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What you get in 1 Chronicles Bible maps
With the 1 Chronicles Bible maps collection, you get 41 high resolution maps tracking the stories of King David rise from a fugitive and raider to one of Israel's most revered kings. This is the story of the beginning of Israel developing into the regional superpower that was strong enough to defeat the warriors of the Philistine nation.
Sample original map in the 1 Chronicles Bible maps
Five hundred years after King David got another manโs wife pregnant, a Jewish historian skipped that story when he wrote about David in the book of 1 Chronicles.
Chronicles also skips Solomonโs senior years when the king, instead of wising up, is worshiping idols.
This writer omitted other nasty, juicy stories we can read in 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings.
Chronicles, a numbers guy
Instead, this anonymous writer hunted down what many people of faith would call boring detailsโnames and numbers of Jewish leadersโand he wrote it all for us to read.
Why would anyone start a Bible book with something as sedate as 2,000 namesโa forest of family trees? Thatโs the first nine chapters of 1 Chroniclesโalmost a third of the entire book.
Later we get to read the list of supplies David gathered for the Jerusalem Temple he was planning for his son Solomon to build someday. And after that, thereโs a personnel roster of everyone David assigned to work at the Temple, along with their job descriptions: priests, their Levite associates, musicians, Temple security, and what amounts to Israelโs national guard (chapters 23-27).
Fun fact: David divided the army into 12 divisions. Each division served just one month a year.
This is an odd Bible book. But thereโs a reason for the oddity, scholars say. Jump down to the section โPurpose.โ
PURPOSE
Many scholars say this history book of Chronicles is an encouraging message to heartbroken Jews who thought Israel was dead and they were no longer Godโs Chosen People.
After all, they:
- broke Godโs laws and were supremely punished for itโexiled for 50 years.
- lost their Temple and without it, their entire sacrificial system of worship.
- lost Jerusalem, leveled in 586 BC by Babylonians.
- lost their Promised Land.
- got exiled to what is now Iraq (then Babylon).
- returned home, but to a shrunken Judah, now just a province of Persia (Iran).
So they wondered, โAre we still Godโs chosen people?โ
The writer uses history, family trees, and minutia about the Temple to assure them that despite all that happened, yes, God has always had unique plans for them.
Moses, a thousand years before Chronicles, seemed to predict what happened to them.
โIt doesnโt matter if youโve been shipped off to a faraway countryโฆThe LORD your God will take you to the home of your ancestors. Heโll give it back to you. Heโll treat you well. And youโll grow into a nation bigger than everโ (Deuteronomy 30:4-5).
Chronicles wasnโt hiding Israelโs sad history, scholars say. The people and their ancestors had lived it and knew it all too well. Instead, the writer wanted the people to remember good history, too.
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