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Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey. Family. Welcome to day 349. We are done with the genealogies in Chronicles, so today we are diving into First Chronicles chapters 10, 11, and 12. If you've done the reading and you're going to have so much context for everything that we're going to discuss, if you have trekked your way through the mud of the last nine chapters, we are finally in the narrative portion of Chronicles. And I am so happy to announce the reading is considerably easier today than it has been the first three days of Chronicles. So welcome to the stage, David. That's right. We are going to now get into a different perspective on David's life. So I am going to, for context, give you all of the things that are not here. And there are five key elements that are not present, but then there's three elements that are going to get emphasized. So five things that are going to get omitted by Chronicles and then three things that are actually going to get highlighted. My goal in today's episode is just to help you to see that Chronicles is really not a repeat of what's happening in Samuel and Kings, but it is a completely and entirely different perspective on David and David's life and David's role and David as a figurehead in the history of the people of Israel. So like I say every day, if you have not done the reading for the day, if you have not done. If you have not read 1st Chronicles, chapters 10, 11, and 12, how about you stop this video? How about you pause the audio, go get the reading done, come on back because you're going to have so much more context for today's episode. With no further ado, let's dive in. All right, Five things that we don't have in Chronicles that are heavily emphasized in books like Samuel. Okay, it does. I guess I'll give it to you in list fashion. No shepherd in Chronicles. Okay? David does not start out as a shepherd. That's not how Chronicles is. Chronicles not gonna highlight the fact that this man was a shepherd. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Number two, no Goliath. There is no giant to fight. That is not gonna be something that is important to the priestly history, that's important to the prophetic History. But not for Ezra. Number three, there is no playing the harp for Saul. Like, Saul's going to have an evil spirit and David's going to play none of that. We don't have any of that. Okay? Number four, there's no running from Saul, no cave of a Dullah moment, no moment where David is going to cut the hem of Saul's garment. And no, none of that. So no running away. Okay? And then last, there's going to be no civil war or civil conflict once Saul dies. Okay? In Kings. Rather. Sorry. In 2 Samuel, when Saul dies, David only becomes the king of Judah. And actually, they try to install Ishbaal, okay, as the king for the remaining tribes up in the north. Okay? So. And David has to go at it with Abner and Ishbaal. But in Chronicles, there's none of that. Okay? It doesn't mention the story of David in first Samuel. So nothing in first Samuel. It's almost as if we skipped entirely to two Samuel. Okay? There's no David being a shepherd, no Goliath, no playing for Saul, no David the war hero, no running from Saul. The story in Chronicles begins with the death of Saul and his sons in chapter 10, okay? Which obviously is on the docket for today's reading. And then David is anointed king over key words, all Israel. Okay? All Israel. Now, we know from 2 Samuel that he wasn't king over all Israel at first, just Judah. But in Chronicles, all Israel. Why? Because Ezra wants all Israel to be loyal to the temple which was built by or prepared by David and then built by David's son. Okay? David is anointed king of all Israel by all Israel. So there's nothing here in Chronicles of David being king of Judah. First, in the civil war with the north at first supporting Ishbaal, David is king of Israel. That's where he starts the story in the priestly history. It will also add details that Samuel does not have. Okay, three in particular. Number one, we're gonna get way more of an emphasis on David as a worshiper. Go figure. Okay? The temple's gonna be a big deal. Second, way more detail on the preparations that David makes for the temple. Okay, There is gonna be much more about David's preparations for the temple and his reorganization of the priests and the Levites. I don't know if you can remember this, but when we were in Psalms and we were giving a bunch of context on just the organization of the choirs and the Levites and the priests, a lot of our context clues came from Chronicles. Why? Because Chronicles is actually going to highlight David's key role as someone who completely refigured worship for the temple. Okay? And then lastly, we are going to get way more of an emphasis on David's army, which is going to lead to a key difference