1 Chronicles – Page 3

1 Chronicles 16:1-36 – Song of Praise

Read 1 Chronicles 16:1-36

If you can get past the part about David giving out food to everyone in Israel, the song of praise is just beautiful. I love how the Chronicler captures this for us. I recognize lyrics from praise songs we sing today. Did you notice any of those, too?

David may have given this song of praise for the special occasion of successfully bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. When we can keep praise on our lips as a regular part of our day, our day can only shine brighter. Such a good reason for worshiping our God!

1 Chronicles 15:1-29 – Celebrate God!

Read 1 Chronicles 15:1-29

David made sure he handled the movement of the Ark differently this time. He had learned from his mistakes and was sure to receive God’s counsel about the proper way to move the Ark the second time.

It was quite the event. I recently had this story come up for my orphanage Sunday School class, but we read the account in 2 Samuel 6. While similar, the differences are striking. There are three that stood out to me: (1) both accounts of moving the Ark are recorded together by Samuel; (2) the Chronicles account focuses much more on the worship and celebration; and (3) the Samuel text goes into more detail about Michal’s contempt and consequence.

1 Chronicles 14:1-17 – God Did It!

Read 1 Chronicles 14:1-17

How many times in your life have you exclaimed, “God did it!” David wasn’t afraid to give credit to God because God had provided answered prayer. This time David didn’t rush ahead without asking God first.

When presented with a problem, David sought the Lord’s advice. This happened twice, and while the victorious outcome was the same, the path to get there was different. David listened to God. There’s a lot of wisdom there. David was a witness to the fact that God did do it!

1 Chronicles 2:1-55 – More Familiar

Read 1 Chronicles 2:1-55

In Spanish, the word “familiar” is often used to identify a family connection. So, it makes sense we’d be more familiar with our family. Here, the Chronicler is giving us another piece of the family history of Jesus, our brother.

When you think of it like that, you want to pay attention. You may have recognized more of the names in this reading. Although there are plenty that seem totally foreign. I wonder if any of those names still exist in those Middle Eastern countries or not. It’s always neat when you run across one that we have in a culture that’s more familiar to us.

1 Chronicles 1:1-54 – Don’t Get Stuck

Read 1 Chronicles 1:1-54

The first section in 1^st Chronicles will deal with many genealogies. How fascinating that we have such detail about people who lived so long ago. We often rush past such lists, but this time take time to cherish the information that has forever been recorded. How far back can you trace your own family?

As we get deeper into 1^st Chronicles, we’ll begin to see a parallel history to what we see in other books of the bible (1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2^nd Kings). Because the author of Chronicles did not write those other books, we can’t expect the two histories to be the same. Look instead for the meaning of each passage letting the Holy Spirit guide you.