the Israelites, those who are not careful and are just greedy to get water without being aware of their surrounding will be eaten. This can be applied many ways, but one way I like to look at it is that the water is the world and what we choose to partake of. Those who are righteous need certain things of the world, shelter, food and water. Sure we can indulge ourselves every once and a while and have fun. But we must not take part in the activities of the world without losing focus on what matters most. Those who get lost in the world, and are consumed by the water that it has to offer will be sitting ducks for Satan (the crocodile) to lay hold and consume them.

Gideon takes his army of three hundred and divides them into 3 groups. With these 3 groups of 100 men he marches towards the Midianites using trumpets and lights in candles they appear to be a larger group and the Midianites flee for fear, and are defeated by the Israelites.

Chapter 8: Gideon Frees Israel and Dies

Gideon pursues and destroys the Midianites. He frees Israel but refuses their invitation to be a king over them. After Gideon dies, Israel once again returns to their idol worship of Baalim.

Genesis 22-24

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Genesis 22-24

Chapter 22: Sacrifice of Abraham’s Son Isaac

God commands Abraham to take his son Isaac to the land of Moriah and “…offer him there for a burnt offering…” (Genesis 22:2)

                Abraham takes his son and they journey towards the mountain that the Lord had commanded him to go, but Abraham does not tell his son what the Lord had planned.  As they journey to the top of the mountain, Isaac even asks Abraham “…where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7)

                Abraham tells Isaac that God will provide one for them, once they get to the top Abraham builds an altar and bound his son Isaac, Abraham takes a knife out and gets ready to kill his son… when an angel calls out to him and tells him “…lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God…” (Genesis 22:12)

                So we learn that the whole thing was just a test to see if Abraham would listen and do as the Lord commands. But they notice a ram caught in a thicket.

God tells him, that because he did as the Lord commanded, that Abraham would be blessed with the seed as the number of stars and grains of sand, or in other words… A LOT!

Chapter 23: Sarah Dies

When Sarah (Abraham’s wife) was 177 years old she died. Abraham buys a cave for her to be buried in for four hundred shekels of silver.

Abraham buries his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre.

Chapter 24: Isaac’s Wife

Abraham commands Isaac to not marry a Canaanite, but instead commands his servant to go to Meopotamia into the city of Nahor.

Abraham tells the servant that when he comes across a lady who offers him and his camels water that she would be the one for Isaac. So the servant waits at a well and is offered water for him and his camels by a young fair virgin named; Rebekah.  The servant offers her a golden earing (1/2 shekel), two bracelets (10 shekels weight) of gold. She is impressed and takes them home, where he brother Laban is also impressed and invites the man into their home. The servant than explains what his business really is and the family and Rebekah accept and head back to meet Isaac.

When Rebekah and Isaac meet eyes, she jumps off her camel to meet him. They get married and Isaac is now comforted after the death of her mother.