Latest / Reformed Thinking / Looking Back to the Coming King (1–2 Chronicles) | Thomas R. Schreiner

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Looking Back to the Coming King (1–2 Chronicles) | Thomas R. Schreiner · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. Today we're doing a deep dive
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into source material our listener provided on two books
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that let's be honest, many of us tend to skip over one and two
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Chronicles. We're looking at an analysis
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from Thomas R Shriner to really get to the heart of what makes
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this narrative so unique, especially when you compare it
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to the stories and Samuel and Kings that feel so familiar.
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Our listeners mission for us is to see Chronicles not as just a
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historical repeat, but as a an intentional theological work.
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You know, something designed to give hope and instruction to the
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community that had just returned from exile and Babylon.
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And that framing is really the key.
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You have to see these two books as one single work.
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The author, who we just call The Chronicler, is carefully
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selecting what to include, what to leave out and how to arrange
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it. It's all history, but it's
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history interpreted for a very specific purpose.
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So. It's not just about what
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happened, but why it happened and what it means for the people
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reading it right then and there. Exactly, The whole thing is
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organized around 2 big pillars, the kingship that comes from
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David's line and the priesthood, the Levites and everything
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centered on temple worship. The theology is pretty direct.
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When Israel is obedient to God's law and worships correctly,
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they're blessed. When they turn away from Him,
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they're cursed. It's history seen through the
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lens of Covenant. OK, but hearing that that strong
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emphasis on obedience and consequence, I have to wonder,
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for an audience that just lived through the worst possible
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consequence. I mean, the exile, the temple
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destroyed, how does that message give hope?
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Doesn't it just sound like a condemnation?
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That's a great question, because on the surface it could, but the
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hope is actually built right into the foundation of the
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covenant itself. Schreiner points out that the
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books main goal is to interpret all this history through God's
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eternal covenant with David, and the crucial part of that promise
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is that it won't be revoked. Even something as catastrophic
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as the Exile doesn't cancel it. And that's the safety net.
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God is still going to fulfill His promises.
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So the idea of a future king, a son of David, is still on the
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table. It's still on the table.
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That reliability is what keeps hope alive for this struggling
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community. The judgement was real and it
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was harsh, but the promise is still in effect.
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All right, let's unpack that agenda then.
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And we have to start with what, for most readers, is the biggest
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hurdle. Those first nine chapters of
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First Chronicles, the genealogies.
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Why on earth would you start a book meant to inspire a broken
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people with just lists of names? It seems like a strange choice,
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but those lists are making a powerful theological argument.
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They argue for continuity and for scope.
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The fact that he starts all the way back with Adam in chapter 1
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verse one shows that the chronicler sees Israel's story
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as part of the story of the entire world.
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So it's not just a local tribal history, it's cosmic from the
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very beginning it. Is it establishes this huge
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scale for the story they're about to read.
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Their identity isn't small or isolated, it's rooted in the
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creation of humanity itself. But to be relevant to the
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listener, that universal story has to get specific.
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The blessing has to come through a particular channel.
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That's right. The focus narrows very quickly.
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It zeroes in on Israel, and then even more specifically on the
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tribe of Judah, because that's the line of the promise he
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brings in Abraham, linking the Davidicope all the way back to
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that ancient promise that through Abraham's line all
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nations would be blessed. So he's telling this small,
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struggling community that they are the direct legal heirs to
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these massive global promises that are way older than the
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monarchy itself. Exactly, and the most vital
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piece of that is establishing without a doubt that the line of
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David is still active. That's where the detail in
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Judah's genealogy comes in. Precisely, he lays out the
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genealogy of Judah and incredible detail, and right at
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the heart of it he gives special attention to David and his sons.
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The hope for Israel's future Kingdom flows directly from the
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specific living family line. And this is where it must have
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gotten really electric for that original audience.
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Yeah, because the chronicler doesn't just list the famous
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kings from the past. He brings the family tree right
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up to their own time. Yes, this is so important.
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In chapter 3, when he's listing David's descendants, he makes a
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very deliberate choice to include the generations who
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lived after the Babylonian exile.
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Imagine you're one of those returned exiles.
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You're reading this. Everything in your recent
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history has told you that the Kingdom is over, the throne is
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empty, the line was cut off, it's finished.
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But then the chronicler unrolls the scroll and says no, it's
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not. He's showing them in black and
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white that the lines survived. It survived Nebuchadnezzar.
