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PrintMeditations on the First Book of Chronicles
by H L Rossier
CONTENTS
Introduction
1 Chronicles 1-1 Chronicles 9: 34: The Genealogies
1 Chronicles 1 From Adam to the Twelve Tribes
1 Chronicles 2 Judah in Relation to the Kingship
1 Chronicles 3 The Family of David
1 Chronicles 4 More about Judah. Jabez. The Tribe of Simeon
1 Chronicles 5 The Tribes Beyond Jordan
1 Chronicles 6 The Tribe of Levi
1 Chronicles 7 Issachar. Benjamin. Naphtali. Ephraim. Asher. The Daughters of Zelophehad
1 Chronicles 8 The Tribe of Benjamin in Relation to the Family of Saul.
1 Chronicles 9: 1-34 The Ruin of the People and the Restoration of Judah and Benjamin. The Levites
1 Chronicles 9: 35-27: The Kingship of David According to the Counsels of God
1 Chronicles 9: 35-1 Chronicles 10 The Ruin of the Kingship According to the Flesh
1 Chronicles 11 Establishment of the Kingship According to God's Counsels
1 Chronicles 12 The Kingship Recognized
1 Chronicles 13 The Ark and the New Cart
1 Chronicles 14-1 Chronicles 16: 6 David's Victories. The Fruits of Grace in his Heart. His Association with the Levitical Family
1 Chronicles 16: 7-43 The Song at the Kingship's Beginning
1 Chronicles 17 David's Prayer
1 Chronicles 18-1 Chronicles 20 The Wars
1 Chronicles 21 Numbering the People and Ornan's Threshing Floor
1 Chronicles 22 Preparation of Materials for the Temple. Solomon's Character
1 Chronicles 23 Solomon Established King. The Levites
1 Chronicles 24 The Priests
1 Chronicles 25 The Singers
1 Chronicles 26 Doorkeepers, Overseers of the Treasures and Judges
1 Chronicles 27 The Service of the King
1 Chronicles 28, 29: David's Last Instructions
1 Chronicles 28 Solomon, the King According to the Counsels of God, and his Responsibility as Such
1 Chronicles 29 David's Prayer. Solomon Established King for the Second Time
APPENDIX The Order of the Tribes
Introduction
A superficial reader may well think that the books of Chronicles are the supplement of the books of Samuel and Kings. The Jews indeed have attributed this character to them since ancient times. Christians have done the same with regard to the three synoptic Gospels; they think that the Gospels of Mark and of Luke complete Matthew's account of the Lord's life. In reality the Chronicles, like these Gospels, present the thoughts of God from a completely new aspect. They present the kingship in a very important dimension, which these pages aim to bring out. In relation to this subject, one or two preliminary remarks will be useful.
We have insisted, in other Meditations, (Meditations on the Books of Samuel and Kings, by H. Rossier.) upon the prophetic origin and bearing of the books of Samuel and Kings. The Chronicles do not have the same character although, remarkably, we continually find in them the activity of the prophets. Even the Jews did not count them among the prophetic books, to which the majority of the books of history belong, but rather classified them among the "holy writings" headed by the Psalms.
All the historical books, to the end of Kings, recount the history of the people and of the kingdom, until their final ruin. They conclude with the captivity, first of Israel, then of Judah, and go no further than this period. In contrast, the Chronicles, with Ezra and Nehemiah as their immediate sequel, go much further. (Compare 2 Chron. 36: 22-23 with Ezra 1: 1-3). Moreover, the stamp of being composed later, after the return from the Babylonian captivity, is impressed on them throughout the text. In various portions of these books we find proof of their relatively recent date, a date after that of the book of Nehemiah. Thus we see in them that the genealogy of David's family does not end with Zerubbabel, the royal head of Judah returned from captivity, but continues past him to the fifth generation, consisting of Hodaviah and his brothers (1 Chron. 3: 19-24). Just so, we also meet (1 Chron. 3: 22) Shemaiah, the son of Shechaniah, of the third generation following Zerubbabel, who (if indeed this is the same person) returned from Babylon in Nehemiah 3: 29. Lastly, our book describes the Babylonian captivity as a historical event already in the distant past (1 Chron. 6: 15).
It would be easy to multiply citations to support the uncontested fact of the late date of the composition of Chronicles. We will limit ourselves to a few more comments confirming this: First, the omissions in the genealogies in the first nine chapters of our book are a valuable testimony to the time at which it was written. We know, in fact, that at the time of the return from Babylon, the genealogies of Judah and of Benjamin in many cases were insufficient, and that the members of the family of Levi who could not furnish them were excluded from the priesthood (Ezra 2: 62). Comparing 1 Chronicles 9 with Nehemiah 11 convinces us that certain genealogies in Chronicles contain numerous omissions, as might be expected with a people returned from captivity.
Moreover, from the very first chapter onward we find proof of the pronunciation of many names differing from their early pronunciation. It seems that a fair portion of these differences can be attributed to changes in dialect brought about by the captivity. All these elements stand in our book as proof of the disorder into which this guilty nation upon which God had pronounced Lo-Ammi had fallen.
Thus the Spirit of God is careful Himself to indicate the approximate date of these books to us.
The principal object of Chronicles will become clear as we progress in their study; however, it is necessary to insist upon this from the very beginning.
Chronicles give us the history of the kings of Judah, that is, of David's family; whereas in the books of Kings, we find the history of the sovereigns of Israel. Until the captivity of the ten tribes the acts of the kings of Judah do not appear in the books of Kings except in relationship to the kingdom of Israel; then, once the history of the ten tribes has ended with their being carried away, the narrative in Kings carries on exclusively with the account of the careers of the last rulers of Judah.
But the most important suggestion for understanding Chronicles concerns the counsels of God. We must consider several aspects of this:
The Word views man in two ways: According to his responsibility, or according to the position which he occupies in the counsels of God, that is to say in His eternal purpose before time began, before there was any question of responsibility.
The Old Testament contains the history of responsible man, given by God Himself. This history shows that man has always come short of God's expectations of him; failure after failure finally brings him to the cross to which he nailed the Son of God. He for his part ends his history by open revolt against the One who had come to save him. But, at that same cross God for His part, also ends the history of man. He places all our responsibility on His Son, even making Him sin in our stead, so that His counsels of grace toward us might be fully accomplished.
Indeed, it is in the death of Christ that the counsels of God (the mystery of His will, hidden in Him from before all time) have become manifest. There the veil which separated the sinner from God was rent; there man, redeemed by the blood of Christ, saw a way opened to God. Jesus, raised from among the dead, has ascended to God's right hand and from there sending the Holy Spirit, in His own person has prepared a place for man in glory.
The counsels of God, the mystery of His will, are thus fulfilled in the Man Christ, whom God has established as center of all things; but they do not stop there. God gives Christ as Head a body, His complement-as Bridegroom a companion, His Assembly-a body which is His "fullness," a companion, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.
These counsels of God could in no way be revealed before the cross. At most they were suggested in figure by Adam, type of Him who was to come, and Eve, his companion. Thus Christ not only is the object of the counsels of God, but in Christ we also have become the objects of these same counsels.
Man enters God's glory because man, in Christ, has perfectly glorified Him. The second Adam becomes head of a new race, holy and blameless before God, worthy of dwelling in eternal glory.
The Old Testament revealed nothing of this. And yet a part of God's counsels in relation to Christ comes to light there; doubtless not the highest part, but that concerning the dominion of the earth. This is why the epistle to the Ephesians (1 Chron. 1: 9-10) states that God has "made known to us the mystery of His will...to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth." God's counsel was not to establish the first Adam who had failed, but the Second Adam as Head of the creation, and that in virtue of His sufferings. It is because He was made a little lower than the angels that God has made "Him to rule over the works of [His] hands; [and has] put everything under His feet: sheep and oxen,all of and also the beasts of the field; the fowl of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, whatever passeth through the paths of the seas" (Ps. 8: 5-8). So it is with the establishment of the earthly kingdom of Christ-and this is the subject which Chronicles treats. Here it is not a question of a glorified Man, nor of Christ as the Center of all things, nor of the Head of the Church, nor of our union with Him, but of the Son of God, the Root and Offspring of David, establishing His kingdom upon earth and associating a willing people in His reign in the day of His power. He Himself is the object of these counsels and He will carry them out, whereas men to whom dominion has been entrusted have completely fallen short of God's purpose.
In order to make these purposes concerning Christ's reign known before they would come to pass, God in the Old Testament has given us types of kingdom rule according to His counsels, through examples like David and Solomon. But how could such figures have absolute bearing when these men of God sinned so grievously during their careers? Their history belongs rather to that of responsible man and rule, as presented in the books of Samuel and Kings. Doubtless we see the grace of God at work throughout their history to discipline and restore them, and in spite of everything, to make these fallible men capable of representing Christ's character. God accomplishes this by forming them through trials. This is the subject of the books of Samuel and Kings. But in Chronicles it is not a matter of setting forth restoring grace remedying the faults of the believer placed under responsibility, but rather, a matter of giving us a preview of the counsels of God, and this, as much as possible, without confounding them with any elements which would obscure them.
This explains the character and general bearing of Chronicles. Here God gathers together the features of Christ's future reign in David and Solomon, for example, without however hiding from us the fact that David, even if only on account of two faults (for this book only mentions two), and Solomon, without a single fault of his being mentioned, could not personally be "He that should come," and that we must "look for another." Consequently, to achieve their purpose, the Chronicles must pass over all the serious sins of these two kings.
One may object that the books of Chronicles continue the history of the kings of Judah after Solomon and that in the subsequent accounts we do not find anything prefiguring the counsels of God concerning Christ's future reign. This observation is sound except for the fact that a godly king in Chronicles as well in Kings may be a representative of Christ. We must remember that God, in relating their history in Chronicles, establishes another fact: that His counsels have Christ as the Son of David by royal descent in view. At times David's line corrupted themselves terribly, but even then God is careful to emphasize wherever possible, what grace has produced in those who were to be the Messiah's stock. He does this even at a time when the kingship in Israel had already ceased to exist for over two centuries. The ways of grace are particularly evident in this book throughout the history of Solomon's successors. In accord with Chronicles' plan and purpose, all that grace produces in the hearts of even the most wicked kings, such as Manasseh for example, is brought to light, in order to show that grace toward man is the only means of fulfilling God's counsels concerning him.
Summing up, Chronicles does not present the history of responsible kingship, but of kingship according to God's counsels in grace, counsels that will not be completely fulfilled until the crown is set on Christ's head. Therefore Chronicles never fails to record God's ways in grace to remedy the faults of the kings who succeed one another upon the throne up until the appearance of the great King. This is also why the divine account silently passes over faults committed as much as possible. The Spirit of God, as we have said, omits David's serious sins and their consequences; He also omits those of Solomon.
To this can be added yet another characteristic feature. Chronicles says nothing at all about David's rejection and sufferings; it introduces us directly into the glories that follow these sufferings, evident proof that this book does not have, in relation to the work of Christ, the prophetic character of those which have preceded it.
If in Chronicles we find God's counsels concerning Christ in the types of David and Solomon, and God's ways in grace concerning the royal family in view of the appearance of the true King, let us not forget to mention that they contain these same counsels in relation to Judah as Messiah's people. God shows that nothing will hinder the course of His eternal designs toward those who are their objects. Wherever evil rules, there God hastens to bring in good, so that, as a servant of God has expressed it, "we may always have the good which He has produced before our eyes instead of the evil produced by man". Therefore He prepares everything in view of the full manifestation of the future glory of His Anointed.
It is all the more striking to find in Chronicles the picture of grace operating in the heart of man, for these books are written, as we have seen, after the final ruin of the people and of kingdom rule. But what consolation for the poor remnant, returned from Babylon in servitude and contempt, to find here their history written in these disastrous times by the Spirit of God Himself, and showing on every page that no unfaithfulness on part of the people could modify God's counsels nor alter the grace by which He would establish, in relation to His people, His eternal purposes in the person of Christ.
God's counsels concerning the kingship being the principal truth of this book, we find in it of necessity, on the one hand, all that is linked together with the priestly organization, and on the other hand, to the political organization of the people. Indeed, the kingdom according to God is characterized by divine order in both the religious and civil sphere.
