Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.
The sons of Noah:
Shem, Ham and Japheth.

• 1 Chronicles 1:1-4

Egypt was the father of
the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.
Canaan was the father of
Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

• 1 Chronicles 1:11-16

Jesse was the father of
Eliab his firstborn; the second son was Abinadab, the third Shimea, the fourth Nethanel, the fifth Raddai, the sixth Ozem and the seventh David. Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel. Abigail was the mother of Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.

• 1 Chronicles 2:13-17

Along with their relatives—all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord—they numbered 288. Young and old alike, teacher as well as student, cast lots for their duties.
The first lot, which was for Asaph, fell to Joseph, his sons and relatives  12
the second to Gedaliah, him and his relatives and sons  12

• 1 Chronicles 25:7-9

Their fellow Levites were in charge of the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries for the dedicated things.
The descendants of Ladan, who were Gershonites through Ladan and who were heads of families belonging to Ladan the Gershonite, were Jehieli, the sons of Jehieli, Zetham and his brother Joel. They were in charge of the treasuries of the temple of the Lord.

• 1 Chronicles 26:20-22

The third army commander, for the third month, was Benaiah son of Jehoiada the priest. He was chief and there were 24,000 men in his division. This was the Benaiah who was a mighty warrior among the Thirty and was over the Thirty. His son Ammizabad was in charge of his division.

• 1 Chronicles 27:5

Boilerplate

I’m Harold Dykstra.  I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story.  My time is well spent.  A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel.  I did not know she was an angel at the time.  The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone.  And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy.  She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others.  She changed my life.  Since she was a doll that had come to life, we came up with the term ‘other living.’  She was not a human, an animal, or even a plant, but she was definitely living, and very vibrant.  Oh, excuse me, angels have no gender, but the angel indwelled a doll named Bountiful Babs.  After seeing the angel in that form for over a year, I cannot see her in my mind in any other form.

This Week’s Question

In the last episode, Babs learned about communal living, but more importantly about the difference in happiness and having Joy.

Babs asked a question about the genealogies in 1 Chronicles 1-9 and then the names listed from 1 Chronicles 23-27.  She wanted to know why those were in the Bible, but I have a feeling she has other reasons for asking the questions.  So, I asked her what she learned from our lesson.

Babs scrunched her nose, “I learned a lot.  Do you want me to say everything?!”

I put up a hand. “Stop.  Just give detail occasionally, but what is the gist of 1 Chronicles 1-9?”

Babs giggled, “The gist is that the world started with Adam, then Seth, then Enosh until you get to Noah.”

I interrupted, “And why does it simply list all those and then goes into detail from Noah onward?”

Babs smiled, “Those fathers from Adam to Noah have their genealogy in Genesis 5.  It even gives how many years one of the fathers was when the first son was born.  That way, you can figure out how long it was over those generations.  But we do not need to think about all the sons and daughters of all those people because the only ones to survive the flood are Noah, his wife, Noah’s three sons and their wives.  So, if we were studying DNA, we might have generations or intermarriages in those eight people.  But from Noah on, a son or daughter meant new families and clans and nations would come from those.”

I nodded, “Very good.  So, now, why all these nine chapters?”

Babs giggled again.  She loved learning.  “One big thing is that from these chapters, we can trace from Adam to Jesse and David.  But then from Jesse and David to the end of the exile.  So, the kingly line is well defined, in case someone can trace their bloodline back to those people.  But all of the tribes are mentioned in these nine chapters.”

I asked, “What else do we know from these chapters?”

Babs said, “It shows which tribes were among the Canaanites that had been cursed.  The Hittites were among them, but the Philistines were cousins of the Canaanites, descending from Egypt.  So, with that, you can see how the people of Israel treated some tribes differently than others because the curse of Canaan was not upon them.  But when we read about someone being from Sheba or Cush we know where they fit in the human family tree.”

I nodded, “Okay, now let’s move to 1 Chronicles 23-27.  Why does this section list a bunch of names?”