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God's promise to David is still in play.
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It signals that the future king isn't just some figure from the
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past, but someone who will come from their own living present
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day lineage. For a person listening to this
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back then, that would have created a visceral sense of
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connection, of continuity. It's proof that God's Word is
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still effective even after what looked like total failure.
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OK, so from the royal line the genealogy takes another very
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detailed detour. We get this massive section on
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the tribe of Levi in chapter 6. Why is so much focus on the
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tribe responsible for the temple?
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Because that focus basically tells you what the entire rest
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of the book is going to be about.
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It's all about proper worship. He meticulously lists Aaron's
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sons, the priests, and then the three main families of the
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Levites, the Gershonites, Kohaphites, and Mara rights.
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For the chronicler, the future of Israel hinges entirely on
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getting the worship right, on conforming to God's will in
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these cultic matters. Without the proper mechanics of
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worship, there's no hope for restoration, no hope for God's
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favor. So this isn't just history, it's
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a practical manual for the community that's trying to
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restart the temple services from scratch.
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It's defining how atonement works.
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It is the core function of the priesthood is summed up
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perfectly in chapter 6, verse 49.
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It says Aaron and his sons made offerings to make atonement for
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Israel. Atonement is the central work.
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You can't have a right relationship with Yahweh.
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You can't praise him unless the sin issue is dealt with
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according to the very strict, very specific rules that God
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gave through Moses. The order matters.
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The details matter. They matter immensely.
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He's stressing that God's presence among them is
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conditional on them observing this.
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Careful ritual order. And after laying all this
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groundwork, the royal line, the priestly line, the list ends
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exactly where the chronicler needs his audience to be focused
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on the people who have actually returned.
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Yes, the genealogy moves right up to the present day to those
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who came back from Babylon, and the message to the reader is
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this is about you. Your future is tied to the
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temple's function. He specifically highlights the
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priests, the Levites and the temple servants, showing them
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that their immediate, practical job is to restore the House of
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God and its services. And it's interesting, He notes
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in Chapter 9 that people from other tribes join the returnees
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in Jerusalem. It's a small detail, but it
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seems to point to a huge theme that runs through the whole
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book, this idea of all Israel. It does.
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And that brings us to one of the books major unifying ideas.
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The Chronicler uses the phrase all Israel something like 47
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times. And this is where you have to
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understand the vision he's casting.
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Because historically, that wasn't the reality on the
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ground. Not at all.
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But by the time the Chronicler is writing, the Northern Kingdom
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had been gone for centuries. The community of returnees was
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mostly from Judah and Benjamin. So when he says all Israel, what
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does he mean? He's presenting A prophetic
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vision. He's not just describing what
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is, He's describing what God intends.
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He's arguing that God's original plan for a unified people, North
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and South together is still valid, and they are unified
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around two things, the Davidic King and the one true place of
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worship, the Temple in Jerusalem.
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So this small community in Jerusalem is being told that
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they are the rightful representatives of all 12
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tribes. Precisely that they are the seed
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of a future fully restored and unified Israel.
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You can imagine how encouraging that would have been for them.
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The practical focus is on devotion to the House of God,
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but the vision is for the restoration of the whole nation.
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OK, so the genealogies and and the history part of the book
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kicks off and it starts with this very quick, almost brutal
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summary of King Saul. The whole long drawn out
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struggle with David that we read about in Samuel is just gone.
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It's gone, and that brevity is completely intentional.
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The Chronicler isn't interested in the detailed politics of the
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northern tribes. Saul is there for one reason and
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one reason only, to be the negative example of kingship.
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The anti David. The anti David.
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This is why major prophets who ministered in the north like
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Elijah and Elijah are almost entirely ignored in Chronicles.
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Every story has to point back to Judah and the line of.
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David and the reason for Saul's downfall is boiled down to a
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single issue. He broke faith.
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It's a very concise judgement that sets up the whole books
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paradigm of obedience. Absolutely.
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The verdict in chapter 10 is just so stark.
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So Saul died for his breach of faith?
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He did not not keep the command of the Lord and also consulted a
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medium. He did not seek guidance from
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the Lord. He failed the single most
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important test for a leader in the covenant.
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He didn't seek God's guidance. He didn't, and that failure sets
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up David as the perfect contrast, the model of
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obedience. Right away, the narrator hammers
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home this theme of unity in David's reign.