The religious sphere naturally comes first in the organization of the kingdom according to the thoughts of God. Neither the people nor the kingship could subsist without the worship of Jehovah; without this, the nation fell to the level of the other nations and, like them, had to be destroyed. The people of Israel had no reason for existing unless through their religious service they would maintain their relationship to the God who had chosen them to be His own. From the moment Israel abandoned this relationship in order to give themselves up to idolatry, God also abandoned them, as we see in the history of the Judges and later of the Kings. Finally their transgressions became such that God pronounced His Lo-Ammi upon them.
So too it was with regard to the kingship. Responsible to lead and govern the people for God, it could not subsist without the worship of Jehovah and all that belonged thereto. Kingship and priesthood, the two pillars of Israel's relationship with God, could not be separated without causing the whole system to collapse; if one of the two should fail, complete ruin would be the result. Even before the establishment of the kingship, the indissoluble alliance between it and the priesthood was seen in Moses, king in Jeshurun, and Aaron, his brother; there was, however, this difference here, that once the kingship, properly speaking, was established, the priesthood was subordinated to it, because it had come short of its calling; henceforth the faithful priest must always walk before the Lord's Anointed (1 Sam. 2: 35). In God's counsels the kingship and the priesthood, government and religious service, must of necessity subsist together. Hence the immense importance of all that pertained to the service of the temple in the history of David and Solomon, as Chronicles presents them. And when afterwards we witness revivals at the time of the ruin of the kingship, in first place we always see the religious service reestablished, as for example in the history of Hezekiah and of Josiah.
The union of the civil and religious spheres is presented in Chronicles as types of its fulfillment in Christ in a future day. These two elements will be united in Him as the unshakable basis for the kingdom of God upon earth. Christ will be "a priest upon his throne" (Zech. 6: 13).
Note: Let us here note once and for all that since the accounts in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles agree in a general way, our meditations will only bear upon their points of divergence, as the features they have in common have already been considered in the preceding works.
1 Chronicles 1-1 Chronicles 9: 34
The Genealogies
As we approach the first chapters of this book, it seems helpful to insist upon the importance of genealogies for the people of Israel.
They were necessary because, since the promise of the inheritance of Canaan had been made to Abraham and his seed, this seed had to be registered, since it alone had the right to enter the promised land.
Having arrived in Canaan, the people needed their genealogies in order to divide the land among their tribes and fathers' houses.
They were likewise necessary in order to prevent the surrounding nations from mixing with the chosen people.
Finally, and above all, they were indispensable in view of Messiah's kingship, for His lineage must go back through the series of kings, to Judah "the lawgiver," and then from Judah to Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Noah, Adam and God!
The genealogies were also important in order to establish the succession of the Aaronic priesthood, destined to walk continually before the true King, Jehovah's Anointed.
This, in brief, is the value of the genealogies. Their usefulness was all the greater ever since the people, after having fallen under God's judgment, passed through a period of disorder during which it was difficult, often even impossible, to prove their descent, as we see in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Yet we should quickly note that if one wants to enter into the details of the subject before us, one must be very guarded in his conclusions, for Jewish genealogies present innumerable difficulties. First, very frequently those who are called the son of so-and-so are not necessarily his children at all, but his grandsons, or even his grandnephews. Then there are cases where the head of a clan is regarded as the father of a generation, all the generations between being omitted. There are cases where through the "right of redemption" a distant relative (see the Book of Ruth) becomes the head of an extinct family. There are those cases, very frequent during the captivity, where one family took a place in the inheritance of another family which had disappeared, without being related by direct descent to the head of that race. There are cases too where, the name of ancestors being missing, the name of the birthplace replaced, so to say, the name of the family head. There are cases, common among the Jews, where a person had more than one name (see, for example, these well-known names: Benjamin and Benoni, Reuel and Jethro, Solomon and Jedidiah, etc.). And lastly there are cases where an abridged genealogy was given, the names indicated being nothing more than a few pointers to establish the line of descent.
These facts explain why the enumeration of the same tribe, given at two different periods, displays very noticeable differences. This becomes even more complicated due to the fact that the genealogies contain intentional omissions or transpositions of names meant to emphasize the purpose of the Spirit of God, especially in the book which we are studying.
Added to these many difficulties are the following problems. Sometimes the genealogies of Chronicles contain names of very ancient origin, which we do not find elsewhere in the Old Testament. Many names are not those of individuals, but of clans or families. Others are genealogies which we might term geographic, including, for want of other source material, the names of tribes, of districts, of cities. We have mentioned this fact in our study of Ezra 2. We find it again in 1 Chron. 2: 18-24, 25-33, 42-55; 1 Chron. 4: 1-23, 28-33; 1 Chron. 5: 11-17; 1 Chron. 7: 37-40, etc.
It would be easy to add other difficulties to this already long list. What has been said already should be sufficient to warn Christians who, when they attempt to study the genealogies, stumble over apparent contradictions at every step. Not that the subject in itself does not edify, as for that matter the entire Word of God does, but it is useless to enter upon it simply with one's own intelligence, as the rationalists have so often done. Moreover, we would hasten to point out that these are not the genealogies which the apostle warns us not to give heed to (1 Tim. 1: 4; Titus 3: 9); he was warning against a certain philosophical system that sought to establish endless degrees in a hierarchy of spirits.
As we approach this study we would again insist upon the important fact that after the captivity, due to negligence, indifference, or other causes innumerable gaps existed in the genealogies, and that on this account it was often impossible to recognize certain persons as composing part of Israel, unless at the given moment a divine declaration by the Urim and Thummim should intervene (Ezra 2: 63).
1 Chronicles 1
From Adam to the Twelve Tribes
The chapters we are about to study may at first glance seem devoid of interest. Nonetheless, we shall see that they are full of instruction; furthermore, from their onset they show us the character of the book of which they form the preface.
Indeed Chronicles, dealing with God's counsels and His ways of grace toward man, naturally begins with Adam. It then traces the line of man, chosen according to the counsels of grace, in contrast to the line of man according to the flesh. Man has become sinful; he fell at once after his beginning. Though God has purposes of grace toward him, it is yet an established fact that as a sinner in the first place he begets sons in his image, who have no connection with the divine counsels, sons who are the seed of a fallen and corrupted nature. If God in His mercy does not intervene, man can only beget evil. In these chapters we therefore find the line of the flesh first, and that of the Spirit second, for God does not beget until sinful man has first proven what his nature could produce. This is why the apostle in 1 Corinthians 15: 46 says: "But that which is spiritual was not first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual." Now, that which is spiritual takes part, not of the nature of the first Adam, but of the nature of the Second.
God has ordained it so. The entire question of man's responsibility must be resolved, before the Man according to the counsels of grace would appear; and in fact grace could not be unfolded if it were not first shown into what depths man, left to himself, had fallen. This great truth is foundational to all Scripture, for all Scripture gives man's irremediable ruin as the basis for the gospel of grace.
Therefore it is appropriate that a book like this, which tells us of God's counsels toward man and-as we shall see-especially toward the kingship, show that these counsels proceed uniquely from God's free grace manifested when man, according to the line of the flesh, has proven that he is capable of nothing but evil.
Once it is a question of the genealogy of Christ in the Gospels, we see the line according to the flesh contained in these chapters disappearing completely in order to give place to the line through which, according to election of grace, God's counsels respecting His King are fulfilled. But from the moment it is a question of grace, far from taking perfect men to constitute Christ's lineage, God chooses sinful men-often from among the worst of them-or sinful women, thereby demonstrating the freedom of His choice.
In Chronicles, it is a matter of man, and of the way in which in the course of his history God will realize His counsels in order to triumph in the person of Christ. We see too, as already mentioned, that the genealogy begins with Adam. Verses 1 to 4 agree with what is revealed in Genesis. Moreover, there are no gaps in this first chapter. As soon as we approach Israel's history in 1 Chronicles 2, gaps appear, for when Chronicles was written the genealogies of many members of this people remained undetermined since they could not be proven.
Let us say immediately that 1 Chronicles 9 brings us a little beyond the time of Nehemiah, and interrupts the royal genealogies eight generations before Messiah's coming. The Gospel of Matthew fills this gap revealing to us how, right through the ruin God Himself took care to preserve the genealogy of David's Son, His own Son, until His coming as son of Joseph and Mary. Thus Matthew 1 forms the natural continuation of 1 Chronicles 9.
In 1 Chronicles 1, our present subject, we find two series of names highlighted. The first (vv. 1-4) begins with Adam and ends with Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. The second (vv. 24-27) begins again at Shem and ends with Abraham. These two series form an uninterrupted chain, the point of departure being grace toward fallen man, and culminating in the promises made to Abraham and taken hold of by faith.
Having established this, we find Shem mentioned first in verse 4, although he is not the first-born, a fact which, moreover, is frequently repeated in the genealogies of Genesis before Abraham. But the genealogies of Japheth and of Ham are enumerated before his (vv. 5-16), as we see also in Genesis 10. In God's eyes, Shem, chosen by grace, has the preeminence, but in the natural order that which is spiritual is not first, as we have already pointed out. It is the same with regard to Abraham's offspring: "The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael" (v. 28); Isaac is named first, seen as first in God's thoughts, but Ishmael, the elder, is enumerated first (v. 29) as the seed according to the flesh. So with Isaac, the posterity of his son Esau is enumerated first (v. 35), as we have already seen with Ham and Ishmael.
One or two little secondary considerations will conclude our remarks on this chapter. Among the sons of Ham, Nimrod is simply mentioned as the who "began to be mighty on the earth." In Genesis 10: 9-12 we find the extent of his dominion in great detail. Genesis 10 deals with the distribution of the nations on the earth, and the developments found there would be useless for the aim of the book we are now considering. For the same reason the boundaries of the Canaanites in Genesis 10: 18-20 and those of the sons of Joktan (Gen. 10: 30-32) are passed over in complete silence here (cf. vv.16, 23).
In verse 32 the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine, are enumerated as we find them in Genesis 25: 1-4. They follow Ishmael's posterity (vv. 28-31) in our chapter so as to show that they also are part of the lineage according to the flesh. The genealogy of Ishmael himself is given according to Genesis 25: 12-15. As for Esau (vv. 35-42), his sons are mentioned in abbreviated form, without the names of their mothers and the numerous details given us in Genesis 26: 1-19.
The kings of Edom are enumerated next (vv. 43-54; cf. Gen. 36: 31-42). Violence characterizes this entire race, for not a single one of these kings has his son as successor.
We believe we must mention these details as characterizing the aim of the Spirit of God in this book. They are in no way, as rationalists claim, a very inexact or willfully altered compilation of other documents, but a selection out of earlier documents of that which is appropriate for the purpose God has before Him.
Moreover, if this first chapter contains, as we have seen, the voluntary omission of certain details, it agrees completely with the genealogical lists of Genesis. We repeat that we do not find gaps here. These gaps begin to appear only when we get to the genealogies of the twelve tribes.
Once the lineage according to nature has been enumerated, the question is considered as closed forever.
Note: However later on we meet with the same principle in relation to the kingship, to the lineage of Saul, and to the priesthood.
God does not come back to it. He cannot in any way use the "natural man," from henceforth left to himself, without connection or relationship to God, so that he may give place to a lineage according to the election of grace and according to the eternal counsels of God.
1 Chronicles 2
Judah in Relationship to the Kingship
At the beginning of this chapter, the names of the sons of Jacob, called Israel, are mentioned-not in order-with the aim, I think, of presenting them to us as being all, without distinction, objects of God's purposes in grace. Thus we find first of all Leah's children, then Rachel's children mentioned between Dan and Naphtali, the sons of Bilhah, and lastly Gad and Asher, the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid.
What we observe here gives opportunity to mention something that seems not yet to have drawn our attention.
Jacob's sons and the twelve tribes are enumerated, if I am not mistaken, twenty-two times in Scripture, and each time in a different order. It would take more space than is available to us to examine the reasons for this in detail. Besides here in verses 1 and 2 of our chapter, we find this enumeration three more times in 1 Chronicles. (See Appendix.)
