Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- 1 Chron 1-9
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hey, it's good to see you today. Welcome to our journey through scripture. My name is Philip Thomas, Pastor of Journey here in Elgin. Hope that ⁓ your day is going well. I'm at we are looking into the ⁓ book of Chronicles. Now you may say, Well, I thought we've read nearly everything from the book of Chronicles, and you would be correct, but we have not read the first nine chapters of Chronicles. So today I want you to kind of skim through. I know it's because it's mainly genealogies, the first nine chapters of ⁓ first Chronicles. ⁓ the reason we're doing this again is because we're going chronologically. ⁓ the ⁓ Chronicles ⁓ of you know cor correlates or corresponds, if you will, with ⁓ Kings, first and second Kings. First and Second Kings was written a lot earlier. Chronicles was it were written later. In fact, it was probably written around this time. Remember we ⁓ last ⁓ Thursday we talked about how the temple is being rebuilt now and has been rebuilt. ⁓ so the people have come back from exile, rebuilt the temple. ⁓ things are starting to get s get get rebooted, if you will. And so the chroniclers ⁓ were were very, very much ⁓ influenced by the Levites, the priests, ⁓ the priestly line, and they they were basically trying to get the people going again. And so one of the first things that they would have done is they would have written down all of these genealogies. Remember the people have gone through a lot. You know, you go all the way back to the time of Abraham, ⁓ Isaac, Jacob, and then you get to the kings, and then you have the splitting of the kingdoms, ⁓ all kinds of things. And so what these genealogies, one of the things as you read through them, and again, I know you're just gonna skim because trying to pronounce these words y it would take you forever, right? You'd use your hooked on phonics, c continuously trying to sound out ⁓ these these names. ⁓ but the main emphasis that is being ⁓ placed here is how, okay, these people have gone into exile, but now they have returned to the temple. And look, remember how we ha the the promises of God, how it we can trace that all the way back to ⁓ to Adam. ⁓ how ⁓ from Adam to Abraham to ⁓ to through Moses to ⁓ the kings through King David ⁓ and now all the way up to this point even though we've gone into exile now we are back and God has been faithful and ⁓ the the lineage is still there and is still strong. And most people think that the these lineages were kind of written down with that purpose, kind of reorganizing, right? Making sure where everybody is And then the writer of Chronicles ⁓ actually included those lineages and then made sure to add ⁓ all of the previous lineages to kind of share with the people this is your history. Look at how you were connected in the past and how you're ⁓ so that that is what gives you your identity now and as we move forward now with this second temple. So as as you start reading, you can see how it starts with ⁓ Adam. ⁓ in chapter one and by the end of chapter one you have Abraham ⁓ and then Isaac ⁓ and Ishmael. ⁓ then it it goes through the family of of Ishmael. ⁓ then the family of Isaac, you have Esau and ⁓ and Israel. ⁓ remember ⁓ Israel is his original name was Jacob, but his name was changed to ⁓ Israel The one who struggles with God. That's what Israel means is this struggle with God, r wrestling with God. Remember when Jacob was wrestling with God. ⁓ so you see that ⁓ there you you have ⁓ the ⁓ the next two, the family of Sarah and the kings of Edom are kind of on Esau's line. So you see them come. This was a common thing to have these lists of kings and genealogies in this ⁓ in this time period. ⁓ you see that with the Assyrian kings. We they found some ancient documents and things like that that have the the lineage of the kings, the line of kings. ⁓ so you we're we we kind of see that ⁓ here within this genealogy. Then ⁓ chapter two, the family of Israel. It ⁓ goes through ⁓ all of the the twelve sons of ⁓ of of Jacob, the twelve sons of Israel. Remember, there's twelve tribes. ⁓ so starts from Judah, 'cause Judah is ⁓ the the line that David is going to come from and ultimately that Jesus will come from. ⁓ so you have ⁓ have ⁓ the lineage there and just keeps going to the different different sons. Then in ⁓ chapter three you have ⁓ you have ⁓ the family of David. ⁓ actually it hadn't even gone to the different sons, it's just this the Judah there for the rest of chapter two. Chapter three goes into the line of David. One thing that really jumped out to me after ⁓ going through this, you look at how many children David had, and basically how many illegitimate they were from concubines and all kinds of stuff. This clearly was not what God desired. ⁓ but remember, David is a faithful follower of God. But he was even able to be influenced ⁓ by the cultural practices. Excuse me. He was able to be or he was influenced by the cultural practices of the day, of having multiple wives, of concubines, things like that. All of those children are listed in the genealogy. They are all important. ⁓ but ⁓ it does reveal ⁓ how God works through this this flawed group of people and which is a good thing because hopefully he can work through us and we are certainly flawed groups of people. ⁓ you continue on you see the family of Solomon. ⁓ then chapter four the family of Judah. So now we're gonna see the twelve ⁓ brothers and their families. ⁓ the chapter four verse nine is ⁓ one that you may recognize. There was a whole little book written on this called the Prayer of Jabez ⁓ verse nine of chapter four says, Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mothers called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bore him in pain. And Jabez called on the name on the God of Israel, saying, ⁓ that you would bless me indeed, enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain. So God granted him what he requested. You know, y you could get I think it probably goes a a little too far ⁓ to write a whole ⁓ book on these few lines. ⁓ but there there's definitely something that we can learn from them. I mean it that that it is ⁓ an important aspect, but we don't know much about this situation. What we do know is that this ⁓ was a difficult childbirth and caused lots of pain. ⁓ and many