between Chronicles and Second Samuel. In Second Samuel, the reason for David's downfall is his sexual misconduct with Bathsheba. Okay? Now, for those of you who have been rocking with me all year, you know that I firmly believe that David sexually assaulted Bathsheba, that Bathsheba is a victim in this situation. Okay? So in Second Samuel, that is the thing that kickstarts everything. It kickstarts his son Absalom's rebellion. It kickstarts everything. I mean, David's inability to manage his private life is going to be the downfall in Samuel. Okay, not in Chronicles, though. The thing that's going to be the downfall in Chronicles is completely different. And it's linked to him counting his army. So the army is a big deal. This army's huge. And there's some nerdy nuggets that are going to begin to plant the seeds here in chapters 11 and 12. Okay. That are going to help us to go or help us to understand what is Ezra getting at. And of course, it's gotta be. It's gonna be details, because the Bible doesn't tell, but it always shows. Okay, so let's dive into our nerdy nuggets. Okay? I'll give you one nerdy nugget from chapter 10, maybe one or two from chapter 11, and then from chapter 12 in first chronicles, chapter 10, Saul's gonna die. Okay? And that's what it's gonna say. This is chapter 10, verses 13 and 14. So Saul died for his breach of faith. Already you can see how Chronicles is giving a totally different perspective on why Saul is allowed to die. Like, why does Yahweh allow Saul to die? So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with Yahweh in that he did not keep the command of Yahweh and also consulted a medium. Remember when Saul goes to the witch of Endor? Okay? The story is in Samuel, but the reason or the consequence is here in Chronicles. Okay? Who also consulted a medium seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from Yahweh. Therefore, Yahweh put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David, the son of Jesse. The fall of Saul. He here in Chronicles is attributed to seeking guidance from a medium rather than Yahweh. Saul's failure and unfaithfulness is shown in his religious attitude. He seeks spiritual guidance in the wrong place. He does not look to Yahweh. So he is replaced by one who will always, always, always, always, throughout his whole reign, look to Yahweh. Okay? One of the massive themes of David's life is David inquired of the Lord, David inquired of the Lord, David inquired of the Lord. And so whereas Saul is dependent upon Samuel, and when Samuel dies, he goes to the witch of Endor to get a medium to essentially communicate with the dead for him. David has a direct line of inquiry with the Lord. He has a relationship with the Lord. Okay? And just that little different that that tweak is emphasized in Chronicles as opposed to the story that we get in Samuel and in Kings. Remember this, in the Western world, differences or discrepancies are seen as a reason to not trust the text. But in the Eastern world, differences, differences and discrepancies actually create tension. It's the thing that an Eastern person would notice. And it doesn't cause an Eastern audience to distrust the text. It actually causes Eastern audiences to ask questions of the text. Okay, So I want us to ask questions as opposed to question the text. I want us to ask questions of the text, not question the text. Okay? Very, very, very, very different. All right, so then we get to chapter 11. Okay? Notice in chapter 11 that all Israel and all the elders, okay, the emphasis is David's king of the whole country of all 12 tribes. And more in kings, the story is of a reluctance of the northern tribes to accept David and a loose loyalty when they do so. When the split happens after Solomon between the north and the south, it is not that big of a surprise. As you already knew, the northern tribes were not completely loyal to David. He was not one of their own. But here the story is shown of all Israel being loyal to David. It is portraying David and therefore his house as the true king acknowledged by Yahweh and by all Israel. This repeated theme will mean that when the northern tribes split from David's house, it is way more of a whiplash. It is way more of a bigger shock. It is a greater betrayal. It is a picture of a firmer rejection of Yahweh's choice. And so Yahweh's house, which is exactly what Ezra wants. Okay? Ezra wants his audience to see that disloyalty to the Temple is disloyalty to Yahweh. And Yahweh is the one that selected David to build him a house. Okay, I hope this is like clicking. Okay, Different Authors have different agendas, and based on those agendas, they take the raw material and shape it differently. And what we do in the job of interpreting not just what an author said, but what an author means is by looking at the agenda that that author actually has. And I know in our modern Western world, agendas are