A WHOLE MAN

I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules…  1 Chronicles 28:7  As you will recall, 1 Chronicles is written to an audience who had been exiles in a foreign land but, by God’s providence, are returning back home. And as the original readers read the text that we are reading this week, they come across King David’s charge to Solomon to keep the commandments of God. Immediately, the readers would be reminded of their faithlessness and the rebellion of their ancestors against God. It was because of their lack of fidelity to God that their first temple, the temple that Solomon is charged to build in 1 Chronicles, was destroyed by the Babylonians. So, every time they celebrated a feast, or held a worship service, or presented their offerings in the temple they would recall their sin. But their sorrow would turn into joy as they remember that God is never faithless but will fulfill His promises. This would be an altogethe...

Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2 In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’ ”  1 Chronicles 11:1-2 If you are up to date on your Bible in a year plan you are probably celebrating. Celebrating that you have been keeping pace for nearly 50% of the year, but also probably due to the fact that you have completed the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles. Possibly you are questioning what the point was to record the genealogies of the Israelites to the extent that the book does. One thing to keep in mind is that the chapters you have just read is that they are telling us the history of the people of God. It is incredibly important for them to know who was and who was not from the seed of Abraham and, therefore, not an inheritor of the promises....