1 Chronicles 15 –
David builds a palace in the city, and a place for the ark, “a special tent”
(15:1). He commands that only the Levites shall carry the ark in the future. He
thinks this is why they had trouble the first time. Then he assembles the
people to bring the ark up to Jerusalem. All the descendants of Aaron and the
Levites are assembled. David also gets the Levite chiefs to appoint musicians
to accompany the Ark. Kenaniah is the Levite leader of musicians “for he
understood it” (15:22).
They bring the Ark up from the home of Obed-edom with
rejoicing. Then they sacrifice seven bulls and seven rams.
The Chronicler ends with the same allusion as in Samuel—“As
the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, Michal daughter
of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing; and
she despised him in her heart” (15:29).
1 Chronicles 16 –
David concludes the festivities by sending to each man and woman in Israel a
loaf of bread, a portion of meat and a cake of raisins. Certain Levites are put
in charge of the Ark.
“On that day David gave to Asaph and his fellow Levites this
song of thanksgiving to the Lord: Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his
greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done” (16:7-8).
“He is the Lord our God. His justice is seen throughout the
land. Remember his covenant forever – the commitment he made to a thousand
generations. This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to
Isaac He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant: ‘I will give
you the land of Canaan as your special possession.’ He said this when you were
few in number, a tiny group of strangers in Canaan. They wandered from nation
to nation, from one kingdom to another. Yet he did not let anyone oppress them.
He warned kings on their behalf: ‘Do not touch my chosen people, and do not
hurt my prophets.’ Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!” (16:14-23). The hymn
of praise goes on for another ten verses or so. And all the people said,
“Amen!” (16:36)
Then they all departed to their homes.
1 Chronicles 17 – David frets to the prophet Nathan that he is living in a beautiful house of cedar, but that the Lord’s Ark is housed in a tent. Nathan encourages him at first, but that night “the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: You shall not build me a house to live in. For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought out Israel to this very day, but I have lived in a tent and a tabernacle” (17:5)
The Lord never asked the judges to build him a house. “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel; and I have been with you and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth! And I will provide a homeland for my people Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed . . . Furthermore, I declare that the Lord will build a house for you—a dynasty of kings! For when you die and join your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for me. And I will secure his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my favor from him as I took it from the one who ruled before you. I will confirm him as king over my house and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever.’” (17:7-14).
1 Chronicles 18 –
David battles the Philistines again and takes Gath. He defeats Moab. He strikes down King
Hadadezer of Zobah on his way to set up a monument on the Euphrates, taking
from him a thousand chariots, 7000 cavalry and 20,000 foot soldiers. He “cripples
all the chariot horses except enough for 100 chariots” (18:4).
The Arameans of Damascus come to help Hadadezer, but David
kills 22,000 of them. They are made subject to David. From this king’s cities, he took bronze with which Solomon would make
the bronze sea and pillars and vessels of bronze for the Temple. King Tou
of Hamath sends his son Hadoram to David to congratulate him for his victory
and sends gold. This too David dedicates to the Lord along with silver and gold
from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia and Amalek.
1 Chronicles 19 –
When king Nahash of the Ammonites dies, David wants to deal in a friendly way
with his son Hanun. He sends messengers to console him for his father’s death,
but Hanun’s men convince Hanun that David is up to no good. So Hanun seizes the
messengers and disgraces them (shaving them, cutting off part of their clothes
and sends them back.
David is furious. The Ammonites gather a large army (also of
Arameans) and David sends Joab against them. Joab is sent against the Arameans.
His brother Abishai stands to meet the Ammonites. When the Ammonites see the
Arameans flee before Joab, they also flee. The go and get reinforced and
return. The Arameans get fellow Arameans from beyond the Euphrates to come to
their aid, but David defeats them. They all end up paying tribute to David.
1 Chronicles 20 –
In spring when kings go out to battle, Joab goes out and ravages the country of
the Ammonites, then comes and besieges Rabbah. David remains in Jerusalem. It
tells of David’s defeat of Milcom and his taking the gold crown and about his
taking the men of the city to do work for him. Then there is war with the
Philistines at Gezer. A number of the Philistine men are said to be descended
from a race of giants. A man named
Goliath the Gittite is mentioned as one. They are defeated by David and his
brother Jonathan son of Shimea.
Ecclesiastes 3 –
These most famous words:
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose
under heaven:
A time to be
born,
A time to die,
A time to
plant,
A time to
reap,
A time to
kill,
A time to
heal,
A time to
destroy,
A time to
build,
A time for
tears,
A time for
laughter,
A time to
mourn,
A time to
dance,
A time for
throwing stones away,
A time for
gathering them up,
A time for
embracing,
A time to
refrain from embracing,
A time for
searching,
A time for
losing,
A time for
keeping,
A time for
throwing away,
A time for
tearing,
A time for
sewing,
A time for
keeping silent,
A time for
speaking,
A time for
loving,
A time for
hating,
A time for
war,
A time for
peace (3:2-8).
The writer spends a good deal of
time thinking about the value of our labor. The things we work for have purpose
in a limited span of time, but in the grand scheme, “though He [God] has permitted
man to consider time in its wholeness, man cannot comprehend the work of God
from beginning to end” (3:11).
