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JULY
11
1
Chronicles 11:1-12:18
When you read this history, you
should see it as Ezra trying to underscore important events for a generation of
Israelites who have never lived in the land promised to Abraham. Israel was
exiled for 70 years and it was still years before most of the people returned.
I'm going to be "supposing" and suggesting, as if I know why Ezra
included the information he did. That is a part of Bible study, observing what
is there and trying to understand why the Spirit included it and what He wants
us to learn from it. There is first the context of the original audience to
whom this was written, but there is also an application and purpose designed
for us.
1 Chronicles 11
Vs. 1-3 This seems to be a high
point. All of the tribes of Israel went to David after the defeat and death of
Saul (actually it took seven years and it was after the death of Ish-bosheth).
Notice that there is nothing mentioned of the conflict between Saul and David.
That isn't the point here. The point is that a beaten Israel was rising in
unity against its enemies, but it is rising by grasping on to the hope that God
had given them. They finally acknowledged and embraced God's will and
appointment of David. I'm amazed to see that the elders of Israel had all of
this information about God's anointing of David 25 years earlier by Samuel.
David still had to run from Saul for ten years and be the king of Judah for seven
years during a civil war.
Vs. 4-9 This then is the second
important high point, the taking of the city of David, the city of God. For the
returned exiles it would be important to see how Zion was established as the
promised location of God's dwelling place on earth. All of this is revolving
around David and God's promise to him.
Vs. 10-47 Finally, the blessing
of God on a people is seen in unity, loyalty and courage: People embracing
God's destiny for their lives. Here, that destiny is seen in the men that God
led to David, men who knew David was to be the next leader of Israel, but who
came to him when it wasn't safe or popular to do so. This must have been an
encouragement to David, now and then, to have people coming to him from all of
the tribes of Israel.
There are some challenges here,
if you compare the list of these names to those in Samuel. Ezra is writing
years later, using manuscripts that are years old. Not only that, but the
Hebrew language, pronunciation and spellings have changed. Imagine what your
native language looked like 500 years ago. Most English readers would be
severely challenged if they had to read Old English from the 1300s. That was
Ezra's challenge.
These men would have been folk
heroes and the stuff of camp-out stories and bed-time stories. Then, of course,
you had all of David's own adventures.
Vs. 10-14 These are David's
three mighty men. Only two of the three are mentioned here. In 2 Samuel 23:8-12
you'll find Shammah listed there. In 2 Samuel it says 800 men, whereas here it
says 300. Apparently it would have been easy for a person making a copy to
confuse an 8 and a 3 in Hebrew too. I'd go with the 800. This would put
Jashobeam just a little bit under Samson.
Vs. 15-19 Mentioned again is the
famous raid these three men made out of love for David. Although the object is
always what they did, David's response is equally famous.
Vs. 20-21 We've seen Abishai
before. He was the chief of the thirty.
Vs. 22-25 Benaiah receives more
honor here, I think, because he was a more honorable man than Joab and his
brother. We've seen his character when Solomon became king. His loyalty was
proven.
Vs. 26-47 If you're interested,
there is a chart of “David's Mighty Men” on pp. 478-479 of the Bible
Knowledge Commentary-OT. What is interesting to me is that the situation
with Bathsheba and Uriah is never mentioned in this history. For that matter,
Absalom's rebellion is left out too. That wasn't Ezra's purpose in this
history. Yet, both of those situations were connected. In the chart mentioned above,
while Uriah is mentioned, Eliam the son of Ahithophel is not. I don't think it
means anything, but it is interesting.
1 Chronicles 12:1-18
Notice here when these men came
to David and who they were.
Vs. 1-7 Why would Benjaminites
coming to David at Ziklag be noteworthy? You can figure that out. And these
guys were like the artillery on legs. This showed that even while Saul was
still king, there were members of his own tribe who acknowledged that God had
chosen David.
Vs. 8-15 This group of men from
Gad, from the north and the east side of the Jordan, came to David when he was
still in Israel, in the mountains of Judah, living in caves. Read what it says
about these guys. They were willing to live in hardship and in danger to be loyal
to God's anointed king. What an amazing blessing. What should that have said to
the people coming to rejoin Israel in hardship, leaving behind the comforts of
Babylon and Persia? What should all of this say to us as disciples of Jesus in
the harvest? How good are we at living in hardship to be loyal to the Son of
David? How skilled are our hands for the harvest?
