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Reading Chronicles
Reading Chronicles
As we begin reading 1 Chronicles, we are immediately faced with what Gordon Fee called "the infamous genealogies".* These will cover chapters 1 - 9! The genealogies are needed in the overall telling of the story of the Bible for they connect the dots from Adam to Jesus. Along the way, God had made covenant promises to Abraham that find their fulfillment in Jesus, the son of Abraham. God has also promised that the ruling person would come through the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49). He further promised that the lineage of the great king would descend from David (2 Sam. 7).
The writer of Chronicles then proceeds to explain the story of the United kingdom under David and Solomon. At first, it is just the story of David (ch. 10-21), and then Solomon is brought into the picture (ch. 22-29). In this section, we are informed about all the preparation that was made by David so that Solomon could build the temple. The writer then relates the story of Solomon's reign. With the death of Solomon, we will read of the period of the divided kingdom, with the northern kingdom being destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 B.C., and then Judah being destroyed by the Babylonians.
As for reading the genealogies, my suggestion is to memorize them.... just kidding! Notice however the first 4 chapters are primarily on Judah, and then the remaining tribes (4- 7) but here the emphasis is upon Levi in ch. 6. With these 'boring genealogies', we firmly plant the story of Jesus into history: people, times, and events.
The culmination is simply written by Matthew: "The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1). Hugh DeLong
*How To Read The Bible Book by Book, Gordon Fee, Logos edition.
