1st Chronicles - Bible Food

Good morning on the 29th day of the year, here we are beginning our reading in Chronicles, which chronicled the events the kings of Israel did in their day.  Just as kings was; it is a basic report each king did in their period.  Ninety years from now; history books will be able to tell the future generation what George W. Bush did during his 8th year reign and what Barak Obama did during his.

Let us begin.

1 Chronicles chapter 1

 ¹Adam, Sheth, Enosh, - this book begins with the genealogy of the man family beginning with Adam.  I'm not sure if each son is the first born or if it is the most well liked.  However, we see the accounts from Genesis here that the children of Israel kept track of.  Keep in mind this is just one lineage that is kept in the bible.  Adam had plenty of kids, and so did his children.  Sometimes men had up to 60 children and this lineage only follows one of them.

¹⁰And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be mighty upon the earth.

¹⁹And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother's name was Joktan.

We remember these exact sayings in the bible in Genesis when we read nearly a month ago.  In verse 43, it tells us that Israel did not have kings nor a kingdom, yet while Edom had kings and rulers and a monarch.  A lot of these countries were set up before the Lord pulled Israel out of Egypt.

1 Chronicles 2

 ¹These are the sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,

 ²Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

 ³The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD; and he slew him.

Here we are getting into the genealogy of the sons of Jacob; also known as Israel.  In the early days, the 12 sons were not all that holy, and their kids were not either, Er was so wicked and evil the Lord killed him.   We remember Achar, "the troubler of Israel," who transgressed in the thing accursed, which Joshua had to kill him and his family because it caused Israel to lose men in trying to capture a city.

The chapter ends with the lineage of Judah, even into some of David's sisters kids.  Rarely does the bible keep the lineage of women.

1 Chronicles 3

 ¹Now these were the sons of David, which were born unto him in Hebron; the firstborn Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess:

Here are David's children here; Amnon who was killed by Absalom, for raping his sister, Tamar, was David's first born by his wife Ahinoam.  The third son was Absalom, the son of Maachah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur.  I believe that is a Hamite wife and Adonijah the son of Haggith was his fourth son.

In Chronicles chapter 4 we are back reading about the sons of Judah.  As mentioned earlier, in the early days they did not all follow the ways of Israel, Isaac, and Abraham.  Some did however like: ¹⁰And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. 

If it is noted that he called on the God of Israel, then that implies that not all of them did, at least they didn't whole hearted.  Just as Seth began me to call on the name of the Lord.  Adam did too; but Seth really sought and obeyed God.  Most of these lineage list was written in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah.

1 Chronicles chapter 5

 ¹Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.

 ²For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:)

We get a bit of information here as the lineage of Reuben is being outlined.  He was the first born to Jacob; but because he sinned in defiling his father's bed, his birthright was taken away from him and given to the sons of Joseph.  Even though Judah is the chief of his brother (because that is the ruling tribe with David and most importantly with JESUS), Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh received the birthright blessings.

In this chapter we get their lineage and how they were until they were carried away into captivity by the Assyrians.

1 Chronicles 6

 ¹The sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.  To be a Levite you had to come from one of the three above.  Kohath had Amram, and this is where Moses, Aaron, and Miriam came from; these are the priest to the priest.  The sons of Aaron are the priest to the Levites, and the Levites are priest to the children of Israel; and the children of Israel are priest to the rest of the world (the sons of Adam).

The sons of Levi did the congregation work; singing, and all that goes with that; but Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for all the work of the place most holy, and to make an atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded (verse 49).

1 Chronicles 7

 ¹Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimrom, four.

⁶The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.

¹³The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.

 ¹⁴The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead:

The sons of Israel, I suppose the none popular sons only get brief writings on their lineage.

²⁰And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,

³⁰The sons of Asher; Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.

1 Chronicles chapter 8

 ¹Now Benjamin begat Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third, 

Here we are touching on the sons of Jacob continuing with Benjamin.  And who was or became a very popular Benjamite?  ³³And Ner begat Kish, and Kish begat Saul, and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal.  Saul, the first king over Israel (flesh king).

1 Chronicles 9

 ¹So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they were written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, who were carried away to Babylon for their transgression.

Israel kept these records but the captivity has wiped everything away.  As we read in kings yesterday; once they were carried off into slavery; now there is no telling where or which tribe one is from, especially when you get to the shores of America today.  Remember how the kings of Egypt and Babylon changed men's names when they captured them.  It's no different today.

So I believe we are finished for today and are ready to get into historical text and less lineage talk.  I know this was hard reading today; but these genealogies are good and we'll see why later on.  Have a great day and give lots of thought to the God of Israel.

-- 

Peace & Grace

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