Vs. 16-18 And then there were
still others from the tribe of Benjamin who came to live with David in
hardship, in caves, in danger, running from Saul, their own countryman and
tribesman.
V. 17 You can imagine why David
had to give them this warning.
V. 18 Then we have the words of
their leader, inspired by the Spirit. They were of Benjamin, yet loyal to God
and His promise. And David made them all leaders of his troops. It must have
been a good day for David to see God confirm him like this in the middle of his
suffering and waiting.
What a fantastic testimony to a
new generation of people leaving the comfort of Babylon and their houses and
businesses, to return to the land promised to Abraham and the city of God. Did
I mention Jerusalem was all in ruins? Do you see what Ezra and the Spirit are
doing? We too have been called to join Christ in the harvest, in the middle of
His promise of redemption to the world. The work is now and it is hard. The
party is later.
Acts
28
It is kind of interesting that a
few years ago at this time, my daughter and her family were on Malta. They took
care about collecting driftwood, but somebody ran into their car. Paul didn't
have to worry about cars.
Vs. 1-6 This is the only instance recorded in Acts where
someone is bitten by a snake, and Mark 16:18 comes true, …they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any
deadly poison, it will not hurt them. So, even in the book of Acts, this
wasn't the norm.
It is interesting to think of the stuff that the Lord had
old Julius the centurion put in his report. This would make very interesting
reading in Rome. Maybe he retired and wrote a book. Hopefully he came to
Christ. And even here, God wasn't done.
Vs. 7-10 Suddenly Paul was back in the thick of things,
healing, preaching and teaching. So what was the difference? It was the will of
God. God was doing this now, to get fruit in that field and to get the report
ready for Nero to read in Rome.
V. 10 I like Luke's note here that they liked Paul so much,
that as he left, the islanders brought Paul Snickers © bars and Coke.
Vs. 11-15 Apparently after three months on Malta, this was a
fairly quick trip to Rome.
V. 15 Notice that Paul was not above discouragement or
emotional exhaustion. In saying Paul was encouraged by seeing them, the
"them" is referring to the brothers who came from Rome, not the Three
Taverns.
V. 16 Paul is now in Rome, but under house arrest again,
probably in a nice rented house. It is not until 2 Timothy that Paul was in a
dank, dark, smelly Roman dungeon, awaiting death by this same Nero.
Vs. 17-28 Same old Paul. First he went to the Jews. You can
be sure that some of the Jews believed. We also know from the letter to the
Romans, that there were already thriving churches there and many believing
Jews.
Vs. 30-31 This is where Acts ends. Paul had been under house
arrest for two years in Caesarea, and now he was under house arrest for two full
years in Rome. The Lord gave him enormous freedom, as he had in Caesarea, to
preach and teach. During this time Paul wrote Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon
and Philippians. At the end of Philippians, he sent the believers in Philippi a
special greeting from all the believers who belonged to Caesar's household. He
was bearing fruit in jail. Paul still hadn't had his trial before Nero. At this
point Nero was a respected and sane ruler. Luke ends Acts here and sends the
manuscript to Theophilus. God's plan for Paul was to be imprisoned and become a
person of note to the Roman community. Where Paul was jailed, he was also a
great resource to the church, who could gather to Paul freely. Then there were
the contingents of Roman guards who always had to watch Paul in pairs for
eight-hour shifts. This went on for two years in Caesarea and for two years in
Rome. What a distressing assignment, being locked in a room, sometimes even
chained together with Paul. But Paul bore fruit for Christ even there, and now
there were believers all over Nero's palace. That's what Howard Hendricks
called a "chain reaction."
Both 1 and 2 Timothy occur after Acts. In 1 Timothy, Paul
and Timothy are flying around fighting fires and doing damage control in
churches. It may be that the persecutions under Nero had begun. It was certain
that the internal problems of which Paul had warned the Ephesian elders (Acts
20) were beginning to become more of a challenge and churches were splitting.
Apparently something happened at Ephesus that tore apart its leadership, and
one of Timothy's assignments was to rebuild the church and its leadership. Paul
was running off to Macedonia (probably to Corinth and Philippi) to take care of
business in the churches there. In 2 Timothy, Paul had been pursued and caught.
