This is part convoluted genealogy and part story. It contains many, many long lists of names. The lists mostly feature the the significant men in each family, but in amongst them all, some of the wives, sisters and daughters are also named, and some of the stories we get a glimpse of in these rare occurrences are fascinating. Amongst all of the achievements of sons, as warriors and leaders, Sheeran (a daughter of Ephraim) gets special mention for apparently having "built both Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah", the last obviously being named for her. A woman who was credited with building two cities in patriarchal ancient Israel - what a character she must have been?!
Israel's recorded family lists:
1. The list of all of the families begins with Adam, recording the names of significant tribal leaders, all the way down to Isaac's son, Israel
2. A list of the descendants of Israel, and his son Judah
3. The descendants of David and Solomon from their 'primary' wives are listed
4. An ancient list of the descendants of Judah's line which includes some extra family stories, such as Jabez; named for the pain he caused his mother at birth - he prayed for a life without pain, and God heard him
5. A list of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half of Manassah, that settled in the promised land; celebrated as fierce Godly warriors (until they forgot God's ways and were driven into exile)
6. A list of the Levite tribes; their roles and the lands allotted to them from within the portions given to the other tribes, in return for organising and leading the worship of all God's people
7. The family lists for Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim and Asher; many of whom were warriors, leaders and builders in king David's time
8. A more detailed list of the numerous offspring of Benjamin
The story continues after exile:
9. A list of those from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were the first to resettle Jerusalem after exile and served at God's temple
10. The sad story of King Saul's abandonment of the true God, which lead to his death during battle with the Philistines
11. A list of King David's famous warriors and some of their deeds
12. A list of the large number of military leaders who wanted to make David king over all Israel; describing how they came to join David when Saul had banished him to the desert
The story focuses on David
13. David wants to bring the covenant chest back to Israel, but loses courage when a mishap costs the life of a friend; he steps back from his plans, fearing God's wrath
14. After establishing himself in Jerusalem with a palace and more children, David successfully drives back the Philistines, guided by God through prayer
15. David makes extensive preparation to move the covenant chest again; this time he puts the priests and Levites in charge and the return to Jerusalem, accompanied by musicians and dancing, is successful - the only sour note is Michel, who is disgusted by her husband's jubilant dancing
16. With a huge festival, a worship tent is established and organised, and a great hymn of thanks and praise to God is sung
The establishing of a temple in David's Kingdom
17. Comfortably established in a palace, David wants to build a proper temple for God; prophet Nathan warns that it is not for him to do this and reassures the King that he is establishing a Godly dynasty, for which David gives thanks
18. David's military successes are celebrated, and the names of his leadership team recounted
19. Although David seeks to keep a peaceful relationship with the Ammonites, they incite a battle and drag the Arameans into it, but it doesn't go well for them
20. The wars continue with the Ammonites and the Philistines; eventually David wipes out the Ammonites, tearing down their cities
21. An evil spirit inspires David to make a count of the warriors under his command, greatly angering God, who sends a plague across the land, which is only prevented from destroying Jerusalem by David's contrition
22. Being a warrior not a builder, David gets resources and workers ready to build God's temple, but then assigns the task to his son Solomon
Details for the temple
23. A list of the significant leaders from the 38,000 priests and Levites appointed to serve at the temple by David
24. A list of the leaders from among the priestly and Levite families, who were chosen by lot
25. A list of the musicians, chosen by lot to lead worship and to prophesy through their music
26. A careful list of the gatekeepers, assigned to each entrance to the temple
27. A list of those who reported directly to David; from the highest ranking military officer to the steward who looks after the olive oil stores
28. David makes a formal announcement, before his people and his family, that Solomon will be the one to complete God's temple, and gives to him the written plans
29. Knowing Solomon to be inexperienced, David asks the leaders among the community to commit to the building of God's temple; they respond with such generosity that David breaks into a song of praise and everyone celebrates together with a huge festival to honour God
There is a little comment, which the CEB translation puts in brackets, in chapter 4: "the records are ancient". I wonder; is this one of those 'margin notes' that you sometimes find in medieval manuscripts? I love the idea of a scribe's comment being saved amidst this text for thousands of years. And I wonder; was the scribe suggesting that the record was unreliable or incomplete? Or simply expressing amazement at how old these records were? Or were they complaining about having to copy out crumbling older texts, and making excuses for possible mistakes..? Interesting to contemplate, and makes the lists more 'real' somehow.
Reading this mostly very dull text was made much easier by my practice of reading during morning prayer. This meant that each day, after poring through tedious lists of names, that meant little to me, I was reminded that by adoption, through the saving power of Jesus, this is my family record too - because as a Christian, Abraham is 'our' father. Perhaps other members of this great family might not wish to acknowledge me, but then, that's often the way with families isn't it?
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people, and set them free...
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