Authorship
The authorship is an
unsettled question. The Talmud says that it was Ezra who compiled them
Intro: The first 9 Chapters
of 1 Chronicles are seemingly a bunch of names – we think – why they wasted
space – Why spend so much time telling us – who was in who’s family?
Consider it in light of
the Hebrews
First note that the writer is writing post exile:
1 Chronicles 6:15 and 9:1 make it clear that
the Books of the Chronicles were put together AFTER the carrying away into
As we begin to go thru this these first 9 Chapters
realize are Chronicling 3500yrs of history
Ezra will come back to a
nation that no longer has a King –
To these post exile tribes
these names were very important –
It was one of the only ways
to trace back thru the history of their tribe their people –their lineage.
Part of their inheritance
would depend upon these names – so from a mere practical standpoint it was
huge.
But it is also beneficial for us – General and
specific sense Several reasons:
A)First in the general sense
B) It reminds us that every
name is important to God –
1) so much so that He chose to have them
recorded in His Holy word
C) That reminds us that – every person is important to
God – there is not one person here who is insignificant – unimportant in his
eyes –
1) He loves us all – He is
concerned about us all – He is very interested in the intricate details of all
of our lives
It teaches us that our Lord
is a God of detail – Every item – every line goes under his guidance and
scrutiny.
A)Now another thing to note by way of introduction -
B)At first glance – 1,2 Chronicles seems like a repeat
of 1,2 Kings { It is not! There is a difference
C) Both start with David - and move towards the division that took place
after Solomon.
1) The nation was divided
into 2 Kingdoms –
D)
1)
But here is the difference –
1,2 Kings deals primarily with the Kings of
A)In it we read some about
the Kings of Judah – there is some overlap – but there isn’t as much detail
B)1,2 Chronicles does the
opposite – They deal primarily with Judah – the Kings of Judah that is the
focus – so it is the opposite of 1,2 Kings in it’s focus
C) Which is good for us –
because there were many more Kings in
1) so we are not going to be
so depressed – by the evil –
D) There is a lot more hope
for us in 1,2 Chronicles
What is the importance for us
in looking at the History of these Kingdoms
4 fold answer:
1st It is good to
us to look at from a national standpoint –
A)As we work our way thru
this we will see parallels to our nation – Both good and bad – from this we
will see direction on how to pray.
2nd It is good for
us as an individual because every single one of us in one way or another is
building a Kingdom and setting forth a legacy –
We can learn from
these Kings of what to do and what not to do – What things to focus on and what
to avoid – so that our Legacy is one that pleases the Lord
3rd – It is good for us as a Church: We are building –
The Kingdoms represented here in many ways – correlate to / are a picture of
the spiritual life and Challenges of a Church.
4th
1,2 Chronicles also gives us a bit of a case study in Revival –
A)There are several revivals
take place –
B) So we learn about what is
involved in Revival – how it happens how it takes place and what is involved.
C) So those are some of the
benefits we will find in studying these two books –
It starts with a
Genealogy
Read Ch.1 V.1 –4 Adam to Noah – 4 verses
A)When you look at what these
names mean you have an interesting revelation
Adam = Man
Seth = Appointed
Enosh = Subject to death
Cainan = Sorrowful
Mahalaleel = From the presence of God
Jered = One comes down
Enoch = Dedicated
Methuselah = Dying He shall send
Lamech = To the poor brought very low
Noah = Comfort, or rest
When you read the literal
meanings of these first 10 names you have the Gospel
Man - Appointed, Subject to death, Sorrowful. From the presence of God One comes
down, Dedicated. Dying He shall send to the poor brought very low Comfort, or
rest.
A) When people say that the
genealogies are dry it is only because they haven’t dug deep enough to see what
God has tucked away for our understanding.
V.5-7
The sons of Japheth
Dr. William Albright who is
not a believer but a World renown archeologist – when he was alive he was
considered one of the greatest experts in Middle eastern ancient history he
said that the table of nations laid out in
The sons of Japheth: It is commonly supposed that “The seven sons of
Japheth founded the people of Europe and northern
From Javan came the Greeks
From Gomer came the ancient sythians
of the Russian plains
From Madai came the Medes and Persians
of Iran
From Tubal Tobolsk
Meshech
Togarmah – Armenian parts of
Kittim, and Rodanim: These are respectively the
islands of
V.8-16 Descendants of Ham
V.8 a. Ham: The descendants of Ham are
the peoples who populated Africa and the
V.9
V.10 b.
