thank God for family – Be Still…

Read 1 Chronicles 7:1-8:40

That was a much longer reading than normal, but I’m ready to find out what the Chronicler has to say to us now that the lineage issues are more than cleared up for us.

It seems one of the important elements on the Chronicler’s mind here was the military strength of the tribes. There are other notable differences in this passage as well. Did you notice more females were mentioned? How about the fact Benjamin’s descendants are recorded twice, in chapter 7 and chapter 8. I still marvel at the different stories the chronicler chooses to include–almost like little vignettes.

Read 1 Chronicles 3:1-24

Our last reading identified that King David descended from Judah, one of Jacob’s twelve sons. Today’s reading gives us a snapshot of David’s family. He was quite the fruitful one, bearing 19 children. But only seven of the moms are listed here, and this number doesn’t even account for sons born to concubines! And only one daughter, Tamar, is named. That was quite a household!

The Chronicler doesn’t follow every offshoot of David’s family line here. That would be exhausting. The names he did include were meaningful, displaying the Davidic line. The Chronicler spends more time on David’s family because this was the royal dynasty that will never end.