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Let's go to First Chronicles, Chapter 6. First Chronicles, Chapter 6. Now, this is in your Old Testaments. If you're new to Cornerstone, we go straight through the Bible. So on Sundays, we are in the book of Ephesus, and here on Wednesday nights, we're in First Chronicles. Now, normally I would go very much on Wednesday nights, verse by verse, but as I've been saying to you, first and Second Chronicles are pretty repetitive to first and Second Kings. What I'm going to do, my best to do, is to highlight some of the things that either first and Second Kings didn't talk about or to accentuate some of the things that it did talk about. But these first several chapters are a long list of genealogies, names which I don't know how to pronounce and will feel very embarrassed when I see them in heaven. And they will say to me, you know, you taught there at Cornerstone, you completely butchered my name. So I, I want to respect that. These people have wonderful names that I don't want to mispronounce. So I will be referring to them without really reading every single name. But we left off last week in chapter six, so we're going to pick it up there. Let's first have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you for meeting us here tonight. And thank you, Lord, for your mercy. You are so merciful towards us. And as we have just sung these songs of praise, we just want to glorify you and magnify you in this place, not only in song, but now also as we study your word, that you've given it to us by the inspiration of your holy Spirit, for our edification, Lord, and so strengthen us and draw us closer to you. I thank you for all those who are here tonight and those who are watching online. We commit this study to you now in Jesus name. And everyone said Amen. Well, if you're new to our study in Chronicles, it's a reminder or new information to you, but a reminder to those of you who have been here for our study that Chronicles was originally written as one book. We have first and Second Chronicles in our English Bibles, but in a Hebrew Bible, it's just one book. And the purpose of this book was to give the Jewish people a handbook to understand their own Jewish history and their own family lineage. Because after enough of God's patience had been exhausted, in the year 586 B.C. he allowed God allowed the Babylonian empire to come against the southern kingdom of Judah, the southern part of the nation of Israel, and to besiege the City of Jerusalem. And in the process of defeating the southern kingdom of Israel known as Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deported thousands of Jews to Babylon where they will spend, by God's assignment, they will spend 70 years there. During those 70 years, God is going to purge his people of idolatry. And when by God's providence he allows them to return because another king has now succeeded Nebuchadnezzar. This time it's a Persian king. The Medes and the Persians overtake the Babylonians. And this king's name is Cyrus. Cyrus really moved by the Lord. There's no other reason for this pagan king to want to do this. But Cyrus seeing that these Jewish people have been in this area, this land of Babylon, which on a map today is modern Iraq and some parts of, well, Babylon is in Iraq, but some of the Babylonian empire crossed over into Iran as well. Cyrus decides, I'm, I'm going to have compassion on these Jewish people and allow them to go back to their homeland. But 70 years have passed. So a lot of people have been born in Babylon who have no knowledge of their forefathers homeland. And those who were very young when they were taken captive by the Babylonians are now very old after 70 years. That's relative. I know. And so when they go back to Jerusalem and they go back to their homeland, things look in a complete state of ruin. So all of these people who are allowed to go back to their homeland really are unfamiliar after 70 years of where they've come from and even their language and their traditions and their family history and their family tree. And so the writer of Chronicles, and we don't know for sure who that is, we think it was Ezra writes down basically a handbook for these exiles who are going back to their homeland as a way to introduce them. Here's information about your culture, here's information about your family, here's information about your own Jewish history. Because they haven't understood this for 70 years. And so one of the things that's important for them to understand is where they came from. And I'm going to use the screens and I'll step away to give a little room to what I'm about to show you here. They need to understand the heritage of their own Jewish history. And so this is good for us to know too. Where did the Jews come from? How was the nation of Israel established? It starts with Abraham. Abraham is the patriarch of the Jewish faith. And the reason why he's the patriarch is because God providentially handpicked this guy Abraham was living as a pagan. He wasn't Jewish. He was living as a pagan gentile living in what is