This week, we shall conclude the
study of I Chronicles of the Old Testament.
The Chronicler continues to relate the record about King David’s preparation for the resumption of formal and permanent temple worship, likely for the purposes of reorganizing the same at the completion of the building of the second temple during the time of Ezra. This chapter focuses on the divisions of Priests.
24:1-9—The Descendants of Aaron
(1) Introductory explanations about the basis of divisions of the priests (vv. 1-5)
a. Why were the descendants of only two of Aaron’s sons counted? (v. 2)
b. Why were more descendants of Eleazar being counted than those of Ithamar? (v. 4)
c. What does the Chronicler emphasize as the basis of such divisions and why? (v. 5)
d. Who were the two main (or high) priests being selected at the time of David? (v. 3)
(2) The twenty four divisions of priests (vv. 6-19)
a. Who was the scribe or secretary in the recording of these heads of families of priestly divisions? (v. 6)
b. The procedure of lot-drawing is explained: “one family being taken from Eleazar and then one from Ithamar”. But Eleazar’s descendants had 16 heads of families while Ithamar’s descendants had 8: How then did it work? What was the emphasis here? (v. 6; see Note below)
c. What do you think was the need to split these priests into divisions? (You may want to read today’s Meditative Article.)
(3) The rest of the Levites (vv. 20-31): It appears that the Chronicler does not simply repeat the information in chapter 23 concerning the Levites, but only focuses on those Levites who were assigned by David to directly take part in the offices related to temple worship, and his preparation for its full resumption of worship upon the building of the temple by his son.
a. How many heads of families are being enumerated here?
b. How were they being assigned to help the priests? (v. 31)
c. Why does the Chronicler emphasize that, “the families of the oldest brother were treated the same as those of the youngest”? (v. 31)
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“These words much rather suggest that a lot for Eleazar alternated with the drawing of one for Ithamar, until the eight heads of Ithamar's family had been drawn, when, of course, the remaining eight lots of Eleazar must be drawn one after the other.”
(K&D, 550)
(1) Why did David have to involve the commanders of the army in setting apart some Levites to be musicians at the temple?
(2) Why was their music ministry called “the ministry of prophesying”? (v. 1)
(3) Descendants of Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman (vv. 2-6)
a. Why did Asaph need to prophesy “under the king’s supervision”?
b. What kind of musicians were the descendants of Jeduthun? (v. 3)
c. What kinds of musicians were the descendants of Heman? (v. 6)
d. Why was Heman called the “king’s seer”? (v. 5)
(4) Assignment of duties (vv. 7-8)
a. How many musicians were there in total?
b. How were their duties assigned? (v. 8)
c. What does such an arrangement mean?
(5) Consider these facts: (i) These musicians had to be set apart by David and his commanders. (ii) Their music ministry was called the ministry of prophesying. (iii) One of them, Heman, was also the king’s seer.
a. What does it say about the role of music in the house of God?
b. How should such musicians look at themselves?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
26:1-19—Gatekeepers—It appears that of the three sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath and Merari, only the descendants of Kohath and Merari were assigned as gatekeepers of the temple:
(1) From the two main heads of families from the descendants of Kohath:
a. How many sons did Meshelemiah have and together with their relatives, how many families did Meshelemiah’s descendants have serving as gatekeepers? (vv. 2-3, 9)
b. How many sons did Obed-Edom have and together with their relatives, how many families did Obed-Edom’s descendants have serving as gatekeepers? (vv. 4-8)
c. Why did the Lord bless Obed-Edom in particular? (v. 5; see 13:13-14 also)
(2) From the descendants of Merari, how many sons did Hosah have and together with their relatives, how many families did Hosah’s descendants have serving as gatekeepers? (vv. 10-11)
(3) Casting lots for postings (vv. 12-19)
a. What was the basis of lot casting? (v. 13)
b. Which family was assigned to guard the East Gate? (v. 14—Shelemiah is a variation of Meshelemiah in v. 1) How many guards were there per shift? (v. 17)
c. Which family was assigned to guard the North Gate? (v. 14) How many guards were there per shift? (v. 17)
d. Which family was assigned to guard the South Gate and the storehouse? (v. 15) How many guards were there per shift? (v. 17)
e. Which family was assigned to guard the West Gate and the Shalleketh Gate? (v. 16) How many guards were there per shift? (v. 18)
f. Why did David need to assign “able men” to guard the temple as gatekeepers in normal times?
