The Big Picture; or, a Forest Full of Trees

The Big Picture; or, a Forest Full of Trees.
1 Chronicles chapters 1-9.

In 21st century, genealogy is an interesting and fascinating hobby, which can be very rewarding in connecting us to our past. However, at the time the books of Chronicles were written, it was much more important than that. These books were written to a returning people who had been carried captive to a distant land, subjugated by a foreign power (cf. 1 Chronicles 9:1ff.). They have now returned back to their homeland, and they must reestablish themselves as a nation under God and its citizens. For the Jews, genealogies establish one’s tribe, clan, and family. The appointment of David to reign over the house of Israel, and the appointment of the Levites to serve at the house of God (tabernacle, temple) are important features.

There is a brief mention of Saul, followed by the Chronicler putting great emphasis on king David, especially his preparing for the Temple and his son Solomon building the Temple. See, for example, 1 Chronicles 22:2-5 (David prepares material), 1 Chronicles 22:6-19 (Solomon is charged), 1 Chronicles 23:1-26:32 (David organizes Temple worship), 1 Chronicles 27:1-29:9 (David and Solomon). Note also the emphasis on the religious reforms of Asa (2 Chronicles 14:1-15:15), Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17, 19:1-20:30), and Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:3-31:21). Not only does the Chronicler positively emphasize the purpose of the book by adding material not in Samuel and Kings, he also emphasizes negatively omitting material found in them. Notice, for example, omissions of 2 Samuel :11:2-12:15; 1 Kings 11:1-40.

Except for the genealogies going back to Adam and forward to those in the exile and return – as well as not going back to Samuel – Chronicles covers the same timeframe as the books of Samuel and Kings.[i] Here is a rough parallel comparing them. 

Kingdom of Saul 1 Chronicles 10 1 Samuel 13–31

Kingdom of David 1 Chronicles 11–29 2 Samuel 1–1Kgs 2

Kingdom of Solomon 2 Chronicles 1–11 1 Kings 2–11

The Divided Kingdom 2 Chronicles 1–39 1 Kings 12–2 Kings 25

Two very significant verses:

1 Chronicles 17:24 - Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

The book of Chronicles begins from the first man in Genesis; the first word of 1 Chronicles is “Adam.” The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles consists of genealogies. Those mentioned in them run from the first man Adam to six generations after the return from exile in Babylon (1 Chronicles 3:17-24). This covers a period composed of about 3700 years. The Chronicler retells stories of Israel’s past in order to revive Israel’s hope for the future. He was probably living in Jerusalem about 300 years before the coming of Jesus Christ. His writing points Israel toward the new king to come. The present Jews in Jerusalem were born in exile. They had returned to their homeland and needed to reconnect with their ancestry, the Law of Moses, and worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

The time period of the kingdom history covered in 1 & 2 Chronicles is the same as that described in 2 Samuel through 2 Kings. Although the time period covered is the same, the perspective is different. For example, the Chronicler includes David’s preparations for the temple, and the worship service of the temple. These are not found in 2 Samuel.

• God does not just work in the moment. He works over time.
• Each generation and individual was used to carry forth God’s promise.
• Individuals may not have known they were being used by God, or may not have understood how they were being used by God.
• The story of salvation preserved, culminating in the promised seed, Jesus Christ.
• God sees the big picture. God is in it for the long haul.

From Adam to the end of David’s reign as king covers almost 3000 years. Adam to the Flood 1656 years (1:1-4); Flood to Isaac 452 years (1:28); Birth of Isaac to the reign of David 886 years.

1 Chronicles 1:1-4. Adam to the Flood, 1656 years.

“Can’t see the forest for the trees” is an expression being too involved in the details of a problem to look at the situation as a whole. What can we acquire from these genealogies?

On the whole and in the parts:

• A continuation of the genealogies started in Genesis chapters 5, 10, etc.
• Some elucidation on variant spellings in the Bible (e.g. Seth/Sheth, Enos/Enosh, Cainan/Kenan, Enoch/Henoch).
• The verification of historical families (especially from the sons of Noah; cf. Gen. 10:32).
• Some connection of names and places (e.g., Tarshish, Kittim, Sheba, Zidon, Kedar, Midian).
• The delineation of the descent of the Jewish people (cf. Ezra 2:62; Nehemiah 7:64).
• The identification of the “seed” of Abraham and of David (Galatians 3:16; John 7:42).
• Some preparation for the first New Testament book (which starts with genealogy, Matthew 1:1). If I got through 407 verses in 1 Chronicles 1-9, I should be able to get through 17 verses in Matthew 1!
• Genealogies connect the present to the past, and look to the future. 1 Chronicles 1-9 is a descending genealogy, starting in the past and working to the present.[ii] Most modern genealogists start in the present and work backward (ascending genealogy).[iii]
• By including Ham and Japheth, the Chronicler connects people of every tongue and nation to the biblical record.