bad. But in the ancient world, where these texts are not foreign, but are completely at home, an agenda is not bad. An agenda's fine. An agenda is great. Chapter 11. Once we get to verses 10 to 47, we're going to start to get a lot of familiar content, probably. And it's David's mighty men. Okay, the rest of this reading continues to set up the story of David in the temple. I need you to see this. David is now king. Jerusalem is his capital. And now the focus will turn to the very thing that will decide where the temple will be built, and that is David's army. What follows is a list of mighty men. You've probably heard tons of sermons about these guys. Okay? David's warriors who helped him secure his kingdom, defeat his enemies, and expand his borders. The list is full of. I mean, the most daring and brave, just kind of like the guys. Guys. Okay? The list is divided into two. The first focus is on individuals. They're actually three, and then the 30, and then other mighty warriors. By the way, did you spot Uriah? Uriah is right here, but not as, like, Bathsheba's husband. It's because for Chronicles, the murder of Uriah in the sexual assault of Bathsheba is not what is responsible for David's downfall. Okay? The story tells of their bravery and mighty deeds in war. And many a sermon has been preached about these guys. Okay, these three, and then the 30. But there are a few nerdy nuggets about them that are less obvious. Here we go. I want you to look at the names when you study. Now, in the ancient world, let me give you context, okay? There are mercenaries who get paid to fight. Okay, your entire army, unless you're like the Spartans, your entire army is not going to be trained warriors. For most people, your army are going to be people who are, like, farmers by day, warriors by night. It's like they got normal jobs. These are just. Any man within fighting age are going to, like, be in the army. And so you actually needed mercenaries, like, who could train professional soldiers. Like, Israel didn't have, like, a standing army, okay? They just had guys that you would just call upon all the. All the men, come on, like, we gotta go fight. Okay? And all these Guys would go fight. There's actually this scene in 300 that portrays this perfectly. The. The. The guy who's leading the Spartans, he encounters another group, and they're like, oh, there's. We got like a thousand people. And he's like, you got farmers. Like, you got. You got. You got tanners. Like, you got. You got a. You don't have warriors. And he's like, all of my guys, I may have a lower quantity, but I have a better quality of soldiers. Okay? If you remember that moment from 300, you're a real one. Anywho, all right, Anyone who had a nation and you needed to develop an army, you needed professionals, okay? You needed people who were paid to fight. And that's who these mighty men of David were. Professional soldiers who stayed with David because he fought so many wars. Okay, which leads us to the second point. A lot of these mercenaries are Gentiles. Go ahead and look at the names. These are not Jewish guys. These are Gentiles. Yeah, you do see some Reubenites, someone of Bethlehem or Anathoth and other clans from the earlier list for sure. But you also get Uriah, the Hittite, Ithma the Moabite, Abiel the Zelik, the Ammonite. And there could be more, as many of the mighty men come from places that are only mentioned here. So we do not know if they are in Israel or outside. And the simple truth is this, Gentiles were a good source of mercenaries. Israel had only recently become effective fighters in war during Saul's reign. So if David wanted professional soldiers, looking outside of Israel would be a great place to start. However, I want you to think. I want you to think who's writing chronicles? Ezra. What do we know about Ezra from the books of, like, Ezra and Nehemiah? That there are three waves that come back from exile. The first wave is like with Zerubbabel. And when Zerubbabel gets back to the land, people from the land. When he gets back to the land, people who are from that land want to help build the temple. And Zerubbabel was like, oh, heck no. You. I will not let Anyone who's not 100% Jewish help us in any way. And then Nehemiah gets back, and people want to help with the wall, but they're foreigners. And so what does Nehemiah say? Nope, you have no part with us. You cannot help us. And then Ezra is going to make everyone divorce their foreign wives. So I'm not saying this like it's xenophobic, but for Ezra, gentile help is not help at all. Like, Ezra's whole vibe is like, no, Zerubbabel didn't accept Gentile help. Nehemiah didn't accept Gentile help. And I made dudes divorce their foreign wives. Like, we don't do Gentile help. So this may be like a nerdy little detail, but what Ezra is doing through Chronicles is showing you that the reason for David's downfall is not going to