modern Iraq. He lived in a town, a city called Ur in Mesopotamia, Ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means the land between the two rivers. We're talking between Tigris and Euphrates. That's where Abraham was living. God selects this guy. Through your seed, a great nation of people will be produced too numerous for the stars to even be counted, like the stars to even be counted. Abraham, by virtue of the covenant, we're not going to get into the history of what Abraham didn't do, right? Let's talk about what he did do. Right? Okay. So with his wife Sarah, they have a son, Isaac. And Isaac then gets married and has a son, Jacob. Now, Jacob has this encounter with God, literally, where the Lord appears to him and Jacob wrestles with the Lord because Jacob, his name in Hebrew is Yaakov. Yaakov means deceiver. It literally means heel catcher. It's like I'm trying to trip somebody up. So he was named Yaakov. His name is Deceiver. He was living up to his name. He was a great deceiver. But when God wrestled with him, God said, your name will no longer be Yaakov, but it will be Israel. And Israel means governed by God. And so Jacob's name gets changed. But sometimes in the Bible, you're going to read Jacob, sometimes you're going to read Israel. But the whole nation gets named after this guy. And Jacob has not one son, but 12. These are the names of his sons in the order of their birth. And so last week, so far in Chronicles, the writer of Chronicles has been helping the Jewish people to know where they've come from. And all of the Jewish people belong to one of these 12 sons of Jacob. And these descendants of these 12 sons of Jacob make up the nation of Israel. And. And so this is where the Jewish people came from. This was a providential plan of God that this ethnic people should be produced from the seed of Abraham for the purpose, ultimately, of a Messiah who would be born through the lineage here for the salvation of the whole world that includes you and me. And Jesus came from the son of Jacob, who was Judah. Judah in his lineage comes King David. And from King David's line further down comes Jesus. So Jesus is of the tribe of Judah. And we talked about Judah last time because the writer of Chronicles starts with Judah, even though Judah is fourth born because of Judah's prominence in Jewish history. In fact, the very word Jew is After Judah, the tribe of Judah. And so we talked in Chronicles about Judah, we've talked about Simeon. Chronicles also writes about Reuben and his descendants, and then also Gad. And last week we left off with. We were in the middle of looking at Levi. And so in chapter six, this is in the middle of the chronicler talking about the line of Levi. And what when we saw here in chapter six, verse one, when we're first introduced to Levi, we see that he has some sons. And among the descendants of Levi are three important people in the whole history of the Bible. This is chapter six, verse three. And you might recognize these names. Aaron, Moses and Miriam. So Moses, the great prophet who was used by the Lord to lead the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt toward the promised land. Moses, brother Aaron and their sister Miriam. And so they are descendants of Levi. They are of the tribe of Levi. And where we left off last week was around verse 37. I want to point out again verse 37 and verse 39 in your Bibles, if you want to circle in verse 37 the name Korah. And in verse 39, you can circle the name Asaph. Now, this is where we left off last time. We talked about how Korah led a rebellion against Moses, and for that, God took him out. But there were some sons of Korah who were not part of the rebellion with their father. Either that or they were too young to be judged at the time that God took Korah out. And so generations later, we find that the sons of Korah are actually musicians and worship leaders in the house of the Lord. And for you note takers, the sons of Korah wrote 11 Psalms. When you read through the book of Psalms, most of them were written by David, but there were others that were written by others. And Psalm 42, 49, 84, and 85, 87 and 88 were all written by the sons of Korah. And I mentioned last time what a beautiful reminder that is to us that even though Korah himself led this rebellion against Moses, for which God killed him, his descendants generations later are now worship leaders in the house of the Lord. It's a great reminder to us that it doesn't really matter as much where you've come from. You can't control your heritage, right? Maybe you came from a wonderful family and maybe you didn't. But either way, it's about how you will walk with the Lord. And it's a wonderful redemptive story to think that this guy who rebelled against Moses, yet generations later, his descendants, will be worship leaders in the house of The Lord. So there's redemption for every family. And it's a wonderful testimony of God's grace. The other name I asked you to circle there in verse 39 is Asaph, because he also wrote Psalms, 12 Psalms. And so when you read through the book of Psalms, chapter 