g. What might be the added significance of gatekeepers after the rebuilding of the temple upon their return from exile? (Neh. 12:25; 13:22)
26:20-28—Treasurers—While v. 23 serves as a superscription of the duties assigned to the descendants of all four sons of Kohath, the overall charge of treasuries falls under the descendants of Gershon:
(4) Which family from the descendants of Gershon was put in charge of the treasuries of the temple? (vv. 21-22)
(5) Under them, the descendants from which son of Levi was in charge of the treasuries? (v. 24; see 6:1-3)
(6) What were the descendants from Shelomith and their relatives in charge of? (v. 26)
(7) Of these things “dedicated” to the temple, what does the Chronicler choose to highlight? (vv. 26-28)
26:29-32—Officials and Judges
(8) From the descendants of Izhar (v. 29)
a. What were the duties assigned to them?
b. To which family were the duties assigned?
(9) From the descendants of Hebron (vv. 30-32)
a. What were the duties assigned to the descendants of Hashabiah? (v. 30)
b. How many men did they have in performing these duties?
c. Of the Hebronites, one chief was particularly mentioned (vv. 31-32)
- When was he appointed to his duties? (v. 31; see 29:29)
- What was the region his family was assigned to oversee? (v. 32)
- How many did his family and relatives have in performing these duties? (v. 32)
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
In addition to the establishment of permanent worship at the house of the Lord, it is obvious that David desired to pass on to Solomon a well-organized government:
27:1-15—A Regular Defense Force
(1) How many divisions did David set up?
(2) How many men were there in each division?
(3) What was the frequency of the rotation?
(4) Many of these names can be cross-referenced to the names in chapter 11, especially from the list of mighty men in 11:26-31. The more worth-noting ones include the following:
a. The third army commander: Who was he? (see 11:22-25)
b. The fourth army commander: Who was he and why was his successor named? (11:26; 2 Sam. 2:18-23)
27:16-24—Tribal Leaders
(5) While we do not know for sure why two of the twelve tribes were omitted from this list, it is helpful to refer to a map of the Bible to see which two tribes were omitted and where they were located.
(6) At the end of listing the “heads of families, commanders and their officers”, the Chronicler states that, “David did not take the number of men twenty years old or less” (v. 23).
a. What was the reason given by the Chronicler?
b. What does it really mean? (you may wish to consult today’s Meditative Article later)
27:25-31—Heads of Ministries—Just to make it more relevant to our days, what can you identify below?
(7) Who were in charge of Government Supplies? (v. 25)
(8) Who was David’s Minister/Secretary of Labor? (v. 26)
(9) How was David’s Ministry of Agriculture sub-divided? (vv. 27-28)
(10) What might be today’s equivalent of the ministries described in vv. 29-31?
(11) What might be today’s equivalent of the ministry described in v. 30?
27:32-34—David’s Inner Cabinet
(12) Who were the chief officials within David’s inner cabinet?
(13) Of the names mentioned in the cabinet, you might want to look up the events related to Ahithophel and Hushai in 2 Samuel 16:23, and 17:1-23.
(14) What is the message behind this military and political organization to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
It is more than obvious that the Chronicler arranges the previous chapters in order to build up to the climax of this chapter:
28:1—David’s Summon
(1) Who had David summoned before him? (v. 1)
(2) Where do you think the priests and Levites were?
28:2-3—David’s Opening Remark
(3) What did David publicly admit to?
(4) What might be the significance of such a public admission?
28:4-7—Remarks on his reign
(5) What was the first emphasis made by David and what was its purpose?
(6) What was the second emphasis made by David and what was its purpose?
(7) When did God tell David of His choice of Solomon? (the closest remark seems to be from 2 Sam. 12:24)
28:8—David’s Charge to His Leaders
(8) Since David made it so official in “summoning” all the leaders (v. 1), what might you expect to be the charge he wanted to give?
