1 Chron.9-14
With the family of Saul (1 Chron. 9:3535And in Gibeon dwelt the father of Gibeon, Jehiel, whose wife's name was Maachah: (1 Chronicles 9:35)) a new section begins. The first terminating in a brief but prophetic glimpse of the future restoration of Israel as foreshadowed in the return of the captives from Babylon, and their settlement in the land (1 Chron. 9:1-341So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they were written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, who were carried away to Babylon for their transgression. 2Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities were, the Israelites, the priests, Levites, and the Nethinims. 3And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh; 4Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the children of Pharez the son of Judah. 5And of the Shilonites; Asaiah the firstborn, and his sons. 6And of the sons of Zerah; Jeuel, and their brethren, six hundred and ninety. 7And of the sons of Benjamin; Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hasenuah, 8And Ibneiah the son of Jeroham, and Elah the son of Uzzi, the son of Michri, and Meshullam the son of Shephathiah, the son of Reuel, the son of Ibnijah; 9And their brethren, according to their generations, nine hundred and fifty and six. All these men were chief of the fathers in the house of their fathers. 10And of the priests; Jedaiah, and Jehoiarib, and Jachin, 11And Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God; 12And Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pashur, the son of Malchijah, and Maasiai the son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer; 13And their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand and seven hundred and threescore; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God. 14And of the Levites; Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari; 15And Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal, and Mattaniah the son of Micah, the son of Zichri, the son of Asaph; 16And Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, that dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites. 17And the porters were, Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brethren: Shallum was the chief; 18Who hitherto waited in the king's gate eastward: they were porters in the companies of the children of Levi. 19And Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brethren, of the house of his father, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle: and their fathers, being over the host of the Lord, were keepers of the entry. 20And Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the ruler over them in time past, and the Lord was with him. 21And Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was porter of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 22All these which were chosen to be porters in the gates were two hundred and twelve. These were reckoned by their genealogy in their villages, whom David and Samuel the seer did ordain in their set office. 23So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of the house of the Lord, namely, the house of the tabernacle, by wards. 24In four quarters were the porters, toward the east, west, north, and south. 25And their brethren, which were in their villages, were to come after seven days from time to time with them. 26For these Levites, the four chief porters, were in their set office, and were over the chambers and treasuries of the house of God. 27And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and the opening thereof every morning pertained to them. 28And certain of them had the charge of the ministering vessels, that they should bring them in and out by tale. 29Some of them also were appointed to oversee the vessels, and all the instruments of the sanctuary, and the fine flour, and the wine, and the oil, and the frankincense, and the spices. 30And some of the sons of the priests made the ointment of the spices. 31And Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, had the set office over the things that were made in the pans. 32And other of their brethren, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the showbread, to prepare it every sabbath. 33And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night. 34These chief fathers of the Levites were chief throughout their generations; these dwelt at Jerusalem. (1 Chronicles 9:1‑34)). Faint when compared with the future, but in itself a marvelous event. For their Gentile oppressors are by the overruling hand of God, made to aid and encourage them and to restrain their enemies, as Ezra and Nehemiah declare.
The going back to Saul after counting up the returned captives is confirmatory that the object of the Holy Spirit in the Chronicles is not history—save as subsidiary—but the bringing in of the Son Who is to reign over all; that the sin and failure of man, Satan's determined opposition, as seen in Saul, are but occasions for the display of sovereign grace and of Almighty power. That Christ the Son shall not only be the King of the Jews as Son of David, and the Inheritor of the promises as Son of Abraham, but shall as Son of man be King of kings and Lord of lords. Hence His genealogy down from Adam, that He the last Adam should win back the headship over the lower creation which the first Adam lost. Other names come in and shine among their fellows, and collateral purposes are accomplished, but the great purpose of God centers in His Son. The genealogy points to Him.
Saul slain, the Philistines triumphant, is the moment when David appears and drives back the Philistine, and the ruined kingdom rises in splendor never seen before. If the past shows how the kingdom was lost and won, much more the future when He Who is both Son and Lord of David shall come and restore all things.