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He completely skips the civil war with Ishbosheth and jumps
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right to all Israel, anointing David as king.
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David is immediately portrayed as this unifying, wise and
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incredibly organized leader, and his wisdom is shown in how he
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stands in total contrast to Saul.
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His very first major religious act is to bring the ark to
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Jerusalem, but look how he does it.
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He consults all the assembly of Israel.
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He builds consensus. Who unity and worship was the
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primary goal from the start. It was paramount and the text
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says the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
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That's the model of leadership he's presenting to the post
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exilic community, and it continues into his military
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actions. When he faces the Philistines.
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He asks God what to do every single time.
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And the result? He did as God commanded him and
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was victorious. The contrast with Saul couldn't
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be clear. It's deliberate, and what's
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more, David is shown to learn from his mistakes, especially
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when it comes to worship. Which brings us to that terrible
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incident with Ouza touching the ark.
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Right. And the Chronicler makes it very
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clear this wasn't just some random tragic accident, it was a
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direct consequence of disobeying a specific rule.
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Exactly, David. He himself recognizes why the
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disaster happened. He says the Lord our God broke
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out against us because we did not seek him.
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According to the rule, there was a rule only the Levites were
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allowed to carry the ark, and only in a specific way.
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So the message to the people rebuilding the whole temple
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system was. The message was crystal clear.
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God is holy. His Holiness demands order in
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absolute attention to detail. If you deviate, there's
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judgement, but if you faithfully follow the rules, there is
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blessing. And once that order is
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established, once the Levites are carrying the ark correctly,
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the mood shifts completely. It becomes all about this huge,
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organized, joyful worship. And this is one of the
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chroniclers unique contributions.
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David doesn't just bring the ark back, he organizes singers,
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musicians, a whole system for praising God skillfully.
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And this becomes a special duty of the Levites.
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David himself even acts like a priest king, offering sacrifices
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and giving a blessing. He does.
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He sets this precedent that links the kingship with
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authorized proper ritual. And that long hymn of praise in
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chapter 16 connects this coral service directly to sacrifice
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and to the hope of future deliverance.
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The song celebrates God's covenant with Abraham.
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It recalls the Exodus, but it also proclaims Yahweh as King of
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the whole world. This organized music
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communicates that the Davidic Kingdom finds its real purpose
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in leading the people in joyful praise.
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The Chronicler's selectivity really comes into sharp focus
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when we get to David's preparations for the temple.
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He completely skips David's sin with Bathsheba, which is such a
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huge story in Samuel, but the one major failure he does
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include is the census in chapter 21.
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Why keep that one? He keeps the census because it's
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absolutely necessary for the central argument of his book.
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The sinful census is the event that, through God's sovereign
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action, provides the divinely chosen location for the temple.
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So when David offers a sacrifice to stop the plague, that spot
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Ornan's threshing floor because the very ground where the temple
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will be built. That's the whole reason it's in
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there. The census story is vital
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because it establishes the sacred place where atonement for
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the people's sin will be made. The chronicler is showing God's
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sovereignty, working even through David's failure to
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establish the place of salvation for his people.
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It's a message of assurance that God is always working towards
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their redemption. So David, knowing he can't be
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the one to build the temple because he's a man of war,
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spends the end of his life as this master planner.
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He organizes everything. The detail is staggering.
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He organizes thousands of people into specific roles,
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supervisors, gatekeepers, and then he sets up the 24 divisions
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of priests and the musicians. What's the message in all that
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administrative detail for the post exilic community?
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The message is that godly worship requires structure.
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It requires administration and accountability.
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David didn't just have a good idea, he built an entire their
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system to support the work of the sanctuary.
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This set the standard for the community trying to rebuild
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their own worship structure. It requires human LED, organized
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effort. And David's final words just
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before Solomon takes over are just this incredible God
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centered prayer. It's a magnificent theological
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conclusion to his life. He praises God's absolute
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sovereignty, saying Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the
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power you rule over all. And he teaches the people that
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their own generosity and giving towards the temple comes from
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God, for all things come from you, and of your own have we
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given you. The focus is taken completely
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off of human achievement and placed squarely on Yahweh, the
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great King for whom the temple is being built.
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So we move into Two Chronicles and the focus on Solomon is
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almost single minded. The Chronicler just cuts out all
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the details from Kings but his idolatry and his downfall.