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[i] Overall, the Chronicler goes from the creation of Adam to the decree of Cyrus, almost 3500 years (approximately 3484 years after the 6th day of creation).

[ii] That is, finding the descendants of a specific person.

[iii] That is, finding the ancestors of a specific person.

The Burned-Over Place

Below is an illustration used by several different people. Harry Ironside told of hearing it when he was a small boy. This particular one is from M. R. DeHaan:

“Some early settlers were traveling together across the western prairies of the United States. One day they were horrified to see a fire fanned by strong wind coming their way.

“As the flames raced closer and closer, one man, to the amazement of the others, set fire to a large patch of grass downwind. The tinder-dry grass burned quickly and left behind a charred and barren area. Then he told them to move onto the burned-over place. They watched as the fire swept toward them until it reached the burned area—and then stopped! They were safe as the fire passed by them on both sides.

“The fires of God’s judgment will descend on a wicked world, but God has provided a burned-over place. At Calvary, the fire of God’s justice was met by Jesus. He bore our sin there and fully paid for our transgressions. He made full satisfaction for our sins, and we who have taken our stand by faith in the finished work of Christ are safe in the burned-over place. There is nothing left to burn.”

The fires of God’s judgment burned themselves out on Jesus Christ. The death of Christ is the burned-over place. All who are in Jesus Christ are forever safe. In Christ they are found standing where the fire has already been!

The flames of God’s judgment can never touch me,
For Jesus has borne all God’s wrath on the tree;
I now stand secure in the burned-over place,
A sinner, unworthy, yet saved by his grace!

 
-- By “Bosch” (probably Henry G. Bosch, 1914-1995, a Radio Bible Class associate of M. R. DeHaan)

On him almighty vengeance fell,
That must have sunk a world to hell;
He bore it for a chosen race,
And thus becomes our Hiding-place.

-- By Jehoida Brewer

Morning Has Broken

I struggle to see “Morning Has Broken” as a Christian or church hymn – not because of the words, but because I first knew it as sung by Cat Stevens when I was a teenager. Stevens was, I suppose, in my time, considered a folk-rock singer. Nevertheless, it has been published in many church hymnals (and long before Stevens recorded it).

This editors of the 1931 enlarged edition of Songs of Praise, With Music (Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw, Ralph Vaughan Williams, London: Oxford University Press) asked Eleanor Farjeon to write a hymn of thanksgiving for the day to fit the tune Bunessan. In that book, the hymn is titled “Thanks for a Day” and seems to be based on the theme Psalm 118:24.

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

1. Morning has broken Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken Like the first bird.
Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing Fresh from the Word!

2. Sweet the rain’s new fall Sunlit from heaven,
Like the first dewfall On the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness Of the wet garden,
Sprung in completeness Where God’s feet pass.

3. Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning
Born of the one light Eden saw play!
Praise with elation, Praise every morning,
God’s re-creation Of the new day!

The author of the hymn is Eleanor H. Farjeon, born February 13, 1881 in London, the daughter of British novelist Benjamin Leopold Farjeon and Margaret Jane Jefferson. Eleanor was an author primarily of nursery rhymes and children’s educational books. She died June 5, 1965, and is buried at the St John-at-Hampstead Churchyard in London, England.

The hymn is set to the tune Bunessan. Bunessan is considered a traditional Gaelic melody. It was first published in Songs and Hymns of the Gael, with Translations and Music (Lachlan Macbean, Stirling: Eneas MacKay, 1900, p. 60)[i] as the setting for the Mary MacDonald carol “Leanabh an àigh/Child in the Manger.” The meter is not common, 5.5.5.4.D. (or 10.9.10.9.). Many consider its best use as a tune for unison singing.

The “child of the manger” hymn, in English, is metered 5.5.5.3.D. (or 10.9.10.8.) and requires a musical slur on the first word of the 3 line.

1. Child of the manger, infant of Mary,
Outcast and stranger, Lord of all.
Child who inherits all our transgressions,
All our demerits on him fall.

 
2. Monarch have tender delicate children,
Nourished in splendour, proud and gay;
Death soon shall banish honour and beauty
Pleasure shall vanish, forms decay.

