1 Chronicles 20 records several victories David and his man had against the Ammonites and the Philistines. Notable points are: 1) the Chronicler fails to mention the battle against Rabbah is the battle during which David failed to go out to battle, stayed home and committed his sin with Bathsheba. That sin resulted in his murder of Uriah to hide his sin; and 2) In the battles against the Philistines several Philistine giants were killed. When David killed Goliath, no one in the Israelite army had the courage to face Goliath, even though he came out and taunted them for forty days. Many years later after David had both killed Goliath and become king, David’s men were able to kill the other Philistine giants. This is often the case in life, both the life of faith and everyday life: Before someone accomplishes a feat it is considered “impossible,” but once the feat has been accomplished it is repeated and sometimes even becomes commonplace.
1 Chronicles 21 records David’s numbering of the people of Israel. It is the same as the account we read earlier in 2 Samuel 24. The major difference is in 2 Samuel 24 we read the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He caused David to harm them by taking a census. In 1 Chronicles 21 we’re told it was Satan who incited David to take the census. As we consider how such a different source could be behind David’s taking the census, let’s remember nothing happens apart from the LORD’s approval. He doesn’t “will” or approve much of what the devil does, but the devil must have the LORD’s permission to act. We will see this clearly when we read the book of Job. It may be seen subtly in Chronicler’s reporting of David’s census.
1 Chronicles 22 records David’s preparation for the building of the Temple. David provides the materials that will be needed, and he tells his son, Solomon what he is to do in seeing the Temple gets built. The Chronicler seems to “compress” history a bit here, because the transition from David being king to Solomon being king is less detailed, and seemingly smoother than in the accounts we read in 1 Kings. This does not mean one of the accounts is not accurate. It simply means each writer emphasized different aspects and details of the transition. We see this frequently in the Bible when there is more than one account of a matter, such as in the four Gospels in the New Testament. The details differ at times, but the overall accounts remain faithful and consistent.
As we turn to Matthew 17, we see a perfect example of this. The first account in Matthew 17 is that of Jesus being transfigured with Moses and Elijah, and then his healing of a demon-possessed boy. If we read Matthew’s account and compare it with Mark’s we find the details differ, but the overall account is consistent. As you read the Bible remember this principle: Each passage of Scripture is to be examined for what it says, and then compared with all of Scripture to understand it’s full meaning. Many times people take a verse of Scripture out of context and use it to make a certain point. This is called “proof texting,” because the text is used to prove the person’s point of view. The key is to be certain the verse means what we are “proving” it means not as an isolated verse, but as it fits within the paragraph, chapter and book that contains it, as well as all of Scripture. The best way to avoid proof texting is to become acquainted with the whole Bible, and then compare the passages you read with the rest of God’s word.
After this account, Jesus tells the disciples again He will be arrested, tried, and crucified, but afterwards He will rise again. We aren’t given much detail about the disciples’ response this time, except that they were distressed by it. The closing account of the chapter tells of Jesus providing funds for the Temple tax for him and Peter, by having Peter going to catch a fish, and the fish he catches has a coin that covers the cost of both of their taxes! We might think, “Really? Isn’t that a little far-fetched?” After all, would Jesus really orchestrate such a situation simply to obey the rules? Apparently. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the account in God’s word. As Donald Baillie said nearly a hundred years ago, “God’s ways aren’t always logical to us. It isn’t that they are ‘illogical,’ but by our standards they are “alogical.” That is they don’t correspond to the laws of human logic.
I sure have a long way to go.
All of us do, and one thing I am learning is the farther we move in our walk with Jesus, the more we realize how far we have yet to go!