One of life’s great tragedies is the loss of memory. When people suffer dementia, they lose touch with their past; in doing so they lose hope in their future.
The book of 1 Chronicles was written to keep the Israelites from suffering spiritual dementia by providing a summary of their history. It gave their collective memory both a heritage and a hope.
According to tradition, the author of 1 and 2 Chronicles was Ezra, and he wrote these books to reassure the returning exiles that God was still at work in the promises He had given.
These exiles had few personal recollections of the days before the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions. They had never seen the glorious temple of Solomon.
They had never experienced the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds in Jerusalem during the feasts. And so someone – Ezra maybe – compiled a history for the returning exiles.
If 1 and 2 Kings were written to explain why the nation was exiled, 1 and 2 Chronicles were written to explain the returning exiles were still the people of God.
The first chapters of this book provide genealogies proving they were indeed heirs of the promises.
The rest of the book is about David’s reign, Solomon’s Temple, and the Davidic Covenant promising a perpetual throne to Israel.
This detail scene from the Papyrus of Hunefer shows the scribe Hunefer’s heart being weighed on the scale of Maat against the feather of truth by the jackal-headed Anubis.
The ibis-headed Thoth, scribe of the gods, records the result.
If his heart equals exactly the weight of the feather Hunefer is allowed to pass into the afterlife.
If not, he is eaten by the waiting chimeric devouring creature Ammit composed of the deadly crocodile, lion and hippopotamus.
Vignettes such as these were common illustration in Egyptian books of the dead.
This detail scene from the Papyrus of Hunefer shows the scribe Hunefer’s heart being weighed on the scale of Maat against the feather of truth by the jackal-headed Anubis.
The ibis-headed Thoth, scribe of the gods, records the result. If his heart equals exactly the weight of the feather Hunefer is allowed to pass into the afterlife.
If not, he is eaten by the waiting chimeric devouring creature Ammit composed of the deadly crocodile, lion and hippopotamus. Vignettes such as these were common illustration in Egyptian books of the dead.
As you study 1 Chronicles, remember the heritage God has given you. The Bible frequently warns against forgetting what He has done; for in our heritage – in our own chronicles – are the keys to our future.
Key Thought:
God’s covenant to David and His promises to Israel are perpetual, designed to give His people a heritage and a future.
Key Verse:
“Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord” (1 Chr 22:19).
Key Action:
Never fear to tell the world that Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.