{"id":8167,"date":"2022-01-25T12:56:54","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T18:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/?p=8167"},"modified":"2022-01-25T12:56:54","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T18:56:54","slug":"why-read-1-and-2-chronicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/blog\/why-read-1-and-2-chronicles\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Read 1 and 2 Chronicles?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you were to ask people to name  their favorite book(s) in the Bible, I doubt that many would mention either 1 or 2 Chronicles. However, if you flipped the question and asked people what book(s) of the Bible they least <\/em>enjoy reading, I suspect some (maybe even many) would mention these books. This is because these books (that functionally constitute a single work, which is why it is listed as one book in the Hebrew Bible) combine many of the elements that can present challenges when reading the Bible. It begins with nine chapters of genealogies, a genre that most 21st century readers don\u2019t particularly enjoy. A number of chapters contain instructions on organizing worship in the temple and divisions, which can seem both unexciting to read and irrelevant to our world today. The book is a historical book, describing the reigns of the kings of Judah. While some people love history, others can find history a bit dry and unappealing to read. And if you have read 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, much of Chronicles is redundant, as it describes the same period of time as those books (David\u2019s reign as King of Israel through the time the nation went into exile). There are some exciting stories found in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, such as David and Goliath or the narratives of Elijah and Elisha; but some might say that Chronicles kept the dull parts and cut out the lively stuff! It is not just modern American readers who may have difficulties with this book. The title of the book in the Greek translation from its writing in the Hebrew language is: \u201cthe things omitted\u201d or the \u201cleftovers.\u201d The book stands as the last one in Hebrew Bibles, a position that could have some significance, but may also lead to it being overlooked or forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While 1 and 2 Chronicles likely would not be our first (or second, or third\u2026) choice when reading the Bible, these books are part of the Bible and thus Christians profess they are \u201cbreathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, <\/strong>that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work\u201d (2 Timothy 3:16). So, as many from Faith Church start to read Chronicles on January 26 as part of the 4 Year Bible Reading Plan<\/a>, I want to offer <\/strong>three <\/strong>thoughts on how this book that can seem so uninteresting is important and helpful for us as followers of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. It Evokes Hope for God\u2019s People in Difficult Times<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The opening genealogy and the closing note indicate that 1 and 2 Chronicles were written after the return of some of the people of Israel from exile back to their homeland. This means that it was written probably about 100 years later than 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, which is believed to have been written while the people of Israel were in exile. The different dates and the different audiences likely means that these books have very different purposes – which explains why they tell many of the same stories but in different ways. Since the original readers of Samuel and Kings were in exile, those books likely show the people why they went into exile and call for them to repent and return to God. However, the original readers of Chronicles were returning after being in exile, but this return was not as glorious as people hoped – or expected. Thus, Chronicles very likely was written to encourage the people that God has something great in store for them. It reminds them of God\u2019s promise that endures in spite of the faithlessness of the people and also of His power to do great things as they see the reigns of David and Solomon and the original temple. We, too, need to be reminded of these truths and called to hope in God today and to trust in Him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. It Points To An Even Greater King Who Is To Come (and Has Come!)<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      One major difference between how 1 and 2 Samuel talk about David versus his portrayal in 1 Chronicles, is that 1 Chronicles omits the story of David\u2019s grievous sin involving Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11) and what happens as a result. I do not believe this is because the author is trying to erase this event from people\u2019s memory. In fact, people may have been so aware of it he did not need to mention it or can just allude to it (1 Chronicles 20:1 may be an allusion to that horrible act). Rather, I think this omission occurs because of the different purpose of the book. While one might say that the portrayal of David in 1 and 2 Samuel shows his failure so we remember we are looking for a better king, 1 and 2 Chronicles could be showing us that David was great and Solomon was pretty good too (with Chronicles similarly less focused upon his failures). At the same time, it points out that an even better king is going to come who is going to surpass the greatness and achievement of these two figures (as the story of David\u2019s sin in the census appears in 1 Chronicles 21, though why it happened is described differently from 2 Samuel 24). On this side of Jesus\u2019s coming, we look back to the fact that this great king has come and we also look forward to His return and restoration. We have the promise of a greater king!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. It Displays The Power of Prayer and Possibility of Repentance<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        The \u201cPrayer of Jabez\u201d in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 and 2 Chronicles 7:14 (\u201cIf my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land\u201d) are probably the most famous verses in Chronicles. They focus on prayer, but are far from the only references to prayers found in the book. In fact, prayer is a common theme as there are a number of prayers recorded in the book as well as a number of references to the people praying. Some of these are found in the parallel passages in Samuel and Kings, but many are unique to Chronicles. Not only can these prayers serve as examples for us, they also teach us about God and about how we need to cling to Him, crying out like Jehoshaphat, \u201cWe do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you\u201d (2 Chronicles 20:12). The subject of repentance appears in a number of these prayers. For example, much of Solomon\u2019s prayer at the dedication of the temple concerns the people falling into sin and crying out in repentance – with God restoring them when they repent (see 2 Chronicles 6). We also see a surprising prayer of repentance in 2 Chronicles 33:10-13, 19 as the wicked King Manasseh cries out when in need, humbling himself – and God hears him and restores him! Thus, the prayers of the book teach us that we are never too far to cry out to God. The stories of the various kings and the people in their times point us again and again to depend upon God and cry out to Him. Rather than viewing Chronicles as boring, this book can be seen as one that is invigorating by strengthening our prayer lives and moving us to repentance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Final Thoughts and Encouragement to Read These Books<\/strong>
        Once I started to dig into these books, I realized that there are many more themes and issues in these books that I don\u2019t have space to describe here that are worthy of our attention. We need to read these books not only because we want to be able to say that we have read through the whole Bible, but because it is \u201cprofitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, <\/strong>that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.\u201d So whether you are reading the books in these coming months with others at Faith Church or will read the books at some point on your own in the future, I hope you ask yourself the question \u201cwhy in the world is this in the Bible?\u201d\u00a0 \u2013 not out of frustration and confusion but rather out of eagerness and faith as you seek to see the themes and ideas of these books that will help you follow Jesus Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Questions about the Bible or theology? Email them to Pastor Brian at Theology@WeAreFaith.org. You can also request to receive weekly emails with our blog posts by filling out the information on the right side.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        If you were to ask people to name  their favorite book(s) in the Bible, I doubt that many would mention either 1 or 2 Chronicles. However, if you flipped the … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","wds_primary_category":272,"footnotes":""},"categories":[272],"tags":[607,613,612,605,606,619,615,617,609,616,614,618,608],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"awsm_team":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Brian Dennert","author_link":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/author\/brian\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"If you were to ask people to name  their favorite book(s) in the Bible, I doubt that many would mention either 1 or 2 Chronicles. However, if you flipped the … Continued","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-05-05 16:35:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wearefaith.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}