Bible Challenge
Day 139
I Chronicles 4-6 There are three main historical sources in the Old Testament. We have just finished reading the “Deuteronomic” history (the books of Deuteronomy through II Kings). Earlier we read the Priestly history found in Genesis through Numbers. We are now embarking on the work of the “Chronicler,” found in I and II Chronicles as well as the books of Ezra and of Nehemiah.
As you work your way through I and II Chronicles in the coming weeks you will notice many parallels with what we already read in the Samuel and Kings books. The Chronicler traces roughly 600 years of history, from the time of King David around 1000 BCE to approximately 400 BCE or even a bit later.
The Deuteronomic history ends with the Babylonian Exile, so the overlaps only occur for the first 4 centuries of the Chronicler’s history. The Chronicler is our most important source for information on post-Exile Judaism.
Even when we see overlapping parallels with events recounted in the Deuteronomic history, there is a definite difference in emphasis in the Chronicler’s work. While the Deuteronomist has a theological viewpoint, this historian shows much more emphasis on political developments than does the Chronicler. The Chronicler is primarily interested in establishing Israel’s role as a liturgical, worshipping community rather than as a nation. In keeping with this liturgical interest, the first nine chapters of I Chronicles is a long series of genealogies. These chapters make for incredibly boring reading, but the genealogies are intended to establish Israel’s place as the Chosen People as well as to establish the ancestry (and hence the legitimacy) of the Temple priesthood going all the way back to Moses’ brother Aaron.
Psalm 116 This psalm could only have been written by someone who had “been around the block.” Clearly this poet had suffered many real lows in his (her?) life, but came through them all and in retrospect is able to perceive that the Lord had indeed sustained him (her) through all trials. The poet wants to express thanks to God publicly, “in the courts of the LORD’S house.”
Romans 3 Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome seems to be, at least to a large extent, addressing issues of tensions between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. As a Jewish Christian, Paul is sometimes addressing his fellow Jewish Christians; as the “Apostle to the Gentiles” he is at other times addressing the Gentile Christians. After the introductory chapters of the Letter, chapter three begins in earnest Paul’s extended reflection on the place of Jews and Gentiles within the Church. Paul makes an eloquent plea for tolerance between Christians of different stripes and emphases, a good message for American Christians to hear in our pluralistic land with a multiplicity of expressions of Christian faith. (“One faith, many cultures,” I often say!)
Day 139
I Chronicles 4-6 There are three main historical sources in the Old Testament. We have just finished reading the “Deuteronomic” history (the books of Deuteronomy through II Kings). Earlier we read the Priestly history found in Genesis through Numbers. We are now embarking on the work of the “Chronicler,” found in I and II Chronicles as well as the books of Ezra and of Nehemiah.
As you work your way through I and II Chronicles in the coming weeks you will notice many parallels with what we already read in the Samuel and Kings books. The Chronicler traces roughly 600 years of history, from the time of King David around 1000 BCE to approximately 400 BCE or even a bit later.
The Deuteronomic history ends with the Babylonian Exile, so the overlaps only occur for the first 4 centuries of the Chronicler’s history. The Chronicler is our most important source for information on post-Exile Judaism.
Even when we see overlapping parallels with events recounted in the Deuteronomic history, there is a definite difference in emphasis in the Chronicler’s work. While the Deuteronomist has a theological viewpoint, this historian shows much more emphasis on political developments than does the Chronicler. The Chronicler is primarily interested in establishing Israel’s role as a liturgical, worshipping community rather than as a nation. In keeping with this liturgical interest, the first nine chapters of I Chronicles is a long series of genealogies. These chapters make for incredibly boring reading, but the genealogies are intended to establish Israel’s place as the Chosen People as well as to establish the ancestry (and hence the legitimacy) of the Temple priesthood going all the way back to Moses’ brother Aaron.
Psalm 116 This psalm could only have been written by someone who had “been around the block.” Clearly this poet had suffered many real lows in his (her?) life, but came through them all and in retrospect is able to perceive that the Lord had indeed sustained him (her) through all trials. The poet wants to express thanks to God publicly, “in the courts of the LORD’S house.”
Romans 3 Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome seems to be, at least to a large extent, addressing issues of tensions between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. As a Jewish Christian, Paul is sometimes addressing his fellow Jewish Christians; as the “Apostle to the Gentiles” he is at other times addressing the Gentile Christians. After the introductory chapters of the Letter, chapter three begins in earnest Paul’s extended reflection on the place of Jews and Gentiles within the Church. Paul makes an eloquent plea for tolerance between Christians of different stripes and emphases, a good message for American Christians to hear in our pluralistic land with a multiplicity of expressions of Christian faith. (“One faith, many cultures,” I often say!)
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