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1 AND 2 CHRONICLES: GAINING DIRECTION OUT OF THE AIMLESSNESS OF APOSTASY
Part I: Gaining Direction From God's Work In Our History From Furthest Antiquity, 1 Chronicles 1-9
A. Gaining Direction By Noting God's FOCUS In The BROADEST Overview Of Our History To Date
(1 Chronicles 1:1-3:24 with Ezra 2:1-2)
  1. Introduction
    1. We believers live in a spiritually dark age (cf. "the central thesis" of The Coming Evangelical Crisis, a work by 13 evangelical leaders, p. 18), so we live among people who need Scripture for direction, p. 19ff.
    2. One of the greatest gifts that God can then supply us is spiritual orientation and direction for our lives.
    3. The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles offer us this gift, and we study them to apply their teaching for blessing:
  2. Gaining Direction By Noting God's FOCUS In The BROADEST Overview Of Our History To Date.
    1. As the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles begin with the first man, Adam (1 Chr. 1:1), and end with the decree by Cyrus in Persia to rebuild Jersualem's temple after the Babylonian Captivity (2 Chr. 36:23), their author [probably the scribe, Ezra] lived in the time of Judah's return to the land, Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 589f.
    2. Through this record, a great TWIN emphasis occurs on the importance and centrality of (1) the Davidic Kingdom focused in the Southern Kingdom of Judah and (2) "on the priesthood as a royal function with messianic implications", cf. Bible Knowledge Com., Old Testament, p. 590-591.
    3. This twin emphasis was crucial for the returning Hebrew exiles as follows:
      1. After 70 years in Babylon Captivity, the Hebrew people had limited Scripture knowledge: (a) some did not know their Hebrew language, so the Hebrew Scriptures had to be translated into Babylon' Aramaic for them, Neh. 8:8; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. (b) As the Scriptures were translated, the people wept in conviction of sin and realizing their captivity had been due to sin, Ibid., ftn. to Neh. 8:9.
      2. With such ignorance came temptations for the spiritually weak people to cease building the temple and to cease keeping their lineage pure in anticipation of the Messiah and His reign, Hag. 1:1-8; Ezra 9:1-4.
    4. Thus, the author in 1 Chronicles began the book with a broad overview of Israel's history that ran from the creation to their present, putting a great emphasis on the importance of David's Kingdom so as to educate and motivate the returned Hebrew exiles to focus on rebuilding the temple and keeping their line pure:
      1. Beginning with the first man, Adam, the author of 1 Chronicles traced the line of those through whom God's plan of redemption ran, starting with the first man and running quickly down to Noah, 1:1-4a.
      2. Then, after naming Noah's sons in the usual Biblical order of Shem, Ham and Japheth, the author reversed this order in his expanding on their lineage to address Shem's line last to highlight him as the son by whom God's redemptive blessings came, 1 Chr. 1:4, 5-7, 8-16, 17-27; Ibid., B.K.C.O.T., p. 592.
      3. Next, the genealogy of Abraham and his sons appears with an emphasis being put on the Edomites who came from Esau as their relation to Judah in Ezra's era was significant to them, 1:28-54; Ibid., p. 593.
      4. After next briefly naming Jacob's twelve sons in 1 Chr. 2:1-2, the author unusually detailed first the lineage of Judah even though he was not Jacob's oldest son, for Judah was the son through whom God later produced the Davidic kings, cf. 1 Chr. 2:3-4:23, Ibid.
      5. Then, when the author began to discuss the descendants of Judah, part way into his discussion he isolated that part of the line that ran directly to David (1 Chr. 2:3-9, 10-17, Ibid.) before returning to discuss the sons of Heron and finish filling out the rest of Judah's line (1 Chr. 2:18-55 with 2:9)!
      6. The author unusually highlighted a key detail, revealing "Bethlehem Ephratah," the birthplace of king David (1 Sam. 16:1) and of the prophesied Messiah (Mic. 5:2), was named after the man, "Bethlehem" in Judah's line, and "Ephratah" was "Bethlehem's" great-grandmother, 1 Chr. 2:50-51, Ibid., p. 594!
      7. The author returned to discuss the line of David's sons, tracing Judah's kings from him down to Judah's Babylonian Captivity and through it even to their current governor Zerubbabel, the leader in David's line under whom lived the author with his readers, the returned Hebrew exiles, 3:1-19 with Ezra 2:1-2!
Lesson: The author of 1 Chronicles BEGAN his work with a BROAD overview of history that extolled the DAVIDIC line to show it was VERY IMPORTANT for the returned exiles to focus on the temple's ministry and to heed Zerubbabel in DAVID'S line, for doing so fit God's CENTRAL plan of HISTORY!

Application: May WE busy ourselves with promoting CHRIST and HIS will, for HE and HIS REIGN as Messiah through God's promises to DAVID is the CRUX of ALL HISTORY, cf. Luke 1:31-33!