Babs scrunched her nose again.  “This is tough.  It starts with the Levites.  It divides them into families.  And those families are given jobs to do once the temple is built.  Because the lots that were cast went one way or another, it meant God would ensure that the people of that family had the capability and the desire to perform their assigned function.  It even said the oldest and youngest were treated equally.  So, a lot of dice were thrown, but the result was God’s plan to have the right people assigned to the right thing.   This, just like the genealogies, can be used if you can trace your family line back to a gatekeeper or musician, then you knew what you were supposed to do.  I asked you about what if a musician’s son was not able to play an instrument.  And you said that God would see to it that they wanted to play and were capable of playing.  That is why the lots were cast as they were.”

Babs continued, “Then, you had people like the Gershonites that were given the duty to take care of the temple treasuries.  Those people were selected by God due to their trustworthiness and their attention to detail.  Everything was according to God’s plan.  But then 1 Chronicles 27 talks about the military.  Each commander had 24,000 men in their division.  But when it gets to the third army, Benaiah was the commander of the division, but he was also the leader of The 30.  Those were 30 mighty warriors of King David.”

I laughed, “Okay, who was Joab?”

Babs brightened, “1 Chronicles 27 ends with him being the commander of the army, but he was a nephew of David.  One of David’s sisters was Zeruiah. Her sons were Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.  They were each mighty warriors in their own way, and they are mentioned in 2 Samuel.  Joab, though, was named the commander of the army because David said that whoever took Jerusalem would get the job.  Joab led the first group into the city when it was taken, and he got the job.”

I kissed her on the cheek, “Very good, Babs.  We can go to these lists of names, and we can see who is related to whom.  And in some cases, cousin killed cousin.  Who was Amasa?”

Babs said, “Amasa was another nephew of David.  David’s other sister, Abigail, married an Ishmaelite.  They had Amasa.  When Absalom, David’s son, rebelled, he made Amasa the commander of the army.  Thus, Amasa was Absalom’s first cousin.”

I asked, “Then who killed Amasa?”

Babs said, “Joab.”

I then asked, “And who killed Joab?”

Babs said, “King David wanted Solomon named king.  He told Solomon to take care of Adonijah who set himself up as king and Joab, who sided with Adonijah.  So, Benaiah killed both Adonijah and Joab.  But at first, Adonijah was allowed to live if he behaved, but he didn’t.”

I snickered, “Well said.”

I concluded, “So, the list of people at the beginning of 1 Chronicles is where did all humanity come from.  And the list of people near the end of 1 Chronicles is who those people who were in the army or working at the temple.  That way you could see what you should be doing.”

I looked at Babs and she was not happy.  “Okay, Babs, what is really eating at you?  And please, do not get broken.  We might have to start using toilet tissue.  You have almost used up all the facial tissue in this hotel room.”

For those who do not read these stories, the first time Babs cried and tears began to flow, she feared that she had sprung a leak.  After all, when her body gained form, before she became animated, she had to be inflated.  A leak could be catastrophic.  Being “broken” was not a good thing, but as she has remained animated in that form, she seems to be a normal human being, at least becoming that way a little bit each day.

Babs sniffed, “Okay, I will try, but I am not promising anything.  You might want to get a roll of toilet paper, just in case.  When I looked in those chapters, I looked and I looked.  I did not find Babs anywhere!  Where did I come from?  Why am I here?”

I put my arms around her.  “Babs, you are ‘other living’.  The people on the list are humans.”

Then I pulled away and said, “1. 2. 3.” And we sang, “I don’t know.”

She started laughing, “I’ve never heard you do that.  I’m the one that does that!”

I shrugged, “Well, I did not know.  If I said that your job was to be my travel buddy, then you would counter that there are no Harolds or Dykstras in the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles either.  That makes you doubly wondering who you are and why you are here.  But I do not have to find my name in those chapters because God chose me as one of His adopted children.  I am a child of God by Grace through faith.  So, I am not the son of the son of the son of somebody on a list.  I was chosen by Almighty God.  He loves me so much; He counts the hairs on my head.”

Babs scrunched her nose again.  Then she had a very worried look on her face, “God must be getting tired of doing that.  The hairs on your head are getting thin.”

I looked into her eyes for a few seconds.  Then she started to laugh.  I joined in.

Credits

All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife.  We would talk about anything and everything.  And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.