King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2021
Chapters: I Chronicles 3-5
Message: The Roll
Hello My Friend,
[When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more. And the morning breaks eternal bright and fair. When the saved diverse shall gather over on the other shore. And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.]
Every morning in my prayers I thank God for having faith in me and for His faithfulness, as well as my faith in Him, and for keeping me faithful to Him. This morning when I said that I thought maybe my message today would be about God’s faith in us, and is a great reminder of what Jesus said, [John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.]
Names are important to God, He knows us by name, in fact, we may think that our parents gave us our name, but it is actually God who does. One day, Jesus is going to call each and every one of His own, whether alive or in heaven, to join together as one. Now, as we continue to read all these names from I Chronicles, which may seem a little redundant, they are necessary. Remember, this is written by Ezra, it is kind of like when God had Moses write Genesis centuries after he was even born, to give an account. I Chronicles is a registry book, one that the Jews used when they came back to Israel after being in captivity to Babylon for seventy years, of what tribe they came from. While most of those in Babylon were of the tribe of Judah, the Jews were scattered all of the world as well, so even today it is use to find their heritage. I Chronicles 3 begins with the lineage of David.
[I Chronicles 3:1-9 Now these were the sons of David, which were born unto him in Hebron; the firstborn Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess: 2 The third, Absalom the son of Maachah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur: the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith: 3 The fifth, Shephatiah of Abital: the sixth, Ithream by Eglah his wife. 4 These six were born unto him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years. 5 And these were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel: 6 Ibhar also, and Elishama, and Eliphelet, 7 And Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, 8 And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. 9 These were all the sons of David, beside the sons of the concubines, and Tamar their sister.]
[Solomon, four, of Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel:] When you think about all the wives that David had, and from different countries, you can get a sense as to how things got so out of hand when Absalom tried to kill his own father and take the throne from him. I imagine from the description of his wives, some of these were treaties, but Bathsheba, she is the one that David had an affair with and had her husband, Uriah, placed in a heated battle where he died as to not find out that his wife was pregnant. While they lost that child due to their sin, God would still use Bathsheba to have Solomon, who became the most prominent king in the world. Still today, even on my Civics class, Solomon was mentioned as being one of the most honorable and compassionate kings of all time. God will turn every bad judgment and decision we make into something good, of course, chastening does come, but God will always turn a message into every mess, when we are repentant, [Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.]
Twenty kids, not counting the ones he had with the concubines, which were common law marriages. It is incomprehensible as to why these men had so many wives, but what is comprehensible is God’s mercy. We must understand that God never condoned any of this as from the beginning, marriage has always been one man and one woman. Yet, with all his faults, God still saw David as a man of his own heart. You tell me that God is an unjust God, and I will tell you that His mercy endures. And now, an account is given to the tribe of Judah itself, this would be David’s cousins outside of his immediately family.
[I Chronicles 4:1-4,8-10 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal. 2 And Reaiah the son of Shobal begat Jahath; and Jahath begat Ahumai, and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites. 3 And these were of the father of Etam; Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash: and the name of their sister was Hazelelponi: 4 And Penuel the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem. 8 And Coz begat Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum. 9 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.]
[and Hur,] Hur grabbed my attention when we read his name back in Chapter 2, Hur was the man who helped Moses when the Israelites fought with the Amalekites. [Exodus 17:10-12 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.] God may not give us the most prominent positions, but each and every one of us serves a great purpose, and will actually be not only recognized, but be exalted by God Himself, [Matthew 23:10-12 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.]
[Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.] Jabez means to grieve, so, when his mother gave birth to him she was grieving. Perhaps it was the way he came into this world that was his drive to be more honorable than his brothers. Growing up in impoverished neighborhood, one learns to grow up really quick, I certainly did, and even before I knew Jesus as my Saviour, I always said that if I ever gotten pregnant through rape I could never have an abortion because it was not the baby’s fault. Thank God that He even intervened back then too, we can either let the bad things in our lives define us or we can use them to empower us to be more honorable than them, [II Timothy 2:20-21 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.]
Chapter four also gives an account to the tribe of Simeon, Judah shared land they that was inherited to them with the tribe of Simeon because they were so small in number. [I Chronicles 4:24,27-33 The sons of Simeon were, Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul: 27 And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brethren had not many children, neither did all their family multiply, like to the children of Judah. 28 And they dwelt at Beersheba, and Moladah, and Hazarshual, 29 And at Bilhah, and at Ezem, and at Tolad, 30 And at Bethuel, and at Hormah, and at Ziklag, 31 And at Bethmarcaboth, and Hazarsusim, and at Bethbirei, and at Shaaraim. These were their cities unto the reign of David. 32 And their villages were, Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities: 33 And all their villages that were round about the same cities, unto Baal. These were their habitations, and their genealogy.]
[And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters;] God was with them and used them to conquer land that the Philistines had taken over. It is also interesting that this was written after all these events took place, including Hezekiah, who turned the nation of Israel around just before their captivity into Babylon. Now, as we come to chapter five, an account is given to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, these were the tribes that would not take an inheritance on the land of Israel, and were also the first tribes to get captured when God started judging Israel.
[I Chronicles 5:1-2,10,18-20 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. 2 For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s:) 10 And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites, who fell by their hand: and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the east land of Gilead. 18 The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, were four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war. 19 And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab. 20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him.]
[because they put their trust in him.] It is interesting that God helped them in their war with the Hagarite’s, who by the way were the children of Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, his father being Abraham. And just as fast as He helped them the half tribe of Manasseh, they turned on Him, and were of the first of them to be captured.
[I Chronicles 5:23-26 And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan unto Baalhermon and Senir, and unto mount Hermon. 24 And these were the heads of the house of their fathers, even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers. 25 And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. 26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.]
[and he carried them away,] This happened before Nebuchadnezzar invaded the south and took the Jews into Babylon. While there are a few tribes of the Jews that came back to Israel after the captivity, the majority of them remained and were probably killed when Babylon fell. Also, every morning in my prayers I thank God for the life He has given me and for what He allowed in my life. Everything that happens, good or bad, is not necessarily a punishment from God, it all serves the purpose in our becoming vessels of honor, and in some cases dishonor for those who are unrepentant. All this all goes to show you that we really do not know a lot about our ancestors, I have some members in my family that were shameful, others honorable. It is also proof that one day, all of God’s people, who are scattered all over the world, will come together when our names are called by our Saviour Himself, [John 10:14-16 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.] Praise God!
Jesus Christ Magnified: [I Chronicles 3:9-10 These were all the sons of David, beside the sons of the concubines, and Tamar their sister. 10 And Solomon’s son was Rehoboam, Abia his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,]
Today’s Prayer: God, Throughout the years I often wondered why You put me in a certain place or brought certain people in my life, and I still do not understand some of it. What I do understand is that everything I have gone through, good and bad, has a purpose and been used not for me, but to glorify You. And when I glorify You that is when You are pleased and exalt me for what I have done through You. Lord, thank You for using me, continue to use me as You see fit, and give me Your power, love, mercy, grace, wisdom, and guidance to be a vessel of honor. I ask this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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