A Journey through the Bible with Tiglath

69. The First Book of Chronicles and to Chapter 12 in the Second Book

The first and second Book of chronicles is said to have been written about

400 B.C. The writer concentrated on the story of the Kings of the line of

David and on the tribes of Judah: Benjamin and Levi (the tribe from which

priests arose). It is also thought that the writer was writing for the people who

had been in exile and hadreturned to Jerusalem to re-build Jerusalem under

Ezra and Nehemiah. It seems to me that he was trying remind his readers of

the past history of the Jews.

So we begin with a swift passage through the first

Book of Chronicles . Chapter 1 sets out a tremendous

family tree from Adam to Noah. In fact the first 9

chapters of this book are a family tree from Adam

until after the period of the exile (579 – 539 B.C.)

and they need not detain us too long. Points to notice

are that chapters 2 and 3 describe the ancestors of

David; chapters 4 to 7 describe the tribes of Israel.

Chapter 8 gives an account of the family of Saul and

chapter 9 tells of those who returned from exile.

Chapters 10 to 29 traverse ground we already covered concerning the reign of

David. Reading it will revise our knowledge of that period. The Book ends

with Solomon becoming King.

In the Second Book of Chronicles chapters 1 lo 9 again cover familiar

ground, namely the reign of Solomon. Chapters 10 to 36 give us

Descriptions of the kings of Judah. The writer recognises the

descendants of David as the true kings of the Jewish

people. In chapter 10 we learn of a revolt against

King Rehoboam because he refused to listen to

common sense in his dealings with the people of

Israel (the northern kingdom) and he was forced to

flee from there to Jerusalem. This led to a split

between Israel and Judah. In chapter 11 we find

Rehoboam building up an army to attack Israel. He

does not do so because Shemiah. a man of God, is

instructed by God to forbid the king to do any such

thing. Instead.Rehoboam built up strong cities in

Judah as a defence against hostile neighbours.

King Rehoboam

of Judah

 In chapter 12 we find that Rehoboam has forsaken God

and for this he is punished by Shiskah, the King of Egypt who raised up a vast

army against Jerusalem. At this point. Shamiah. the king and the princes of

Judah humbled themselves before God who had pity on them and they were

not destroyed. Shishak took treasure from Jerusalem and returned to Egypt.

King Rehoboam died after a reign of 17 years in Jerusalem. He was 48 years

old when he died and he was buried in Bethlehem. Abijah, his son. reigned

after him.

In the next part of our journey Abijah makes war against Jeroboam