V.11 Mizrahem –
V.17-23 Sons of
Shem
Asshur, who was the father of the Assyrians;
Lud was father to the Lydians who lived for a time in
V.18b Eber - “The
name Eber forms the root of ‘Hebrew’; he was the ancestor of Abraham.
V.19 Peleg, for in his days the earth was
divided:
A)Peleg was on the scene when the earth was divided.
There are 2 possible meanings
of this phrase
1.) When the dispersion took
place at the
2.) That it was during this
man’s live that the continental drift took place
Geologist tell us about continental divide – one land mass turned into
two by the shape of those two land masses they believe they can tell us how
they were once joined.
Thousands
of yrs ago their was a shift that caused the earth to divide.
Which
is also interesting because there are over 270 different pp groups whom
archeologist have found written – about a world wide flood.
So from v.24-28 – Shem to Abram – That is his point –
focus Abraham Focus is on the
theological line
RD V.28
a. Isaac: This was the son of promise and the covenant, whose
birth was announced in
b. Ishmael:
This was the son born of Hagar, blessed as a son of Abraham but not an heir to
the promise or the covenant (Genesis 16 and 21).
May Ishmael live before you.
– God still blessed Ishmael
He became the father of the
Arab people
All because Abraham decided
to try to help God out concerning the promise of a son. The Jews experience the
brunt of this effort of the flesh to this day.
NOTE: IF you are feeling
patient in an area of your life HOLD ON.
V.32 After Sarah died – Abe married again at 145yrs
old – Keturah
One of her sons Midian – Midianites – same blood line
. The sons of Isaac were Esau and
Of these two sons, only
Nevertheless, the sons of Esau
still were important to God and had a place in His eternal plan.
(43-54)
The Kings and Chiefs of
These were the kings who
reigned in the
This list of the kings
of Edom shows that Esau was indeed a blessed man (Genesis 33:8-16,
The chapter closes without a
mention of the name of God in the entire chapter. Yet, as the Chronicler
mentions these men as quoting from the sacred history of Genesis, God is the
unspoken main character in the entire sweeping drama.
“This chapter has therefore
become a panoramic view of God’s dealings with humanity in both creation and
redemption.
From the fall to the flood and then to the
1
Chronicles 2 – Focus become the
A)Jacob
will have 12 sons and one will be singled out.
B)The line of the patriarchs began with Abraham, and was
passed down to Isaac (and not Ishmael) and then to Jacob/Israel (and not to
Esau).
C) Yet with the sons of
RD VERSE 7
Achar ( Achan)
A)We remember this guy from
the
B)Achan life
is summed up in one phrase the troubler of
C)Our lives can be summed up
in a single sentence.
ACHAN no doubt did SOME good
things at SOME time.
D)But those things are not
recorded. His entire Character was summarized in the sin he committed.
It would be a good practice to occasionally ask
ourselves: ‘If my life had to be summed up in a sentence, what would those
words be?”
“What is the sum total thus
far?”
The author moves us quickly from
CHAPTER THREE
David’s personal Genealogy
A)The sons that were born to
David in
B)David had 19 sons. None of them were really very
good. The best was Solomon.
1)Solomon had some great
moments but he also had some times of great backsliding
C)Many believe that the
reason that David had so many bad sons was that he was too busy tending the
kingdom and he neglected the training of his sons.
D)We should be in prayer for
those in ministry that God would enable them to be faithful in the things of
the ministry WITHOUT failing as parents.
E) Satan loves to attack the family so that the
ministry can be discredited.
Interesting VERSE 5 NATHAN
A)We remember that it was a
man named NATHAN who came to David to address the issue of David’s adultery and
murder
B) Years later David names
one of his children after this man.