Let us return to the subject of our chapter:
In Chronicles the accuracy of genealogies depends in large measure on the importance the Jews placed upon them during their captivity, and the disorder they reveal corresponds to the state of the Remnant as we find them in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Quite a number among the people and among the priesthood could not prove their genealogy. Though lacking heads, they could nonetheless be recognized by the names of their families, groups, and cities, which in this way became in essence a "moral person," recognized as the stem of their ancestry (cf. Ezra 1 and here 1 Chron. 2: 50, 54-55; 1 Chron. 4: 4). In addition, the great disorder that came in explains, at least in part, why very distant descendants of the head of a clan were considered as his sons. (See for example, Shobal, the great-grandson of one of Judah's grandsons (cf. 1 Chron. 2: 50; 1 Chron. 4: 1). This same disorder also explains why we see a family head, whose name had not been previously mentioned, suddenly appearing and counted as the head of a clan (1 Chron. 8: 33).
Caleb's genealogy offers a striking example of this disorder and of how fragmentarily the genealogical registers were preserved. Caleb (who is not without purpose, I think, called Chelubai in v. 9) is the son of Hezron and the great-grandson of Judah. We find his genealogy in verses 18-20, and the descendants of his two wives, Azubah and Ephrath. In verses 42-49 we again find descendants of this same Caleb by his concubines. He is called the brother of Jerahmeel (the son of Hezron, v.9). But at the very end of this enumeration we are suddenly brought into the presence of Achsah the daughter, as we know, of Caleb the son of Jephunneh (Josh. 15: 16). In verses 50-55, for the third time in this chapter, we meet the descendants of Caleb, the son of Hezron, through Hur, the first-born of Ephratah, a part of whose genealogy has already been given us in verse 20.
Finally, in 1 Chronicles 4: 13-15 we find the descendants of Caleb the son of Jephunneh and of his brother Kenaz. But here now, in this portion, this genealogy is truncated.
Must we conclude from all this that the text of Chronicles is a human and capricious compilation and that thus the historical value of this book is nil? This is what the rationalists assert, but thank God, their reason is always at fault when it attacks His Word. No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are composed of fragments gathered up in the midst of general confusion, yet documents upon which God sets His seal of approval. So it is true that a number of passages in these genealogies are of very ancient origin, not mentioned in the other books of the Old Testament.
Caleb's fragmentary genealogy, which we have cited above, is very instructive in this regard. We know from a number of Scripture passages (Num. 13: 6; Num. 14: 30, 38; Num. 32: 12; Num. 34: 19; Deut. 1: 36: Josh. 14: 13) what favour Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, won from God by his perseverance, moral courage, faithfulness, and zeal to conquer a portion in the land of Canaan. The Lord's approval was upon him, whereas Caleb, the son of Hezron and of Judah, despite his numerous descendants, is not mentioned as the object of God's special favor. But if the fragmentary genealogies of Caleb the son of Judah are proof of the existing disorder, God puts these together fragments for a special purpose, and we find a deeper thought in them. Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, is the one whom God has particularly in view, as the Word teaches us; he is the one whom He introduces in so extraordinary a way into the genealogy of the son of Hezron (1 Chron. 2: 49). It is in view of him that this genealogy is inscribed next to that of David, as forming part of the tribe of Judah, from whence the royal race comes. But what connection does Caleb the son of Jephunneh, whose daughter was Achsah, have with Caleb the son of Hezron? Here we find a most interesting fact which has perhaps not been given sufficient attention. Caleb the son of Jephunneh was not originally of the people of Judah. In Numbers 32: 12 and Joshua 14: 6, 14 he is called Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. Likewise, Caleb's younger brother Othniel, to whom Caleb gave his daughter Achsah as wife, is called "the son of Kenaz" (Joshua 15: 17; Judges 1: 13; Judges 3: 9, 11). Now in Genesis 36: 11 we learn that Kenaz is an Edomite name. Hence the conclusion that at some point of time the family of Kenaz, and therefore the family of Caleb the son of Jephunneh, was incorporated into the tribes of Israel just as so many other foreigners, such as Jethro, Rahab, and Ruth, who in virtue of their faith became members of the people of God. This explains a characteristic phrase in Joshua 15: 13: "And to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a portion among the children of Judah according to the commandment of Jehovah to Joshua...that is, Hebron." And in Joshua 14: 14: "Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed Jehovah the God of Israel."
Thus Caleb, who by his origin really had no right of citizenship in Israel, received this right amidst Judah by virtue of his faith and was incorporated into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron, as it appears in 1 Chronicles 2: 49 and in the passages already cited in Joshua. The fragments preserved of the genealogy of Caleb the son of Hezron confirm the place that God assigned to Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and this substitution is one of the important points the Spirit of God calls our attention to here.
To summarize, the name of Caleb is highlighted in this chapter. With this name is associated the thought of "virtue," that is, of moral energy which in view of a goal to be attained enables the believer to surmount obstacles, separating him from every weight and the sin which so easily entangles him. 2 Peter 1: 5 says, "In your faith have also virtue." Caleb is an example in this. With this name are associated characters of the same caliber as the son of Jephunneh: Othniel, Achsah (1 Chron. 4: 13; 1 Chron. 2: 49); Hur (1 Chron. 2: 19, 50; 1 Chron. 4: 1, 4); Jair (although this latter later lost everything that his energy had at first acquired, 1 Chron. 2: 22-23); the house of Rechab (1 Chron. 2: 55).
Other members of the family of Caleb the son of Hezron, while witnessing grace accorded to faith, are at the same time unfruitful, which is the result of ruin. Consider for example Seled, Jether, and Sheshan who died without sons (vv. 30, 32, 34).
Unfruitfulness especially characterizes the line of Jerahmeel. Although he was Hezron's eldest son (v .9), he is once again in last place here (v. 25), and this fact agrees with what we have seen of the character of Chronicles in 1 Chronicles 1. The features of the natural man are just as transmissible as the features of a man of faith like Caleb, only these latter are so by grace. David's line does not descend from Jerahmeel, but from Ram, his younger brother (vv. 9-16).
1 Chronicles 3
The Family of David
In 1 Chronicles 2: 9-16-in fact this is the main thrust of that chapter-we have met with the genealogy of David, descended from Judah, and going back through the ages down via Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, and Noah to Adam. 1 Chronicles 3 presents the descendants of David until just a few generations before Christ. Here, this line of descent begins at Hebron, the place where the tribes first acknowledged the kingship of the son of Jesse. Chronicles passes over David's history and afflictions as the rejected king in complete silence. It sets forth David as the object of God's counsels regarding the kingship, counsels which will be fully accomplished in Christ, the Son of David. Yet, while omitting his sufferings, Chronicles shows us Hebron as the starting point of his glory. Hebron was above all the place of death, for it was there that the tombs of Sarah, Abraham, Jacob, and of the patriarchs were. From this same place Joseph, a type of Christ in rejection, went forth to seek his brothers. Hebron then became a city of refuge from the avenger of blood, prefiguring the cross which shelters a guilty people. Lastly, it was the principal dwelling place of the priests, the sons of Aaron, types of that priesthood which now makes Christ's death the focus of its praises. Therefore this place speaks in a striking way of the cross as the foundation of royal glory and as the basis for all our blessings. Caleb chose it as his residence. Caleb's career culminated at Hebron; David's career begins there.
But, we repeat, if Chronicles shows us, through incidents and in type, the death of Christ as the basis for all, these books dwell upon God's counsels concerning the kingship as their main subject.
Just as its head, for David was the lastborn of his father's house, so the family of David bears the evident mark of election according to grace (1 Chron. 3: 9). Amnon, the son according to the flesh, the shame of his father's house, comes first, only to be repudiated like all that springs forth from nature. In fact, all David's sons, without exception, are included between those two names Amnon and Tamar (vv. 1-9). Moreover, all the sons born before the kingdom's full establishment, at least all those whose history is recorded, undergo a common condemnation: Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah-corruption, rebellion, and pride which pretends to the throne and would supplant Solomon-all come under judgment. One must reach the kingdom definitely established at Jerusalem, the place of free election according to grace (Ps. 132: 13), before being introduced to Solomon, after his father David the man of God's counsels. Once again, nature's order is of no value. Shimea, Shobab, and Nathan, mentioned first as sons of Bathsheba, disappear before Solomon, the youngest son. Likewise, all the other sons that come after him have no right to the kingship.
Verses 10 to 24 give us Solomon's direct descendants. The words "his son" which are constantly repeated down to Zedekiah accentuate the contrast between the descendants according to grace and those according to nature, as we have seen in the history of Edom (1 Chron. 1: 43-54).
From verse 15 onward, after faithful Josiah's reign, we find the kings at the time of Judah's final ruin; this series finally culminates with Zerubbabel returned from captivity but no longer bearing the title of king. After Zerubbabel, Chronicles records still five generations more to Hodaviah and his brothers. If the years of one of these were known, this would give us the approximate date when Chronicles was composed. The names corresponding to Hananiah, Shechaniah, Neariah, Elioenai, and Hodaviah are not to be found in the genealogy of Matthew 1. Some have supposed that the Babylonian rulers may have changed them (cf. Dan. 1: 6-7) in order to efface all traces of kingship from the spirit of the Jews, an assertion which, while not confirmed, could well be probable.
1 Chronicles 4
More About Judah; Jabez;
The Tribe of Simeon
Verses 1 through 23 take up the genealogy of Judah for the second time. Two names especially stand out in 1 Chronicles 2-4. First, that of David, for Judah's kingship is, as we have seen, the principal subject of Chronicles. Secondly, that of Caleb the son of Jephunneh who represents the energy and the perseverance of faith; Hur, who plays a prominent role in Israel's history (Ex. 17: 12; Ex. 24: 14), is a son of Caleb's (1 Chron. 2: 19, 50; 1 Chron. 4: 1, 4). Jabez (1 Chron. 4: 9-10) is of the same clan (1 Chron. 4: 9-10; 1 Chron. 2: 55).
Jabez' mother had borne him with sorrow and had named him Jabez: "Sorrow." She had herself experienced the consequences of sin. She acknowledged the curse that was its consequence for man, God's righteous sentence pronounced upon the woman whom the serpent had beguiled, for God had said: "I will greatly increase thy travail and thy pregnancy; with pain thou shalt bear children" (Gen. 3: 16). Jabez' mother accepted this sentence by faith. So little did she seek to escape from it, that she passed it on to her son by having him bear the name "Sorrow." On man's side all hope of happiness was lost through the fall and sorrow was his fatal portion.
Jabez began with this conviction; therefore he was "more honorable than his brethren." Then he "called on the God of Israel," knowing that he could only depend on the Lord to be delivered from the curse of sin. He knew, moreover, that this deliverance could be so absolute that he, Jabez, would be able to be without sorrow!
Jabez addresses four requests to God; if God grants them, they will become the proof of his complete deliverance.
This is the first request: "Oh that Thou wouldest richly bless me...." God had cursed man and the earth from which he had been taken (Gen. 3: 17). He alone could annul this sentence and replace it with blessing, the first proof of the end of sorrow. He alone could change circumstances in such a way that the sinner, banished from His presence, might be brought to Him to enjoy His grace and unconditional promises. "I will bless thee", the Lord had said to Abraham. When all is in ruin Jabez' faith goes back to the counsels of grace and to the promises of God. Is not his history, related only in this book, well-suited to the general character of Chronicles? "And God brought about what he had requested." In our case likewise, God has abolished through Christ's sacrifice all the consequences of sin, so that we might be blessed in Him with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.
His second request is this: "... and enlarge my coast." Here and there these genealogies highlight various individuals whose borders God extended in the promised land at a time when the mass of the people had failed to conquer their inheritance completely. Jair has already given evidence of this in 1 Chronicles 2. The names of Caleb, Achsah, and Othniel are likewise examples of this individual energy of faith, which finds its borders enlarged as it relies upon God. So it is with us: our spiritual borders expand in the heavenly sphere while we are upon earth. In order to attain to this we must recognize our irremediable ruin and the incapacity we have demonstrated to extend our borders ourselves, and must manifest humble dependence which relies upon the grace of God alone in order to possess them.
Third, Jabez says: "... and that Thy hand might be with me." He does not rely on his natural energy to enlarge his borders, but rather on the power of God. This is all the more striking since he came from a family noted for its energy.