50 and chapters 73 through 83 are all attributed to Asaph. It's in the byline there. When you read these Psalms, it. It'll tell you who wrote these Psalms. Some. Some of the Psalms are unnamed, but Asaph wrote 12 of them. Chapter 50 and chapter 73 through 83. So this is part of the Levitical line, because the tribe of Levi was tasked with being worship leaders, priests and Levites in the house of the Lord to serve the Lord in his sanctuary. So if you'll jump now further on to verse 49, we are now introduced more to Aaron. Aaron, again, the brother of Moses. And verse 49 says, But Aaron and his sons offered sacrifices on the altar of burnt offering and. And on the altar of incense for all the work of the most holy place and to make atonement for Israel according to all that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded. Now, these are the sons of Aaron. Eleazar, his son, Phinehas, his son Abishua, his son Buchi. You gotta love that name. It might be Bucky, but, you know, I don't know. Owned a bunch of gas stations, I guess. And Bucky, his son Uzi, his son Zerahiah, his son Meherioth, his son Amariah, his son Ahitub, his son, Zadok, his son, and Ahimaaz, his son. So Aaron, this brother of Moses, also a descendant of Levi, is going to serve as the first high priest for the Jewish people, and his sons will succeed him. And so we are introduced there to the priesthood. And then in verse 54. Keep reading with me. Now, these are their dwelling places throughout their settlements in their territory. For they were given by lot to the sons of Aaron of the family of the Kohathites, they gave them Hebron in the land of Judah with its surrounding common lands. But the fields of the city and its villages, they gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. And to the sons of Aaron, they gave one of the cities of refuge. Please underline that. To the sons of Aaron, they gave one of the cities of refuge, Hebron, and also Libnah with its common lands, Jatir, Eshtemoa with its common lands. Okay? And it lists various cities that are known as cities of refuge. Now take note of that. Because when. When God orchestrated the land allotment and the territories for the children of Israel, one of the things that he designed was the. A place of refuge known as cities of refuge, where there were six different cities that were designated as safe havens. And here's why they were designated that way. And it had to do with murder. If you murdered someone, okay, and sometimes, you know, that can be obviously intentional or it can be an accidental killing. You needed to run to a city of refuge, and you could be kept safe there until you had a fair trial. If you didn't run to a city of refuge, anybody could take you out for what they perceived was a crime. But if you wanted a chance to defend yourself and you wanted to be found innocent by way of a trial, you would run to a city of refuge. So they had these six cities of refuge set up in the land of Israel. Three were east of the Jordan river and three were west of the Jordan River. And so you would run to the closest one if you ever accidentally or intentionally even killed someone. And then there was a trial. If you were found guilty of murder, then you were turned over to the next of kin of the person you murdered. And that person was known as the avenger of blood. And that person then could take you out. That person then would exact judgment on behalf of his or her. Well, it would be his, the avenger of blood on the behalf of his family. And so you would be killed by the next of kin of the person that you killed. If you were found not guilty that it was just accidental, you could stay in the city of Refuge, but you had to live there. You couldn't go back home. You had to live there as the only safe haven for you until the high priest died. When the high priest died, everybody in the land saw it as a new day. And so you could go home. But if you left that city of refuge at any point, then the avenger of blood could take you out. Even if you were innocent or found not guilty by virtue of it was, you know, self defense. For example, that's a defensible argument for killing someone. Self defense. But you leave that city of refuge now, you are subject to somebody taking out justice upon you. You're only safe within the city of Refuge. So God in his providence put that there for the sake of people, to get a fair trial and to find a safe haven. But what it reminds me of is the Lord really. And for those of you taking notes, here's just a principle here from chapter six. Like a city of refuge, God is our refuge and strength a very present help in TROUBLE. That's Psalm 46:1. And guess who wrote Psalm 46:1. Asaph. Asaph. But God is our refuge, is he not, that when we're in trouble, we can run to him. We can find the Lord as our safe haven. He is always present as our refuge that we can run to him. We'll jump further down here in chapter six, in verse 64, it says, so the children of Israel gave these cities with their common lands to the Levites, and they gave by Lot, from the tribe of the children of Judah, by