10-16)
The line of David unto the time of
Zedikiah
(17-24)
The line of David after the time of
CH.4-9
Take us from the yrs of Exile back to the occupying of
CH.4
The tribes comprising the later
A)Begins with
B)Since the focus of these
genealogies is the dynastic line of David, it makes sense that the tribe of
C) Pauses to focus on this
one life! Rd
v.9-10
His mother called his name Jabez: This name is associated with pain or sorrow. For
some reason, probably surrounding the circumstances of his birth, his mother
named him this.
Because of the strong
importance of the idea of a name in
ancient Hebrew culture, this idea of pain
was heavy with and upon Jabez – perhaps especially in his growing up.
Liked the book accept for the formula and
the author didn’t mention – reason why prayer was answered
“On these accounts he was more honorable than his brethren.
Honorable = Heavy
Prayed and God answered
– 4 fold prayer
1) Blessed
2) Enlarge my borders
3) Jabez asked that the hand
of God would be with
him. “The ‘hand of the Lord’ is a biblical term for God’s power and presence in
the lives of His people (see
4) He asked to be Kept from
evil.
Sin causes pain -
.
So God granted him what he requested: Started with him being an honorable man
Good example for us !
Ch.4 Simeon – v.24- 43 Rd v.v.38- 43
A)The family of Simeon was prolific.
B)They felt confined and restricted and so they looked
beyond their boundaries and saw where the Amalekites were.
B)It was a fertile land that could support them and
their flocks and herds.
1)So they went and wiped out
the Amalekites for the blessing of their people.
C) IF you are feeling restricted in some area of your
life or ministry.
1) The key is to look beyond
the borders of your life and see if there is some area that the enemy is
holding.
D)Be a person of VISION that
can see beyond your present borders. Carve out new areas of life and ministry.
E) Do you see the POSSIBILITIES that exist around us?
That is what these guys did
Ch.5 Rueben Gad half
tribe of Manasseh –
read v.1,2 / v. 9-10 - 18-26
Dangers
of living on the fringe – First to be carried off
Sheep that straggle on the
fringe are the ones that can get picked off
The sons of Levi
were: This chapter describes the
descendants of Levi
and of Aaron.
The entire tribe of Levi had
a special place in
Within the tribe of Levi was a special
priestly family descended from Aaron.
A)All priests were therefore
Levites, but not all Levites were priests.
Only those in the line of Aaron
B) The Priest were set apart
to offer sacrifices -
C) The Levites were dedicated
to SERVICE in the house of the Lord. There are THREE family lines found here in
RDVERSE 1
GERSHON
Gershonites carried the
tent... the Tabernacle itself
KOHATH Cohen
- Lady at the airport – Priest name -
The Kohathites took care of
the furniture within it
MERARI
The Merarites took care of
the boards
Each of these families had a SPECIFIC function to
carry out
THAT is why they were able to move effectively and
efficiently through the wilderness
QUESTION: What
is YOUR job in our pilgrimage?
You should be able to state
clearly and concisely what your ministry is.
IF you do not know it yet,
THEN make it a matter of prayer and begin to step out as the Lord leads you.
Beginning at VERSE 3 the sons of Aaron are listed
V.31 Worship leaders Heman –
Asaph – Ethan –
A) In
B) Same
is true today – Gene pool of the heart – Talent helps but heart is key
CHAPTER SEVEN
We come top the sons of
Issachar and Benjamin in this chapter along with Manasseh, Ephraim and Asher
CHAPTER EIGHT
The genealogy of Benjamin as
it relates to Saul and Jonathan
That is where headed – RD V.29,30
– v.33
CHAPTER NINE Brings us back after exile
RD VERSES 1-2
Those that were dwelling FIRST in the cities that were
given to
Here we see PICTURED the PRIORITY of God’s
work.
He first gets people in place
to minister to the people
V.10-13 Priest
The Levites are talked about
in VERSE 14-16
We are told in VERSE 17 that some of them were
PORTERS... keepers of the doors in the house of the Lord
Read VERSE 22—30 Their function
A certain group of the
Levites had ONE job...... that was to
open the doors
They kept out those that were
UNCLEAN and they opened the door for those who had need.
Ushers deacons greeters
Rd v.33
Here is the point in God’s
design we all have a function and a place in the body of Christ
Well there you have it in one
night we covered –