Fourth and finally he says: "...and that thou wouldest keep me from evil." The evil that introduced sorrow into this world has not disappeared; it is ever present. Jabez knows this well, for he does not ask that it be removed, but he desires to be kept from the evil whose existence he sees. Here again, he recognizes that it is not his will, but the power of God alone that is able to keep him.
Absolute confidence in God's grace and power is the only way of obtaining these things. Jabez obtains them. How could sorrow still subsist in the heart of this man of God when all his requests had been granted? No doubt, sorrow has not disappeared from the earth any more than has the evil which caused it, but Jabez' heart, full of those excellent things which had been granted him, had no room for it.
* * * *
The people of God have yet other duties and other activities beside enlarging their borders as Jabez. Joab is "the father...of craftsmen" (v. 14). God has entrusted us with certain functions, humble but very useful in their place, to which we do well to pay attention without coveting higher things. We will thus be kept in humility. Among the sons of Shelah are found "byssus-workers," potters, and gardeners (vv. 21, 23). These were not noble occupations, but they owed their importance to the fact that these men "...dwelt with the king for his work." Although very humble, they were his fellow workers within the limits that his work assigned to them; on this account the king retained them around his person; theirs was the great privilege, coveted in vain by many nobles and princes, of dwelling near him.*
Note:The words "And these are ancient things" contradict the rather peculiar notion that this king was Nebuchadnezzar.
So it is with us too. Let us each fulfill our task; let us beware of coveting a high position among the people of God; let us rather be content with humble things. What our Lord asks is that we carry them out diligently. Let us be faithful in little things as long as we work together in His works. To say nothing of a future reward, we will obtain the inestimable present advantage of "dwelling with the king" and of contemplating His face.
* * * *
In verses 24 through 43 we have the genealogies of the sons of Simeon. As a consequence of Simeon and Levi's sin, these two brothers were "divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel" (Gen. 49: 7). However, they differed from each other in that in grace the Lord used Levi's dispersion to give him priestly functions adapted to his position, whereas it was otherwise for Simeon who continued to bear the mark of God's judgment: "And his brethren had not many sons; neither did all their family multiply like to the sons of Judah" (v. 27). Simeon was small in number, partially enveloped in Judah's territory, open to enemy attacks on the south, and without definite borders. But we find here the truth already presented that when collective faith has failed the faith of a few, as previously the individual faith of a Caleb, inspires them to "enlarge their borders." Many "mentioned by name were princes in their families; and their fathers' houses increased greatly" (v. 38). "They found fat and good pasture" where the sons of Ham had dwelt before (v. 40); they even went to "Mount Seir" (v. 42), occupied by Edom. The extent of their possessions depended neither on their numbers nor upon their power. Like Jabez, they bore the consequences of the curse pronounced upon them, but their extreme poverty which they could not deny impelled them to conquer that which God placed within their reach.
Notice that they obtained their blessings under the two reigns of grace in Judah: that of David (v. 31); and that of Hezekiah (v. 41), at a time when the state of the people was already drawing down upon themselves the approaching judgment through the king of Babylon. How all these details constantly bring us back to the great thought of this precious book! All that is according to nature ends in complete failure and is valueless before God; grace is the only thing we can count upon as we rest upon the counsels and election of grace which are established forever.
1 Chronicles 5
The Tribes Beyond Jordan
Here we find the genealogy of the two and a half tribes which had chosen their portion beyond Jordan: Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. But these tribes are not joined together on account of this circumstance alone; Reuben's place in the genealogy, as we have already seen, is determined by his sin. The birthright was his by right of birth, but it was taken from him (v. 1) and given to Joseph and his sons. As in all the rest of Scripture, Joseph is here a type of the Messiah rejected by his brethren, and subsequently receiving dominion over the nations. But our passage (vv. 1-2) explains why he does not come first here. His place is given to Judah, the stock of the kingship according to God's counsels: "Of him was the prince." Once again we see here how Chronicles is consistent with its purpose to show the divine counsels as to the kingship. Yet, just as throughout in these chapters, the ways of the flesh are mentioned first (vv. 3-6), and they continue until the ten tribes are taken captive by Tilgath-Pilneser (cf. 2 Ki. 15: 29). It is true that Reuben's energy to enlarge his borders is emphasized (v. 10); but it is no longer the virtue we have seen in Caleb, springing from faith alone. The display of Reuben's activity has a purely human and earthly motive: "Their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead" (v. 9).
Gad (vv. 11-17) has greater spiritual distinction than Reuben. Like the latter, he also sought pasture land (v. 16), but he had still other interests. It is said of him: "All these were reckoned by genealogy in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel" (v. 17). Gad had a true concern about his genealogy. Even though the result of his zeal was annulled by his being carried away captive, at least until Jotham and Jeroboam's day his position in Israel was clear and well established, showing his sincere desire to be part of God's people and, notwithstanding all, not to deny Judah, under Jotham the center of the kingship.
Another matter is mentioned in verses 18-22. These two and a half tribes "made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab; and they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them; for they cried to God in the battle, and He was intreated of them, because they put their trust in Him" (vv. 19-20). God granted their prayers just as He had answered the prayer of a single man, Jabez. "They put their trust in Him"; the God of grace owed it to His own character to answer them, however guilty they might be with regard to the unity of the people of God. Thus, in spite of the ruin, grace always responds to faith, and this is one of the distinctive characteristics of the whole of these books of Chronicles. The flesh is condemned; the captivity is the consequence of its independence, but faith is answered, for God is not only a God of government who renders to man according to his responsibility, but also a God of grace who cannot deny His character. In verse 22 we read, "The war was of God." He had incited the difficulty so as to exercise the faith and confidence of His people, in order that He might then be able to answer them.
The half-tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan is next mentioned (vv. 23-26). Its territory, compared to that of the other tribes, was immense. In His grace God had prospered the men of Manasseh: "They were many" (v. 23). But the blessings which God's favor had secured for them turned them aside rather than drawing them closer to Him: "And they transgressed against the God of their fathers" (v. 25), and "the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan,-unto this day." At the time Chronicles was composed, these tribes were in captivity in the places here mentioned. This passage, just as many others, could well be used to establish the date of our book.
1 Chronicles 6
The Tribe of Levi
In this chapter we find the genealogy of the priestly family and of the families of the Levites as well as their dwelling places.
The priestly genealogy forms the counterpart to the royal genealogy (1 Chron. 2 and 3), but it ends here at the captivity, without going beyond it as with the line of David (1 Chron. 3: 19-24).
In verse 1, according to the principle often mentioned, we first find the sons of Levi according to natural order or the order of birth: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; then in verse 2, Kohath (and not Gershon) chosen by grace as the stock of the Aaronic priesthood. Aaron, not Moses, is mentioned first in verse 3: "Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam." The order of this enumeration corresponds to the contents of Chronicles which treats of Judah's kingship according to God's counsels, and of the priesthood in its relationship to the kingship. These three names, Aaron, Moses and Miriam, represent the priesthood, the law, and prophecy; but as soon as it is a question of the counsels of grace relative to the kingship, the law, Moses, gives place to the priesthood.
Aaron's sons are Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Nadab and Abihu were judged for their sin. And thus in the priestly family we again see that the history of the natural man comes first and then is entirely set aside. After Nadab and Abihu come Eleazar and Ithamar: Eleazar, the priest according to the election of grace, Ithamar, the responsible priest, set aside in order to give place to the former.
Eleazar begets Phinehas, a man of energy, who like Caleb added virtue to his faith and was chosen by God to continue the priestly line. This line continues without interruption down to Azariah (v. 9), who "exercised the priesthood in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem" (v. 10). The line goes on from Azariah to Jehozadak, the last high priest mentioned in Chronicles. He "went away when Jehovah carried away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar" (v. 15). Ezra and Nehemiah give us information about the high priests who functioned after the return from captivity. Their line is interrupted about 330 years before Christ (Neh. 12: 10-11), just as the royal line of descent stops in 1 Chronicles 3 of , a few generations after Zerubbabel.
In verse 16, the Spirit of God again takes up the genealogy of the Levites, this time in the order of birth according to which their families had been established. The book of Numbers teaches us that their service consisted of carrying the tabernacle and its utensils through the wilderness. The most precious burden, including the ark, was entrusted to the Kohathites. But here we find that "after that the ark was in rest" David appointed men from among the three families of the Levites for "the service of song in the house of Jehovah." "And they ministered before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting with singing, until Solomon had built the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem" (vv. 31-32).
In each of these three families one Levite stood out above the rest by reason of the gifts he had received from God: for the Kohathites, Heman; for the Gershonites, Asaph; for the Merarites, Ethan. The other Levites "were given for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God" (v. 48).
The priesthood itself had a dual function. First of all, "Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt-offering, and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place." Secondly, they made "atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded" (v. 49). Thus, the priesthood alone was called to portray the work of Christ as He is described in Hebrews 2: 17: "a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." The Levites on the other hand depicted service and praise in connection with this work.
In verses 54 to 81 we find enumerated the cities apportioned to the Levites, including the cities of refuge. These latter are not mentioned according to the order of their being hallowed, beginning with Kedesh and Shechem as in Joshua 20: 7-9, but according to the order of Joshua 21: 11-40, beginning with Hebron. Here again, Kohath comes first instead of Gershom (cf. v. 20), for it is a matter of the Lord's free choice: "theirs was the lot" (v. 54). Among them, the sons of Aaron received "Hebron in the land of Judah" as a city of refuge (vv. 55, 57). Thus the priesthood, issuing from Kohath, is here intimately united with the tribe of Judah and the place where the kingship was established, whereas the other members of the family of Kohath find their dwelling place in Ephraim and Manasseh. For this reason Judah and Ephraim (cf. v. 66) occupy a prominent place among the sons of Israel. Thus we see Judah and Joseph, who had the birthright, united through the Levitical priesthood dwelling in their midst. These three names, Judah, Joseph, and Levi, speak to us in a way still obscure of the Messiah's features as king, as first-born, and as high priest.
As we have said, the order of the cities of refuge corresponds to that of Joshua 21, being Hebron, Shechem, Golan in Bashan, Kedesh, Bezer, and Ramoth in Gilead.
1 Chronicles 7
Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Ephraim, Asher. The Daughters of Zelophehad
1 Chronicles 7 closes the genealogy of the tribes. The sons of Issachar come first. They "had many wives and sons" (v. 4). The numbering of the men of war begins with Issachar. In this tribe, the number of men of war continued to increase from the time of the establishment of the kingship. In David's time it was 22,600 men, then 36,000 men; and finally, because of their many wives, 87,000 men (v. 5). A second favorable trait of this tribe is that they took care of their genealogies, for we are told that all these men were registered by genealogy (v. 5). Finally, a third feature is mentioned only in connection with Issachar, Benjamin, and Asher: "valiant men of might," fit to go out to war.
The tribe of Benjamin had the same features as those of Issachar: Care for their genealogies, and mighty men of valor, but this latter feature was outstanding in this little tribe, so intimately united to the kingdom of Judah at Jerusalem. Three times they are called by this name (vv. 7, 9, 11). This reminds us of Christ's character as waging war and conquering. Benjamin is the prophetic type of Him, and is so directly associated with the royal tribe of Judah that they are never separated from it. As Benjamin's antitype Christ comes up from Bozrah, his garments dyed with blood, to establish his reign (Isa. 63: 1-6). Benjamin is "fit for service for war" (v. 11). We shall see him appearing a second time under other circumstances.
Naphtali, Bilhah's son, does not seem to have shown any interest in his genealogy (v. 13). His descendants are scarcely mentioned, and still less, the number of his men of war.
Manasseh, that is to say, the half-tribe beyond the Jordan, comes next. Here, as elsewhere in these genealogies, women are referred to continually, one more proof that these genealogies were put together only after the captivity, amid the irregularities that characterized Israel's ruin. Through the female line of descent indicators could be established so as to retrace a genealogy, whereas a normal state of affairs would not have required such mentions. Thirteen women are alluded to in these few verses (vv. 14-19), including the five daughters of Zelophehad.
