Ezekiel

Ezekiel was a prophet to the Israelites who were captives to Babylon. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah, who was a prophet to the people left behind in Jerusalem.

When Ezekiel was taken into captivity, the Babylonians had not yet destroyed Jerusalem. His early prophesies related to the imminent fall of Jerusalem and the horrors of the sieges that would lead to it. His visions made clear that the destruction of Jerusalem was a judgment on the immorality of the people, especially the variety of idol worship they practiced even in the temple.

Nebachudnezzar, the Babylonian emperor, extend his reach far beyond Israel and Judah. Ezekiel warned that other nations would fall to Babylon. Some of these were comparatively weak such as Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia. Others were powerful: Tyre and Egypt.

Ezekiel also saw that the captivity had a limit. The Israelite would return to their homeland. In particular, God was preserving and protecting those who were faithful to Him.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested it

Daniel

Jeremiah

Second Chronicles

Second Kings

Ezekiel. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Acts

Acts. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Acts is attributed to Luke, author of one of the gospels. The gospels focus on the life of Christ, but Acts focuses on the apostles as they established the church. Much of the book tells of the missionary journeys of Paul, and Luke indicates that he accompanied the apostle on some of those journeys.

In his gospel, Luke described the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus, made several appearances to his disciples, sometimes large groups of them, until His Ascension. Luke shows that the resurrection of Jesus was central to Christianity from the beginning, being preached by Peter immediately after Pentecost and by Paul repeatedly wherever he went.


Peter was a leader of the apostles and he is prominent in the early chapters of the books. During this time, the growth of the church was concentrated in Jerusalem until the persecution led to its dispersion. This dispersion, along with a vision God gave Peter, was the beginning of the gospel being carried to non-Jewish people, Gentiles, and the growth of the church in that sector.

With the shift to Gentiles, the book turns from Peter to Paul. Paul was a Jewish scholar and a leader of the prosecution of the church. His conversion is described in Acts. He was appointed by the other apostles to be a missionary to the Gentiles and rose to become one of the great teachers in the church.

Paul took three missionary journeys. In the first, he established or encouraged churches in Asia near the Mediterranean Sea. His second journey revisited some of these churches and expanded into Greece. His third trip focused on Ephesus, a major economic center of the Roman Empire.

His preaching in Ephesus, and the growth of he church there, lead to conflicts with the temple of Diana. In Ephesus, Paul begins to feel the call to carry the gospel to Rome. Before he goes, he revisits Greece and Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was also a place of conflict for Paul. He was welcomed by the church there, which celebrated the work he had done among the Gentiles, but he came into conflict with Jewish leaders. These men captured him and took him to Roman officials wanting to have him put to death. These Roman leaders were too scrupulous of their laws to laws to execute Paul on shaky charges that they probably saw as a sectarian conflict amongst the Jews, but some were willing to do a favor a keep him out of the way. This eventually lead Paul to appeal his case to Caesar, a right he claimed as Roman citizen, and he was sent to Rome under military guard.

Paul spent a couple of years as a prisoner in Rome, though he had great liberty and was allowed to preach and teach there. Paul was probably acquitted after a couple of years in Rome and received better treatment that he would later when, as a prisoner again, he wrote his letters to the churches.

Acts may come off as a biography of Peter and Paul. It is really a picture of the great commission in action as the church began preaching and making disciples first in Jerusalem (Peter), then the nearby districts (shifting from Peter to Paul), and finally to the entire known world (Paul’s missionary journeys).

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Holy Bible (especially the Gospels (especially Luke))
Fathered by God by John Eldredge
Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller
The Joy of Supernatural Thinking by Bill Bright

Nehemiah

Nehemiah presents itself as a firsthand account by the titular character of his calling and work to rebuild Jerusalem. Some think some or all of Nehemiah may have been written by Ezra, who is attributed authorship of I Chronicles, II Chronicles and Ezra. Though divided into four books in Christian editions of the Old Testament, Jewish traditions present these as one or two books.