3. But the most holy child of Salvation,
Gentle and lowly lived below;
Now as our glorious mighty Redeemer,
See him victorious o’er each foe.

4. Prophets foretold him—infant of wonder;
Angels behold him on his throne;
Worthy our Saviour of all their praises,
Happy for ever are his own.

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[i] Some sources say this book was first published in 1888. I have not yet confirmed that.

We’ve stopped worshipping Christ, and other quotes

The posting of quotes of human authors does not constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources. (I try to confirm the sources that I give, but may miss on occasion; please verify if possible.)

“We’ve stopped worshipping Christ and started worshipping ‘Nice’.” -- Charity Nicholson

“There’s wolves in the pulpits, there’s theatrics for attention and money and influence, and leaders are manipulating God’s name for gain.” -- Lecrae Devaughn Moore

“John 6 illustrates that man wants the blessing of God but doesn’t want the being of God.” -- Keith Foskey

“Jesus saves sinners, but he doesn’t rewrite sin.” -- Chad Prather

“Wise Christians will make good use of the other people God brings into their lives.” -- Matthew Bingham

“I am not a scholar. I’m a minister of the gospel. I wouldn’t want to be demoted to being a scholar.” -- Christian Khanda

“A church’s response to God’s greatness and grace rarely rises above the example of its pastor.” -- Bob Kauflin

“He who spares the wolf sacrifices the sheep.” -- Nayib Bukele (probably from an old proverb)

“We need to focus on less empathy and more accountability.” -- Jeffery Mead

“The practice of homiletics is the meditative wrestling with the meaning of the word of God in order that it can be explained and applied to the people of God, thereby ministering grace.” -- Jay Chambers

“Only an autocratic government can afford to have historically ignorant citizens; it is a luxury we cannot afford.” -- Herbert Pickens Gambrell

“When your final authority is your ‘heart,’ you will ordinarily twist the Scripture to says whatever pleases your heart.” -- Dustin Benge

“God loves the unsaved too much to make me responsible for their eternal destiny, and He loves me too much to hang that impossible burden around my neck.” -- D. Mackey

Were the KJV Translators KJV-Only?

“Were the KJV Translators KJV-Only?” is a skewed question used as a means to an end. The better question is, “What did the KJV translators claim they accomplished?”

Here is what the translators (represented by Thomas Bilson & Miles Smith) write.

There are infinite arguments of this right Christian and Religious affection in your Majesty: but none is more forcible to declare it to others, than the vehement and perpetuated desire of the accomplishing and publishing of this Work, which now with all humility we present unto your Majesty. For when your Highness had once out of deep judgment apprehended, how convenient it was, That out of the Original sacred tongues, together with comparing of the labours, both in our own and other foreign Languages, of many worthy men who went before us, there should be one more exact Translation of the holy Scriptures into the English tongue; your Majesty did never desist, to urge and to excite those to whom it was commended, that the work might be hastened, and that the business might be expedited in so decent a manner, as a matter of such importance might justly require.

Epistle Dedicatory

Translators to the Reader

Truly (good Christian Reader) we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one, (for then the imputation of Sixtus had been true in some sort, that our people had been fed with gall of Dragons instead of wine, with whey instead of milk:) but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one, not justly to be excepted against; that hath been our endeavor, that our mark. To that purpose there were many chosen, that were greater in other men’s eyes than in their own, and that sought the truth rather than their own praise.

What did the translators mean by what they wrote?

“A faithful student of the word of God looks up all kinds of words. The one’s they think they know, the ones they know, and the ones they do not know. Looking up ‘false friends’ falls within one of these three categories.” Peter Van Kleeck, Jr. to Mark Ward

The translators were called on to establish out of the previous translations one principal translation for the use of the English-speaking people. That was their goal they focused on accomplishing.

An Association Dissatisfied

“Upon questions of policy…”

“5th. That we disapprove of the policy of supplementing the Nacogdoches, Wichta (sic) Falls and other churches in their pastor’s salaries, when such churches do not come in the scope of destitution but are able to maintain and support a pastor; for if such churches are not able to afford the luxury of a $1200 preacher alone, we believe that they should be resigned to listen to the words of truth coming from the mouth of a $500 preacher.” 

The above is from a resolution adopted by the Mt. Zion Association in 1898, during very stiff dissension on policies and practices in the Baptist General Convention Texas. A resolution was presented by Elder W. H. Hendrix, then a substitute by Judge R. W. Priest. After discussion, the substitute offered by Priest was adopted. After a preamble, there was a “one-point” statement affirming “our allegiance to all time-honored and blood-bought Doctrines of our Lord and master, Christ Jesus, as are taught in his Holy Word and expressed in the Baptist Declarations of Faith and Church Covenants” (p. 13) – and then 15 points discussing state convention policies.