Some words concerning these latter would not be inappropriate. They are mentioned five times in the course of biblical history (Num. 26: 33; Num. 27: 1-11; Num. 36: 3-12; Joshua 17: 3-6: 1 Chron. 7: 15), proof of the important place they occupy in God's thoughts. Not one of their names is forgotten; they are Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah (Num. 26: 33). In Numbers 27 we notice several interesting details about them. First, they recognized that their abnormal condition was the result of their father's sin. Although "he was not in the band of them that banded themselves together against Jehovah in the band of Korah," yet he "died in the wilderness," and "died in his own sin," and this was the reason why "he had no sons" (v. 3). Nonetheless his five daughters desire to perpetuate their father's name; as true daughters of Israel they value their genealogy and, consequently, their inheritance. The Lord waits to set their situation in order until they express this need before Him (cf. Num. 26: 33 with Num. 27: 2). He answers them when they stand "before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the tent of meeting" (Num. 27: 2), and when Moses "brought their cause before Jehovah" (v. 5). God says: "The daughters of Zelophehad speak right." Wherever there is zeal to appropriate God's blessings and promises, an answer is sure. But the Lord gives them much more than they were asking. He conveys the inheritance of their father to them and adds a clause containing four articles to His law-these weak women are the occasion for this-which becomes "unto the children of Israel a statute of right." "And unto the children of Israel shalt thou speak," says the Lord, "saying: (1) If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. (2) And if he have no daughter, ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. (3) And if he have no brethren, ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren. (4) And if his father have no brethren, ye shall give his inheritance to his kinsman that is nearest to him in his family, and he shall possess it" (vv. 8-11). Besides the precepts set down in the law, God thus gives a special revelation in response to the desire expressed by some daughters of Israel. This desire had His approbation, and it was necessary in order for them to be able to enter into the possession of their inheritance.
In Numbers 27 the daughters of Zelophehad themselves had presented their petition before God, but in chapter 36 Manasseh, the entire tribe to which they belonged, inspired by the zeal of these women, pleads for them before Moses and the princes. The high priest who could intercede for them before the tent of meeting is not found here: Manasseh itself has turned intercessor in favor of the daughters of its people. The tribe is just as zealous to see its inheritance remain complete, without impairment, as the daughters of Zelophehad had been zealous to possess it. The Lord is pleased to acknowledge how right Manasseh's desire is. He declares: "The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well" (Num. 36: 5), just as in chapter 27 He had acknowledged that the daughters of Zelophehad had spoken well. God then gives a new revelation governing marriage in relation to the inheritance, for Manasseh was jealous to prevent even the least bit of the patrimony which he had conquered from being taken away from him. Some might otherwise have appropriated a portion of it to themselves by pleading the natural rights of marriage, an institution originally hallowed by God, but such a usurpation of rights could not be according to God's thoughts. After having given the sons of Joseph opportunity to express their desire-for if man is to receive an answer from God, his faith must ever be active-the Lord grants every liberty to the institution of marriage, giving it His full approval on condition that it take place within the bounds of the tribe (vv. 6-9).
Christians, is it not likewise with us with regard to marriage? Marriage must be within the bounds of the family of God, and within the realm of faith, else disorder will rapidly be introduced into the Assembly. It will lose the portion of her heavenly inheritance or see it diminished. This inheritance should not be impaired nor can it pass into other hands. Every individual alliance with those from without is a loss for the body as a whole, which, in the measure in which this takes place, is stymied in the enjoyment of at least a part of its inheritance.
This is the answer to Manasseh's request: "Every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance among the tribes of the children of Israel, shall be married to one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may possess every one the inheritance of his fathers, and the inheritance shall not pass from one tribe to another tribe; for each of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep to his inheritance" (vv. 8-9). Thus from a particular case God draws a general principle, which immediately becomes obligatory. Even so we recall the institution of the Supper, of the first day of the week, the collections, and a special case of discipline at Corinth, all of them becoming general obligations. "Even as Jehovah had commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad" (v. 10). They themselves regarded the revelation which had been given them and which answered to their particular need as a commandment of Jehovah.
In Joshua 17: 3-4, the daughters of Zelophehad present themselves before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua, the son of Nun, and before the princes. They had married their uncles' sons according to the Lord's directions (Num. 36: 11). Now they ask to receive their inheritance. "Jehovah commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren," they say, relying on God's word alone. For them, this was enough to settle everything, even in a case that went beyond the usual order of the law. Moreover, their faith and their confidence in Jehovah's commandment to Moses results in the same rule with regard to female descendants being adopted throughout all Manasseh, even beyond the Jordan. "The daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons" (v. 6). Thus the rule given to a few became the privilege of all.
This history is of deep interest to us. We should consider the privileges of our heavenly inheritance priceless. Let us not be checked by natural, apparently legitimate, considerations which would tend to hinder us from appropriating our blessings. Let us ask God insistently that these obstacles, if they exist, be removed. Do not think, sisters in Christ, that your enjoyment of heavenly things must be lessened by your position of seeming inferiority. Do not be satisfied until you have acquired the same portion of the inheritance as your brothers. To overcome in this, remember that this is a commandment of the Lord as to you. Your example will have a blessed effect on your sisters: it will inspire them to follow it and to rely upon the same promises. Whatever your humble condition may be, your inheritance is the same as that of your brothers. There is no doubt that you are not called to the same conflicts, to the role of mighty men of valor in battle, but you are called to the same possession as they: you have the same lot, the same heavenly blessings!
1 Chronicles 7: 20-28 speaks of the sons of Ephraim. Their history as a tribe begins and ends sadly, although such a notable place had been reserved for them in their relationship with the tribe of Levi (1 Chron. 6: 66-70). At the beginning (we do not know exactly when), they had stolen from the Philistines of Gath, an act which the Lord could in no way approve. Surely, stealing from the Canaanites in order to enrich themselves while leaving them still alive was not the same as destroying them. In Samuel 15 Saul did the very same thing. Here the men of Gath execute that judgment upon Ephraim which the latter had not executed upon them. "The men of Gath born in the land slew them, because they came down to take their cattle" (v. 21). Later, the accursed race of the Philistines of Gath falls beneath the blows of "mighty men of valor" of Benjamin (1 Chron. 8: 13). God commits the accomplishing of His plans to those more faithful than Ephraim, and those who should have been His instruments are deprived of this honor in a very humiliating way. The tribe that was the very least rose to be the greatest. This execution of punishment must take place, for God's decrees could not be annulled by man's unfaithfulness. The moral result of Ephraim's conduct was not long in waiting: "Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him. And he went in to his wife; and she conceived, and bore a son; and he called his name Beriah [in evil], for he was born when calamity was in his house" (vv. 22-23). In this he was completely different from Jabez, for whom sorrow, the consequence of sin, became the starting point of his relationship with Jehovah. But the God who had blessed Joseph in his son Ephraim, according to the unchanging pattern of Chronicles, does not stop with the evil which this man had merited. The account given us ends with the name of Joshua, the type of Christ in the Spirit, leading His people to the conquest of their inheritance. So it is for God's people today. We must accept that it is by our own fault that evil is in the house, but we must never doubt for an instant that He who alone is worthy to enter Canaan will give us a possession in it. In Him we have the final word of our whole history!
Asher (vv. 30-40) is concerned about his genealogy, and the number of his men of war is given us along with that of Issachar and Benjamin. Like these latter, they are "mighty of valor."
We cannot emphasize often enough that the importance of the genealogies here is dependent upon the care taken by the families to preserve them during the captivity. Naphtali resembles the dried remnant of a plant that was once green and flourishing, whereas Issachar, Benjamin, and Asher keep intact the deposit that God had confided to them.
1 Chronicles 8
The Tribe of Benjamin in Relation to the Family of Saul
Here for the second time we find the genealogy of Benjamin (cf. 1 Chron. 7: 6-12), but with a very special purpose. It brings us to Saul and his family (v. 33), to the kingship according to the flesh, the ruin of which we shall see in 1 Chronicles 10, and which is to be replaced, according to Chronicles' unchanging pattern, by the kingship of David according to election of God and the counsels of grace. We have few comments to make about this chapter. That obscure passage, verses 6 and 7, seems to be an allusion to Judges 20: 43, if we are to read, according to the marginal note, "to Manukah."* We have already spoken of verse 13.
Note: According to the French translation of J. N. Darby, the words "at the resting-place" can also be read "to Manukah."
Benjamin's habitation at Jerusalem, that is to say, at the seat of the kingship, to which Benjamin was entitled according to his geographic situation, is mentioned in verses 28-32. From Benjamin came mighty men of valor, able to draw the bow, which still did not prevent Saul from succumbing to the weapon that was the strength of his tribe and should have been his own strength against his enemies. The sinful nature adorned with all its advantages perishes and cannot even for an instant resist God's judgment.
1 Chronicles 9: 1-34
The Ruin of the People and the Restoration of Judah and Benjamin. The Levites
1 Chronicles 8 has brought us to the kingship according to the flesh, whose ruin will be shown us in 1 Chronicles 10; whereas 1 Chronicles 9 shows us the final ruin of the people: "Judah was carried away to Babylon because of their transgression" (v. 1). We then find the restoration of a feeble remnant, mentioned in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, in order to await the promised Messiah at Jerusalem. This ninth chapter corresponds to chapter 11 of Nehemiah. Yet it differs significantly from Nehemiah 11, both with regard to the number of the sons of Judah and Benjamin who dwelt at Jerusalem, and with regard to their names. This chapter adds collateral branches. With regard to the priests and Levites, it is much closer to Nehemiah. Finally, it defines the functions of the doorkeepers of the temple very exactly. We learn also what Nehemiah does not reveal, that some of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh, probably left in the land of Canaan at the time of the captivity of their tribes, came to dwell at Jerusalem (v. 3) with the children of Judah and of Benjamin.
Let us note yet another detail. In verse 13 the priests are termed "able men for the work of the service of the house of God." Indeed the same strength is needed for the service of the house of God as for combat. These functions are very different in nature, but the same spiritual energy is necessary for both the one and the other.
In verses 17-23 we learn what the service, in part, of the Levites was. In these days of restoration they were doorkeepers at the gate of the temple, called "the king's gate." Formerly they had been "keepers of the thresholds of the tent and their fathers, set over the camp of Jehovah, were keepers of the entrance. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the ruler over them formerly." Of him it was said: "Jehovah was with him" (v. 20), and that says everything. David and Samuel had instituted the doorkeepers in their trust when the temple, called "the house of the tent" in verse 23, had not yet been built. But still more, these Levite doorkeepers were "over the chambers and over the treasuries of the house of God; for they stayed round about the house of God during the night, because the charge was upon them, and the opening thereof every morning pertained to them" (vv. 26-27). Finally, "part of them had the charge of the instruments of service, for by number they brought them in and by number they brought them out. Part of them also were appointed over the vessels, and over all the holy instruments, and over the fine flour, and the wine, and the oil, and the frankincense, and the spices" (vv. 28-29). Others were "in trust over the things that were made in the pans. And some of the sons of the Kohathites, their brethren, were over the loaves to be set in rows, to prepare them every sabbath." Finally, there were "the singers" (vv. 31-33).
How many diverse functions these humble servants carried on! Modest functions, yes, but without them the entire order of the Lord's service would have been interrupted, or even discontinued! Let us think of this, and when the Lord confides a service to us, insignificant though it may appear to be, let us carry it out with zeal, reminding ourselves that it is necessary for the order of the house of God. Whatever may be our task, may we know "how one ought to conduct oneself in God's house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth" (1 Tim. 3: 15)!
THE KINGSHIP OF DAVID ACCORDING TO THE COUNSELS OF GOD
1 Chronicles 9: 35 - 27
1 Chronicles 9: 35 - 10
The Ruin of the Kingship According to the Flesh
The subject of the genealogies finishes with 1 Chronicles 9: 34. Verses 35 to 44 again take up the enumeration of Saul's family with a few differences that initiate us into the way in which the genealogies were composed. Thus, in this passage we find the ancestors of Ner back to Gibeon, whereas 1 Chronicles 8: 33-39 gives only the descendants of Ner and add to them those of Eshek, the brother of Azel. As ever, the Spirit of God who directed the composition of Chronicles has a particular purpose. In our passage here, it is first a matter of Saul's ancestors who according to their tribe's right dwelt at Jerusalem "beside their brethren" of Judah; then it is a matter of the direct line of descent from this king, avoiding the collateral branches which here have nothing to do with the purpose of this inspired book.
