45 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
45 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
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title = "1 Chronicles 2:1–17"
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date = "2023-08-30"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/1Chronicles2.1-17)
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The genealogy continues with the sons of Israel. However the Chronicler's focus
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is the line of David, so only Judah's sons are listed afterwards. Let me just
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say, the Bible doesn't pull any punches when it talks about how bad people are,
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and the patriarchs aren't very good role models. Judah's most important sons in
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this record are actually by his daughter-in-law Tamar. She tricked him into it,
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but it worked because he thought she was a prostitute, which doesn't make him
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sound any better.
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Of the two sons of Tamar, Perez and his son Hezron are part of David's line, so
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Zerah and his descendants are detailed first. The most famous of the Zerahites
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was Achan, who took things from Jericho that were supposed to be devoted to the
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Lord.
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The sons of Hezron are given next, and this time David's ancestors come first.
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From here, we aren't given any names besides direct decendants from Ram all the
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way down to Jesse, the father of David. We also learn the names of David's
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brothers, when we only get three of them in 1 Samuel. But there's a problem.
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David is listed as the seventh son born to Jesse, but 1 Samuel mentions a few
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times that David was the youngest of _eight_ sons. This is especially strange
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because 1 Chronicles 27 mentions Elihu, David's brother, who isn't in this
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list. How do we reconcile this while maintaining the truthfulness and inerrancy
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of the inspired word of God? By splitting hairs and saying Elihu was Jesse's
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son but not begotten by him. In other words, Elihu was adopted. He was would
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have older than David, but maybe joined the family after David was born. When
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Samuel journeyed to Bethlehem to anoint a new king, Jesse brought out seven
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sons, including Elihu, but not David who was out tending the sheep.
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No one ever talks about David's sisters, but apparently he had two. I learned
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today that the commander of David's armies, Joab the son of Zeruiah, was thus
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David's nephew. That puts a new color on all of their interactions in 2 Samuel,
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particularly the incidents with Uriah and Absalom.
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And you thought genealogies were boring.
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* * *
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Your goodness is so amazing that it can take our colossal screw-ups and make
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them work into Your plan.
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