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It's another prime example of this theological editing for the
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Chronicler. Solomon's story is the story of
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the temple period. His wisdom, his riches, his
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success, it's all presented as a gift from God for one purpose,
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Building a house for the name of the Lord my God.
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That singular focus shows you just how central the temple is
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to the Chronicler's entire message.
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And the purpose of this huge, magnificent building wasn't to
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be a house for God or for human glory.
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No, the temple was meant to testify to God's greatness.
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Solomon himself says it. He knows the building will be
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great because our God is greater than all gods.
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But in the same breath, he acknowledges that no building
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can actually contain God. The structure itself is a symbol
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of God's presence and his rule over his people.
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The dedication ceremony is described as this incredible
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event again, with all Israel present and the glory of the
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Lord fills the temple. But right after this high point,
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there's a very serious warning in Solomon's prayer.
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Yes, the prayer establishes the temple as the place to come for
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grace and repentance. The fire from heaven confirms
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God's acceptance, but the divine response that follows comes with
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a severe condition. The temple is not a magic charm
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that guarantees their safety. It's not a Talisman.
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Not at all. God says very clearly, if you
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forsake my commands, you will face exile and this house, this
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temple will be destroyed. The Chronicler is explaining to
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the return community exactly why the destruction they just
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experienced had to happen. It was the promised consequence
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of breaking the covenant. After Solomon, we get this long
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series of kings in Judah, and the Chronicler seems to use
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their stories as parables for his audience, parables of
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obedience and failure. That's a great way to put it.
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Even with the Kingdom splitting under Rehoboam, the chronicler
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immediately highlights the faithful ones, the priests and
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Levites, who left the corrupt worship in the north to come to
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Judah. So true Israel is defined by
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loyalty to correct worship, not by political borders.
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The point, and we see it again with a king like Abijah.
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He's portrayed pretty negatively in the Book of Kings, but here
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the Chronicler shows him defending the legitimate temple
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worship before a battle with Jeroboam.
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And because Judah is observing the cult properly, God gives
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them the victory. The lesson is that clinging to
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the covenant and its rules brings tangible success.
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ASA follows this pattern perfectly.
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He starts out great, removing foreign altars, seeking the
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Lord, winning victories. He's the model king.
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He. Is Asa's story is the
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chroniclers primary teaching model.
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But then, tragically, he also shows the other side of the arc.
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After all that success, at the end of his life, he stopped
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seeking the Lord. He relies on a foreign alliance.
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He relies on physicians instead of God.
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His failure is a cautionary tale.
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Devotion has to be constant, not just when it's convenient.
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Which brings us to Jehoshaphat, who is presented in a very
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positive light. He taught the law of God
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throughout the land, and his story in chapter 20 becomes this
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ultimate paradigm of hope for the return to exiles.
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It's the absolute pinnacle of the chroniclers theology in
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action. You have to picture the post
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exilic community. They're small, they're weak,
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they're surrounded by threats. And here's the story of
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Jehoshaphat facing an overwhelming army.
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And what does he do? He's afraid that that fear
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drives him to seek the Lord and call a fast.
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And his victory is just astonishing because it wasn't
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one with swords, it was one with singing.
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Yes, the Chronicler is so specific here.
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Jehoshaphat appoints the Levitical singers, the ones
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David organized, to go out in front of the army, and they're
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singing. Give thanks to the Lord for his
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steadfast love endures forever. The fighting only begins after
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the praise begins. The lesson for that weak post
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exilic community couldn't be more direct.
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Your strength isn't in numbers, it's not in military power.
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It's in your trust in the Lord and your commitment to His
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commanded worship. Just as God delivered a
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powerless Jehoshaphat, He will deliver you if you remain
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faithful. But sadly, the history doesn't
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stay on that high note. The tragic arc continues with
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kings like Uzziah who prospered while he sought God but then
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became proud and tried to usurp the priest's duties in the
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temple. Right, and the Chronicler comes
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down hard on that. It shows that even a good king
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can't violate the specific roles God has laid out for worship.
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The pattern just repeats. Success comes from dependence on
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God and following the rules of the cult.
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Failure comes from pride and turning away.
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Which leads us to what might be the most surprising story in the
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entire book, the story of Manasseh.
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He was arguably the worst king of Judah.
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He put an idol right in the temple itself.
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Why would the chronicler include a story of his repentance?