Nehemiah was cupbearer to Persian king Artaxerxes. This must have been a high and trusted position. He was deemed trustworthy enough to serve the king food and set in on the intimate dealings of the king’s court. He was also considered competent to be governor of a province of the vast Persian Empire.

Around the middle of Artaxerxes’ reign, Nehemiah was moved by news of the conditions of Jerusalem and his Jewish brethren there. Though Jewish people were being permitted to return to their ancestral homeland, the fortifications of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt and they were subject to the harassment of surrounding nations. Artaxerxes responded favorably to Nehemiah’s request to do something about the problem, and appointed him governor.

Nehemiah was a shrewd governor. He had to lead Jewish people who were disorganized and disheartened after decades of captivity in foreign lands. He had to manage the clash in cultures between the descendants of those who had been left in the land and those who were returning after being raised in alien cultures. He oversaw a renaissance of Jewish culture and religion with the aid of the priest Ezra and the rediscovery of scriptures in the remains of Solomon’s temple. He fended off jealous neighbors, some of them Persian governors who must have had some clout in Artaxerxes’ court. He also retained the favor of his king, who repeatedly reasserted his desire to rebuild Jerusalem, and his command that the governors of the region provide material support for that purpose.

The book suggests that Nehemiah’s success as a political leader was due to his moral leadership. He desired to set an example for the people. He also expected other leaders to do the same. This led to a moral renewal of the populace. This fits the model in I & II Chronicles, in which the uprightness or degeneracy of the king lead to the same in the people.

This also suggests another point: God is behind it all. God stirred Nehemiah’s heart, and Artaxerxes’, to help a people chastened by the exile to turn their hearts back to the God who called them to be His people.

Books of the Bible that are closely related to Nehemiah are

I Chronicles

II Chronicles

Ezra

Nehemiah. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah was a prophet in Judah in the last days of the kingdom leading up to its fall to Babylon. While many were carried into captivity, Jeremiah continued as a prophet to those who remained. He lived from the reigns of Josiah through Zedekiah.

Like other prophets, Jeremiah called the people to return to God during a time of apostasy and moral decay. He predicted the rise of Nebuchadnezzer and his expansion of the Babylonian empire into Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem. The Babylonian occupation was presented as a judgment against Israel for their wickedness and unfaithfulness. Jeremiah predicted that Babylon would conquer many nations, and he lived to see it.

This did not make Jeremiah popular. False prophets preached that Judah would thrive and that Jerusalem would survive the Babylonian siege. Jeremiah repeatedly refuted them and preached the words of warning God had given to him. He was repeatedly imprisoned and threatened for his trouble.

Even in the midst of judgment, Jeremiah had a message of hope. God’s plan was for the captivity to be limited to 70 years, after which He would restore Jerusalem. He predicted the fall of Babylon, which would succumb to judgment for its own wicked ways.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Hebrews

Second Chronicles

Second Kings

Jeremiah. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Ezra

Ezra was a priest who lived in the 5^th Century B.C. Tradition recognizes him as the author of First and Second Chronicles, his titular book, and Nehemiah. In the Hebrew Bible, Ezra-Nehemiah is a single book.

The book of Ezra is a brief history of the return of the Jewish people from exile and captivity to the land that the Israelite nation had once been ruled. The focus is on the Jerusalem, especially the rebuilding of the temple.

The return began under the reign of the Persian king Cyrus. Ezra covers the period into the reign of Artaxerxes. The work of rebuilding the temple and the city took decades, and it was delayed by opposition, though a reiteration of Cyrus’ command by his successor Darius got the work moving again. Ezra copies the orders and correspondence of these kings.

There is a shift to the first person in the final chapters, when Ezra himself arrives in Jerusalem. He came to work at the temple and reestablish the religious practices of the Jewish people.

To me, the book is not about the restoration of the Israelite nation. It is about the return of a people to the God who called them. Ezra called people to abandon the idolatrous practices they picked up in their exile or from the people living around them and to return to the worship of God and respect for His law. Ezra’s interest is a religious revival.

