1 Chronicles 7-9 Genealogies

• Genealogies:

1. The line to Israel

a. Adam to Noah (1:1-4)

b. Descendants of Japheth (1:5-7)

c. Descendants of Ham (1:5-7)

d. Descendants of Shem (1:17-27)

e. Descendants of Abraham (1:28-37)

f. The Edomites: The line of Esau and Seir (1:38-54)

g. Israel's sons (2:1-2)

2. The Tribe of Judah (2:3-4:23)

a. Line to David (2:11-15)

b. Other significant Judeans(2:16-55)

c. Davidic Line of kings (3:1-24) -- end suggests time of writing

d. The rest of Judah (4:1-23)

3. The Tribe of Simeon (4:24-43)

4. The Transjordan Tribes (5:1-26)

5. The Tribe of Levi (6:1-81)

6. The Tribes of Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher (7:1-40)

7. The Tribe of Benjamin (8:1-9:1a)

8. The Postexilic Community (9:1b-34)

• The Chronicler puts the Levites in the middle of the Chronological lists. For the most part, Levi did remain faithful to God after the split. In a physical yet also metaphorical way, Levi was once in the middle of Israel, when was that?

• When the twelves 12 traveled through the desert during the Exodus, Levi surrounded the tabernacle

• Chiastic structure (used to point to the key element)

    A The lineage of David (chs. 1–3)

      B Judah and Simeon in the South (4:1–43)

         C The transjordanian tribes to the north (ch. 5)

           D Levi (ch. 6)

         C’ The other northern tribes (ch. 7)

      B’ Benjamin in the South (ch. 8)

    A’ The lineage of Saul (ch. 9)

(Leslie C Allen, 1988)

• The first fifteen verses focused on the priests

1 Chronicles 6:10 (ESV) — 

10 and Johanan fathered Azariah (it was he who served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem). 

• With this reference, we have 12 generations between Aaron and the building of the temple

• Math: 12*40 equals 480 years which is equivalent to the following passage

1 Kings 6:1 (ESV) — 1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. 

1 Chronicles 6:31–32 (ESV) — 

31 These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark rested there. 32 They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they performed their service according to their order. 

• The next major group are the temple musicians (6:31-47)

• David is mentioned quite often in 1 Chronicles in association with music

• David is also referred to as a man after God's own heart

○ Music is associated with emotion

○ Emotions are good (created by God) but can be misused

○ Logic and reason are good (mind is created by God) but can be misused

○ Following through on decisions is good (our will is created by God) but can be misused

○ APPLICATION: A person worships got with their whole being -- mind, hear, and will. Rather than over-focusing on your strength, which is your weakness? And what can you do to change or improve your worship?

1 Chronicles 6:49 (ESV) — 

49 But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the work of the Most Holy Place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. 

• This section will discuss those involved in the duties of atonement, the priests and the Levites. These would include the sacrifices

• There is a very important word in this section, what is it? Atonement

• Atonement means "to cover over"

• The remaining verses show how the Levites were initially spread over all Israel. They were essential to the life of the nation

• APPLICATION: Our Christian faith is essential to our nation (and that ship is gone). But our faith is still important to our family and our personal life. Do not fall into the trap of separating faith from living in the world. Ask yourself questions throughout the day?

○ If I was in the church on Sunday, would I do the same thing?

○ If the pastor was standing next to me, would I have the same conversation

○ What would Jesus do in this situation?

§ Really a misused and misunderstood book, "in His Steps" by Charles M. Sheldon. Kindle for $0.00 and Paperback for $12.89  (only 150 small pages). It is a public domain book

• Notes on Chapter 7 

• The Chronicler lists six tribes of Israel

• He omits Dan and Zebulun, why?

○ This is common in scripture. To list all of the tribes would result in 14 names

○ Other passages of scripture use different combinations

○ It could also be that the tribes he listed, he felt were more important, but we don't know

• The Chronicler uses the phrase "all Israel" over times in Chronicles

○ He also uses the phrases "all the house of Israel" and "all the tribes of Israel"

1 Chronicles 7:20–24 (ESV) — 

20 The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, 21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to raid their livestock. 22 And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. 23 And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house. 24 His daughter was Sheerah, who built both Lower and Upper Beth-horon, and Uzzen-sheerah. 

• It is interesting the stories that the Chronicler highlights. There are two stories and two messages here

• Evil and disaster can happen to anyone

• Out of disaster, a daughter is raised who builds three of Israel's cities (probably the limit of their westward expansion)

1 Chronicles 7:40 (ESV) — 

40 All of these were men of Asher, heads of fathers’ houses, approved, mighty warriors, chiefs of the princes. Their number enrolled by genealogies, for service in war, was 26,000 men. 

• The beginning of Numbers uses 41,500 for Asher and the end of Numbers uses 53,400. At some later day, the force was down to 26,000

• Indicates the Chroniclers access to other information. Otherwise, you would just copy the biblical text

• I've noticed this in quite a few places where the number of fighting men is significantly smaller than the size in the book of Numbers

• Chapter 8 focuses on Benjamin quite a bit. Benjamin is the second tribe of the southern kingdom. It lay a little north of Judah. Also, the first king of Israel, Saul (barely mentioned), came from this tribe

• Chapter 9 focuses on those who return (post-exile)

• Chapter 9 ends with Benjamin again and a repeat introduction to Saul