When we find happiness in the small things that give us
pleasure, “this is a gift from God” (3:13). God is “consistent” – we see this
in the eternal recurrence of things, in their repetition. God does care for the
persecuted. The fate of man and beast is identical. We have no advantage over
other animals. Both “originate from the dust and to the dust both return”
(3:20). We don’t “know” the end of the spirit. There “is no happiness for man but to be happy in his work, for
this is the lot assigned him” (3:22).
Ecclesiastes 4 – Contemplating
all the oppression that has taken place, he salutes those who have gone before
or those who have not yet been born. He also observes that people do better
when they are paired, when they have another or two others to work with.
Ecclesiastes 5 – Do
not be too bold to speak. But if you declare yourself for God, then discharge
your obligations to Him. You need to make sure your words do not bring you
guilt.
When the poor are oppressed, officials will always talk of
how they are not in charge. Everyone points to the one above him to avoid
responsibility. Happiness for man is to eat, drink and be merry with the life
he has. If God grants you riches, be thankful.
Augustine (354-439)
On the Profit or Benefit of Believing
6 - All these
ways our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles used. For when it had been objected
that His disciples had plucked the ears of grain on the sabbath-day, the instance was taken from history;
"Have ye not read," says He, "what David did when he was an
hungered, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God,
and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for
them that were with him, but only for the priests?" But the instance
pertains to ætiology, that, when Christ had forbidden a wife to be put away,
save for the cause of fornication, and they, who asked Him, had alleged that
Moses had granted permission after a writing of divorcement had been given, This, says He, "Moses did because of
the hardness of your heart." Aetiology
examines the reason or cause for things that happen. This looks to the cause or
reason for the allowance Moses gave on the matter of divorce. Apparently, he
would explain that divorce is now out of bounds because our hearts have less
excuse for being hardened. For here a reason was given, why that had
been well allowed by Moses for a time; that this command of Christ might seem
to show that now the times were other. But
it were long to explain the changes of these times, and their order arranged
and settled by a certain marvellous appointment of Divine Providence.
7 - And further, analogy, whereby the agreement of both
Testaments is plainly seen, why shall I say that all have made use of, to
whose authority they yield; whereas it is in their power to consider with
themselves, how many things they are wont to say have been inserted in the
divine Scriptures by certain, I know not who, corrupters of truth? Which speech
of theirs I always thought to be most weak, even at the time that I was their
hearer: nor I alone, but you also, (for I well remember,) and all of us, who
essayed to exercise a little more care in forming a judgment than the crowd of
hearers. He seems to be saying here that Horatus and
he both never gave much credence to the idea that the Old Testament was
corrupted in some mysterious way.
But now, after that many things have been expounded and made
clear to me, which used chiefly to move me: those I mean, wherein their
discourse for the most part boasts itself, and expatiates the more freely, the
more safely it can do so as having no opponent; it seems to me that there is no
assertion of theirs more shameless, or (to use a milder phrase) more careless
and weak than that the divine Scriptures have been corrupted; whereas there are
no copies in existence, in a matter of so recent date, whereby they can prove
it. For were they to assert, that they thought not that they ought thoroughly
to receive them, because they had been written by persons, who they thought had
not written the truth; any how their refusal would be more right, or their
error more natural. For this is what
they have done in the case of the Book which is inscribed the Acts of the
Apostles. And this device of theirs, when I consider with myself, I cannot
enough wonder at. For it is not the want of wisdom in the men that I complain
of in this matter, but the want of
ordinary understanding. For that book has so great matters, which are like
what they receive, that it seems to me
great folly to refuse to receive this book also, and if any thing offend
them there to call it false and inserted. Or, if such language is shameless, as
it is why in the Epistles of Paul, why in the four books of the Gospel, do they
think that they are of any avail, in which I am not sure but that there are in
proportion many more things, than could be in that book, which they will have
believed to have been interpolated by falsifiers. But forsooth this is what I
believe to be the case, and I ask of you to consider it with me with as calm
and serene a judgment as possible. For you know that, essaying to bring the person of their founder Manichæus into the number
of the Apostles, they say that the Holy Spirit, Whom the Lord promised His
disciples that He would send, has come to us through him. Therefore, were
they to receive those Acts of the Apostles, in which the coming of the Holy
Spirit is plainly set forth, they could not find how to say that it was
interpolated. For they will have it that there were some, I know not who,
falsifiers of the divine Books before the times of Manichæus himself; and that
they were falsified by persons who wished to combine the Law of the Jews with
the Gospel. But this they cannot say concerning the Holy Spirit, unless haply
they assert that those persons divined, and set in their books what should be
brought forward against Manichæus, who should at some future time arise, and
say that the Holy Spirit had been sent through him. But concerning the Holy
Spirit we will speak somewhat more plainly in another place. Now let us return
to my purpose.
I do find some of this last section
very difficult to comprehend. I would say he seems to say that the Book of Acts
can be trusted in what it says about the “coming of the Holy Spirit” to the
disciples in the Upper Room and that Mani had nothing to do with it, unlike
what the Manichaeans teach.
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