Ezra is credited with writing

First Chronicles

Second Chronicles

Ezra. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Old Testament History

The historical books of the Old Testament (the first 17 books in the typical organization of Christian Bibles) tell the story of the rise and fall of the Israelite nation. The big chunks of history are organized in this manner:

1- Founding the nation and receiving the Law (the Pentateuch, which includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy),

--The conquest and early settlement of Canaan (Joshua and Judges),

3-The early roots of a kingdom in Israel (Ruth and I Samuel),

4-The Israelite Kingdom (II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles), and

5-The end of captivity and rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther).

The books are not organized in a strictly chronological order. In addition, there are overlaps and gaps.

A theme that runs through the books is the active engagement of God. He is engaged in all of His creation, and particularly in the history of the Israelite nation. He called them out to be His people, he caused them to rise and prosper as a nation, and when they turned away from them, He brought them low.

Another theme in these books is the importance of moral leadership. When the nation had morally upright leaders, the people tended to also be morally upright. When the leaders were selfish, greedy, lustful, and following false gods, the people followed them into every kind of sin. We are strongly influenced by others, especially our leaders.

The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN:  Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Psalms

Psalms is a collection of songs. Many of the songs are attributed to the poet and king David. Others are attributed to Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and even Moses. Many are anonymous.

The songs were meant to be sung, and sometimes they contain annotations suggesting a certain style, tune or instruments. I find that sometimes the structure or words of a psalm suggest that it was probably intended for a soloist, a chorus, or a call and response.

Many of the psalms, especially those attributed to David, deal with the faithfulness of God and the blessed life of those who trust Him. Other psalms suggest that David encouraged, and probably enjoyed, corporate singing of praise to God. David is particularly honest in his prayer-like psalms, and is not afraid to express his anger, disappointment and fear. Even in these moments, he is grateful for God’s mercy.

Several psalms have a messianic message, foreseeing and describing Christ before His coming. Jesus even suggests that these psalms refer to Him, along with other Old Testament scripture (see Luke 24:44).

Other songs were written for, or have become associated with, certain ceremonies. The Hallel psalms (113-118) are sung as part of the Passover celebration. The Songs of Ascent (120-134) are associated with pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

You will find there is a psalm that resonates with almost any emotion, mood or experience. Though the music of these songs is lost to most of us, they still invite us to explore our thoughts and experience, reflect, pray, and connect to a God who cares, who’s mercy is at hand. Even the structure of much of this Hebrew poetry, in which ideas are repeated, compare and contrasted, invites one into meditation.

Psalms. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Interesting Stuff May 12, 2010

14th-century Aqueduct Found In Jerusalem
30 Great Resources on Water
A Symphonic Approach to Water Management: the Quest for New Models of Watershed Governance
Amazing Jack Kirby designs that need to happen (I’d probably watch Roxie’s Raiders.)
Boy finds breasts in Spectre issue from 1987 (If that is the most disturbing thing they saw in a Spectre comic, they got off easy.)
Boy Scouts to Give Awards for Video Gaming
Bruce Wayne is back
China Makes It Official: Big Brother's Watching
Comic Book Cartography
Darkwing Duck returns
Didn’t expect to see dope fiends in a Harvey comic
Discover the secrets of KC’s sewers (I went down in one of Kansas City’s large combined sewers several years ago. I also got to work a little with Charles Raab and can confirm he has an amazing knowledge of the history of Kansas City’s sewers.)
Interesting Stuff April 7, 2010
Kruse:Resource program is worth every state dollar (From a fellow Stoddard Countian, though I’m an expat.)
Morrison x Urasawa mining the past without strip-mining it
New comics only $3.99 (I can remember when you could get one for a quarter.)
New EPA water infrastructure policy seeks to encourage smart growth
Secrets of the Batcave

Epistles

Most of the New Testament is epistles, or letters, sent from church leaders to the churches.  Most of these letters were written by Paul, which are collectively known as the Pauline Letters.  The other epistle writers are James, Peter, John, and Jude.

