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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

First Chronicles 7-9

God’s message to me: God has a purpose, plan and place for me. While the genealogies may seem pointless and refer to people we don’t even know, they show the plan that brought great things. While the you may need to check center column references you will see many names you have heard before. Some people were known by other names and, translation sometimes resulted in different spellings over time but, the references can show you the name you are familiar with. You’ll see the line of king Saul, the line of the priests. The line of later kings and other lines to important figures, even prophets.

Promises: God planned things long before we got here. You can see through these genealogies the path that brought high priests and kings into power and provided a place for the prophets. You can see how that plan was developed over generations and began to take shape decades or even centuries before the major players were born.

Commands: Another command for Israel. Take a census every ten years. The US Constitution provides for a census every 10 years based on that command. For us it is a simple count of the population to establish political districts. In Israel it was an exercise in Genealogy. Keep in mind that these were not separate family trees. These are all part of the same family tree going back to Jacob (Israel) for the family of Israel and beyond to Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Esau and others because they are cousins to the brothers of Israel. The relationship of Israel towards Edom and the Ishmaelite was determined by their familial relationship. God commanded Israel not to harass them because they were brothers. Edom and the Ishmaelite weren’t quite as good about recognizing that reason for peace which led to conflict and eventual destruction for them as we will see.

Timeless principles: No matter how much we try to stand out as individuals, our heritage will always be a factor in our lives. Whether we are descended from royalty or rug makers, Whether our families were rich or coal miners, we are a product of our background. Family ties are generally the strongest and determine how we interact with others. Even if we don’t like our family we are stuck with them and the influence us.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: The genealogies become more interesting as we realize how they effected who was king and how different kings were influenced by family loyalties. We’ve seen the line of kings in Israel (Samaria) and Judah (Jerusalem), these genealogies make it easier to understand the family ties that caused people to chose different kings.

more to learn for in-depth study: As the genealogies bring us up to date on where the major players came from we approach the details of stories we already heard. King Saul is the first person we see in the next section and we will flesh out details for a great many more.

tomorrow: First Chronicles 10-12

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