Lot, meaning they basically cast the die to figure out or drew straws. It was one of those kind of endeavors to try to understand what the Lord's will was. And so they gave by Lot, from the tribe of the children of Judah, from the tribe of the children of Simeon, and from the tribe of the children of Benjamin, these cities which are called by their names. Now, some of the families of the sons of Kohath were given cities as their territory. From the tribe of Ephraim. And jump down to verse 71. And from the family of the half tribe of Manasseh, the sons of Gershon were given Golan and Bashan with its common lands, and Ashtaroth with its common lands. And from the tribe of Issachar, Kadesh with its common lands. And so in other words, it goes through this chapter basically saying that from these various tribes they gave up land allotment for the Levites to be able to live and for these cities to be cities of refuge. And and so that ends chapter six. Each of these various tribes gave up land allotment or cities in order for the Levites to live or for people to have safe havens so that they could face a, a, a trial. Into chapter seven. Now into chapter seven, we're going to go back to our chart because now I've underlined the name Issachar. Now we're, now we're going to see the, the family of Issachar again. The writer of Chronicles is like, okay, for those of you Jews returning, if you're a part of the family of Issachar, here's what you need to know about your family tree. Now, Issachar is son number nine, born to Jacob. And his name is from two Hebrew words, ish meaning man, and sakar, meaning reward. So his name means man of reward because his mother Leah declared his birth a reward from the Lord. So that's how he was named Issachar. Issachar. And it tells us in verse one, that the sons of Issachar were Tolah, Puah, Joshub, and Shimron. Four in all. So he has four sons. And it says that the sons of Tola were Uzi, Rephaniah, Jeriel, Jemi, Gibson, and Shemuel, heads of their father's house. The sons of Tola were mighty men of valor. This is what I wanted to point out. They were mighty men of valor in their generations. Their number in the days of David was 22,600. So for those of you who were grateful for serving our country, these guys were the special ops. Okay, yeah, 22,600. And these guys are mighty men of valor, and they were specially trained for war. And so we are introduced there to Issachar and his family. You jump ahead to verse six. And now we come to the family of Benjamin. So back on the screen there, Benjamin is son number 12. This is the youngest of the 12 sons of Jacob. And there's an interesting story behind Benjamin. And those of you who are familiar with your Bibles know this story, but it is recorded for us in Genesis, chapter 35, that Benjamin, being the youngest son of Jacob, he was born to Jacob and his wife Rachel. And Rachel, unfortunately, died giving birth to Benjamin. And when she was in the throes of death, as she was delivering Benjamin, she didn't name him Benjamin when she was dying. She said his name shall be Benoni. Now, Benoni in Hebrew means son of my sorrow, because she knew she was dying, so she names her son Son of my Sorrow. Now, dad, Jacob is there also as his son is being born. And with all due respect to his dying wife, as soon as Rachel dies, Jacob says his name will not be Benoni. His name will be Benyamin. Benjamin in English. Benyamin in Hebrew means son of my right hand, meaning this is the son of my strength. And I'm so thankful that this example is set for us because, I mean, think about how tragic it would have been for Benon to live out the rest of his life with the burden of knowing that his birth caused his mother's death and that he was so named for her sorrow. Now, of course, he's. He's going to be told that his mother died in childbirth. But to bear the name Son of my sorrow, I mean, just how. I'm sure Rachel didn't mean it in a cruel way, but I mean, how cruel for him to have to bear that shame for the rest of his life. And Jacob steps in and he says, with all due respect to the Wife I love. His name will not be Son of my sorrows. His name will be Son of my right hand. And he gives him a name of strength so that Benjamin can live up to that name instead of a name that has a shameful connotation. So it mentions here in verse six, the sons of Benjamin, Bela, Becher and Jediael, three in all. And then it lists a bunch of names. So you're welcome. I will not read it. Verse 13, we get introduced to Naphtali. Now, Naphtali is son number six. He gets one verse. He gets just one line here. The sons of Naphtali were Jaziel, Guni, Jazer and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah. So Naphtali is son number six. But what this doesn't tell you, I want to mention, because it does pay tribute to Naphtali. Naphtali ends up having the land territory around the Sea of Galilee. And there's this beautiful prophecy in Isaiah, chapter 9, about how Jesus, how the Messiah will live in the land of Naphtali. And So in Isaiah 9:1, I'll just read it to you. It says, in the past, he that is God humbled