1 Chronicles 1-9 - It All Started with Adam

I am so blessed to have friendships and relationships that value the word of God. Recently, 2 DIFFERENT people expressed interest in reading 1st & 2nd Chronicles! Now, I'm not gonna say this is my LEAST favorite book of the Bible - reading about the intrigue, drama, triumphs and defeats of Israel an its kings is fascinating at times, but sometimes it paints a challenging picture of God that is not always easy to reconcile. So I am excited to take this opportunity to read this book and find the goodness and love of God in every story. This is, of course, at the core of who He is, so how could he be anything else?

We started by reading through 1 Chronicles 1-9. Each chapter in this section lists detailed family lineages, giving background for the characters that would be major players in the ancient world during Israel's kingdom. Each chapter focuses on a different line, but the most significant name in this LONG list is the first one - Adam.

Without introduction or explanation the opening words of 1 Chronicles 1 are "Adam, Seth, Enosh;" - stated plainly within additional remark. The author is making one thing plain and clear - this whole thing started with Adam. The author goes on to list other familiar names - Enoch, Methusela, Noah, etc, but then an interesting turn happens. The author begins to show us that these nations that have become rivals to Israel overtime ALSO came from Adam. Cush, Egypt, Canaan, Edom, etc. These lineages are also listed, with great detail given to Edom and its leaders. It is a humbling reminder that even our enemies share the same common human ancestry at the root of it all.

Chapter 2 zooms back into the tribes of Israel looking at Judah, then in Chapter 3 progressing through David's line. Chapter 4 goes BACK to Judah's line to a recap (the extended, uncut edition, if you will). Chapter 5 then starts to look at the other tribes - Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Chapter 6 focuses on the high priests - aka the tribe of Levi - as well as the singers, and cities. Chapter 7 looks at Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher. In chapter 8 we get another extended, uncut edition of Benjamin's line. Then in chapter 9 we get a glimpse of the present time when the writer is recording this, while Judah is in exile. He brings the reader up-to-speed with the lines and leaders of Judah through to its exile before jumping back into the story of David's kingdom in chapter 10.

In all of this detail and history, we see that God cares about the details. Many women are mentioned in these genealogies, family lines of rival nations, and some stories about these families are included as well. Not all of these families were perfect, but they played a role in the formation of the ancient world that would eventually lead to Jesus. No matter how insignificant or messed up your family may feel, if God can bring blessings through the families listed in these first 9 chapters, he can bring blessings through yours, too. These chapters are also encouragements to view all people of the world as descendants of Adam, therefore our brothers and sisters, sharing in humanity together, despite cultural, linguistic, and geographical differences.