Chapter 10. seems to come abruptly; we are brought at once into the closing scenes of Saul's life. No record of his life in Chronicles, only God's summary of it, but which comprehends in few words his life, death and judgment. “So Saul died for his transgressions which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord; therefore He slew him and turned the kingdom unto David the Son of Jesse” (vers. 13, 14). Saul passes before us as a spectral vision, save for the reality of, God's judgment upon him. David is brought to view as abruptly as Saul, no record of his previous life; only his lineage, as that of Saul. And surely the reason is plain—not these men on their own account are so prominent personally, but the kingdom is in the mind of God, and the Holy Spirit hastens to present it.
The Lord turned the kingdom unto David. It was a marvelous turning. The hinderer is no sooner removed than all Israel seek David, and say, “Behold we are thy bone and thy flesh” (11:1, &c.), and the blessing comes. David takes his foreordained place, and a nation is born in a day. Brighter than this will be seen when Israel from a deeper fall shall rise to a higher position of glory. With what cleaving of heart will all Israel gather to the Son of David in the day of their deliverance. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power” (Ps. 110:3).
Let us look for a moment at 1 Sam. 28:66And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. (1 Samuel 28:6). “And when Saul inquired of the Lord” and compare it with 1 Chron. 10:1414And inquired not of the Lord: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:14). “And inquired not of the Lord.” Samuel records the outward act, the Holy Spirit in Chronicles pronounces the judgment of God upon the inward condition of his soul. It was the pressure of despair which wrung out of his heart an unavailing cry to the Lord, but no real turning to Him Who never shuts out the most despairing cry from a soul truly contrite. All help was gone, and he in his fear inquires of the Lord Whom he had habitually disobeyed and neglected, as many others since, and like him have sunk deeper into the slough of despair. Bear the judgment of all such from the Lord Himself, “But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me but I will not answer, they shall seek Me early [diligently, R. V.] but they shall not find Me” (Prov. 1:25-2825But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: (Proverbs 1:25‑28)). The Lord would not listen to the cry of the persecutor and hater of His chosen man.
Saul remembers Samuel, his former friend. If Jehovah answered him not, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets, would Jehovah's servant help him out of his misery? And he invokes the aid of Satan to bring up Samuel! Wretched Saul—what darkness on his heart, as if Satan had power over the spirits of departed saints! What despair, to seek for one of those whom he had in outward zeal sought to destroy! What had brought him to this? Permitted of God the prophet appears, and the wretched king's doom is confirmed; it is near, imminent. But Saul's seeking help from one having a familiar spirit is a true index of the heart. He had no faith in God, but in the witch of Endor; therefore he inquired not of the Lord. He had in earlier days clothed himself with zeal as with a garment. Extreme danger strips him of his borrowed robe, and he appears in his own naked infidelity. God judges the heart. “Behold Thou desirest truth in the inwards” (Ps. 51:6.). The piercing eye of God saw no truth in Saul. Therefore the Holy Spirit in Chronicles says that “he inquired not of the Lord.”
All Israel seek David. This turning to David as with one mind is marvelous. A greater marvel is yet to come. Not David, but the Son of David will appear; and when they see Him, all Israel will seek Him with a greater oneness of mind, and will know Him, and in gladness of heart will shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.” The picture given by Matthew (21:9) is prophetic of the coming display of His glory, when He takes His own. It is in a smaller frame but in brighter colors, inasmuch as it is the King Himself personally present in the scene given in the Gospel; it is only His type in Chronicles.
God immediately surrounds David with mighty men of valor. And the tribes of Israel send their thousands, “men of war that could keep rank,” or as we should say, well disciplined. Who had disciplined these men, that just before had forsaken their cities and hidden themselves through fear of the Philistines? God's chosen man was there, who was anointed to be king over Israel, and the kingdom was turned to him. This is the reason of their sudden endowment of valor and might, and some of the wonderful deeds of the renowned men whom the Holy Spirit names. Some of their astonishing deeds are told, yet not astonishing when we remember Whose kingdom is really before us. For this is not the striving together of the potsherds of the earth; these great acts are only the natural consequences of the presence of His power Who is giving samples (so to say) of what the power and the glory will be when He personally takes the kingdom. Then greater deeds will be done.
