1 Chronicles 2:25

1 Chronicles 2:25 says. And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were, Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah.  These next few verses tell us about the children and grandchildren and more of Hezron, starting with Jerahmeel, as we continue to move forward in the history of Israel.  Verse twenty-six adds, Jerahmeel had also another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.  Jerahmeel had at least two wives, which as I have stated before is never in accordance with God's law.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were, Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker.  Verse twenty-eight states, And the sons of Onam were, Shammai, and Jada. And the sons of Shammai; Nadab and Abishur.  Verse twenty-nine adds, And the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail, and she bare him Ahban, and Molid.  Verse twenty-nine continues, And the sons of Nadab; Seled, and Appaim: but Seled died without children.  Matthew Henry points out that Seled had no children, so being childless is not something new.  Sometimes, for whatever reason, God just does not bless a couple with children, but that doesn't mean we are to try to have them with someone other than our spouse.  Verse thirty-one says, And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi; Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan; Ahlai.  We are several generations into the descendants of Jerahmeel by now.  Verse thirty-two adds, And the sons of Jada the brother of Shammai; Jether, and Jonathan: and Jether died without children.  Here is another person, Jether, who died without children.  I will say that as Christians, we will all die without spiritual children, since we all become brothers and sisters in Christ.  Verse thirty-three continues, And the sons of Jonathan; Peleth, and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel.  Verse thirty-four states, Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.  Verse thirty-five adds, And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife; and she bare him Attai.  Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, and instead of marrying them to one of his fellow Israelites, he married one to an Egyptian, who was his servant, Jahra.  Arranged marriages were common then and still are in some countries and cultures today, but even then, God's people should marry God's people.  Matthew Henry says that Jarha, the Egyptian, was likely a convert to Judaism. We are to reach out to everyone with the gospel, and they may become a part of God's kingdom, but Christians really aren't supposed to marry them until they do.  Verse thirty-six continues, And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad,  Verse thirty-seven states, And Zabad begat Ephlal, and Ephlal begat Obed,  Verse thirty-eight says, And Obed begat Jehu, and Jehu begat Azariah,  Verse thirty-nine adds, And Azariah begat Helez, and Helez begat Eleasah,  Verse forty-continues, And Eleasah begat Sisamai, and Sisamai begat Shallum,  Verse forty-one concludes, And Shallum begat Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begat Elishama.

1 Chronicles 2:13

1 Chronicles 2:13 says, And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third,  These next few verses are a record of the sons of Jesse, of whom David was one, but not the firstborn.  Usually, the firstborn had the place of prominence in the family.  Our physical birth order in not what is important, but our rebirth into the family of God and faithfulness to Him is what does matter.  Verse fourteen adds, Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Verse fifteen continues, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh:  David was actually the seventh born son of Jesse, but he was the one that God chose to work through.  Verse sixteen states, Whose sisters were Zeruiah, and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah; Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.  These three would play a prominent role in Israel. We now have the record two sisters and their children.  The second, Abigail.  Verse seventeen adds, And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite. Verse eighteen says, And Caleb the son of Hezron begat children of Azubah his wife, and of Jerioth: her sons are these; Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.  Next, we have the descendants of Caleb listed.  Verse nineteen adds, And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur.  After the death of Azubah, Caleb married Ephrath, and they had a son named Hur.  Verse twenty continues, And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezaleel.  We are then given the names of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Caleb.  Verse twenty-one states, And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub.  We then return to Hezron, who married the daughter of Machir, who was also Gilead's father.  He was sixty years old at the time and she and he had a son named Segub.  We are not told her name.  It seems that sometimes in the Old Testament that women weren't as important as men, but we know that to God they are equally important.  Verse twenty-two adds, And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead.  We are told that Jair had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead, so he would have been a fairly strong leader.  Verse twenty-three continues, And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead.  Verse twenty-four concludes, And after that Hezron was dead in Calebephratah, then Abiah Hezron's wife bare him Ashur the father of Tekoa.  After his death, Hezron still had another son named Ashur, the father of Tekoa.  His lineage increased even after his death, and our reaching of people for Christ might continue even after we die if we have left a good legacy.  Still, for the most part, it is what we do in this lifetime that will reach people for Jesus Christ or turn them away from Him, which we never want to be the cause of. 

