A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Chronicles of woe

So, I’ve been working on one of those read-through-the-entire-Bible plans off and on for a while now. It’s actually pretty good because it alternates, roughly, half of an OT book with half of a NT book, which breaks things up nicely.

However, I cheated a while back and skipped ahead to Romans, which means that I’m looking down the barrel of 1st and 2nd Chronicles back-to-back.

Currently I’m about halfway through 1st Chronicles and, while I admit to skimming many of the genealogies, my impression so far is that it’s basically the same stories as contained in the books of Samuel and Kings with most of the good bits taken out and a much less critical perspective on the monarchy. Plus, did I mention the genealogies? It’s rough going. Any of my more biblically literate readers want to offer an appreciation of these texts?

5 responses to “Chronicles of woe”

  1. LP

    I don’t know if I qualify as more literate…but I have a hard time with Chronicles. It is a like a white washing of Israel’s heroes. I read it like a piece of political propaganda. Plus, there are those genealogies.

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  2. IndieFaith

    Oh come on. The genealogies are densely theological statements of the extant of God’s kingdom. And the eschatology of the final statement in Chronicles creates space for the continuation of messianic expectation into the New Testament. I would offer more but I don’t have any notes handy.

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  3. Brandon

    The thing I like about the genealogies is that they are years and years where God’s providence is quietly working, and most people are just doing exactly the sort of thing they usually do: marrying, having children, perhaps having a war or an adventure here or there, and not much else, and yet this is not distinct from the providence itself. God is keeping His promise to Abraham, He is preparing for Christ, He is working good in the world through that branch of the family of Adam which is Israel. Quite nice, actually.

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  4. Derek the Ænglican

    No–Chronicles is quite important because it’s a particular kind of political propaganda–it’s liturgical propaganda.

    All of Chronicles is filtered and concerned with the temple and cultic continuity—and the Babylonian Exile throws a big huge monkey wrench in all of that. So (one theory goes) what we have here is a record that presents literal continuity in genealogical fashion between the priests and levites of the desert to the first and second temples. Because remember–if your priests are not from Aaron and your levites are not from Levi, you’ve got a serious legitimacy problem. The genealogies attempt to show in detail that this problem doesn’t exist.

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  5. Devonne

    1 & 2 Chron – God shows Himself as – Sovereign
    Lots of info on the 12 Tribes as well as Kings David and Solomon. These books get better as they go.

    One of my Favorite verses is found in 2 Chron ~

    If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 2 Chron 7:14 -15

    Something else to help you as you read through the Bible ~ I am teaching this to our youth this year. This song is so powerful and a great Bible study looking at Who God Is Book after Book thru the Bible ~

    HE IS

    In Genesis, He’s the breath of life
    In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
    In Leviticus, He’s our High Priest
    Numbers, The fire by night
    Deuteronomy, He’s Moses’ voice
    In Joshua, He is salvation’s choice
    Judges, law giver
    In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
    First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
    In Kings and Chronicles, He’s sovereign

    Ezra, true and faithful scribe
    Nehemiah, He’s the rebuilder of broken walls and lives
    In Esther, He’s Mordecai’s courage
    In Job, the timeless redeemer
    In Psalms, He is our morning song

    In Proverbs, wisdom’s cry
    Ecclesiastes, the time and season
    In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover’s dream

    He is, He is, HE IS!

    In Isaiah, He’s Prince of Peace
    Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
    In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
    Ezekiel, He’s the call from sin
    In Daniel, the stranger in the fire

    In Hosea, He is forever faithful
    In Joel, He’s the Spirits power
    In Amos, the arms that carry us
    In Obadiah, He’s the Lord our Savior
    In Jonah, He’s the great missionary

    In Micah, the promise of peace
    In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield
    In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He’s pleading for revival
    In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
    In Zechariah, our fountain

    In Malachi, He is the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings

    He is, He is, HE IS!

    In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, He is God, Man, Messiah
    In the book of Acts, He is fire from heaven
    In Romans, He’s the grace of God
    In Corinthians, the power of love
    In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin

    Ephesians, our glorious treasure
    Philippians, the servants heart
    In Colossians, He’s the Godhead Trinity
    Thessalonians, our coming King
    In Timothy, Titus, Philemon He’s our mediator and our faithful Pastor

    In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
    In James, the one who heals the sick.
    In First and Second Peter, he is our Shepherd
    In John and in Jude, He is the lover coming for His bride
    In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords

    He is, He is, HE IS!

    The prince of peace
    The Son of man
    The Lamb of God
    The great I AM

    He’s the alpha and omega
    Our God and our Savior
    He is Jesus Christ the Lord
    and when time is no more
    He is, HE IS!

    Love ~ Sis

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