the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles by the way of the sea along the Jordan. And so Isaiah prophesies there about how in the future, because Isaiah was, you know, speaking about a time yet to come when Messiah would come upon the earth and that Messiah's territory, where he would live would be the land of Naphtali. So that whole area of the Galilee region is the land of Naphtali. And Isaiah prophesies that it'll be known by the way of the sea. You go to Israel. Today, the major trade route that is noted along the Mediterranean Sea is called the Via Maris, the Way of the Sea. And. And it was the major trade route upon which Capernaum is situated. And Jesus main headquarters was there in Capernaum for the three years of his public ministry. And why did he pick Capernaum? Because it was along a major trade route where everybody would spread the news about Jesus. This is the day before Internet, newspapers, satellites. And so how do you get, how do you get the word out? Well, you situate yourself along a major trade route. So hundreds of years earlier, like 750 years earlier, Isaiah is prophesying that, that the Messiah, his ministry will be around the Via Maris, the way of the Sea, around the region of the Galilee, a beautiful fulfillment by Jesus of Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 1. So Naphtali as a person occupies this land around the region of the Galilee where Jesus ministry occurs. So even though he only gets one verse here in 1st Chronicles, his name has a lasting testimony to the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1. And then we are brought here to the family of Manasseh. Now, if you look at the list behind me, Manasseh's not on that list. And neither is if you have a subtitles on your Bibles. The next guy in verse 20 is Ephraim. Manasseh and Ephraim. Well, we're talking about Joseph. So I'm going to underline Joseph's name because Joseph had these sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And when Joseph's father Jacob was dying, he was pronouncing blessings, or in some cases he was pronouncing a judgment upon some of his sons. And so as he's dying, one of the things he says about Joseph in Genesis chapter 48 is that you will receive a double blessing. And he blesses Joseph. And the double blessing is his two sons will receive an allotment within the family. And so Joseph doubles his. His blessing because both of his sons are going to move up into the family tree as far as blessing goes. So the tribe of Levi, because the Levites are going to be taken out for a special purpose as the priests who serve the Lord. So now you're minus Levi. Joseph comes out so that his two sons can come in. When you read some of the twelve tribes of Israel reference, sometimes it's absent Levi and Joseph because Manasseh and Ephraim have been inserted. But that's the reason, because Manasseh and Ephraim get this double portion because Jacob blesses his son Joseph. Now, why did Jacob bless Joseph? Well, because two reasons. Number one, because if you remember, if you know anything about the story of Joseph, you remember he was betrayed by his other brothers. And he was betrayed and sold into slavery. And he was sold into slavery, ends up down in Egypt. And his brothers were like, good riddance. We didn't like the guy. Now why didn't they like the guy? Well, here's the other reason that Joseph got a double blessing. It's because Joseph was Jacob was Daddy's favorite boy. Now, how do we know he was Daddy's favorite boy? Cause Daddy made him a coat of many colors and told him to wear it. Like, can you imagine? You got like 12 sons and you're like, I'm gonna make a special jacket for this one son of mine, son number 11. I like this guy. And so I'M going to give him a special jacket that'll stand out. Everybody will know he's the favorite child. And so that's why when Joseph comes parading among his brothers wearing this jacket, his brothers are like, oh, here comes that dude again. Let's just take him out. And so they just clobber the kid and they throw him in a pit. And along comes some Midianite vagabonds on their way to make trade in Egypt. And they find Joseph and they pull him out of this pit and. And that's how Joseph ends down in Egypt. And those brothers of Joseph lie to their father and they go back and they take pieces of Joseph's garments and they splash some blood on it. And they're like, dad, wild beasts destroyed Joseph. We're so terrible, we're so sad. We don't know what's our own brother. He was destroyed. He was mauled alive by wild animals. It's been a terrible day. And these guys put on an Academy Award performance. They get like Oscars and Emmys. And so dad is like, beside himself. And for years he believes his son is dead, that his son has been mauled by wild animals. So when eventually, by God's providence. I'm making a long story as short as I can. When, by God's providence, Jacob is made aware of the fact that Joseph is not dead at all. In fact, he's the second in command in Egypt. He's like the prime minister of Egypt under Pharaoh himself. By God's providence, this guy's