The Lord of hosts is marshalling the strength and power of Israel. And the Holy Spirit gives a list of tried men of might. They are presented in the halo of their own prowess. The foremost of these worthies joined David while he was a fugitive and an outcast (12:1-22); their origin is given (22:2) and is an instance among many of God's taking up the despised of men and exalting them.
David is crowned, and there is great feasting in Hebron; for the neighboring tribes “brought bread on asses, on camels, on mules, and on oxen, and meat, meal, cakes of figs, and bunches of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep abundantly, for there was joy in Israel” (1 Chron. 12:4040Moreover they that were nigh them, even unto Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, and meat, meal, cakes of figs, and bunches of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep abundantly: for there was joy in Israel. (1 Chronicles 12:40)). But David thinks not of his rapid exaltation, and of the mighty hosts around him (not long before he was hiding from Saul in the court of Achish); his ardent desire is to bring up the ark of God. But Jerusalem as the chosen city is the right place for the ark, and that city is still in the possession of the Jebusite. The city taken (2 Sam. 5:6-76And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. 7Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David. (2 Samuel 5:6‑7)), (which is not given in Chronicles) David said unto all the congregation of Israel, “If it seem good unto you and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us; and let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul” (1 Chron. 13:2-32And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us: 3And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. (1 Chronicles 13:2‑3)). David's thought was right, but there was levity in the act. He and all the people gathered from Shihor of Egypt to the entering in of Hamath, i.e., from the southern boundary to the northern. They unite to fetch the ark from Kirjath-Jearim. It was an occasion of great joy, but fleshly zeal meddled with the ark. And in these scenes, we behold David the responsible man, not David the type of the perfect One. The Holy Spirit shows us that however blessed and honored a man may be, yet he is only a man, and here his imperfection is seen. If his thought was right and acceptable unto God, it was God Who gave it. But their starting point was wrong. How could they expect to carry the ark to its place when, instead of the Levites carrying it upon their shoulders, according to the ordinance of God, they put it in a new cart? A “new” cart; but this could not condone their want of attention, and consequently their disobedience to God's commands.
If obedience be imperative in the common things of everyday life, how much more in the things which are special to the service of God?
David was responsible. His was the prerogative as king to regulate and order the right way of bringing home the ark, which must be according to God. The same forgetfulness of the ordinance of God, and what the ark symbolized, made Uzzah put forth his hand and touch the ark, and thus brought on himself instant judgment. His unauthorized interference completed the disobedience manifest from the first. Man might say the motive was good, but that could not be good which leads to the neglect of God's word. God must and will vindicate His own honor, and the authority of His own word. Uzzah's act was but the reflex of the want of care on David's part. There was much gladness with them all, but the joy of saints must not compromise the authority of God's word.
If David is afraid of God, it does not turn aside God's purpose with regard to David. After the needed discipline in his soul and hearing how the ark brought blessing to Obed-edom, he regains faith and brings the ark to its place. Yet though he is seen here as a failing man, his typical position is not lost. For the truthfulness of the type takes precedence of the restoration of faith in the soul. This position was not contingent upon his faithfulness, but was the appointment of God's sovereign will, Who by David is unrolling the volume of the honors and dominion of the Only-Begotten when He shall be set upon the holy hill of Zion (Psa. 2). Then will be seen perfectly what can only be partially presented in these typical scenes. For apparently before the ark is brought to its place, the Gentile submits to him. If the natural hatred of the Gentile appears in the persistent attacks of the Philistine, the power of God compels the king of Tire to send “messengers, and timber of cedars with masons and carpenters to build him a house.” In David and Hiram are to be seen, as with a borrowed light, the glory of Christ's kingdom, the submission of all nations to Him. Into the millennial Jerusalem kings shall bring their glory and honor. So does the king of Tire own the greatness of David, and contribute to his glory. But the past is but as the first droppings; the rushing shower is yet to come.