Chronicles: Chapters 20 to 29

Last time, we got much of the story of David.  This time, we finish it off.

CHAPTER 20

This is a short chapter – just eight verses – that recounts some of David’s military exploits.

CHAPTER 21

OK, this actually is a little interesting.  It took 21 chapters, but Chronicles I finally had an interesting moment.  This recounts one of the most baffling moments in the life of David – the census David calls for that angers the Lord, causing Israel to be hit by a plague as a result.  Over in Samuel II, the plague never made much sense, but here there is an explanation: Satan.  The devil told David to take a census, and that causes the problem.

Oh, please note this is the first time the S-word – Satan – appears in the Bible.  (Well, in the Christian edition it’s the first time he appears.  But in the Jewish Bible the Chronicles go to the end, so he comes up before this).

The footnote says that Satan means “adversary” or “accuser” and that’s all Satan was initially.  In later Judaism and obviously in Christianity the notion of Satan takes on a, well, a satanic meaning.  But here the concept isn’t quite that far.  Here, Satan is just someone who tempts people to do wrong. And I guess David did wrong.

David repents and tells God not to punish the people for his mistake.  The Angel of God comes down and David sees him.  Then David orders an altar built on the spot he saw the angel.  This I don’t recall from Samuel II.  (checks).  No, it’s there – I just missed it.  In both depictions, David buys the land from the person who owns it.  Well, that’s honorable of him.

CHAPTER 22

This book makes David much more involved in the building of the temple.  He doesn’t build it because God said there is too much blood on his hands from fighting battles, though.  But David is doing all the prep work.  For example, David decrees that all resident aliens in the land be used as stonecutters for the project. 

Let’s pause for a second.  Kings I made a similar statement (about Solomon, not David) about using minorities as forced laborers on this building project.  At that time I doubted it was true, that there was anger by Israelites against Solomon for the labor tax.  But if it is true that resident aliens are pressed into labor service – that might be even worse.  In that case, it’s the same thing the Egyptians did the Hebrew back in the days before Moses.  Is it supposed to be better that the Hebrew does it to someone else?

Also, it’s interesting that the sin of David is fighting wars.  He fought those wars for God to achieve God’s early promises.  And there are plenty of other sins you can nail David for – but they aren’t here.  There is no Bathsheba.  No Uriah the Hittite sent to his death.  No son raping his half-sister and then in turn being murdered by his half-brother.  There is no uprising by Absalom.  And when it’s time to transfer power, it’s presented entirely smoothly.  The writer here is trying to cover up a bunch of David’s sins.  That’s dumb.  If this really was written later on, it’s idiotic because David’s stories were already well known.  You have to contend with those stories, not deny them.

Here, David indicates that Solomon will succeed him.  It wasn’t nearly so quickly decided in Kings I.  Here, he says Solomon will build the house, though he’s young and inexperienced.  Yeah, I guess so.  Even though his dad is doing the prep work and even though the Temple won’t be very big – it’ll take Solomon seven years to build.  That’s pretty inexperienced all right. 

Really, though, with seven chapters left in Chronicles I, it’s clear that Solomon is supposed to succeed David as king.  If all you knew was this chapter, you’d never imagine any doubts on the matter.

CHAPTER 23

David divvies up the priests.  He says the Levites should assist the House of Aaron. 

CHAPTER 24

More priest stuff.  David divides them up into groups and assigns duties by lot.  Sure, why not?  That why they get rotation in office so no one feels too neglected in their duties.  There are 24 groups of priests in all, and they’ll serve duties in a regular rotation.  The chapter ends by saying that the most important family did the same as the less important one. 

CHAPTER 25

There are groups of singers, too.  They also determine their roles by lot.  Again, there are 24 lots.

Clearly, this book was written by a priest, and he confused the duties and responsibilities of his own sect with any broader vision/message of God.  This in an entirely blinkered worldview, in which every little detail that affects priests is seen as important, because it involves the priests of the Lord.  The community that they are supposed to be shepherds to?  Well they aren’t as important.  The job itself matters more than the reasons for the job.  This is the sort of Bible chapter Pope Benedict XVI instead of Pope Francis.

CHAPTER 26

There are also gatekeepers.  They also rotate responsibilities by lot.  There are also treasures and magistrates, but it doesn’t say anything about rotation by lot for them.

CHAPTER 27

Now for the military commanders. Seriously – whoever wrote this thought we had to know every name?  When they decided which books would go in the Bible around the first century AD, they thought this one merited inclusion?  The hell?

Anyhow, military commanders rotate overall command each month.  That sounds like crazy talk.  (Also, what about Joab? Oh, who cares).

CHAPTER 28

David assembles all the leaders of Israel to Jerusalem for a big final talk.  It’s his version of Deuteronomy, I guess.  It’s much shorter, though.  And it’s mostly on the Temple.  (Again, it’s all about the rituals and practices of the religion, not about the people at all).  David rehashes again that he wanted to build the Temple, and was told no, so his son Solomon.

David even gives the Temple plans to Solomon.  There is a very strong desire here to put the Temple in the hands of David as much as possible, even though it wasn’t built on his watch. In fact, we’re told that David personally specified many items in and for the temple, including the weight of the gold for the golden vessels used in religious services, and for the tables used to hold showbread.  It’s David’s temple, just not built under David’s watch. (Again, this makes it even more insane that it took Solomon as long as it did to build it).

CHAPTER 29

Offerings are made to the temple, David prays to God, Solomon is anointed, and David dies.  There is a complete absence of drama in these proceedings.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Meh.  This book primarily consists of two things: 1) stuff we already read in Samuel II, and 2) boring stuff no on actually cares about.  There’s a reason no one really remembers the Chronicles books of the Bible – they aren’t memorable.

Click here to begin Chronicles II.