CHAPTER 10
This is just re-hashing the end of Samuel I. Saul dies, with his sons. We’re given a morality lesson at the end,
that Saul died because, “of his treason against the Lord in disobeying his
word, and also because he had sought counsel from a ghost, rather than from the
Lord.” Yeah, we got that back in Samuel
I, thanks.
CHAPTER 11
Now David becomes king.
This section repeatedly says that “all Israel” came out for him. I could be wrong, but I believe this book
completely skips over the civil war that David had to win to claim the throne.
(Along those lines, last chapter said Saul’s “whole house” died in that battle
against the Philistines, while there were actually some survivors (and that
helped lead to the civil war glossed over here).
So this chapter is establishing David’s legitimacy as king,
and willfully passing over some details in the process. Then David captures Jerusalem, decreeing
that whoever first strikes a resident will be the head of his army. Joab does
it, and becomes took military leader for the rest of David’s lifetime.
Oh, and we get a boring list of David’s warriors. Gee thanks.
Apparently whoever wrote this was incapable of going more than a few
chapters without boring everyone with a list.
CHAPTER 12
Oh, it looks like we’ll get a little of the civil war after
all. Eh, whatever. This mostly
discusses a list of some of David’s early followers.
CHAPTER 13
Now David decides to transport the ark of the Lord to
Jerusalem. Chronicles I is mostly a far
worse retelling of Samuel II. It’s
pointless.
CHAPTER 14
David fights the Philistines and beats them up. It sounds like David gets the Philistines to
give up their gods. I don’t recall that
happening in Samuel. I doubt it took.
CHAPTER 15
Two chapters ago, David decided to move the ark of the
Lord. Now we’re doing that again. It
isn’t exactly the same as Chapter 13 – it’s more like a continuation of
it. But it’s really dumb to but Chapter
14 in the middle, totally disrupting the narrative flow. Then again, the narrative flow is watching
paint dry, so at least the disruption keeps me awake.
The chapter also makes sure to note that David let the
Levites play a key role in this affair.
We get names of every Levite associated with the move. Clearly, whoever wrote this was a priest,
and he assumed that priestly functions were the most important thing out
there. This is like Leviticus, except
without any important laws and about stuff we already know.
CHAPTER 16
Now that the ark of the Lord is in Jerusalem, there is
another chapter about celebrating that fact.
Yeah, three of the last four chapters have been about moving the fucking
ark. This is a long song given that
apparently splices together parts of Psalms 96, 105, and 106.
CHAPTER 17
It’s more of Samuel II.
This time, we re-learn about David wanting to build a temple for God,
only to have Nathan say your son will do that.
Also, we get the Lord’s covenant with David. Yes, again.
CHAPTER 18
David has some successful military campaigns. This one features one notable, new
detail. After he beats the King of
Zobah, he has all his chariot horses hamstrung. There are 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen, so that’s a lot of
hamstrung horses. PETA will be pissed
for sure.
Also, the guy David beat before practicing cruelty against
animals had pals from the Euphrates reinforce him, so I guess this is part of
the rationale that David’s kingdom went all the way to the big river – though
it pretty clearly didn’t.
Finally, David beats Edom and subjugates it. I believe this actually did show up at one
point earlier, but I missed it then.
But yeah – Edom will belong to the House of David for centuries now.
CHAPTER 19
I actually went back and checked. This just rehashes Chapter 10 of Samuel II. I remember the story of the emissaries David
sent out who had their beards shaved, and he told them to stay in Jericho until
it grew back. Here it is. Again.
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