Friday, February 17, 2017

1 Chronicles

This was a very hard book from the beginning for me to get into.  The last half the book or more went much better and was easier to follow.  The beginning is much about the lineage of the families and difficult to read and follow.  I did start out trying to write out who came from who, from who, from who and on down, but it was too hard and confusing.  So I stopped and started taking summarizing notes.  That is what follows.

  • From Adam to Abraham
  • Abraham's family
  • Edomites from Seir
  • Kings of Edom (before kings of Israel)
  • Israel's family
  • Judah's family
  • Caleb's family
  • Jerahmeel's family
  • Caleb's family
  • David's family
  • Kings of Judah
  • David's descendants after Babylonian captivity
  • Other family groups
  • Simeon's children; they attacked people and took land
  • Reuben = Israel's first son, but it was taken from him for his sins
  • Gad's children
  • Reuben, Gad & Manasseh attacked Itagrites and God helped them because of their trust and prayer
  • Assyrian king took East Manasseh; they were sinful
  • Levi's children (Moses, Aaron, Miriam are descendants)
  • David hired musicians for the house of the Lord
  • Lots are thrown for land for Levites
  • Issachar's children - many fighting men
  • Benjamin's children
  • Naphtali's children
  • Manasseh's children
  • Ephraim's children
  • Asher's children
  • Saul's family history
  • people in Judah were captured and taken to Babylon
  • The first to return to their land were some Israelites, priests, Levites and temple servants
  • The people in Jerusalem are listed
  • There were gatekeepers for the temple on all sides - they were dependable
  • Family history of King Saul
  • King Saul was wounded in battle against the Philistines
  • Saul asked his officer to finish killing him, but he refused, so Saul threw himself on his own sword & died
  • Israelites ran away
  • Philistines came in to take over and took Saul's head & armor
  • People of Jabesh heard & bravely got Saul & his son's bodies to bury by a tree & they mourned
  • Saul wasn't faithful & didn't obey the Lord
  • David becomes King
  • David captured Jerusalem & calls it the city of David - he rebuilds it
  • David grown in strength & God was with him
  • David had mighty and powerful soldiers who were known for their strength & victory (3)
  • David was thirsty & his soldiers risked themselves for water, but he refused to drink it to honor them
  • David's 30 chief soldiers are listed
  • More and more warriors joined David in his strongholds against Saul - his army grew and grew
  • David goes after the Ark of God to bring it back to them where they are
  • The oxen carrying the Ark stumble & Uzzah touches the Ark to steady it & God was angry!
  • Uzzah died right there as punishment
  • David then fears the Ark and redirects it to Obed-Edom's house instead for 3 months
  • Obed-Edom & family are blessed
  • King of the city of Tyre sent supplies & people to build a palace
  • David, at God's guidance, continues to defeat the Philistines
  • David prepared a place for the Ark
  • David sent the Levites as God had directed, to carry the Ark (they didn't want to do it wrong again!)
  • The Ark was brought back with celebration and praise & many people
  • David's song of thanks
  • They left but held offerings, etc. as instructed in the teachings
  • David lives in a palace, the Ark is in a tent so David tells Nathan
  • Nathan hears from God that night, David will not build a house for Him - He reveals plans for his family's future to care for such things
  • David defeated many nations & gave back to the Lord - silver, gold, etc.
  • Ammonite king died & son took over - David sent officers to comfort them because the King had been loyal to David
  • The new Ammonite king felt threatened by it and captured them & cut their clothes 7 beards to shame them
  • David told them to stay in Jerico until their beards grew back
  • Ammonite knew they'd angered David and prepared for war
  • Joab went out with Israel's army to fight the Ammonites & their help the Arameans
  • The Ammonites & Arameans ran away defeated and gathered more people & were defeated again
  • The Arameans would no longer help the Ammonites
  • Spring = war time; David stays behind & Joab goes out and destroys the Ammonites
  • Philistine giants are killed
  • Satan makes David count the people of Israel, which God said was wrong
  • As punishment David must choose
    • 3 years of hunger
    • 3 months running from enemies
    • 3 days terrible disease - he choose this one
  • David chooses for it to not come from people
  • Angel comes to destroy Jerusalem
  • David goes to food to stop punishment for his people from sin - it is stopped with David paying for a threshing floor, building an alter and making sacrifices
  • David makes plans for the temple & collects people/craftsmen & supplies
  • God reminds him he is a man of war 7 can't build the temple, but Solomons will & he will have peace & rest
  • The Levites
  • The people of Gershon
  • The people of Kohath
  • The people of Merari
  • The Levites' work in the temple - described
  • There were groups of priests & they divided the work
  • Oldest & youngest child families were treated the same in Levite groups
  • Music groups
  • The gatekeepers
  • Summary of other leaders - they cared for the temple
  • Army divisions were each (each with their own leader) responsible for a month (12 months)
  • Each division had 24,000 men
  • Family leaders, then commanders of 100 men, then commanders of 1,000 men
  • Leaders of the tribes of Israel
  • Joab began counting people but God was angry because they were and they didn't finish counting
  • The King's directors
  • David gives his specific plans, guided by the Lord, to Solomon to build the temple - he provided resources too
  • The palace is not for people but for God
  • The people came forward and gave gifts to be used in temple construction
  • David's prayer about God (chapter 29:10-29)
  • Solomon becomes King
  • David dies - records of his works are kept

During the sections of family history, I took some general notes about observations I made during those sections.  Those follow below:
  • No daughters are mentioned
  • Only some mother's are listed
  • Noted when they died without children
  • Women identified with their father's (like surnames today?)
  • Occasionally families were named with their trade or location
  • It can be difficult for me to sit and read so much family history, but God loves & created each person named
  • Family histories were kept

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