*

The church was growing rapidly and dispersed through the nations around the Mediterranean Sea.  Both in Jerusalem and in the churches founded by missionaries or Christians fleeing persecution, there was a need for sound teaching and a way to bind them together into the larger body of Christ.  The epistles served this purpose.

The epistles cover a lot of ground.  Some of them are fairly long and heavy on instruction.  Others are short, more newsy and encouraging.  Themes that I find recurring in the epistles are: a reiteration of the Gospel emphasizing the centrality of Christ, living as a Christian with character and good relationships, and words of warning and encouragement.

Reiterating the Gospel: The Centrality of Christ

The epistles repeatedly summarize the Gospel.  We have all sinned. Christ came to atone for our sins through His death on the Cross.  His righteousness is imputed to those who receive Him.  He was resurrected, as foretold, as proof of that He was Christ and as evidence of the resurrection we will experience.

The epistle-writers vigorously defended who they knew Christ to be.  He was God (he was divine, God-the-Son, a person of the godhead).  He was incarnated; God became flesh and lived as a human being.  He died on the cross, physically dying as a man.  He was resurrected, and that resurrection was a bodily restoration and transformation, not merely a spiritual continuance.

Christian Living: Character and Relationships

Now that these Christians were saved, what did it mean for the way they lived?  This is still an important question for Christians.   We are to abandon sin and do what is right, exhibiting a Christ-like character.  That character is typified by faith, self-control, humility, and especially love.

One of the toughest problems we face in life, and one of the most important, is our relationships.  The epistle-writers address how we are to relate to each other in church, marriage, family, work, and business.

Warning and Encouragement

The early church was beset by false teachers.  These people twisted the scripture to suit their own purposes.  It has not stopped.  These letters warn us to look out for falsehood and show us how to spot it.

Even more than this, though, these letters are full of encouragement.  We are not alone; God is with us always as the Holy Spirit indwells us.  Whatever trials, temptations, or opposition we face, we can live the life God has called us to in Christ.  Not only that, the difficulties we face in ourselves and around us in this sinful world will pass, and we will be resurrected to live forever in the perfect love and peace of God.

The epistles are:

Romans     1 Corinthians     2 Corinthians

Galatians     Ephesians     Philippians

Colossians     1 Thessalonians     2 Thessalonians

1 Timothy     2 Timothy     Titus

Philemon     Hebrews     James

1 Peter     2 Peter     1 John

2 John     3 John     Jude

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Second Chronicles

Second Chronicle continues the history of Israel from First Chronicles (originally they were one book). It covers a period of almost four centuries, beginning with the reign of Solomon and ending as the Babylonian captivity started.

The chronicles are books of comparisons and contrasts. There was something alike about all the periods when the kings of Israel were successful and the people thrived. Likewise, periods of defeat and loss all shared a common element. These thriving and dying periods similarly were unlike in a key way.

The key factor was the faithfulness of the king, and the people, to God. When the kings sought God and the people worshipped Him, he blessed them and caused to rise in wealth and power.  When the king and people sought their own ways, especially to worship the idols and practice the sins of neighboring kingdoms, God let them fall into the hands of their enemies. Eventually, Israel was completely taken over by Babylon.

This pattern could play out even if the reign of a single king. Some hard-hearted kings would start well but stray from God and lead the people away with him. Some evil kings responded to God’s call of repentance and reconciliation, and their turnaround could bring the whole kingdom back to God.

One could argue that the kingdom was at its peak during the reign of Solomon. He built the temple, he reigned in peace, and he stored up great wealth for himself and his kingdom. In spite of his wisdom, he strayed, too. Though he never abandoned the worship of God, he suffered for his sins, suffering he brought onto himself.

Even so, Solomon was the model of a good king. His reign takes up more pages than others in the book. A lot happened during that time, especially the building of the temple. The temple was the symbol of God’s presence with the nation of Israel, and His blessing is central to the prosperity of the nation, so it makes sense that His temple received a lot of attention.

