Tuesday, November 26, 2013

What have you gained practically from 1st Chronicles? 512 - 7 - 5

As one who has spent some time doing family history research I am in awe of the early chapters of l chronicles. Chapter 1 verse one starts with Adam and in verse four lists the four post flood surviving males.

1:1 Adam, Sheth, Enosh,
1:2 Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered,
1:3 Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
1:4 Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

After that the genealogy absolutely explodes. It truly is a remarkable feat of record-keeping. And who could forget that the gospel is written in the names of the direct line from Adam to Noah.

Following the intensity of these genealogies we come to the story of King Saul. And with King Saul we can see a man who was very blessed by God but who did not act in accordance to the commands of God. After Saul’s death David reigned over the whole of Israel. Although King David could have ascended to the throne earlier by taking advantage of the opportunity he had to kill King Saul, he refused to as Saul was Anointed of God.

King David was not without fault and committed sins both of the flash and pride. For these he repented and God forgave him. However, the sin of pride in taking a census of the people was not without consequences for his people. There also were consequences of the sin of the flesh with Bathsheba as her grandfather was involved in a plot to overthrow King David.

King David wanted to build a temple for God but was not allowed to as he was a man of war and shed much blood. Though blocked from building the temple, King David documented the temple design as dictated by God and funded its construction by his son Solomon.
A comparison of King Saul and King David is a lesson in how much better life goes when one is in obedience to and in fellowship with God. From King David we learned that our sins can be forgiven if we repent of them. However, we also learned that there are consequences to our sins. We see how King David accepted a secondary role in the construction of the temple and excelled in the preparation for it.

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