be killing Uriah and sexually assaulting Bathsheba. It's not sexual, it's not lust. It's that he trusted Gentiles in his army. Because in Chronicles, the reason that David is going to ultimately fail is because he counted his army. That's the story that Chronicles is going to tell. And you, as a Bible nerd, have to be okay with the fact that Chronicles has a different reason for David's downfall than Samuel. And the prophetic history of the Bible and the priestly history of the Bible aren't competing with each other. They are completing each other. Okay? And so a lot of times I hope this has become normal. That when something feels like it's incorrect, I want you to ask the question, is it that it's incorrect or is it that it's incomplete? And what the Bible is doing is actually giving you a complete picture that there's more than one reason for David's downfall. And Samuel's going to give you one reason and Chronicles is going to give you the other reason. And in our Western world, we would ask a really bad question or just a very American question, well, which one's right? And that's just not the point. In the Eastern world, the answer would be yes, both are right. This is not a question of which one is right. It's a question of do we need a rake because there are leaves or do we need a shovel because there is snow? And the Bible is trying to equip you with as many tools as possible to know how to apply Chronicles when Chronicles needs to be applied, but applied Samuel when Samuel needs to be applied based on the situation and circumstance that you are dealing with. All right? Chapter 11 and 12 are planting the seeds for a very different reason for the downfall, which gets us to our timeless truth for the day family. The wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of Scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Our Thomas Truth for the day is probably more of a question, which is the question that Ezra's wrestling with. And it's going to be the question that Judaism as a whole is going to wrestle with in the 400 years between chronicles and Matthew in the intertestamental period. And that question is this. How secular is too secular? How secular is too secular? Like, what does holy really mean? And where's the line between holy and sacred and secular and unholy? How worldly can we be? Like, is secular music okay? Is even describing some music as secular okay? Like, is going to the Games? Is going to the Olympic Games going to be okay? And this is really going to be important because the world of the Bible in the intertestamental period is going to enter into the Greek world. And man, the Greek world has the theater, it has the gymnasium. The Greek world has all this entertainment. And how secular is too secular, man, For Ezra, he's like, let's just be as least secular as possible. He has an issue with David just having Gentiles in the army, and it's clear that he has an issue with it. David's still a hero, but you got this little thing against you. And for Ezra, it's not a little thing. It's a big thing. So I would just ask you, like, our Thomas Truth for the day is that question is never going to go away because Christians are called to be a contrast community. Now, are we called to be, like, the Amish, or it's just like, hey, bro, like, Ezekiel ain't even got power tools. You know what I mean? Like, are we called to be like Mormons who, like, okay, they're not as much of a contrast as the Amish, but they still have a uniform. Like, it's clear that, like, when you see Mormons, there are Mormons, or is it okay that Christians kind of blend in with society, that we dress normal or modern? What is it that makes us different? Is it our culture? Is it our commands? Is it our rules like what is it? And that is not an answer to arrive at. It's not a problem to solve. I actually think it's a tension to manage and it should be a question at the forefront of your mind all the time. Are there things that may be allowed, but they're not beneficial and I should give them up not based on legalism, but actually based on a relationship with the Holy Spirit. I've become someone like David who inquires of the Lord, and because I inquire of the Lord, if God says to me, don't do X, even if X isn't a sin, I'm probably not going to do X because I don't want to be seen as someone who's just too secular. And I think that's helpful. Not just for David, not just for Ezra, but for you and for me. That's our Thomas Truth for the day. Tomorrow we got day three 50yo. We are trekking through chronicles. I'm super excited. I'll see you tomorrow as we discuss chapters 13, 14 and 15. I love you. I'm so proud of you, especially if you're on the street. I'll see you tomorrow. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department Podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram at the Bible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.