And so we reach 1 Chronicles 10 which begins with references to the accounts in the books of Samuel and Kings, but as we have so often said, with the purpose of bringing out the counsels of God concerning Judah's royal line, that royal line from which Christ would descend.
Here an observation must be made. God presents man's ruin from two aspects. On the one hand, He gives us man's history in detail, for it is a matter of proving through specifics the irremediable condition of sinful man, placed under responsibility. Only after He has shown that his condition is without remedy does God pronounce judgment upon him. On this account we are given the detailed historical narratives from Joshua to the end of Kings. In the New Testament, the epistle to the Romans presents an analogous character: man's state without the law and under the law is traced from the first chapter until that "O wretched man that I am!" of Romans 7, the final experience of man's desperate state, even that of an awakened man, under the law but responsible before God to keep it.
On the other hand, when God presents the extent of His grace and the working out of His eternal counsels, He sets down at the very onset as being without remedy, man's definite ruin, without mentioning the trial through which He puts him in order to prove this condition to him. Such is the character of the book of Chronicles. The epistle to the Ephesians in the New Testament corresponds to this. Regarding sinful man's state this epistle has these words in Ephesians 2: 1 as its fundamental principle: "You, being dead in your offences and sins."
Saul's history as recounted in the Chronicles is a striking example of this truth. After Saul's genealogy, we find only the account of his death, recounted almost word for word (1 Chron. 10: 1-12) from 1 Samuel 31. But the Spirit of God adds a very remarkable supplementary passage in verses 13-14: "And Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he committed against Jehovah, because of the word of Jehovah which he kept not, and also for having inquired of the spirit of Python, asking counsel of it; and he asked not counsel of Jehovah; therefore He slew him." In this passage God explains the reason for His final judgment upon Saul, the same as that upon every sinful man: disobedience and departure from God. And remarkably, these are the very words we find again in Ephesians 2, the chapter that proclaims the sinner's condition of death: "sons of disobedience" and "without God in the world" (vv. 2, 12).
God had given Saul to Israel in the flesh according to their request, and this kingship could only end in complete failure. Henceforth God would act in accordance with the counsels of His sovereign grace: He "transferred the kingdom to David the son of Jesse" (v. 14).
1 Chronicles 11
Establishment of the Kingship According to God's Counsels
The end of the old man is the beginning of a new era. This truth is confirmed here. Without any preamble whatever, David's reign begins at Hebron. Saul, the king according to fallen nature, is dead, but that is not enough. David himself, the Lord's anointed, initiates his reign at Hebron, the place that so speaks of death. All that precedes Hebron (2 Sam. 1-2 Sam. 3), the gradual way in which David's reign is established, the long war between his house and that of Saul, the former growing stronger, the latter, weaker-all this is passed over in silence in Chronicles. At the very outset the Spirit of God announces the final establishment of David's reign.
A little characteristic phrase missing in the account in Samuel is added here in verse 3: "They anointed David king over Israel according to the word of Jehovah through Samuel." The establishment of David's reign is here linked with God's unchangeable word and His counsels of grace.
In verses 4-9, which describe the capture of Jerusalem, we again find a noteworthy difference from the account in 2 Samuel 5: 6-9. Here there is not a word about "the lame and the blind hated of David's soul...!" and on the other hand, Joab, who is completely left out of the account in Samuel, here occupies the first place after David: "And David said, Whoever smites the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief" (v. 6). Here he is not the ambitious, vindictive man, but the man destined, according to God's counsels, to conquer the fortress of Zion for the king. It is even said of him in verse 8: "Joab renewed the rest of the city." Not a word about his character, nor about his doings up to this moment. His struggle with Abner, his revenge upon this noble captain, the murder he committed, are all passed over in silence, as well as David's pained expression: "And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too hard for me: Jehovah reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness!" (2 Sam. 3: 39). Would we not say, if we had only read the account of Chronicles, that Joab was an upright man without reproach? The truth is that here Joab is simply the instrument prepared to install the Lord's anointed, the king according to God's thoughts, at Jerusalem.
David's mighty men are enumerated at the beginning of this account (vv. 10-47), while they are enumerated at the end in 2 Samuel 23. Here they bring in the kingdom. They "shewed themselves valiant with him in his kingdom, with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of Jehovah concerning Israel" (v. 10), so accomplishing the plans which God had before made known. They are then enumerated. Among the first three Shammah, although referred to, is not named. A few names mentioned in Samuel are omitted here and a great many are added. Thus our chapter refers to 81 mighty men (30 of them being recorded without being named); 2 Samuel 23 names 37 of them; there they are enumerated as supporters whom David needed to confirm his throne; in our present chapter they have only to acknowledge what God had done in establishing David as His anointed, and cannot do other than support a kingship come forth from the counsels of God Himself. Also they appear before us at the beginning of his reign.
Let us note an even more remarkable detail. Uriah the Hittite, who closes the list in 2 Samuel 23 in testimony against David's sin and fall, appears here as hidden among the other mighty men (v. 41). His name is not highlighted as the accuser of David and of that which was the shame of his kingdom. Likewise, everything pertaining to the terrible fall of the Lord's anointed is completely passed over in silence. Eliam also, the son of Ahithophel (2 Sam. 23: 34), whose father was so intimately associated with the consequences of David's sin, is omitted in our chapter.
The senseless attacks of rationalists against the books of Chronicles oblige us to insist upon all these details, for their general effect is the best refutation of those who see in the Chronicles only a wretched compilation made at a time much later than that which the book ascribes to itself, a compilation made without order, with falsified documents, full of invented names and screaming errors. Oh the folly of human reason when it ventures to judge God's thoughts and would replace them by its own imaginations!
1 Chronicles 12
The Kingship Recognized
Before recognizing David at Hebron (vv. 23-27), a few of the tribes-sad to say, the minority-had in part joined themselves to him while he was still the rejected king. The mistakes he made at this period of his history, the lack of faith which had prompted him to flee to Achish, the results that came upon him from this at the battle with the Philistines and his stay at Ziklag (see 1 Sam. 29, 30), are not mentioned in Chronicles. According to the principle of this book, divine grace covers a multitude of sins; whereas in the second book of Samuel and in the Psalms we see David turning from his wicked path and confessing his faults.
What we find in this chapter (vv. 1-22) is the faith of many, precious fruit of grace. This faith submits to the Lord's anointed, the king according to God's counsels, and acknowledges him at a time when the eye of flesh was not able to discern him in his lowly condition. It is the same today for believers. Our David has not yet received a visible kingdom, but those who acknowledge Him while He is still the rejected king have a special place in the divine annals and are "more honorable than their brethren." in like manner, men of Benjamin and Manasseh joined themselves to David at Ziklag (vv. 1, 9), and men of Gad, Judah, and Benjamin joined him in the stronghold in the wilderness (vv. 8, 16) before all the tribes hastened to him at Hebron.
In all these cases, whether it be at Ziklag, in the hold, or at Hebron, Benjamin is first (vv. 2,16,29) and does not miss a single opportunity to acknowledge its king. This was an act of faith all the more remarkable in that Benjamin and especially "the brethren of Saul" had every reason according to nature to hesitate and not to make a decision until after all the others. But their faith could vanquish obstacles, for it is associated with "virtue" (2 Peter 1: 5) and cannot be separated from it once called into action.
This little tribe of Benjamin, once nearly annihilated after their sin (Judges 20 - Judges 21), now holds a distinguished place in the testimony. As to them, God notes with approval (vv. 1-7), the fact that they were "of the brethren of Saul." Theirs was the fervent faith of that first hour preceding the dawn of the kingdom. How can we fail to trace out this faith, for which the personal presence of David alone sufficed, at the very moment when according to man's judgment everything seemed to be lost forever for the Lord's anointed. Driven away by Saul, rejected by the Philistines, he had only Ziklag and even this place fell to the power of Amalek (1 Sam. 30)!
What a help these men would have been to the Philistines, enemies of God's people! But, on the other hand, what a help they would have been to Saul, these men "armed with bows, using both the right hand and the left with stones and with arrows on the bow!" (v.2). Saul's lack of archers to oppose against the Philistines was the immediate cause of his ruin. We are told that he was much terrified when he saw that he could not measure up to the Philistine archers. Nevertheless David did not use this unanticipated help against Saul. He let God Himself direct the circumstances and pronounce judgment in his favor and would in no way fight against His people. How often Christians are presented with similar occasions, Satan succeeding in engaging them in conflict with one another. If they do not learn then that "in quietness and confidence shall be your strength," they will of necessity come into new difficulties.
The Gadites who joined David in the "stronghold" were "mighty men of valor, men fit for the service of war, armed with shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were swift as the gazelles upon the mountains" (v. 8). They could engage in hand to hand combat with the enemy, being vigorous and fleet as is proper in such a situation. These men of Gad, whom we have seen above so careful of their genealogy which joined them to God's people, are prompt to acknowledge this people's leader. The obstacles to joining him, though of another kind from those of Benjamin, did not stop them. The Jordan, on the other side of which they dwelt, was as insurmountable an obstacle as in the days when the people had arrived opposite Jericho. "These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it overflows all its banks" (v. 15). There was now no need of a miracle to allow them to pass over; they knew that the Jordan had had to yield before the people of God, and strong with the conviction of faith, they prevailed over this obstacle in order to join the one who drew them like a loving sovereign.
In verses 16 to 18, Benjamin appears for the second time but associated with Judah to go to David in "the stronghold." Here they act not only in simple faith, but in the power of the Spirit of God. "And the Spirit came upon Amasai, the chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and with thee, thou son of Jesse: Peace, peace be to thee! and peace be to thy helpers! for thy God helps thee." (v. 18). Love and admiration for the person of David animate these men. His personal merit and the assurance that God is with him suffice them. By virtue of this devotion they receive a privileged place from the king: "And David received them, and made them chiefs of bands."
Manasseh (vv. 19-22) displays neither the faith of Benjamin nor the energy of Gad nor the power of the Spirit as Judah and Benjamin. These men arrive at Ziklag at the last hour, before the battle; they are all strong and valiant; they share with David the not insignificant honor of being rejected by the Philistines.
Like them, let us hasten to gather around Christ while it is still the day of His rejection; let us hasten to acknowledge Him before all shall be obliged to submit to Him when He is manifested in his kingdom. His heart finds a special satisfaction in our voluntary submission in the day of his being disowned by the world. He loves to declare that they who cleave to Him will be His peculiar treasure in the day of His reign!
We have seen that each segment of the people served David with the various gifts that God had distributed among them. The company of those who do battle for the Lord today must do the same. There is not, as some would have us believe, a "Salvation Army" destined to spread the gospel throughout the world, although the gift of evangelist itself is a gift of prime importance. The Christian army is ordained to combat spiritual powers to defend the Lord's rights and not, as does the evangelist, to cause His grace to triumph by making it penetrate consciences. The little army which gathers around David does so as "helping him in the conflict" (v. 1), in order to introduce, through combat, the establishment of His kingdom. Now the kingdom of Christ is not the gospel. In this respect the people of Benjamin had great faith: they expected of David brilliant deeds and a glorious reign at a time when the Lord's anointed counted for nothing in the eyes of men.
Let us now follow David to Hebron (vv. 23-40), where he is no longer acknowledged by some, but by all the tribes.
The number of men from each tribe is noted. Each comes with his own special qualities to take his place in the king's army.
This reminds us of what is said of the body of Christ in Romans 12. "All the members have not the same office"; all have "different gifts"; they must use them according to the manifold grace of God and "as God has dealt to each a measure of faith." Thus the Lord's army can work together for a common purpose, each exercising the function entrusted to him. Judah bears shield and spear; Simeon is mighty and valiant for the war; Levi is, as we have seen (1 Chron. 9: 13), for the service, for, although each took his place in the army (vv. 27-28) they were not called to combat. Benjamin, freed from the service of Saul, whose house they had once guarded (v. 29), had left this honorary post en mass, esteeming it as worthless, in order to occupy the true post of honor with David.