1 Chronicles 2:1

1 Chronicles 2:1 says, These are the sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,  We now have a record of the birth of the sons of Israel, or Jacob, who would become the fathers of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel.  These were God's Chosen People from the promise He made to Abraham.  We are God's chosen people by the promise made through Jesus Christ, if we put our faith in Him.  Verse two adds, Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.  Verse three continues, The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the Lord; and he slew him.  We now start to have a list of the children of Israel's children or his grandchildren but there are no grandchildren of Jesus Christ.  We cannot be saved because our parents were.  We have the added fact that Er, the first born of Judah, did evil in God's sight and God killed him.  God is the Creator and Sustainer of life, so if we become too evil, He may allow us to be killed, even if He doesn't directly cause our death. Verse four continues, And Tamar his daughter in law bore him Pharez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five.  Judah also had a son with his daughter-in-law, which really wasn't in accordance with God's will.  We cannot be successful Christians if we disobey God's laws.  Verse five states, The sons of Pharez; Hezron, and Hamul.  Pharez and Zerah were twin brothers.  Verse six adds, And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.  Verse seven continues, And the sons of Carmi; Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed.  Achar was called a troubler of Israel who transgressed in the thing accursed.  As Matthew Henry points out, even the best and most honorable families may have those belonging to them that are blemishes on the family name.  This would be Christian families who have those who refuse to follow God today.  Verse eight says, And the sons of Ethan; Azariah.  Verse nine adds, The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai.  Verse ten continues, And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah;  Verse eleven states, And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz,  Verse twelve adds, And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse,  We have now gotten to Jesse, the father of David.  We don't need to trace our ancestry back to any particular person to be a part of God's family but can only trace it back to our relationship with Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord in order to be a part of His family. 

1 Chronicles 1:43

1 Chronicles 1:43 says, Now these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel; Bela the son of Beor: and the name of his city was Dinhabah.  Next, we have a list of the kings of Edom, Esau's descendants.  We might be able to trace our ancestors back generations, but that will not make us a part of God's people.  Only obedience to Him through putting our faith in Jesus Christ will.  Esau sold his birthright, and if we don't accept Jesus Christ, so will we.  These kings ruled before Israel had any king.  Verse forty-four adds, And when Bela was dead, Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.  Verse forty-five continues, And when Jobab was dead, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.  Verse forty-six states, And when Husham was dead, Hadad the son of Bedad, which smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.  Verse forty-seven states, And when Hadad was dead, Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.  Verse forty-eight adds, And when Samlah was dead, Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.  Verse forty-nine continues, And when Shaul was dead, Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.  Verse fifty says, And when Baalhanan was dead, Hadad reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pai; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.  We are told a little more about Hadad, including his wife's name and the name of her mother and grandfather, but are not told why, though he was the last king of Edom.  We may know more at about some rulers of the past, but it really doesn't help us know God any better, and once they are dead, their everlasting fate is already sealed.  Verse fifty-one adds, Hadad died also. And the dukes of Edom were; duke Timnah, duke Aliah, duke Jetheth,  After Hada's death, we are not told who the king was, but who several of the dukes were. This would imply that there was no unified ruler at that time.  We still see countries break into more than one country today, especially if they have been forced into a union.  Verse fifty-two continues, Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon,  Verse fifty-three states, Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar,  Verse fifty-four concludes, Duke Magdiel, duke Iram. These are the dukes of Edom.  We are told little more about them except that they were the dukes of Edom.  That is more than we may know about many minor rulers of the past, whose names we may not even know.  The important thing is that they and we have our name written in the Lamb's Book of Life, or it really doesn't matter who we were or if we were in power in this world or not.  

1 Chronicles 1:27

1Chronicles 1:27 says,  Abram; the same is Abraham.  Here, we pick up with Abraham and his descendants,  Verse twenty-eight adds, The sons of Abraham; Isaac, and Ishmael. From Isaac would come the Israelites and from Ishmael some of those who opposed them.  We might all trace our ancestry back to Adam, but what makes us all brothers and sisters in God's eyes is our relationship to Jesús Christ, which some have but many more do not and oppose those who do and God as well.  Verse twenty-nine continues, These are their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, Verse thirty continues, Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema,  Verse thirty-one concludes, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael.  We are first given the names of the descendants of Ishmael, since he really was the first born, even if he wasn't the child of promise to Abraham and Sarah.  The order in which we are born in the world is not what is important to God today, but what is important is when we are reborn through our faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse thirty-two states, Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan.  Verse thirty-three adds, And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these are the sons of Keturah.  Then we are given the descendants of Abraham with his concubine Keturah.  These still weren't the children of promise from God.  The children nor their mothers in ether case were the problem, but Abraham was.  As followers of Christ, we cannot attempt to put our faith in our own plans and ignore God's plan and be successful spiritually.  Verse thirty-four declares, And Abraham begat Isaac. The sons of Isaac; Esau and Israel.  Verse thirty-five adds, The sons of Esau; Eliphaz, Reuel, and Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah. Of Isaac's sons, Esau was the first-born and Israel the second born, but Esau sold his birthright.  We all have an opportunity to become a child of God, but too many people sell that birthright for the things of this world, which are ultimately worthless.   Verse thirty-six continues, The sons of Eliphaz; Teman, and Omar, Zephi, and Gatam, Kenaz, and Timna, and Amalek.  Verse thirty-seven says, The sons of Reuel; Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.  Verse thirty-eight adds, And the sons of Seir; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezar, and Dishan.  Verse thirty-nine continues, And the sons of Lotan; Hori, and Homam: and Timna was Lotan's sister.  Verse forty states, The sons of Shobal; Alian, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. and the sons of Zibeon; Aiah, and Anah.  Verse forty-one adds, The sons of Anah; Dishon. And the sons of Dishon; Amram, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.  Verse forty-two continues, The sons of Ezer; Bilhan, and Zavan, and Jakan. The sons of Dishan; Uz, and Aran.  These were Esau's descendants, who became the Edomites. Esau became the father of a nation, just not of the nation of God's Chosen People.  We may become great in the world today, but only Jesus Christ can bring us salvation. 

