Reading First Chronicles

Essentially, First Chronicles takes a step away from the narrative genre that the previous few books have led us through. Deviating away from the storybook kind of feel, First Chronicles focuses on facts, and historical evidence, through the form of lists of genealogies. This makes for a more difficult read, like much of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. However, much like I did with those books, I've found one cool aspect of these lists to hold onto, to make the read slightly easier.

Much like focusing on how the characters described in each book were real people that really walked this Earth, and committed the exact acts described in the Bible, I've found that recognizing that these lists describe our history opens up a wild thought process. These lists contain real people from history, and not just any random people, but people that come from our history. These people are our family from the past! This isn't just the genealogy of fictional characters, but the genealogy of our historic roots!

If anything, these lists of people after people could be the most interesting thing in the Bible! First of all, they can be used as proof for many of the characters in the Bible. By using other Ancient Near Eastern documents that also contain certain character names, we can validate certain people from the genealogies. The description of the character in the other documents could also contain information about family members, which almost always will parallel what has been recorded in the Bible. The genealogies are also a symbol of the eye for detail, or attentiveness to being correct for many of the authors. However, it should be noted that in some genealogies, the pattern isn't as we would expect. In today's time, we include every generation in a list. However, in the past, sometimes they would leave out certain generations due to length of life, or importance, e.t.c. This should not be used as proof that the lists aren't historically accurate.

Finally, these genealogies can also be tangible evidence that our religion does exist in the past, present, and future. We can look at these lists, and see God at work. These genealogies can be used as assurance that God truly has a plan, and is actively at work through the human race.

Bear Much Fruit

Reading Second Kings

The Old Testament is filled with cycle after cycle. Second Kings continues the cycle started in the First instalment of the two book series. Israel, and now Judah as well, go through bad king after bad king, with a few good ones interspersed in there.

After partaking in a Genesis class this past semester, one of the things that has been talked about the most is how dysfunctional of a family our ancestors were. It started with Adam and Eve, and their disobedience, and continued through the story of the Kings of the Southern and Northern Kingdom.

King James Bible Online

Second Kings highlights the division of Israel even more. The United Kingdom of Israel lasted for 120 years, from 1053 to 933 B.C. After the division of the kingdom, the Northern part lasted for 210 years, from 931 to 721 B.C. before being captured by the Assyrians. The Southern part of the kingdom was called Judah, lasting 345 years from 931 to 586 B.C. before being captured by the Babylonians.

All in all, the history highlights how David's kingdom crumbled focussing on the disunity of this royal family, and really the family of Israel. Dividing into two separate kingdoms that were constantly warring against each other, we could state that this is how the once mighty nation of Israel was crippled into a faint name in history.

This for me brings up two lessons. The first is regarding unity. We must make every effort to remain unified in everything we do. Especially as a Christian community that is constantly under public scrutiny, we need to truly act like the body of Christ. We can't have strong disagreement amongst us, so strong that it divides us up. Together we are strong, because God is on our side.

Secondly, God works through every situation. That perhaps has been the most important lesson I've learned from my Genesis class. No matter the dysfunction, the turmoil, the pain or the stress, when we turn to God, He can always get a result. His plan triumphs through all the possible hiccups, all the barriers we may put in place. And while we may not always expect, or even want, the result that God fashions, ultimately His way is always the best way.