1st Chronicles 3 PLUS, AND MINUS The history of most nations we have studied in school is a recounting of events that have made the nation strong or weak. But events are really the result of human actions that may have been calculated or spontaneous. spur-of-the-moment decisions. The list of names that continues in chapter three reminds us that as far as God is concerned, "nations are as a drop of a bucket." People live forever. History in God's eyes is an unfolding of His-story and how mankind, created in His image, has fulfilled or failed according to His plans.
Humans have a mind, like "The mind of God," so that we can know Him. In a believer life changed from darkness to light when we were saved, so Paul could write, "We have the mind of Christ." We have emotions like God, "For God so loved the world...," and when we were made alive in Christ, love for God and for His people is part of the new nature we received by the new birth. "We love Him, because He first loved us...," and "We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." This is a demonstrable fact. The will of God is revealed clearly in the scriptures. Believers seek to "Do the will of God from the heart."
In the list of names in the first nine chapters of 1st Chronicles, we have a series of lessons we can learn from the lives of those people named. Adam's transgression has affected all of the human race. We may not realize the lasting implications of sin in our lives on the following generations at the time we make a bad decision. But it will have an impact for good or bad on those who know what we chose to do. Noah decided to obey God and saved "his house." Abraham chose to live by faith. Isaac was a peace-loving man. Esau was a bitter man. Amalek was just plain evil. Jacob failed in a lot of ways but was recovered to fellowship with God. Perez didn't come from a good background but God work His own will through his linage anyway. Boaz was a kind man. Jesse showed favoritism at first but learned that God see things differently than we do. Joab was just plain mean who died with nothing but a bad reputation although he was a good general.
Then we read of David's family at the head of the list in chapter three. David was the king in the line of Judah through which our Lord Jesus Christ came. Joseph, the husband of Mary, was from the kingly line of Solomon. Mary came from the line of David's son, Nathan. Perhaps he was named after the honorable prophet who lived in Israel at the time of his birth. For a man to have six wives even when polygamy was an acceptable practice, was forbidden for those who were kings. Money didn't seem to be a big problem to David although he was wealthy, but women were. As a result of that problem, family life was an even more serious problem to David. We may do a lot of things right, but that doesn't mean we will not have to suffer the consequences of doing wrong.
David's sons were notable for being lustful, subtle, deceitful, bitter and angry men. The teaching of the law and the prophets didn't seem to mean much to them. They wanted for themselves, and sought to take, what was only God's to give. At least two of them died in an attempt to go around the plan of God and take things into their own hands. Solomon asked God for wisdom, and got it, as well as riches and honor. But all of this was mainly directed at an outward show of materialism apart from the building of the temple. Israeli kings were not to have a lot of wives, horses, gold and silver because extreme wealth has a tendency to turn us away from faith and trust in God. Poor Solomon made bad decisions, especially as he got older and became a failure on almost all accounts.
All the generations that followed, suffered because of the moral failures of those who should have known better that to do what they did. That by no mean s excused them from taking responsibility for their own actions, but it does remind us that what I do or don't do, has influence that will be felt by generations yet unborn. It is incumbent on us to live each day in view of that which is right in the eyes of God. Each event in a day and each issue I have to face should be dealt with in the consciousness of the fact that there will be "fall-out" from those actions that will be either good or bad.
The list of names up through chapter three have to do with the nation and those who led the nation. Those who returned from captivity were given a positive, maybe even an idealized, view of their past leaders and their past history. It doesn't mean they were deceived in any way by the writer of the Chronicles, but there was no reason for them to be reminded of the failures and difficulties that David had, or his sin with Bathsheba. The crimes of Amnon and Absalom; the lack of self-control of Solomon or the failures of Adonijah would have no unifying effect on those people who were just released from captivity that was a result of their national sin.
To spend time looking back at mistakes and failures has no real beneficial effect on a large group of diverse people. We can learn as individuals from the mistakes of others, but that is only useful of there is a positive point to be made for our learning. The favorable light in which the Chronicles is written, points forward with hope to the future. There will be future glory for the nation under the reign of peace under the Messiah - our Lord Jesus Christ. This first list of names is basically a legal and political line of humanity that brought Israel into favor with God. It begins with Adam, the father of humanity. Then goes to Abraham, the father of the faithful. From the kingship of David through Zerubbabel traces the history of their nation under the rule of kings to the results of their failure as a people. The last names on the list are unknown people who in one way seem insignificant apart from the fact that through them and the succeeding generations came the Messiah who comes on to the pages of Israel's history after the four hundred years of "darkness." It was then that "light came into the world."