been promoted in the land of Egypt and for a reason. Because in Israel there's a famine. And God has given Joseph insight in Egypt to stockpile 7 years of surplus for 7 years of famine that are about to come. And when the children of Jacob, when these sons of Jacob come down to Egypt to try to get some food because they're starving in Israel, that's when they realize their long lost brother is not dead. He's in power. He's been promoted to the second in command of the whole land of Egypt. And God has this wonderful reunion between Joseph and his brothers. But it's a painful kind of wonderful reunion. And that's when Joseph, he's one of my favorite characters in all the Bible, I put Daniel and Joseph right up there in the same camp where Joseph is so magnanimous in his heart that because he forgives his brothers who had betrayed him all those years earlier. And that's that famous line, what you intended for evil, God intended for good. And Joseph took comfort in knowing that God's providential hand is on his life, whether his brothers betrayed him or whether his brothers were kind to him. God's hand has been on his life, and he forgave his brothers. But dad obviously was upset learning this story decades later that Joseph was alive and that his brothers had invented this ruse about Joseph being mauled by animals. So you better believe when Jacob comes to the end of his life, he's like, Joseph, you're. I mean, this isn't right. Don't show. Don't show favoritism to your kids. But he's like, you were my favorite kid before and now you're especially my favorite kid now. So double blessing for you. Favoritism is a terrible thing, though, by the way. Don't show favoritism. You know, look, I've got three grown kids now, and it's possible to love them uniquely and to treat them uniquely based on their personality and their interests and what they like and what they don't like without showing favoritism to any of them. It's a terrible thing when in a family there's favoritism shown because it became a rift within this family, a rift that God mended and healed, but nevertheless a rift. And so Jacob blesses Joseph at the end of his life. Joseph gets a double blessing because now there's this mention here of the family of Manasseh and the family of Ephraim. And so let's move on now into the middle of chapter seven at verse 30. If you have a subtitle in your Bible like I do now, we are introduced to the family of Asher. So I will underline Asher on the family tree here. This is son number seven. And if you just jump to the end of the chapter, I'll just read a little bit about the family of Asher. Verse 40, it says, all these were the children of Asher, heads of their fathers, houses, choice men, mighty men of valor, chief leaders. And they were recorded by genealogies among the army fit for battle. Their number was 26,000. So they also are well known for their men of valor, and they contribute to the fighting army of Israel. And so these are the sons that the writer of Chronicles introduces us to and gives us their family trees. And I'll come back to these two still on the screen behind me who have not yet been mentioned, Dan and Zebulun. But for the moment, look into chapter eight. In chapter eight, my Bible is subtitled the family tree of King Saul of Benjamin. So this is again one of the sons of Jacob, Benjamin, the Youngest Benyamin, the first king of Israel, comes from the line of Benjamin, Saul. And so we're introduced here to the first king. And I just want to point out here from chapter 8, if you will, jump to verse 33 where it mentions Saul, who will be the first king of Israel in verse 33. Again, I'm just skipping through a bunch of names. So verse 33 mentions Nur. This is one of the descendants here of Benjamin. Nur begot Kish. And here Kish begot Saul. And so here's the first king of Israel, and Saul begot Jonathan, Milkashua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal. And then it says the son of Jonathan was Merib baal. Okay, so note here we're introduced to Saul, part of the family tree of Benjamin. And Saul has four sons. Now, if we have time tonight, keep that in mind because we're going to reference four sons later. But here are his four sons named. I want you to notice the last son is named Eshbaal, but he is also known in the Bible as Ish Bosheth. And Ish Bosheth, the son of Saul, will actually become king for two years. Sometimes he's overlooked, but he becomes king for two years before David. Actually, even though David is seen as the second king of Israel, there's this little temporary stint that Ish Bosheth, otherwise known here as Eshbaal, has as king for two years. We'll talk about that a little bit later. But the other thing I wanted to point out with you is one of Saul's sons, probably the best known of Saul's sons is Jonathan. And Jonathan, mentioned here in verse 34, has a son named Meribaal. Now, Meribaal, if you some of your Bibles have a footnote right there. And Meribaal is otherwise known as Mephibosheth. Meribaal is known as Mephibosheth also in the Bible. Meribaal is a name that in Hebrew means contender of