Year 6, Day 276: 1 Chronicles 1-2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

As I mention in my commentary from 3 years prior, we don’t know who the Chronicler is and we don’t really know when the book was written.  Many people suspect that the book was written by Ezra the priest as people are returning from exile.  If that is true than these chapters are truly about putting the identity of the Hebrew people right.  Even if the book wasn’t written by Ezra, the book is still generically about making sure that the identity of the Hebrew people is rooted in God, who brought these people out from Adam, then Abraham, and then David.

I find it utterly amazing that Ezra is able to trace lineage from Adam to his present day.  This is a span of no less than 1,500 years (to use a very conservative dating technique) or as much as 5,500 years (to use a more literal dating technique according to the Bible’s own witness).  Regardless of which is correct, this is an amazing feat.  That is roughly akin to us in the modern day being able to trace our lineage back to the near the time of Christ.  In truth, many of us cannot trace our lineage back more than two or three generations, much less several thousand years!

That is why it is so easy to see that these opening chapters are about identity.  The Chronicler wants the people to know where they came from.  He wants them to know where they are rooted.

However, what I especially love about the Chronicler’s words here is that they are focused on more than the Hebrew people.  The Chronicler hasn’t forgotten about the nations around the Hebrew people.  He chronicles their history as well.  He is concerned about their identity.  In this, I find a great multi-cultural trait.  I find in the Chronicler’s opening chapters a predecessor to the same kind of spirit that sends Paul into the world of the Gentiles to proclaim the grace of God.

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