Other notable kings include Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. These leaders were associated with revivals, the destruction of idols, the restoration of worshipping God, and generally successful reigns. As an engineer, I take special note of Hezekiah, who was famous for building a reservoir and underground aqueduct to supply water to Jerusalem.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

First Chronicles

First Kings

Second Kings

Second Chronicles. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Lamentations

The Book of Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah. He predicted the final fall of Judah during the reign of Zedekiah. Toward the end of Lamentations, he also predicts God’s restoration of the nation.

Most of the book, as you would expect from the title, expresses Jeremiah’s mourning for his fallen nation. He understands that God has abandoned Judah to a predatory empire because the nation had long abandoned him. As he mourned the nation, he wept for it. As he preached to the captives, he wept for their condition. He knew that his country would suffer under a long occupation, and he wept for that.

The different sections of the book have overlapping themes. Some of these themes are: the catastrophe coming to Judah is a result of the people’s sins, that God loved them but they rejected His love, the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, and the time to come when God would relent and restore the nation.

Even in the midst of all this gloom, Jeremiah holds onto a glimmer of hope. He trusts in God’s mercy. He knows that when the people turn their heart to God again, he will gladly gather them back together and restore them.

The book is organized as five poems. In the original language, four are acrostics with each verse starting with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order (similar mnemonic devices are used elsewhere in the Bible, especially in poems).

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Jeremiah

Second Chronicles

Second Kings

Isaiah

Isaiah was a prophet in Judah during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He was active during the Assyrian occupation of Israel, sometime around 745 to 695 B.C. In particular, he advised Hezekiah, who is known for tearing down idols permitted by previous kings and for turning back the advances of Assyrian King Sennacherib.

Like many prophets, much of Isaiah’s message is a call to repentance and return to God. This call was heightened by the Assyrian takeover of Israel, the northern sister kingdom to Judah. Isaiah’s prophecies, and the interpretation of the writers of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, is that the fall of Israel was due to its abandonment of God and embrace of idolatry and other sins. If Judah wanted to avoid that fate, it would need to return to God.

Isaiah had a long career as a prophet, so his writings address many events of his day. These were generally threats of foreign aggression against Judah, particularly from Assyria and its allies. He also warned against alliances with Egypt because if its instability. He predicts the eventual fall of Jerusalem and it rebuilding under another empire.

He is also known for prophecies of the Messiah. These texts are often intermingled with texts referring at one moment the nation of Israel as God’s servant and next to the coming Messiah in the same terms.  It’s necessary to read these passages in the context of the surrounding text to sort out when Isaiah is referring to which entity. Both Matthew and John refer to Isaiah in their gospels.

Note that much of Isaiah is written in the form of poems or songs. Sometimes he is speaking very directly to a particular nation or person about specific issues or events that are present or predicted. At other times, nations or peoples may be stand-ins for concepts or other future peoples with similar roles or viewpoints. Much of this can be sorted out by careful reading of the text and by reference to the historical books of the Old Testament.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Ezra

Nehemiah

Second Chronicles

Second Kings

Isaiah. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Zechariah

Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai and preached during the rebuilding of the temple. His message is one of encouragement. The nations that once oppressed Israel were broken, and though they were still under foreign rule, the king, Darius, was favorably disposed towards the Jewish people and supported the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Though they had the protection of Darius, God asserted that He was their true protector and He would overcome their enemies.

His visions predicted the coming of Christ. The Branch of David would remove the sins of the people (though Zechariah also warns of judgment for the unrepentant). The governor, and grandson of the Israelite king Jehoiachin who was carried off in the captivity, Zerubabbel was rebuilding the temple, but his descendant would rebuild a more excellent temple (the church). In addition to taking the role of a king, this descendant would become the high priest. Some of his visions of Christ were very specific: he would be killed, his hands would be pierced and he would be betrayed.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Haggai

Isaiah

Jeremiah

John

Mark

Matthew

Nehemiah

Revelation

Malachi. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Micah

Micah was a prophet during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He witnessed the fall of the king and nation into apostasy during the reign of Ahaz and a return to godliness under Hezekiah. During his life the northern kingdom, Israel, was overtaken by the Assyrians.