baal. Now, BAAL was a false God. And so it is believed that even though the name is supposed to be a strong name that speaks about how he's named after, you know, a good fight against a false God, Meribaal, contender of baal, that at some point that that was too raw of a name because the Canaanite people were pagan people that had influenced the Israelites. And so his name is otherwise referred to as Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth is well known in the Scriptures for being lame in both legs and the Bible tells us that Mephibosheth became crippled in both legs when his nurse. Think of the Bible says nurse, but think of it like a nanny, when his nanny dropped him when he was five years old. Now, the Bible gives us the story and tells us that when the nanny heard that King Saul and his sons had been killed in battle, she scoops up Saul's grandson, Mephibosheth, when he's five years old. And she runs because she's trying to protect him. You know, she realizes Saul the king is dead, Jonathan is dead, these other sons are dead, and so who's gonna be the next king of Israel? And so she's trying to preserve the royal line. She doesn't know if the Philistines are also gonna come after Saul's. The rest of his family, to kill them. So she scoops up Mephibosheth, probably with good intent. And somewhere in the process of running, she drops him. And whether he is dropped so severely that he breaks both legs and it's never again to be mended, or whether she drops him in a way that breaks his neck and he is paralyzed from the waist down, we don't really know the details other than the Bible says Mephibosheth was lame or crippled in both legs. But here's. Here's the reason I'm bringing this up, because this is one of the most tender stories in the Bible. David, who will later become king. David had such a. A genuine relationship with Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan, that there's an occasion where Jonathan makes a promise. He takes an oath. Sorry, David takes an oath about Jonathan. And he says, if anything ever happens to you, I will always honor your family. And so Jonathan has now died along with his father in battle. And so Mephibosheth is left now. His father is dead, his grandfather is dead, and David later becomes king. And there's this very tender exchange between David and Mephibosheth years later. And this is recorded in 2 Samuel, chapter 9. And what happens is David keeps his oath years later. And he has compassion for Mephibosheth because Mephibosheth is basically destitute. He's living alone. He's living in isolation. And David makes good on his promise. And he says to Mephibosheth, in extending mercy from the king to Mephibosheth, in being a man of his word, David says to Mephibosheth, you shall always have a seat at the king's table. And he brings him into his house, and Mephibosheth will for the rest of his life dine at the king's table. And let me tell you why I think this is a wonderful story, because it always reminds me of the tender relationship we have with the Lord. We. We are meibachath. We have been crippled by sin. And the king of kings has had mercy on us and says, come, dine at my table. That's the mercy of our king. So I made it a point. For those of you who want to take notes. First Chronicles, chapter eight. Here's a principle. Like Mephibosheth, we are crippled by sin, yet the king has shown us mercy and invites us to eat at his table. That's all of Revelation 19. It's talking about the wedding feast of the Lamb, where he invites his bride to come and to dine. And we will forever feast at the table of our king, Jesus. So it is a picture. You know, David is the ancestor of Jesus. That's why many times in the Bible, Jesus is referred to as the son of David. So he's like a picture or a type of Jesus. And Mephibosheth is like a picture or a type of you and me. Destitute, lonely, broken, crippled by sin. And the king shows us mercy, and forever we shall dine at the king's table because of grace and mercy of the cross that he has extended to us. So I just love that story. Just the tenderness of it all. Well, we get here to chapter nine. We still have a few more minutes. So you all doing all right? Chapter nine. Okay, let's go a little bit further here. Chapter nine. So all Israel was recorded by genealogies, and indeed they were inscribed in the book of the kings of Israel. So that's the statement right there that we've been making about how this is a handbook for the Jewish people going back to Jerusalem. Where have I come from? What's my language? What's my identity, my family history? And so chapter nine, this is why all the genealogies were written, so that all Israel was recorded by genealogies. And indeed they were inscribed in the book of the kings of Israel. But Judah was carried away captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness. So now it's like bringing us up to speed with things. But I want to go back to the chart for just a minute to the family tree, because we have these two, Dan and Zebulun, two of the 12 sons of Jacob, who were not mentioned. There's no genealogical