(9) What was the charge he actually gave them? (v. 8)
(10) Was it what you would have expected on this occasion? Why or why not?
(11) What does this charge reveal as far as the heart of David was concerned?
28:9-10—David’s Charge to Solomon
(12) While this was the occasion to officially commission Solomon to build the temple, what did David preface this charge with and why?
28:11-19—David’s Detailed Preparation
(13) What were the plans he passed on to Solomon? (vv. 11-12)
(14) Where did his inspiration come from? (v. 12)
(15) What other details did David give concerning the temple’s design, construction and operation? (vv. 13-18)
(16) Why did David have to do all these preparations, almost to the last detail?
(17) Where did all these details come from? (v. 19)
28:20-21—David’s Further Admonition to Solomon
(18) What admonition did David give to Solomon concerning the building of the temple?
(19) What excuse could Solomon have in not proceeding with this charge?
(20) What did this admonition mean to the returnees from exile who were about to complete or had just completed the rebuilding of the temple?
(21) What might this admonition mean to you today?
(22) What is the main message to you today, and how may you apply it to your life?
29:1-9—David’s Final Speech (continued)
(1) In appealing to the whole assembly, how did David describe the task at hand? (v. 1)
(2) What was he trying to say?
(3) David told the whole assembly of his own example:
a. What has he already done? (v. 2)
b. What is he now willing to do further? (vv. 3-4)
(4) What was his challenge to the whole assembly? (v. 5b)
(5) What does he mean by that?
(6) How did the leaders respond? (vv. 6-8)
(7) How much did their response have to do with David’s own example according to your opinion?
(8) What was the result of the action of the leaders? (v. 9)
(9) What might be the lesson for you?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
29:10-20—David’s Prayer—At the generous response in the offerings by the leaders of the people, David offers his praise to the Lord which was likely his last recorded public prayer. Let’s learn from this man of prayer:
(1) God-centered Praise (vv. 10-13)
a. V. 10: What does David address the Lord as? As he remembers the Lord as “the God of our father Israel [i.e. Jacob]", why does it lead him to recognize the Lord as “from everlasting to everlasting”?
b. V. 11a: What is the reason David gave for ascribing greatness and power to the Lord? What might be the difference between the couplet (greatness and power) with the triplet (glory, majesty and splendor)? Are they essentially the same? Why or why not?
c. V. 11b: Earlier (in 28:4-7), David was mindful that it was God who chose him and his son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord. Now how does he see God and His kingdom?
d. V. 12: David has certainly possessed wealth, honor, strength and power. How important it is for him, as king of Israel, to acknowledge that all these have come from God?
e. V. 13: Take a moment to reflect on the above, and see how you may personalize it yourself and offer your own praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and in a “God-centered” fashion.
(2) Who am I and who are we? (vv. 14-17)
a. What is the thing that has overwhelmed the heart of David? (v. 17)
b. Why does the generous giving of the people cause David to ask “who am I and who are my people”?
c. Who were they according to David? (v. 15)
d. Imagine if you had not come to know the Lord, what would you be today? Would your days on earth be like “a shadow, without hope”? Why or why not?
e. As much as David himself has given lavishly to the Lord, consider the following:
- How does he describe his heart of giving? (v. 17)
- How does he see all that he has given to the Lord? (v. 16)
(3) David’s petition to the Lord (vv. 18-20)
a. What is his prayer for the people?
b. What is his prayer for his son?
c. What is the one thing that touches you most in his prayer above?
29:21-25—Affirmation of Solomon’s Kingship—The Chronicler refers to this as the “second time” David affirmed the kingship of Solomon before the people. The first time was likely the occasion described in 23:1.
(4) How meaningful was this affirmation by David on the day that they celebrated the dedication of all their offerings to the building of the temple?
(5) Can you recount all that David has done in preparation for his handover of his throne to Solomon?
(6) Given the description of these verses, can you imagine what David must have felt as he was nearing his death?
(7) What preparation can you do for your next generation and what legacy do you think you are passing on to them?
29:26-30—The Death of David
(8) Please pause for a moment and write either a short eulogy or a short epitaph for David.
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?