Excerpt from a report on the “denominational troubles” among Baptists in Texas, Minutes of the Forty-Second Annual Session of the Mt. Zion Baptist Association, October 1-3, 1898, p. 14.

Von Mastrict on Apographa

X. Isti autem utriusque Instrumenti libri, pro canonicis & authenticis non habentur, nisi in linguis suis primigeniis & authenticis: cum 1. Sint instrumenta publica, quae iis tantum linguis valent, quibus condita sunt. Ut apparet, in diplomatis Regum, in Testamentis aliisque: ubi, oborta controversia, solum exemplar originale, agnoscitur pro authentico. Cum 2. Soli Prophetae & Apostoli, quippe immediate & infallibili Spiritus S. duetu instructi 2 Pet. I. 21. Scripturam  θεόπνευστος & authenticam, edere potuerint 2 Tim. III. 16. Sed quaenam tandem sunt linguae istae authenticate? Vetus Testamentum, Ecclesiae Judicae particulari datum, lingua hebraea conditum, omnes agnoscunt nisiquod particulae ejus quaedam, in Esdra, Daniele, Esther, Jeremia, lingua prostent Chaldaea. Novum, Ecclesiae Christianae universali scriptum, sola lingua Graeca conscriptum agnoscitur. Proinde, istis solis linguis, Scripruram recipimus, pro canonica & authentica. Idque non in Autographis tantum, quas, multas ob causas, sapientissimo consilio, providentia divina, perire passa est: sed in Aprographis quoque. Et sie olim Ecclesia Israelitica, nullam, praeter Hebraam V. T. nee Christiana, praeter Gracam N. Test. Habuit pro authentica.

X. But these books of both Instruments are not considered canonical and authentic, except in their original and authentic languages: since 1. They are public instruments, which are valid only in those languages in which they were created. As appears, in the documents of Kings, in the Testaments, and others: where, when controversy arises, only the original copy is recognized as authentic. Since 2. Only the Prophets and Apostles, since instructed immediately and infallibly by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1. 21.) could publish Scripture θεόπνευστος and authentic (2 Tim. III. 16). But what are these languages in terms of authenticity? The Old Testament, given to the Jewish Church in particular, was written in the Hebrew language, and is acknowledged by all, except some parts of it in Ezra, Daniel, Esther, and Jeremiah, are written in the Chaldean language. The New Testament, written for the universal Christian Church, is acknowledged to have been written solely in the Greek language. Therefore, in these languages alone, we receive Scripture, as canonical and authentic. And this not only in the Autographs, which, for many reasons, by the wisest counsel and providence of God, suffered to perish: but in the Apographs also. And the ancient Israelitish Church had none, besides the Hebrew Old Testament, nor the Christian, besides the Greek New Testament, as authentic.

XI. Neque tamen, istis linguis, adeol est affiz Scriptura S. ut non prossit, & debeat etiam, in alias linguas transundi, ad commune usum Ecclesiae: quibus itidem linguis, pro authenticis habentur, omnes versions, quatenus fontes exprimunt, ad quos semper sunt exigendae.

Yet, Holy Scripture is not so attached to these languages that it is not desirable, and should also be, translated into other languages for the common use of the Church: in which languages, likewise, all versions are considered authentic, insofar as they express the sources, to which they must always be referred.

Petro Van Mastricht (Petrus van Mastricht 1630 –1706), Dutch Reformed theologian, Theoretico-Practica Theologia (Theoretical-Practical Theology), The Rhine: W. Van de Water, et al., 1724, pp. 20-21.

The Baptists of England

The Baptists of England from this date [1575] to 1641 underwent severe persecutions, but they increased in numbers. After the abolition of the Court of High Commission and the Court of Star Chamber in 1641, when they were able to assert themselves, there were a surprising number of them in London and throughout England. Dexter himself gives the names of eleven churches in England as early as 1626. (The True Story of John Smyth, p. 42).

...

It is altogether possible that these ‘dissenters’ [mentioned in Kiffin manuscript] may not have known that there were immersionists in London, and that such persons may have lived on the same square with them. Under the persecutions of the Court of High Commission and the Court of Star Chamber it was not safe for one to announce himself a Baptist.

John T. Christian (1854-1925), Did They Dip? pp. 35, 156.