“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable,” &c., yet how often have the above and similar passages been passed over by the child of God as being but dry and uninteresting at the best. Yet it is not so; for we have only to be simple, as “he that is simple shall learn wisdom,” content to give up our own thoughts, and in child-like simplicity accept God’s, to find a vast field indeed open before us— “green pastures and still waters,” blessed results to us of His never-failing grace.
We have presented in the book of Chronicles, as another has put it, “the history of God’s people as He loves to remember it,” their dark spots are passed over or but lightly touched upon; not that God was indifferent to the evil, far from it; other Scriptures show that that indeed was not the case. Here, however, it is His blessing and grace to His own, only such of their failings being noticed as would the better serve to show His patience and long-suffering.
While the clothing of the book is Jewish, and speaks directly of their blessings, more especially of that of the family of David and tribe of Judah, what God is—His heart of love and the blessed fullness of divine grace, is thus made known to us; so that by tracing His ways with His people Israel we the better learn Him who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace. And this is the great object of our wilderness journey. As with Israel of old, so with us now, “He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger.... that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”
In this apparently mere list of names we find an order and arrangement telling of past events and future glories, all of which, whether past, present, or to come, unite in unfolding the ways and grace of God. The direct object of the Holy Ghost is to trace out the line of genealogies from Adam to David, who with Solomon his son is presented as a figure of Christ reigning in His millennial character on the earth, as Son of man, Son of David, and as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Thus the events in their respective histories, which are more particularly figurative of that time, are here given strong prominence to. In the description of the temple, the millennial state of things is especially presented; consequently we find the vail introduced, which is not so in Kings, the little chambers also found there (6:5) being omitted here; for in Kings we have it more as symbolical of that which is heavenly, of the Father’s house, from which the vail for us is gone, and we have boldness to enter into the holiest. While for the Jew in the millennium there will still be a veil, even their prince (which may be the Lord’s vice-regent on the earth) entering no further than “the threshold of the gate,” while “the people of the land worship at the door of this gate before the Lord.” (Ezek. 46:2,32And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 3Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons. (Ezekiel 46:2‑3).) Of that place which is now our portion they are strangers. Blessed on earth, it is true, they indeed will be with all earthly blessings. But what is that to ours— “fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ,” and in the very light itself— “these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” Can anything be compared to such a place as this? May the Lord give us to appreciate it more fully, and be very jealous of our hearts straying away and seeking rest or joy in any other place but that supremely blessed one—our assured portion through the unchanging value and efficacy of the precious blood of the Father’s well-beloved Son!
The genealogies, then, commence with Adam, “the first man.” Abel is omitted, being cut off in the midst of his days; likewise Cain, who was “of that wicked one;” to make room for Seth, who, in Gen. 4:2525And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. (Genesis 4:25), is raised up instead of Abel. Thus early in man’s history is the Brand truth of resurrection brought out as the platform on which everything that is to remain must be built, and contently the only ground on which we can stand before God for permanent blessing.
The seed of God are then named, seven in number (v. 2, 3), that being ever used in Scripture as a number of perfection. While man was thus running riot on the earth, giving full vent to his self-will, God had verse 5 whom He here traces out for us. Noah begins the second group, and his three sons, in the order of their birth, are given; but in verse 5, Japheth takes the chief place. So it is ever; for God always allows nature to work first, that when it fails, as most assuredly it will, and ever does, there may be room for Him to, come in and act in grace according to the goodness of His own heart and perfection of divine wisdom. In Gen. 9:2727God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. (Genesis 9:27) Japheth is given the place of power and authority; in accordance with which, in the description given of the inroad of the great northern nations in the latter days upon Palestine (Ezek. 38), the names of his sons and their immediate descendants appear as the stock from whence those nations sprang, who are there found in opposition to God’s people, and to His thoughts and purposes concerning the earth.
The sons of Ham come next (v. 8). He first takes the upper hand, and from him and his seed sprang those who afterward became the bitter and unrelenting enemies of the people of God, and in whom were fully developed the wickedness and abomination of man’s heart. Then, in verse 17, we have the line of Shem whose genealogy is minutely traced out, the period of Babel being especially marked, as it was then that God arranged the nations, with a view to having an elect branch of Shem’s seed for His earthly center. (Deut. 32:88When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:8).)
Abraham, the father of his race, is the next to whom a prominent place is given, and his sons; but not in their order according to nature (v. 28), but according to God’s purposes. The child of promise and of grace, the one in whom death and resurrection, as the ground of blessing, is so blessedly set forth, being given the first place, though, as far as nature and appearances are concerned, the other has the uppermost hand. Then Keturah, Abraham’s Gentile wife, comes (v. 32), figure of the Gentiles being ultimately brought into a place of blessing in the latter days. (See Gen. 25)
The posterity after the flesh being given first, then the child of election and grace, we accordingly find that of the descendants of Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob. The former has the priority, and we have a long list of them— dukes and princes; but, as is ever the case, nature comes short, it fails when put to the test. We only read of eleven dukes of Edom (vv. 51, 54), but God’s number is twelve. Israel, as such were set the center of His earthly system.