Apparently Alexander the coppersmith had something to do with him being
arrested. All of the people who traveled with Paul deserted him except Luke. It
must have happened with a lot of violence and surprise. Paul was in a Roman
dungeon. He had given testimony before Nero and the other Roman officials, and
Paul judged that his time to be "graduated" had come. In Paul asking
Timothy to come to Rome, he was asking him to come into harm's way. We never
hear anything of Timothy after this, unless Hebrews wasn't written by Paul and
was written later (Heb. 13:23).
Tradition indicates that this time of Nero's persecution not
only claimed Paul's life but also Peter's. This would have been about 67 A.D.
Nero died in 68 A.D. Two years later the Romans would destroy Jerusalem,
fulfilling Jesus' judgment of the generation that witnessed His words and works
and yet rejected Him as their Messiah. Ironically, the next time Israel will
see Jesus, they will accept Him; but Jerusalem will again be on the verge of
destruction. This morning I read Jesus saying, For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is
He who comes in the name of the Lord’ (Matt. 23:39). They will call, and
then He will come. Until then, we have a harvest to follow Him into, reaching
the lost and making disciples, who make disciples.
Psalm
9:1-12
It's interesting to think that
these songs were sung in worship. I could imagine David writing this after the
group from Benjamin came to him in the wilderness, and through the Spirit pledged
their loyalty and affirmed God's blessing on David.
Vs. 1-2 In spite of his troubles
and waiting on the Lord, David proved that it was still possible to praise Him.
Vs. 3-6 There were times when
David had a glimpse of God working His righteousness and justice. As God had
cleared the way for Israel in the past, He would do it in the future.
Vs. 7-8 It is interesting that
David saw more than Israel. He knew that the Lord would judge all nations and
all men.
Vs. 9-10 We just read that the
soldiers of Benjamin came to David in the stronghold. But for David, the Lord
was his stronghold, physically and
emotionally. How can you estimate the value of learning to trust in the Lord
and have confidence in His love?
Vs. 11-12 The other great theme
of David is publicly praising God in the congregation and among the nations. It
is interesting that the words in v. 12 express both judgment and compassion.
Proverbs
19:1-3
V. 1 This verse probably
belonged better to the proverbs from yesterday. Integrity is worth it, even if
what you have to "pay" to gain it is poorness.
Vs. 2-3 As disciples, following
Christ is a very simple matter. We complicate it by our Christian culture and
many nice, but unnecessary, things. All we need is joy in our salvation, lost
people to share with, and a desire to follow Christ in His harvest. Everything
else is nice, but unnecessary.
So we serve Christ with stuff,
with visions and great ideas, yet we lack maturity, balance and proper leading.
We make haste and we slip and do dumb stuff and blame everyone else.
V. 3 And who gets the brunt of
our rage for going too fast, without knowledge? We rant at God or get bitter
and give up. Imagine Moses thinking he would free the people when he was 40. He
was right and he knew God would use him to free the people, but he did it his
way, too fast, without knowledge of God. It took 40 years of serving sheep in
the wilderness for God to get him ready. You notice that when God spoke to
Moses at the burning bush, Moses was still a little mad at God. It's His
mission. We are His servants, so we need to learn of Him and go at His pace,
with the knowledge of Him.
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are interested in growing
deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the
growth of a discipleship culture in the church, that is, groups of 3-4
disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to
reach out and make disciples, who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most
universal and important discipleship manual we have and it is the key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here,
or what we are to be doing, or whom we are to be following. My comments are
only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of
God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are
designed to keep us, as disciples, focused on Christ and our role in His
harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be
willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their
growth as disciples, making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive
commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular
One Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die
Revidierte Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the
ESV Bible.
Anyone reading along with us is
welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their own
observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition
or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any
point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as
I understand it. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both
historical and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background,
theological training and my personal study.
I'm
doing this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that
will keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are
reading. Remember, the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a
supplement, a disciple’s commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we
will keep following our Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making
disciples, who make disciples. Being in
the Word every day, sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the
essential essence of being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
If you would like documents
containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full
presentation of discipleship read Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with
insomnia and would like a long boring dissertation on disciple making, these
can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis
2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
The One Year Bible © by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines
from the Bible Knowledge Commentary are used with the permission of David C.
Cook.
© 1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary is published by David C Cook.
All rights reserved. Publisher permission
required to reproduce.
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