Day #148

Sermon - Audio
1 Chronicles 26-29 & Psalm 127 - Audio
1 Chronicles 26-29 & Psalm 127 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

• 27.1ff: The book of Chronicles as we’ve been looking at it off and on over the past few weeks is one that seeks to answer the question, “What makes a good society?” Here the question of “what makes for a good society” is explored further. The Chronicler reveals that a good society is well organized with people in places of authority overseeing military and civil affairs.
• 27.1ff: David has completed all his appointments for the temple, now he turns his attention to appointments for the military and civilian/household concerns.
• 27.2-15: David has a civilian militia that is on a 12 month rotating basis. The head of each group is one of David’s mighty men who were professional soldiers. David also has a small standing army.
• 27.16-22: There are also those who oversee the tribes. Of interest is that Gad and Asher are not mentioned in this list. The reason most likely is to keep the number of tribes at 12.
• 27.23-24: This verse seems to lay the blame for the disastrous census (1 Chronicles 22) at the feet of Joab. We know, however, that it is David who demanded it. Here we may get a hint of why God was so displeased with the census: God’s promise was to make a great nation, David did not show trust in God’s promise when he decided to count. Such a count said, “Let’ see if God has kept his promise and we’ve really become great.”
• 27.25: The king’s treasuries held the spoils from war and the income/tribute from conquered nations.
• 27.26-31: The crown had extensive holdings that supported the work of the government in establishing a good society.
• 27.32: The gift that Jonathan brings (Hebrew word is “byn”) is the ability to discern between good and evil.
• 27.32: Since the king has so many sons care had to be taken to raise them in royal ways, with the right education and training.
• 27.33: Ahithophel becomes a traitor to the king during the revolt of Absalom. This fact is not mentioned in Chronicles because we are given an idealized picture of David’s reign.
• 27.33: To be the king’s “friend” was most likely a political post in the government.
• 28.1ff: This is David’s farewell speech in the book of Chronicles. He reveals in this speech what is important to him and what he wants the people to remember before he dies.
• 28.3: We are again told why David is not allowed to build the temple: he is a man of war and blood. Again, we are not told why this disqualifies him from building. There are a number of occasions in Chronicles where we are not given the reason for a decision. It seems that the writer of Chronicles either assumes people understand the reason or he wants to leave it open so different ideas and interpretations can be pursued.
• 28.5: The choice of Solomon as king, who is not the first born, is by divine election.
• 28.6: God choose who will be the architect for the temple. This verse, along with other things we are told, show that the building of the temple is God’s deal. The importance placed on the building is a huge teaching moment for those who have returned from exile and have struggled to rebuild the temple.
• 28.8-10: David calls his son to covenant faithfulness before the gathered leaders. It is an awesome moment and one that makes Solomon accountable to all the people because they are heard what he is to do.
• 28.12: The theme that God is directing this work is made clear by the fact that the Spirit has put the plans in David’s mind.
• 28.12-18: Like the building of the tabernacle, we find a specific picture of how things are supposed to be. God is creating a sanctuary in space for his people to worship him and so it needs to be done in ways that reflect his honor and glory.
• 28.19: In a bit of surprise we find that David has all the instructions in writing--and these minstructions have come from God. We don’t know how this came, whether from David or delivered from one of the prophets, but its a wonderful thing to get your building specs from God.
• 29.1ff: As we come to the end of David’s reign the question in the background is again, “What makes for a good society?” The answer in 1 Chronicles 29 is: people who give the best of themselves and their resources to God.”
• 29.1: “palatial structure” means one that is luxurious, splendid, and magnificent. The Hebrew word is used of a palace. The temple will be no ordinary building--as the amount of gold and silver that will be used shows.
• 29.2: The riches of the nation gained through tribute and war are first given to the building of the house.
• 29.3-5: David is not content to give a gift that costs him nothing (see the buying of the land where David is offered all he needs for free and replies that he will not offer a sacrifice that has cost him nothing.), so he gives a large gift from his personal wealth. The numbers here are overwhelming in terms of amounts. These numbers are most likely representative of fullness rather than literal amounts.
• 29.7: A “daric” is a monetary unit the comes from the day of the Chronicler, not the days of David. It is, if you will, a dynamic equivalent so the people of the Chronicler’s day can see the generosity of the leaders. The story of generosity is being used by the Chronicler to call the people of his day to give to building the temple that will replace Solomon’s destroyed temple.
• 29.9: When the leaders give freely, the people rejoice--and so does the king.
• 29.10-13: A celebration of God and his attributes. He is father, victor, majestic, powerful, great, exalted head of all and ruler of all.
• 29.14-18: These verses are filled with connections to other passages in the Old Testament that bring to mind the wonders of God and who God wants his people to be.
• 29.17: While all we have is God’s, God finds pleasure when people give joyously back to him what is his.
• 29.19: Not only the people, but especially the king, needs a whole heart in following God. As the king went, so went the nation.
• 29.21: 1,000 is most likely a number of completeness indicating a time of lavish sacrifice and not a literal number.
• 29.24: In keeping with the theme of the perfect kingdom and society, no mention is made of the lack of support of at least one of David’s sons: Adonijah.
• 29.25: The writer of Chronicles portrays Solomon as even greater than David in certain respects. He does this because Solomon is the one who actually builds the temple.
• 29.28: To die “full of days” esv is to die a person who has been blessed by God.
• 29.29-30: In an interesting note the Chronicler tells us where we can find David’s full story. It is as if he is acknowledging that there are different ways to look at David’s reign, but since his aim is to show what a good society is like, he has chosen his particular angle.

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• Psalm 127 is a Psalm that declares that unless God is in something that it is bound for failure.

• 127.1 “builds the house” In the Old Testament “the house” often refers to the temple (cf. that on the day of Pentecost [Acts 2] that the sound of a great wind “fills the house”). So the house referred to in this Psalm is the temple. Unless God build the house it’s builders labor in vain. In other words, if God is not behind the temple then all the sacrifices, worship, work of the priests is meaningless and so is the idea that having the temple in their midst will keep them safe.
• 127.1: “the city” refers to the city of Jerusalem. It is actually Yahweh who protects the city. He may use watchman and armies in that work, but no matter how great the army it will fall whenever God desires. •127.2: The theme of needing God’s help continues in the area of work. Those who stay up late and strive, but do so without God gain nothing. Even sleep is God’s good gift--as many can attest that a good night of sleep is experienced as a grace of God.
• 127.3: “heritage” is a very special possession that has been given. It is helpful in understanding what this means to realize that Israel is seen as God’s heritage. “God’s special created, chosen heritage is the people of Israel (Deut 4:20; Ex 34:9; cf. Acts 15:16ff.; Eph 1:3–4). This blessed position (Ps 33:12) was the basis for special petitions (Deut 9:26, 29; Ps 28:9) and confidence (Mic 7:14, 18; Ps 94:14; cf. 37:18).” If we are curious about the relationship between parents and children one place we can look to understand how God sees and deals with Israel as his heritage.
• 127.3: While the verse speaks of sons as a heritage in the second part of the verse it points out that all children are God’s reward.
• 127.5: “the gate” is the place of business and justice that one went to in the city. To have many sons showed God’s approval on a man and so strengthened his case when he went to seek justice.