times, you know, the names were given and it was kind of a precursor of what was to come. And, you know, and it it kind of laid out in a sense, ⁓ well, this is probably the path that this person is going to take. And the name was very important. Well Jabez, he didn't want to be associated with pain. And that's that's not what he wanted. He he wanted to overcome his beginning. He wanted to overcome what happened that was beyond his control. And so he prays. He says ⁓ that you would bless me, right? So he's asking for God's blessing. There's nothing wrong with that. ⁓ he's ⁓ asking God to ⁓ enlarge his territory ⁓ you know that that he would be successful. Again, there's nothing wrong with that. But he also asked that your hand would be with me. What does that mean? He's asking for God to guide him. ⁓ for God to ⁓ to kind of ⁓ show him the way that he should go. ⁓ which by asking that you're also reminding yourself that you have to then follow where God goes. And you know so this isn't this isn't just saying, ⁓ bless me God, give me what I want ⁓ and so in, you know, but I don't I really don't want to have anything in return. No, he's recognizing he wants to be blessed. He wants his territory enlarged, but he also wants ⁓ to be able to follow God ⁓ and he is he's putting his trust in God ⁓ and that you would keep me from evil that I might not cause pain. Right? So he's he's recognizing his flaw. He's recognizing that he can do evil, but he wants ⁓ desires for God to keep him from evil and keep him from doing evil. ⁓ so he's it's a ⁓ he's dedicating his life to the Lord as well as asking the Lord to bless him. ⁓ there's definitely nothing wrong with that. I I don't think the main focus should be ⁓ just the blessing, because so often we just we think of that from a materialistic point of view. ⁓ the blessing that God does is not always material. ⁓ it is in fact the the greatest blessings of God are ⁓ are immaterial things. ⁓ but the most important part is that ⁓ of of this, I believe, is that Jabez is asking God ⁓ to guide him, to keep him from evil, ⁓ so that he will be blessed and his territory can be enlarged. ⁓ I also think just kind of a a a side thought is, you know, you're you're never defined by your childhood, by what happened to you as a child. Is it part of who you are? Yes. But if you had a wonderful childhood, ⁓ you know, you you you you have a responsibility to take advantage of that. If you had a horrible childhood, you can overcome that. You don't have to be defined ⁓ by ⁓ your your childhood and those things that you have no control over. ⁓ you continue on, you just see the different genealogies, chapter five, the family of Reuben, and thought this was a good reminder. It says, Now the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, ⁓ he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph. ⁓ the son of Israel, so that his genealogy is not listed according to the birthright. So Reuben was actually the oldest son, but remember he he slept with one of his ⁓ father's concubines. Not a good thing to do, not a good thing to have a concubine, and then not a good thing to sleep with your father's concubine. ⁓ you know and and it it's interesting the w one of the the the laws ⁓ at that time that could have happened is that he could have been killed for doing that. ⁓ he was shown mercy, but he paid a high price ⁓ as he suffered in his birthright. ⁓ you continue on you see the ⁓ family of Manasseh, that's Joseph's ⁓ son. ⁓ chapter six, you have the Levites. ⁓ the Levites ⁓ were the priestly ⁓ where the priest came from. So there's a a little bit more of an emphasis on them because the priests are writing this. ⁓ you see the family of Aaron there in chapter in verse forty nine of chapter ⁓ six, ⁓ the the dwelling of the Levites, where they where they dwell, ⁓ the places that they were given. ⁓ then you continue on, chapter seven, the the families of of the sons, Family of ⁓ Asher at the end of chapter seven, ⁓ then in chapter eight you have ⁓ the King Saul ⁓ and the the tribe of Benjamin. ⁓ chapter nine then goes ⁓ more in it says it starts off says so all of Israel was recorded by genealogies, and indeed they were inscribed in the book of the kings of Israel, but Judah was carried away captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness. And the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israelites, priests, Levites, ⁓ and Nethanine. Now again, that's kind of a ⁓ a remembrance of how everyone is coming back you know to this to this ⁓ place again, back ⁓ reconstituting ⁓ the the people of Israel. One thing I forgot to to mention that I thought was interesting. In chapter five, the end of chapter five. ⁓ verse twenty five, ⁓ talking about ⁓ the tribe of Manasseh who was east of the Jordan River, says, And they were unfaithful to the god of their fathers and played the harlot after the gods of the people of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pool, king of Assyria, ⁓ that is Tigloth ⁓ Pelazer, king of Assyria. ⁓ he carried the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh into captivity. ⁓ he took them to Halal, Habar, Hara, and the river of Gozan to this day. ⁓ now what's interesting to that is it says the pool, the king of Assyria. Now people question that because there was no pool king of Assyria. and you know, so there was there was some historical d debate here. Well interesting and through archaeology they found some pottery or some things like that that actually revealed that Pool was a nickname for the king of Assyria, the t the Tigris guy. ⁓ that was a nickname for him. ⁓ so it it's just interesting. This kind of shows there the the historical ⁓ accuracy ⁓ of the Bible. ⁓ it it it was based in on real events. These things really did happen. So ⁓ as we get into chapter nine you can read through that. Again, it kind of focuses on the priest and the Levites, things that we have talked about before, the different roles that they played, the gatekeepers, ⁓ you know, that they had a very important role as the new temple was now being restored. All right. ⁓ encourage you to read ⁓ it will be in the book of Esther. So let's read Esther. We should be able to get through all of Esther. Well Let's try to do it. Let's try to get through all of Esther. So read the book of Esther. All right. Hope that ⁓ you have a a good week and ⁓ we'll see you on see you then.