The majority of Micah’s prophecies can be divided into two categories. Some are indictments of the rulers and people of Israel and Judah. The rulers were selfish and cruel. They oppressed the people. They weren’t alone in evildoing. Idolatry, ingratitude, lying and violence were widespread. He predicts that this will lead to the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Babylon.

In contrast to these visions, Micah foresaw a time when God would reign over His faithful people. Peace, prosperity and joy will be the state of all peoples as God pours his blessings on mankind.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Hosea

Isaiah

Second Chronicles

Second Kings

Micah. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

What I Read (12)

Date: June 10, 2008
Title: The Great Divorce
Author: C. S. Lewis
Thoughts: “What concerns you in the nature is the nature of choice itself: and that ye can watch them making” (quote from the book).

Date: July 2, 2008
Title: The Gospel of Luke
Thoughts: “Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. And you are witnesses to these things” (Luke 24:46-48).

Date: July 12, 2008
Title: Walking with God
Author: John Eldredge
Thoughts: “The reason we are morally obligated to be happy is that people have to live with us” (quote from the book).

John Eldredge also wrote Epic.

Date: July 27, 2008
Title: Undaunted Courage
Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Thoughts: How could someone as extraordinary as Meriwether Lewis come to such a sad end?

Date: August 2, 2008
Title: One Small step Can Change Your Life
Author: Robert Maurer
Thoughts: “To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization” (quote from the book).

Date: August 3, 2008
Title: Red Harvest
Author: Dashiell Hammett
Thoughts: More crime than you can shake a stick at.

Date: September 28, 2008
Title: Book of Lies
Author: Brad Meltzer
Thoughts: Thrillers aren’t my thing, but this book was okay. I read it mainly because of the Jerry Siegel/Superman connection.

Date: October 21, 2008
Title: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization
Author: Anthony Esolen
Thoughts: A look at the good and the bad from ancient Greece to today and how we’ve forgotten so much of the good and embraced so much of the bad. The book is a call to let history be a corrective to the excesses of modern society.

Other parts of What I Read:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,
Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,
Part 11

First Chronicles

First Chronicles is a history of Israel beginning at the beginning of creation and running through the transfer of power from David to Solomon. The first roughly half of the book is a series of genealogies, showing the descent from Adam to the various tribes of Israel. The end of Saul’s reign, and his thwarted dynasty, are treated briefly. The rest of the book is devoted to the reign of David.

The treatment of David’s reign is much different in this history than it is in Second Samuel. First Chronicles focuses on David’s service to God, especially in relation to the Ark of the Covenant and the temple.

David recovered the Ark and eventually moved it to Jerusalem and restored it to the Tabernacle. Considering how important the Ark and the tabernacle were to Israel in the time of Moses and Joshua, when the people became a nation, recovering it must have had a great impact on the minds of Israelites as they transitioned from a nation to a kingdom.

I think one can see a connection between the reestablishment of regular worship under the Mosaic system and the establishment of David’s reign. God makes a covenant with David that a descendant of David will build a temple to God and reign forever.  This promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

David’s devotion to God was sincere. His motivation to build the temple came from a desire to serve and glorify God. Even though he was instructed not to build a temple, this task was reserved from Solomon, he prepared for it by gathering materials for its construction and decoration. David envisioned a beautiful and richly appointed temple.

If there is a theme to tie together the various parts of the book, I think it is the hand of God in the establishment of the kingdom of Israel, especially David’s family dynasty. It didn’t start with David, though, or even Moses. It started with Adam. From the beginning, God planned to set aside a people for Himself, to serve and worship Him and to enjoy Him and His blessings. In God’s covenant with David, we can even see the continuity of this plan through the church.

First Chronicles is not an easy book to read. There is a lot of genealogy. This abundance of family history and the various divisions of Israel can give one a sense of piece-by-piece building of a kingdom, though it may have as easily been for ensuring a correct inheritance to the various people the land God gave them.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Exodus

First Samuel

Genesis

Second Samuel

First Chronicles. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.