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The Genealogies (1 Chronicles 1-9)The first chapters of Chronicles are often considered by bible readers as some of the dullest chapters in the entire bible. For nine straight chapters all the modern reader sees is a list of names which often are unpronounceable and which only rarely include people who have any meaning for us. Why would the author of Chronicles devote nearly one-seventh of the entire book to such these endless lists of people? The genealogies provide the returning exiles with a sense of connectedness to the past. The Jews in Judah in the fifth century must have felt themselves to be rather insignificant in light of the great geopolitics of the day. These struggling settlers were not the movers and shakers of the day. They were the remnant of a nation which had nearly died out in the exile, living far from the centers of political and economic power in the Persian Empire . The Jews in that day needed a sense of identity. Genealogy of the Davidic Line (1 Chronicles 1-3)The chronicler provides the Jews settlers with their identity by tracing their heritage back to Adam. Chapter 1 begins with Adam and moves forward without much commentary up to Jacob (a.k.a. Israel ). Other nations are mentioned, but the focus of the lineage is headed to Israel . In chapter 2 the lineage focuses on a single tribe, Judah, and even more specifically within that tribe, the focus comes down to King David. But more importantly, it is through the tribe of Judah that we find the royal lineage. In chapter 3, the descendents of David are listed, including all the kings of Judah , through Zerubbabel and his descendents right up to the time of the chronicler himself. The settlers are being provided with a connection to the greatest King and the greatest era in the history of Israel by showing how people today are descendents of the great king David and are part of the royal line. This line is not, however, just a royal line, but is also the Messianic line. As will be shown in chapter 17, the descendents of David are promised to be part of a royal dynasty which will endure forever. The lineage of David is important not just to connect the retuning exiles to the past, but it connects them to the future when the Messiah himself will reign on the throne of David and establish an eternal kingdom. Both Matthew and Luke's gospel understand the importance of the genealogy, for they trace this same royal lineage down to Jesus Christ himself as a means of proving his right to be considered the King of the Jews and as the Messiah who would establish the kingdom forever. Descendents of Israel (1 Chronicles 4-8)The next five chapters develop the genealogies of all the tribes of Israel . In 2 Chronicles 10 we learn that the great kingdom established by David divides, with 10 tribes of the north becoming the kingdom of Israel and only 2 tribes remained loyal to the Davidic royal line. Those two tribes are Judah and Benjamin. These two tribes serve as book-ends to this section, with Judah beginning the list of Israel 's descendents (chapter 4), and Benjamin ending the list (chapter 8). In the center of the list of the tribes is the tribe of Levi (chapter 6). The placement of the Levites in the center of this section is not a coincidence. When the Israelites were migrating from Egypt to the Promised Land, their camp was physically arranged so that the Levites were in the center of the camp with all the other tribes surrounding them (Numbers 2). The chronicler is replicating this arrangement in his genealogy by putting Levi in chapter 6. The Levites served as the priests and temple leaders, and their central listing serves as a reminder that all the center of all Israel is around the worship of Yahweh, their God. The tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi receive much more of the chronicler's attention as they were the largest of the remaining tribes. Most of the other tribes had been hauled away into exile by Assyria in 722 BC. Only a small remnant from the other tribes existed by the time Chronicles was written, having descended either from those who assimilated into Judah after the fall of Israel or those who chose to return after the exile. By the time of this writing, however, there appears to be very little record of some of the tribes. The tribe of Naphtali, for example, only has a single verse, suggesting that there were very few left from this tribe and that the records for this tribe were largely missing. Nonetheless, the chronicler finds it important that all the tribes are mentioned so as to provide a place within Judah for all the descendents of Israel . Census of Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 9)The genealogies end in chapter 9 with a list of those living in Jerusalem . There is some similarity between this list and the census in Nehemiah 11. However, it seems that this list is showing those who lived in Jerusalem at the time of the exile (1 Chronicles 9:1). This list first shows that there were people from many tribes living in Jerusalem , and therefore there is a place for all Israel in the newly rebuilt Jerusalem as well. Secondly, this list shows the duties of various tribes and sub-tribes within the city's administration. Priests, gatekeepers, singers and musicians, are listed. This serves the basis of re-establishing the religious and civic duties of the retuned exiles. |
