Reading: 1 Chronicles 11-14, Psalm 66
Well, we’ve gotten past the nine chapters of genealogy, but I’ve got good news. We aren’t done with lists of names.
When you think about it, it is kind of odd that we don’t get interesting in long lists of names in our modern culture. In the distant past, the recitation of stories, and of the people involved in them, was the only way information propagated. Once you knew the story of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, seeing or hearing his name on a list would remind you of every story you knew about him. Think of the list of Presidents of the United States. Hearing the name George Washington reminds me, and hopefully you if you grew up here, of numerous stories. Crossing the Delaware. Chopping down the cherry tree. His unanimous election. His speech in the whiskey rebellion. His farewell address. To many generations of Americans, hearing the name George Washington brought to mind the entire founding narrative of our nation.
That is what the Chronicler is doing. Framed around some of the stories of David, the exemplary King of Israel, the measure to which all the following kings will be compared, is lists of names. Names that reminded the people of where they came from. Reminded them of the stories, their history, their origins. That is why you have whole chapters listing the officers and soldiers most loyal to David, and why it is distinctly pointed out that many of them were Saul’s own kinsmen. To remind us that there was a time when all the people of God rallied behind one king. One shepherd.
The story of David here is much less historically interested than it’s telling in the book of Samuel. The author of Samuel recorded more events, though he too was making an argument. The author of Chronicles assumes you know all the stories already. He is looking to point you towards a few particular topics, and uses David as his prototype for the good king.
First, people were loyal to David because he was loyal to them. The mighty men did incredibly risky and brave things for their king, and he deeply respected and provided for them. Joab captured Jerusalem for David, and David rewarded him. The king in Chronicles deserves the loyalty of his people.
Second, the king makes a home for his people. The story of David’s conquest of Jerusalem is more than just recounting the event. By the time of the Chronicler, Jerusalem has come to represent the home of the Jewish people. The returned exiles have focused their entire lives around this city. It is that place that the Lord your God will choose which came up so many times in the books of Moses. Jerusalem is the chosen city as the descendants of Jacob are the chosen people. And it is the King who gives the chosen city to the chosen people.
Third, the king provides the people with the means to worship God. If we remember back to the books of Exodus and Leviticus (I know you miss them) we will recall that the whole system of worship that Israel used was centered around this one particular day, the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest would enter the Holiest place on earth, God’s throne room, and directly intercede with God for all the people. The throne of God was the Ark of the Covenant, and the tabernacle (later Temple) were these carefully designed structures pointing in which everything pointed to the New Creation. But things have gone haywire and the Ark isn’t in the Temple anymore. The Chronicler reminds us that the King, the good king, brings back the throne of God to the place of worship.
But something goes wrong. The Ark slips, and a man dies. There is a crack in David’s perfection, as he fearfully leaves the Ark away from himself in Jerusalem. Even while he uses David as his prototype for the good king, the Chronicler reminds us in little ways that he is not the final answer. David comes off pretty squeaky clean in Chronicles, especially as compared to the stories in Samuel, but he’s still not quite the thing itself. He’s the prototype for the king, but he isn’t the King himself.
Chronicles is the kind of book that is unlikely to be written today. Nowadays we don’t bother learning stories very often. It is too easy to just look them up. When we do learn stories, they do something to us. History forms culture. It makes people the way they are. For the few returned exiles who faithfully studied, practiced, and taught the Scriptures, this was the output of their history. They had the books of Moses, all of Joshua through Kings, and the prophets stuck in their heads. They studied them from childhood. They recited them to themselves constantly. The stories did something to them. They began to see the world differently than the other people around them. They began looking forward to a new David, who would fulfill all the promises made in their old stories. And this new David would be the genuine article.