Faith alone had directed the first Benjaminites. The example they had given was followed by the rest of the tribe. This observation is not an unimportant one, for it is not every one's portion to display the same energy of faith through the Spirit. This is why Paul could say: "Walk thus as you have us for a model," and to the Hebrews he could say: "Imitate their faith."
Those of Manasseh had been "expressed by name" by their brethren "to come and make David king." There was a full fellowship among all of them. Participating by their empathy in sending forth their brethren, they recognized those among them who were most capable of carrying out their commission.
The children of Issachar "had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (v. 32), and this faculty was a precious benefit for the people of God. Have we not often proven that we were lacking this wisdom to press on through the problems of these difficult days? More readily do we find Christians marked by brotherly love, like the half-tribe of Manasseh, or power, like the mighty men of valor in other tribes, but the spirit of "wise discretion" (2 Tim. 1: 7) is often wanting and we approach difficult situations without the discernment necessary. Moreover, times change, and we cannot act on one occasion as we would on another. Here the time had come to unite for a common action. Any other action, however plausible it might be, would have entailed fatal consequences. It was time to put aside all else, even legitimate considerations, to unite around David. It was not the time to make endless war against the remnant of Saul's house as Joab been doing; the time had come to own David alone as chief and center. One might invoke the respectable legitimacy of the son of Kish and of his successors, or perhaps the necessity of lying low and waiting for events to unfold; but no such consideration could be of any value. It was a matter of David: the moment had come; one banner alone had the right to wave before all eyes. The children of Issachar had understanding of the times: in giving their opinion, they themselves acted according to God's true purpose to unify the dispersed tribes with Jesse's son as center.
Were not the Christians at Rome to whom the apostle Paul addressed himself true children of Issachar? "This also," he told them, "knowing the time, that now it is already time that we be aroused out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, and the day is near" (Rom. 13: 11-12). The day of our David's triumph is near at hand; night will soon give place to light; let us awake! Soon the morning star will rise, that star which is already shining in our hearts. Listen to the children of Issachar. If we lack their discernment, let us bear in mind that God has provided for our assistance the wisdom and the counsel of our brethren who understand what Israel ought to do-what is appropriate today for the people of God)! "All their brethren were at their bidding." May we be like them and listen to those whom the Lord has qualified for counseling.
The children of Zebulun were prepared for battle. If battle would break out, they would not be taken by surprise. They had "all weapons of war." Moreover, they were supportive of one another, keeping rank; none of them acted in an independent manner, for they realized that unity was their strength. And in addition they were "without double heart"-their affections were not divided. Is not a frequent cause of our defeats a heart wavering between the world and Christ, between our interests, our temporal advantages, and the unique service of David's Son?
Naphtali is a bit like Judah: they bear the spear, or rather the sword and shield, similarly to those men who had built the wall under Nehemiah.
Dan was "armed for war" rather than for battle like Zebulun. This infers that these men were ready to rally at the first call, once war had been declared.
Asher was familiar with strategy. The Asherites could "set themselves in battle array."
The tribes beyond Jordan came last, as we have said, but even their position at a distance proved to their advantage. They had "all manner of weapons of war for battle." If distance created difficulties for them in the matter of replacing their weapons, it provoked them to make careful provision.
That which characterized the tribes at this blessed period of their history is that all (v. 38) came to Hebron "with a perfect heart," without guile, with a single purpose, and that all in Israel who were constrained by circumstances to remain behind "were of one heart to make David king."
Lovely beginning! Blessed awakening! The fact of having but a single person, the Lord's anointed, before their eyes, was enough to produce this miracle. In this way all divisions can be prevented among God's people. The sovereign safeguard against division is to have Christ before the eyes of faith.
The Spirit of God here delights to show us the effects of grace in the heart. While 2 Samuel 5: 1-3 treats this subject in three short verses, God is pleased to develop it here in all its fullness.
There is still more: brotherly love finds a rich occasion for exercise. "And there they were with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brethren had prepared for them; and those too that were near them, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, provisions of meal, fig-cakes and raisin-cakes, and wine and oil, and oxen and sheep, abundantly; for there was joy in Israel" (vv. 39-40). Nothing was spared where it involved their brethren's well-being, and at the same time they showed their attachment to David. They indeed added love to brotherly love (2 Peter 1: 7). This harmony was undergirded by joy, the true motive for all devotion. "Rejoice in the Lord always," Paul said to the Philippians, for he knew that in order to remedy the discord threatening them, joy must be the prime component in their hearts.
1 Chronicles 13
The Ark and the New Cart
The characteristic feature of this chapter is omitted in 2 Samuel 6. It is David's desire, once the kingdom had been established, to reunite the entire people not around himself but around the ark, the throne of God where the mercy seat was found. Here we see (vv. 1-2) with what care the king gathers Israel together, with the priests and Levites, to bring back the ark from Kirjath-jearim: he wants to have all the worshippers of the Lord for this, and he adds: "We inquired not of it in the days of Saul" (v. 3). How completely the ark had been forgotten under the preceding reign! From the time of its return from the hands of the Philistines, it surfaces only to demonstrate how little Saul had esteemed it (1 Sam. 14: 18-19).
In view of the great theme which is going to dominate the latter part of this book of Chronicles-the role of the priesthood in its relationship to the kingship-we need to be reminded here of the details of the ark's return and the mistake which David made. On this occasion we see David's ardent desire to find a place of rest for the throne of God, and how much he desired to find complete fellowship on part of the people in this. This desire was of God.
Nonetheless, whatever may be grace's designs, man shows himself weak to carry them out, and God takes care to reveal this to us here. If it were otherwise, we would find an infallible David in Chronicles, whereas God would rather show us His infallible counsels, brought to fruition in view of Christ of whom David is the type. And if God were not to mention any of David's failings here, it would be a dishonor to Christ, for He alone must appear as the Perfect Man, the King according to God's counsels.
However, God chooses an example of one of the less outstanding of David's errors for our instruction. He was filled with the desire to serve God and to associate the whole people with the glorification of His throne. Zion, the seat of the kingship according to God's counsels, in David's eyes was the only place for the ark to rest. All priestly service must have this ark as its center, and its presence was the sure basis for the kingdom's establishment according to God. David acknowledged these things and proclaimed them. Only one thing was lacking, insignificant in appearance but very serious in reality, and what a bitter experience that would instruct the king. The great outpouring of joy and praise accompanying the ark's return could not take the place of obedience to the Word of God. The former was excellent, the latter both necessary and obligatory. David might have excused the manner in which he brought back the ark by the fact that the sons of Gershom and Merari also had wagons to transport the tabernacle through the wilderness, with the exception, of course, of the vessels of the sanctuary. And besides, God had not opposed the Philistines' method when they had returned the ark on a new cart, nor had He even manifested His displeasure to them. Doubtless the Philistines, idolaters and strangers to what the law prescribed, had acted according to their conscience without even a thought of disobeying the Word of God which they did not know; but never does faith act according to the light of conscience, and David should have known this: faith always obeys the Word of God and is not to be separated from it.
This lapse of memory and, more probably still, the lack of importance he accorded to every iota of the Scriptures had two serious consequences. The first was for Uzza, struck down because the oxen had broken loose, prompting an unconsidered, profane action on his part; the second was for David who lost all that had filled his heart just a few moments previously: confidence, joy, and praise, and saw these replaced by fear, recrimination, indignation against God, and bitterness.
But the king's failure and its consequences for his moral state in no way changed the fulfillment of God's counsels. The Lord had chosen Zion; He had desired it for His habitation, His rest forever, and, in spite of all, He accomplishes His purposes of grace. David witnesses the blessings granted to Obed-Edom, when this latter might have, like Uzza, drawn upon himself the Lord's wrath by the least fault. Thus the king learns by experience that the God who had just revealed Himself as judge, though He is a holy God, is a God of grace: a prime subject of Chronicles, but it is vital to understand that it is a great evil to have but little esteem for His Word.
Do Christians consider this when, in order to serve God, in their often very real zeal they resort to all sorts of human expedients, similar to a new cart, and when they without any scruple whatever violate scriptural precepts that are often far more clear and important than that the ark had to be borne upon the priests' shoulders? Like with David, the closer one is to God, the more one is exposed to judgment if one does not give heed to His will as expressed in His Word.
Let us therefore ever consult it for all things; let us become familiar with it in a spirit of dependence and prayer so that we may not act contrary to its directions. Only let us remember that the more we know it, the more too we shall be held responsible to conform to it in every point. God may tolerate ignorance, although this also is sin necessitating a sacrifice (Lev. 5: 17-19), but He does not tolerate disobedience from those whom He honors with His favors. Sooner or later He punishes disobedience.
1 Chronicles 14-16: 6
David's Victories
The Fruits of Grace in his Heart
His Association with the Levitical Family
Through David's fault opportunity had been furnished for grace to be manifested. These chapters show us this grace at work in the heart of the king producing that humility and obedience to the Word from which David had wandered in one point.
1 Chronicles 14: 1-7 corresponds to 2 Samuel 5: 10-15. There we see the nations, in the person of Hiram, acknowledging the supremacy of the Lord's anointed and seeking his favor. "And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters, to build him a house. And David perceived that Jehovah had established him king over Israel, for his kingdom was highly exalted, because of his people Israel" (1 Chron. 14: 1-2). God shows His servant David that He is accomplishing His counsels of grace toward him in establishing him as king over the people and in causing the nations to submit to him.
After Hiram's submission we find the victories over the Philistines (vv. 8-16; cf. 2 Sam. 5: 17-25), followed here in Chronicles by this characteristic remark: "And the fame of David went out into all lands; and Jehovah brought the fear of him upon all the nations" (v. 17). Thus the Lord Himself extended the king's dominion over the nations by victories which were entirely dependent on his obedience to the Word of God (vv. 10, 14), a lesson which he had learned by the "breach upon Uzza."
The complete list of David's offspring at Jerusalem is given us for the second time in this book (1 Chron. 3: 5-8; 1 Chron. 14: 3-7) (Elpelet and Nogah are not mentioned in 2 Sam. 5: 14-16). The purpose of this repetition is to show us that God's counsels concerning the kingship are being carried out at the very moment when the king is finding a place of rest at Zion for the ark of God.
The beginning of 1 Chronicles 15 (1 Chron. 15: 1-13) is quite remarkable: "Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them has Jehovah chosen to carry the ark of God, and to serve Him for ever" (v. 2). Then, speaking to the Levites: "Ye are the chief fathers of the Levites; hallow yourselves, ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah the God of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order" (vv. 12-13). These passages are missing in the second book of Samuel, and although Chronicles has, as an exception, recorded David's fault, it is in order to present us with this admirable confession which grace at last produces in him.
The passage from 1 Chronicles 15: 14 through 1 Chronicles 16: 6 is much more specific than 2 Sam. 6: 12-23. What is most striking is the order instituted by David in the levitical family concerning the return of the ark. According to God's thought expressed in 1 Samuel 2: 35, the priesthood is henceforth dependent upon the kingship. Everything is regulated by David. He himself is "clothed with a robe of byssus, and all the Levites that bore the ark" (v. 27). "David had upon him a linen ephod" (v. 27), as in former times Samuel the prophet (1 Sam. 2: 18). He offered "the burnt-offerings and the peace offerings" (1 Chron. 16: 2). His identification with the priesthood goes yet further, for like Melchizedek, "he blessed the people in the name of Jehovah" (1 Chron. 16: 2). Finally, as the true anointed of Jehovah, he satisfies the poor with bread (v. 3; Ps. 132: 15-17). Thus he manifests all the attributes of the Levite, the prophet, the Aaronic priest, and the eternal priest and king with which Christ, the Man according to God's counsels, shall be invested when He appears in His kingdom.
It is David who not only orders the Levites to carry the ark "as Moses had commanded according to the word of Jehovah" (1 Chron. 15: 15), but who also appoints singers, musicians, and "doorkeepers for the ark" whose very names are listed. Amid them all the name of Obed-edom, repeated four times (and twice more in 1 Chron. 16: 38), shines above all the others. He is doorkeeper for the tabernacle together with the sons of Merari; he is singer, doorkeeper for the ark, and musician. Obed-edom, witness and object of God's grace which had blessed his house and all that belonged to him (1 Chron. 13: 14) on account of the presence of the throne of God in his home, receives very special mention in this book of God's counsels in grace.