1 Chronicles 1:1

1 Chronicles 1:1 says, Adam, Sheth, Enosh,  Matthew Henry points out that there is a lot of repetition of what has already been written about in other books, and we begin with the genealogy from Adam onward, though it is not stated that this is what is being recorded here.  He also points out that the time between Adam, the common father of our flesh and Abraham, the common father of the faithful, there were about two-thousand years and that Adam lived for nearly half of it.  I will simply state many of the verses, since there isn't much to add.  Verse two adds, Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered,  Verse three continues, Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech,  Verse four states, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  The first four and the last few verses are linked by Shem and include the sacred lineage of Christ and are included in his pedigree Matthew Henry points out. Verse five adds, The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.  Starting with this verse going through verse nineteen, we have an account of the replenishing of the earth after Noah.  Verse six continues, And the sons of Gomer; Ashchenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.  Verse seven says, And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.  Verse eight adds, The sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.  Verse nine continues, And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.  Verse ten states, And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be mighty upon the earth.  Verse eleven adds, And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,  Verse twelve continues, And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (of whom came the Philistines,) and Caphthorim.  We do have the added information that the Philistines were descendants of Casluhim.  All nations can be traced back to Adam and Eve, and to the dispersion after the flood, but because of pride and disobedience to God, they were scattered into many nations.  These nations will continue to be listed in the next few verses.  Verse thirteen says, And Canaan begat Zidon his firstborn, and Heth,  Verse fourteen adds, The Jebusite also, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,  Verse fifteen continues, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,  Verse sixteen concludes, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite.  Verse seventeen states, The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech.  We start with the descendants of Shem here.  Verse eighteen adds, And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber.  Verse nineteen continues, And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother's name was Joktan.  Verse twenty says, And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,  Verse twenty-one adds, Hadoram also, and Uzal, and Diklah,  Verse twenty-two continues, And Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba,  Verse twenty-three says, And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.  Verse twenty-four adds, Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,  Verse twenty-five continues, Eber, Peleg, Reu,  Verse twenty-six concludes, Serug, Nahor, Terah, 

2 Kings review continued

The book of 2nd Kings records the reigns of many kings of both Israel and Judah until the end of both kingdoms when the people were taken away captive to Babylon.  Some of the kings were almost devoted to God, but still allowed many worship practices that were not ordained by God.  The fact that the kingdom was divided was already an indication that the people were not following God.  We as Christians cannot be divided and we cannot allow things that are not in accordance with God's will into our worship of Him.  There were also many kings who were completely defiant of God's commandments who worshipped idols and false god's and even allowed these idols to be placed in God's house.  Though God had warned them what would happen if they did not live up to their covenant relationship with Him, they refused to listen.  We have been warned what will happen to us if we do not enter into a covenant relationship with God through putting our faith in Jesus Christ, but far too many people ignore that warning and many even refuse to believe that God is indeed the one and only God.   As Christians, we are a part of God's family forever, but we cannot turn away from the guidance of the Holy Spirit and be what God has called us to be.  God had delivered the people of Israel, His Chosen People, out of bondage in Egypt, brought them into the Promised Land, even though they had been reluctant to enter in, and they had turned away from Him.  As followers of Christ, God has brought us out of the bondage of sin, and yet we too often allow sin to have power in our lives again.  As I have stated many times, I don't believe that once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord that we can ever not be a part of the family of God, just as the people of Israel never stopped being God's Chosen People.  They were His people by His calling and choice, and we are God's people today by His calling us and our choosing to accept the gift of salvation by putting our faith in Jesus Christ, and God is the One who seals us as His forever.  Next, we will look at the book of 1st Chronicles.