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This is unique to Chronicles and it's just a magnificent
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theological gift to his audience.
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The story goes that after Manassas captured and dragged
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off to Babylon, he humbled himself greatly before the God
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of his father's and prayed to him, and God heard him and
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restored him to Jerusalem. Think about the scale of
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Manassas evil. The chronicler paints him as the
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absolute worst of the worst, and yet he is forgiven.
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This highlights the incredible scope of God's mercy.
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So the message yes. The message is that if the
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absolute worst king in their history could be forgiven and
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restored after he repented, then there is more than enough hope
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for their generation, despite all the failures that led to the
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exile. And his repentance wasn't just
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words. He came back and removed the
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idols and restore the altar of the Lord.
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It led him right back to correct worship.
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Exactly. It connects true repentance
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directly to restoring proper cultic life.
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It's an astonishing promise of grace.
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Even with good kings later on like Hezekiah and especially
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Josiah, who held this perfect Passover celebration, the
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nation's downward slide just couldn't be stopped.
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No, that's the tragedy of the final chapters.
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These good kings, they only bought a little more time.
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Josiah's Passover was the ideal. He followed all the rules laid
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down by David and Solomon for the Levites and the singers.
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It was perfect cultic conformity.
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But the cumulative sin of the people was just too great.
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So the final reason for the exile was wasn't just one bad
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king, it was a total system failure.
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That's the Chronicler's final verdict.
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Chapter 36 is blunt. All the officers of the priests
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and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful.
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They broke the covenant completely.
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They mocked God's prophets until his wrath rose up.
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And the text says there was no remedy.
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And that led directly to the destruction of the temple.
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But the book doesn't end there. It doesn't end with the
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destruction. The final shot of the book opens
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a door to the future. And this is the genius of the
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Chronicler's conclusion. The book ends not with smoke and
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ruins, but with the decree of the Persian king Cyrus.
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And this decree, fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecy, commands
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the Exiles in Babylon to go up and rebuild the House of the
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Lord in Jerusalem. That invitation to go up isn't
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just history, it's a direct present day appeal to the
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Chroniclers own audience. He's saying the covenant
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promises are still good. God isn't finished with you.
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He isn't finished with David's line and he isn't finished with
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his temple. It gives them actionable hope
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and a clear command. Rebuild and obey.
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So if we pull all these threads together for our listener,
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what's the big picture? Chronicles is a theological
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blueprint for a discouraged people.
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It is. It teaches them that life and
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blessing come from obedience to God's rule, and the Chronicler
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gives them a model for that in his edited portrait of David,
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the organized, faithful king who established the very cultic life
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they were trying to rebuild. And there's so much assurance
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built into the structure. The genealogies connect them all
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the way back to the beginning, and the constant refrain of all
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Israel keeps this big prophetic, unified vision in front of them.
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And all of that is built on a foundation of incredible grace.
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The story of Manassas repentance assures them that God's mercy is
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big enough to cover even the worst failures if there's
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genuine humility and a return to the one true altar.
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So that focus on David the king and on the temple, how does that
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whole narrative point forward into the new covenant?
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Well, the Chronicler is absolutely pointing toward a
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fulfillment that's much bigger than just the return from
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Babylon. All those promises made to the
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Davidic King and the entire structure of the temple find
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their perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
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He's the true son of David. He is the true Son of David who
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rules over the true people of God that unified all Israel.
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The chronicler envisioned. And even more, Jesus declares
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that He himself is the true temple, the ultimate place where
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God dwells with humanity. The sacrifices, the priests, the
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building, it was all prefiguring Him.
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And looking even further beyond the New Testament church, what
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about that universal rule of God that the Levites were singing
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about? That points to the very end to
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the new creation. In the Book of Revelation.
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We see God's presence finally and fully dwelling with his
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people. And in that new city there's no
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need for a physical temple building because the Lord God
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himself and the Lamb are its temple.
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The whole world, in a sense, becomes God's sanctuary.
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Yahweh's universal kingship, celebrated by David's choirs,
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finally reaches its goal. You know, considering the
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chroniclers deep focus on organized music, on singing, is
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this proactive expression of faith.
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I mean, he he has Jehoshaphat putting the singers at the front
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of the army. It leave me with a final thought
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for you to consider. How does anticipating God's
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future work and praising him for it now shape the way we approach
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our own worship and our actions today?
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We'll leave you with that thought.