Note how often the name "God" is substituted in these chapters for the name "Jehovah" used in the corresponding passages in 2 Samuel. Love and grace are related much more to the first of these names than to the second, which speaks rather of His righteousness, His holiness, and His faithfulness to His Word.
1 Chronicles 16: 7-43
The Song at the Kingship's Beginning
The Psalm of David contained in these verses corresponds to the leading thought of Chronicles and differs altogether from the song mentioned in 2 Samuel 22, which is none other than Psalm 18. This latter stands at the very end of David's history when "Jehovah had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul." He celebrates the Lord's deliverances for the one who trusts in Him (v. 2), deliverances which began with Israel's exodus out of Egypt (vv. 7-15). Then he lays bare the principles of God's government toward His own: "With the gracious Thou dost shew Thyself gracious; with the upright man Thou dost shew Thyself upright; with the pure Thou dost shew Thyself pure; and with the perverse Thou dost shew Thyself contrary" (vv. 26-27); then these same principles toward their enemies (v. 28). This in no wise bars grace toward His beloved, for all that is good in their ways is dependent on their confidence in Him (v. 31). Finally, after all enemies have been conquered the Lord's anointed is established as head of the nations and strangers are subject to him (vv. 44, 48). Such, in a few words, is this magnificent Psalm 18 which we find in 2 Samuel 22 as the last prophetic hymn of David. It is followed in chapter 23 only by the king's last words, when he humbles himself for his conduct, acknowledges God's righteous government toward him but celebrates His grace which is as unchangeable as His promises and proclaims the coming of the righteous Ruler whom he, David, had proved incapable of representing upon earth.
The song of 1 Chronicles 16 is completely different. It is the hymn of the beginning of the kingship, proclaimed by the establishment of the ark in Zion: the ark as God's throne in the midst of His people at last being entered into its rest. Indeed, this song is intimately connected with the ark's return. "Then on that day", we are told, "David delivered first this psalm to give thanks to Jehovah through Asaph and his brethren." This psalm is termed "the first" to celebrate the Lord. Here the subject is not, as in Samuel, victory over the wicked, the responsibility of the saints, and God's government regarding them, but God's faithfulness to His promises, at last accomplished by the ark's return to Zion, after Israel had forfeited every right to keep it in their midst.
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But before continuing the examination of our chapter, I would like to digress with regard to its contents and that of the entire book which we are studying.
It is extremely important to notice that the ways of God in government, and His counsels of grace are two things that are entirely distinct.
God's counsels and the way they are to be fulfilled as to us exist from all eternity: they have been realized in Christ, the perfect Man whom God has exalted to His right hand, giving us the same blessings and the same glory as to Him. As for that which concerns us, the counsels of God are realized by pure grace. This grace is unchangeable, unvarying, and secure forever for those whom grace has saved through faith in Christ.
God's government is in contrast to His counsels. This government is associated with man's responsibility and exists from the beginning of his history. It was first manifested in Eden where man, innocent but responsible, disobeyed and was driven from the garden and made subject to death. From that moment on, God's government continues to function toward man who is responsible to conduct himself in this world in a way conformable to the righteousness, holiness, and goodness of his Creator who rewards the good and punishes the wicked. On the other hand, doubtless, He makes His sun shine on the just and on the unjust, for He is a God of goodness who, rather than desiring the death of the sinner, leads him to repentance by His longsuffering and patience. Nonetheless it is true that men's wicked actions bring their own consequences, generally already here on earth for themselves, and often for their children to the third or fourth generation. But should they are not be judged on earth, the final word of God's judgment will be pronounced at the last judgment.
As for the elect, we must remember that by virtue of the fall and of the sin thenceforth inherent in their nature, not one-not a single one-is righteous. But God, by faith and through the Spirit who is its seal, communicates a new nature to them, a heart capable of loving, honoring and serving Him. They are the objects of grace and through faith in Christ become the objects of God's favor. This great fact answers to the counsels of God who from all eternity has sought to find His good pleasure in men through Christ. To obtain this result it was needful to conquer Satan who had begotten and summoned forth sin, abolish sin itself, and annul all its consequences. This is the result of Christ's work at the cross.
But the new nature he possesses in no wise dissolves this new man's responsibility. He must maintain the position of relationship with God and with Christ in which grace has placed him. Though still having the flesh, the old man, in him, he is responsible to conduct himself before God according to the new nature, not according to the old. The Holy Spirit, the power of new life, makes him capable of this. That is the reason for God's government toward His elect, His children. If they do good, they are the objects of God's favor here upon earth; if they do evil, of His judgment, and this judgment is all the more prompt and direct in that they are part of a redeemed people: Judgment begins from the house of God. As for the elect individually, this judgment which can touch them only on earth can have no other goal than their final restoration. As for the Church, as the body of Christ she is never judged, but the Church as the house of God can definitely be judged, and the Lord will come upon her as a thief.
There is only one case where judgment is definite and without mercy, namely where the world, the sinful man whether religious or not, sets himself against all the appeals of grace.
Besides the ways of God toward the redeemed, toward His house, and toward men, there is His more general government. God is interested in everything that harmonizes with the precepts of His righteousness and holiness. The man who honors his father and mother, or that young man in the Gospel, amiable although unconverted, prosper on earth. The upright man who does not wrong his neighbor reaps earthly advantages, for God's government operates upon earth although its seat is in heaven. In the new heavens and the new earth there will be no more throne, and consequently, no more government. This government, whether toward the saints, or with regard to the good and the evil is treated of in the books of Samuel and Kings; Chronicles treats rather of the counsels and election of grace. But Chronicles first establishes, whether in the case of natural descent or the case of Saul, the fact that the flesh cannot have part in these counsels. Hence, as we have already remarked, the faults of the elect are passed over in complete silence, except when they are necessary in order to show that God can even use them to accomplish His counsels of grace. Thus it was with the events that surrounded the return of the ark.
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Let us now return to look at our chapter. The Song recorded here (vv. 8-36) is composed of fragments of three psalms. Verses 8-22 correspond to Psalm 105: 1-15; verses 23-33 correspond to Psalm 96: 1-12; and finally, verses 34-36 correspond to Psalm 106: 1, 47-48.
1. The first 15 verses of Psalm 105 are an appeal to celebrate the Lord because of His covenant "which He made with Abraham, and of His oath unto Isaac; and He confirmed it unto Jacob for a statute, unto Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance" (1 Chron. 16-18). This is a covenant of pure grace, God's faithfulness to His promises, in contrast to the covenant of Sinai, based on the people's responsibility. The passage cited ends with these words: "He suffered no man to oppress them, and reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not Mine anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm" (vv. 21-22). We do not find a single word about Israel's oppression by the nations as a result of their disobedience. All is free grace in this passage. This is all the more striking as the second part of Psalm 105, omitted here, cannot concur with the purpose that we have indicated. Indeed, in verses 16 to 22 of this psalm we see Joseph rejected by his brothers and sold as a slave, then established as ruler of the nations, bringing us back to Israel's history in responsibility. In verses 23-45 we find the deliverance from Egypt, the journey through the wilderness under the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and finally, the people's entry into Canaan, "that they might keep His statutes, and observe His laws"-and we know what this regimen of law led to.
This first portion therefore entirely omits the history of the people in responsibility, in order to bring out grace and the promises made long before the law.
2. Verses 1-12 of Psalm 96 continue the call to Israel to celebrate the Lord among the nations, and the nations themselves are called upon to give Him glory and strength, to say everywhere: Jehovah reigns.
This section is remarkable for the omission of details that pertain to the theme of Christ's reign but do not pertain to the theme of David's reign. Thus 1 Chronicles 16: 23 omits the "new song" of Psalm 96: 1 which in the Word is always connected with a new scene, whether upon earth or in the heavens. But this condition will only be fulfilled under Christ's reign. Our verse 27 says, "Strength and gladness [are] in His place," and in its verse 6 the psalm says, "Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary." This was not yet the beauty of Christ's reign, although it was the joy of David's reign at its commencement; also, at this time the sanctuary had not yet been built for the ark. In the same way, in verse 29 our chapter says, "Come before Him," rather than "Come into His courts" (Ps. 96: 8), and this is again in relation to the transitory state of David's reign. Finally, the words of verse 33: "For He cometh to judge the earth," replace the words of the psalm (v. 13): "For He cometh to judge the earth: He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples in His faithfulness." Such a fullness of government could not correspond to David's reign.
3. The third section of our chapter (vv. 34-36) is a citation from Psalm 106: 1, 47-48. Its first verse, "Give ye thanks unto Jehovah; for He is good; for His loving-kindness endureth for ever" is very appropriate to the character of Chronicles and to the moment when David rendered his "first" psalm. This song will be sung during the millennium, but it could be sung at the dawn of the reign of David and of the reign of Solomon (2 Chron. 5: 13), at the moment when God in type fulfilled His counsels of grace with regard to the kingship. Our passage treats only of the establishment of the ark in Zion, and absolutely omits all the rest of the psalm, for the psalm contains the history of the people in responsibility and their complete failure in every circumstance through which they passed, whether in Egypt, in the wilderness, or in Canaan. This account would not have been in accord with the purpose of our book.
Finally, our verses 35 and 36, corresponding to the last two verses of Psalm 106 (vv. 47-48) look ahead to the final accomplishment of all the blessings listed in our chapter. They will be completely realized only by Israel's deliverance from among the nations, a time yet future when this praise shall resound: "Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity!" David's people rejoice in anticipation in this praise. "And all the people said, Amen! and praised Jehovah" (v. 36).
After this song, we find in verses 37-43 the provisional order of worship before the final establishment of the ark in Solomon's temple. Henceforth the ark of the covenant was placed in Zion, and this is, as we have seen, the prime point of the first book of Chronicles in relation to the kingship. The ark was placed "under curtains", in a tent which David had spread for it. The tabernacle in the wilderness with the brazen altar and the other vessels of the sanctuary was at Gibeon. There burnt-offerings were sacrificed morning and evening. Here David sets up the personnel who would carry out these two functions: at Gibeon, the offering of the sacrifices; at Jerusalem, praise before the ark. There, too, this song was to reverberate, which will endure as long as the Lord Himself: "Give thanks to Jehovah, because His loving-kindness endureth for ever" (v. 41). Among those who perform the service before the ark, Obed-edom has the first place, in the midst of so many Levites chosen by David. He was the witness and object of the blessings which the ark brought with it, the special witness of the counsels of grace.
This entire passage that treats of the service of the ark is omitted in the second book of Samuel.
1 Chronicles 17
David's Prayer
We have but few comments to make on this chapter, in view of the account in 2 Samuel 7. Nevertheless, in this chapter we find fresh proof of the conscious modifications (additions or omissions) made in view of the object the Spirit of God proposes in this book. Before noting them, let us again remind ourselves that Chronicles presents God's counsels and promises with regard to the kingship established in the house of David, counsels and promises which will be fully accomplished in Christ, "for whatever promises of God there are, in Him is the yea, and in Him the amen, for glory to God by us" (2 Cor. 1: 20).
In verse 1 of our chapter, the Spirit omits the words: "When Jehovah had given him rest round about from all his enemies," which do not fit in with our account of the kingdom established by the ark's return. Likewise in verse 10: "I will subdue all thine enemies" is in the future tense in contrast with "I have given thee rest from all thine enemies" which characterizes 2 Samuel 7: 11.
As we have already noticed previously, the name of Jehovah is usually replaced in this chapter by that of God.
In verse 11 "I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons," directs our thoughts to Christ, the king according to God's counsels; whereas 2 Samuel 7: 12 "Thy seed...which shall proceed out of thy bowels" indicates Solomon, David's son.
Verse 13 is very remarkable. God says: "I will be his father, and he shall be my son," a passage which is cited in Hebrews 1: 5 in reference to Christ and concerning God's counsels regarding His Anointed. This same passage in 2 Samuel 7: 14 applies to the fallible and responsible king: "I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will c