Bible in 90 Days - Day 30 (1 Chronicles 10-23)

We pray, Lord,

that you will open the door of our hearts

to receive you within our hearts.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

I hope you are thinking, “Hey, I’ve already read this!” I find it interesting that the chronicler (this is what we call the author of Chronicles) starts the story with Saul’s final battle. I think the main point there is in verse 13: “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD.” (Contrast this with 11:9, “And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him.”) Chronicles is going to trace the kings in David’s line, so we are about to read much more about Judah than Israel. Also, we’ll see that obedience gets a lot more press than disobedience. Bathsheba only gets mentioned once, and that was in the genealogy yesterday. David’s adultery doesn’t get mentioned here.

How do you feel about that?

This is a good reminder that we are not simply reading the history of the kings. We are reading the story of God with his people. The chronicler is going to cover more than 300 years in 2 books, so he has to really pick and choose what stories will be included. This is an encouragement to a small remnant to be faithful to God, so stories of faithfulness get more press. I am noticing that when minute details show up, they also are there to bolster obedience and worship. It is good to ask questions like, “Why this list of Levites?” or “Of all the psalms that David wrote, why this psalm and not another?”