list of those two sons. And why is it? The answer is nobody knows Bible scholars don't understand why those two guys were omitted. And here's what they speculate, that in the course of 70 years, the genealogical record of those two guys was lost. And so it's not mentioned. Now. It doesn't mean that the descendants of Dan or the descendants of Zebulun are lost. God knows where they are. In fact, what's interesting is when you. When you look into the book of Revelation, you don't need to turn there. But in the book of Revelation, the Lord tells us that in the future that God will raise up 144,000 Jewish evangelists. These are Jews who are believers in Yeshua, in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and that God will assign 144,000 Jews to go throughout the land during the tribulation period and present the Gospel so that more people can be saved. And In Revelation chapter 7, it breaks down the 144,000 or 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. But what's interesting is In Revelation chapter 7, Dan is missing from the list. And instead Manasseh is mentioned. And when you wonder, like, why is Dan missing from the list of Revelation 7? Okay, so here's another possibility. When Jacob was blessing his sons, when he comes to Dan, he makes this prophetic pronouncement on Dan. And you can read it in the. In the end of Genesis, where basically people have begun to interpret that I say people, meaning some Bible scholars, to mean that out of the tribe of Dan will come the Antichrist. And I do believe the Antichrist will be Jewish. Now, there's a lot of people who will disagree on that, and that's okay. They're entitled to be wrong. But I do think that the Antichrist will be Jewish. I think it will take a Jew who will be able to broker a deal of peace among the Jewish people. And the Antichrist sets himself up in the temple and proclaims himself to be God. So there's this possibility that because the Antichrist comes from the tribe of Dan, the tribe of Dan is not listed as part of the 144,000 in Revelation chapter 7. However, good news. Dan is mentioned in Ezekiel, chapter 48 during the millennial kingdom. So we see the tribes of Zebulun and Dan in the millennial period, but they're not mentioned here in Chronicles. In other words, God knows where they are, and God knows who the Jewish people are, and he will make that known in the end times who belongs to what tribe, because presently Jews today don't really know what tribe they are of Unless their last name is Levi or Cohen, because Cohen means priest in Hebrew, and Levi is part of the tribe of Levi, part of the Levites. So otherwise, most Jews today don't really know what tribe that they belong to. But somehow, somewhere, God is going to arrange that so that the Jews again know of what tribe that they belong to. And God will raise up 144,000 by the 12 tribes in Revelation chapter 7. So a lot we don't understand, but that is still to unfold. But again, notice the indictment here in chapter nine is that Judah was carried away, captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness. It was because of their sin that they were sent into captivity for those 70 years. And then look at verse two. And the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions, meaning the ancient homeland of Israel, in their cities were Israelites, priests, Levites, and the Nethinim. Nethinim were temple servants. And so what's interesting to me is here in chapter nine, the. Between verse one and verse two, the writer of Chronicles just skipped 70 years. It's like, okay, verse one, the people of Judah were unfaithful, so they were taken into captivity. Verse two, they came back to take possession of their homeland. What just happened to 70 years? We don't wanna talk about that. It's like a bad stain on our own history. So we're just gonna move right into, hey, we're back. And so it's good to be back home. And let's just carry on talking about what it means to be back home. So that's where we will pick up next week. So read ahead, because they start to talk about, now that they're back in Jerusalem, what does this look like? Who is going to dwell there? Who is going to serve in the temple of the Lord? And so we'll pick it up there next week. But for tonight, let's just pause and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you for this time in your word. And Lord, thank you always for the different things that you teach us from the pages of your Word, even from centuries ago, Lord, just thinking even of Mephibosheth. And just the mercy of the King and how merciful you are towards us, Lord. And so we just want to thank you for your tender mercies that you extend even to us still today, that even though we have been crippled by sin, you invite us to be forgiven and to have a seat at your table. So thank you, Lord, for loving us and thank you for dying for us, to redeem us from our sins. And we just give you the praise and the glory and the honor. Be with us now as we drive to our homes. Bring us back safely on Sunday and we thank you in Jesus name and everyone said Amen and Amen sat.