Year 3, Day 283: 1 Chronicles 9-10

Genealogy – Chapter 9

At last we come to the last of the chapters of genealogy and we surge ahead into the story.  The majority of 1 Chronicles 9 is about those who returned from exile.  We see their lists and their numbers.  We also see their duties.  We can see that as the people come back from exile, the chronicler desires to make a point about the seriousness that is required with respect to the worship of God.  Tasks are assigned.  Duties are regulated.

Unfortunately, as I was reading this chapter I couldn’t also help but think about where Judaism was headed in the coming centuries.  We know that the pendulum of religion swung far too far in the opposite direction.  Before the exile, the Hebrew people were very lax in their religious observances.  False gods crept into their culture.  Soon they were worshipping God with their lips but not in their heart.  So God pushed them into exile.

But, when they return from exile there was an equally opposite reaction.  The religious leaders desired to never make that mistake again.  Instead, the religious leaders began to focus upon the necessity to live out the law in every single dynamic of life.  They made small rules that governed every interaction as they attempted to legislate spiritual relationship with God.  In only a few centuries the majority of the people were bombarded with so many rules and regulations that keeping them all became impossible.  What we see happening is exactly what we see happening prior to the Babylonian exile but for the exact opposite reason.  Whereas before the people were only paying lip service to God because their heart wasn’t in the relationship, now the people can only pay lip service to God because the law had become so oppressive their heart couldn’t be in it!

I find it sad – but in no way unbelievable – that this happened.  Human beings tend to like to swing on the pendulum.  Society moves one way and it is good for a while, but then we take it too far.  Eventually we figure out the need to reverse course and it is good for a while, but then we take it too far in the other direction.  There seems to be an underlying current within human society of desiring to “create a perfect governing system.”  But in truth I do not believe that such a system will ever exist.  Our nature as human beings will always be to push to an extreme, take things too far as we seek for “the best,” and then have to reverse course and try again.

Perhaps I’m a natural skeptic.  Okay, there is no perhaps in that sentence.  I am a natural skeptic.  But I think that with respect to human civilization that I’m right on this one.

Return to the History of the Kings

In 1 Chronicles 10 we now turn back to the story of the Hebrew people.  Although this book was written as the exiles returned from Babylonian exile, this book is written about the line of Davidic kings.  So we return to the story of David and hear what it is that the chronicler desires for these exiles to hear about their past. 

We turn to Saul.  In fact, we turn to the story of Saul’s death.  Saul had gone with his son and his army to face off against the Philistines.  The battle turned on Saul.  Jonathon and Saul’s other sons were killed.  Saul was wounded and hunted.  When he realized he could not escape, he killed himself.  The Philistines took his body and used it as a trophy.  2 Samuel 31:10 tells us that the Philistines took Saul’s armor and put it in the temple of Ashtaroth and they took Saul’s body and hung it on the wall of Beth Shan.  The chronicler informs us that they took his head and hung it in the temple of Dagon, one of their chief gods.  However, the Hebrew people could not tolerate this treatment, so the rescued the body and brought it back.

However, the point of this chapter is in the last few verses.  Saul died because of his breach of faith.  He died because he did not submit to God.  He died because he did not listen to God.  He died because he consulted other sources for wisdom besides the true God.  The chronicler’s point is obvious to a people returning from exile.  Those who abandon God and no longer heed His voice deserve the fate that they receive.  The exiles would understand that point quite well.

I wonder how well we understand that point.  Is God our go-to source for wisdom?  Or do we listen to Him when it is convenient and it serves our purposes?  Are we devoted to God fully and completely or are we devoted to God when we have the time or when our guilt gets the better of us?  I believe these are important questions to consider as we take a fresh look at the story of the Davidic kings.  This is a topic with which they struggled and upon which they eventually failed.  We would be wise to not make their same mistakes.

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