All the sons of Jacob are given, but not in their order of birth, Judah being repeated in verse 3 to lead up to the family of David. Thus we find the circle narrowing. First the family of Shem, from among whom Abraham is chosen out of the midst of idolatries. (Josh. 24:22And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. (Joshua 24:2).) Then, of the twelve sons of Jacob, Judah is chosen to be the royal race, “the one whom his brethren should praise,” “whose hand should be on the neck of his enemies, and to whom his father’s children should bow down.” (Gen. 49:88Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. (Genesis 49:8).) Though Judah was thus to hold the scepter, and be as a lion’s whelp, the others were all under the care and eye of God, hence have their place here. Of Judah’s sons the eldest is first mentioned, and then when he fails grace comes in, where there was not nor could be any claim (Gen. 38) because of the grossness of the sin; “but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound;” hence the line is continued through guilty Thamar, through Pharez, his son Hezrom, and Nahshon, a prince of the children of Judah, to Boaz, who in grace takes up the Moabitess Ruth; from whence spring Obed, then Jesse, of whose sons the seventh and the least is taken from the sheepfolds, from following the ewes, in preference to his elder brother Eliab, the one according to nature, and one so apparently well suited that the prophet of God, when he is brought into his presence, exclaims, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” David, of whose root and offspring the Messiah was to be, is thus brought upon the scene, “the man after God’s own heart,” from this point, occupies the chief place, the whole of chapter 3 being given to his genealogy, and to that of Solomon, who along with him complete the type, as far as a type can, of what 2 Chron. especially presents; viz., the reign of Christ as “Son of man” and “King of Israel.” Verse 17 brings us down to the captivity, and 24 beyond it; for Chronicles was written on the return of the remnant under Ezra and Nehemiah. (See 6:15, and 9:1.) Hence the apparent discrepancy in many of the names, their language having in a measure changed during the sojourn in Babylon.
There are two points in these first four chapters that are especially worthy of note, as they bear a practical lesson for our own souls, to which we will do well to give heed. They are the path of Caleb and Jabez. In the one we have the sure and blessed consequences for the single eye and undivided heart; and in the other, that, no matter what the state of things around may be, no matter how great the failure of others, the faith which counts and reckons on God ever finds an answer, not merely according to its thoughts, but according to the heart of the One—even God Himself, on whom it has leant.
In Num. 13:3030And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. (Numbers 13:30) Caleb’s faithfulness is narrated, how he stood for God in the face of universal declension; a somewhat parallel time to 2 Timothy, where the apostle, walking in the power and energy of the Spirit of God, is left to stand alone, “all they in Asia having turned away from him;” “at his first answer no man stood by him;” and so will it ever be. He who would be for God, in the midst of a scene where His testimony has been rejected, must be prepared to stand alone. In grace, because of our weakness, He may give us the fellowship of others but not necessarily so. Paul had none; the Lord Himself had none. He was “as a sparrow, alone upon the housetop.” As to Paul, he says, “No man stood by me;” “notwithstanding the Lord stood with me;” for He never fails.
As He stood by Paul, so He stood by Caleb His servant, who, “because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land.” And not only did God bring him into the land, when the others “fell by the way,” but the greater part of chapter 2 is occupied with the genealogy of his family, tracing them though many vicissitudes and fortunes, till, in verse 55, we find “Hemath the father of the house of Rechab,” of whom it is said (Jer. 35:1919Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever. (Jeremiah 35:19)), “Sonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.” Thus to this day, as far as this world is concerned, a member of the house of Caleb stands before the Lord, —blessed testimony to us of His faithfulness, and proof of how, in a higher and more spiritual way, God ever stands for those who stand up for Him.
Amazing privilege to be granted to such as we are! May we through grace value and count it the highest and most excellent honor that can be bestowed upon us, to stand—it may be alone, and in a place of reproach, yet still to stand—for Him and His truth in the place where it has been either rejected or perverted, where the beloved one of the Father found no place to lay His head, where in the midst of “His own things” He passed a stranger unknown and uncared for save by a “little flock.” May He deepen in our hearts a sense of His grace, of that love which led Him along such a path, that we may be constrained to follow in His footsteps, at a distance it may be; but still to follow, accounting His word to be more precious than rabies, that time our feet may be guided in the way of His commandments, and then, whatever appearances for while may be, the result will prove, that He who stood by Caleb and by Jabez will likewise stand by us; for He is still the same, and still values as highly the feeble efforts of His redeemed ones who stand for Him in the same of His rejection.