45 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
45 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
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title = "1 Chronicles 1:1–54"
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date = "2023-08-27"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/1Chronicles1.1-54)
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When I decided to study through 1 and 2 Chronicles, I didn't realize there was
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an enormous genealogy in the first several chapters. But the die has been cast,
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and now I give you a crash course in redemptive history. The first four verses
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cover about 1,500 years of history from the beginning of Creation to the Great
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Flood. The names given are from the line of promise, from which the
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long-awaited Messiah would one day arise to defeat sin and death forever.
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Now might be a good time to talk about why this book exists. First and Second
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Chronicles cover a lot of the same material as 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings.
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While it strives to be historically accurate in its account, the author is
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choosy about what events are related to the reader. It was written around the
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time the Jewish exiles in Babylon were allowed to return to their homeland
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after 70 years, and the author, probably Ezra the scribe, wanted to remind the
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people of how good God was to their forefathers in the land. He whitewashes
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Israel's history a bit and leaves out or glosses over the disastrous reigns of
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the wicked kings.
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From the three sons of Noah we get all of the different people groups we have
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today. Japeth and his sons are listed, then Ham and his sons, and finally the
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line of promise again in Shem. This is the usual pattern in this genealogy;
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siblings are listed with their children, but they are only there to show how
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God's elect fit into history at that time. Verse 24 lists the path from Shem to
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Abram (Abraham).
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Pop quiz: how many sons did Father Abraham have? "Two" is a good guess, but
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that's actually the number of times Abraham was married. After Sarah, the
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mother of Isaac, died, he married again to a woman named Keturah who bore him
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six sons. So the total number of sons is eight.
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The rest of the chapter traces the family tree of Esau, Israel's brother. His
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descendants are called Edomites, and they had a rocky history with the
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Israelites. That belligerent closeness is probably why these verses were left
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in. Most of the exiles would have known how much the Edomites, so all the
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details were probably for their benefite more than ours.
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* * *
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Your promises will always be fulfilled, in Your perfect timing.
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