Day 352: 1 Chronicles 19-21 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Welcome to the Bible Department podcast, powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebibledepartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (upbeat music) - Family, welcome to day 352. We are looking at first Chronicles chapters 19, 20, and 21 today and buckle up because we are gonna see the sin or the downfall of David in the book of Chronicles. Now, when we looked at Samuel and Kings, the big downfall of David is going to be his murder of Uriah and the sexually illicit relationship with Bathsheba, but that is not the reason for David's downfall in Chronicles. Actually, it's almost like the book is gonna prep us for that moment and then it's just not there. So, buckle up. We are going to look at a different report, a minority report on what happened in the life of David. If you have not done the reading today, you are definitely gonna wanna do the reading. We got some entertaining passages of scripture today and I'm super, super excited. If you have not done the reading, stop the video, pause the audio, go get the reading done and then come back. All right, we are in first Chronicles chapters 19, 20, and 21. I'm gonna start by giving us context clues

and then we'll dive into some dirty nuggets. Big, big, big context clue that I wanna give, okay, is when we get into first Chronicles chapter 20, it's gonna say in the spring at the time when kings go off to war. Now, I'm immediately gonna be triggered by that because that is literally 2 Samuel. That those exact words are gonna get used in 2 Samuel to plot the story of David in Bathsheba, right? In the spring, when kings go off to war, what's David gonna do? He's gonna stay in Jerusalem. And so, part of the reason why he's even tempted by seeing a bathing woman and the reason that there's even a bathing woman in the first place is because David's just not where he should be. And so, the text is telling us like, "Hey, we want you to have Samuel in mind." And I guess I'll tell you this precursor is that Ezra knows that the books of Samuel and kings are written and available. Though it's not like by omitting facts, Ezra's trying to like fool anybody or trick anybody. There's no malicious intent on the parts of the biblical authors. Ezra essentially understands, "Hey, there's a different perspective on David's downfall "and any good you could go read those that perspective." And you should be reading Ezra's perspective

and Samuel's perspective. Like, neither of these perspectives are right or wrong or good or bad, but they are both necessary in order for us to get a complete picture of David the person of his character and how God ultimately sees David. So, what we have in Samuel is gonna be the prophetic history. Remember, the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings are the former prophets, okay? So they're the prophetic viewpoint or the prophetic perspective on historical events. Ezra is writing a priestly history. So chronicles is not giving a prophetic history but a priestly history. And I'm just gonna read some of the content from my notes that really I think will help us understand this. At the heart of both books is the covenant, the relationship between Yahweh and Israel and how the leaders of Israel are involved for good or bad in that covenant. But what prophetic history focuses in on is the character of those leaders. Character, not morality, okay? Big word, character. Kings are deemed successful, not because of wars, building programs, et cetera, but by whether they ruled like David, i.e. in David's character. Key word, character. In humility before Yahweh.

In what shows character, nothing shows character like the humility of having to respond to sin in your life. This is why character is so much more important than morality, okay? A moral person may never, I don't know, smoke weed or watch pornography. But someone with character may struggle those sins, being honest about those things, being transparent, not lying or hiding or covering it up, but by being honest and transparent. So character, in order for the prophetic history to show this character, this humility, the writers of the prophetic history show all aspects of the leader's lives, their successes and their failures, because it is in failure that true character is shown. Man, that could be a timeless truth right there. It's in failure that true character is on display. What does David do when he fails according to the prophetic history? What is his response to his sin? This is important to a prophet. Repentance is the core message of the prophetic gift. Remember, John the Baptist is the prophet and what is his message? Repent for the kingdom of hand is it near. Okay. How people repent is at the core of like what prophets care about. I'll say it again. Repentance is the core of the prophetic gift or the prophetic ministry, bringing people back to the covenant to Yahweh through repentance. So in Samuel, the David and Bathsheba story is essentially important. It shows that David wasn't perfect, that he failed, but it also shows his character after sin, after failure, his repentant heart laying on his face before Yahweh. That right there, David's response to his sin, is super important for the prophet to show or to demonstrate. And so what the prophetic history is doing through the books of Samuel is showing David

is a relatable person and you, the reader, can repent the same way that David has repented. But for the priest, priests have a different agenda and I want you to listen closely if that word agenda kind of makes you feel like you can't trust what someone has to say because they have an agenda, right? Sometimes in our current vernacular, when we talk about someone with an ulterior motive or an agenda, that person is immediately not trustworthy. And I don't want you to bring that baggage into biblical interpretation. When we say that an author has an agenda, it's no different than saying I had an agenda when I wrote crushing chaos. That agenda is to help people bring order to the chaos of their lives. That's my agenda. So I don't want you to think about it as a negative agenda as much as it's an objective. It's the goal. Okay? It's a purpose. So if the word agenda has ever triggered you, especially as we talk about different authors having different perspectives, I hope that's helpful. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by Arma. What is Arma? I'm so glad you asked. Arma is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people. Every day people learn the Bible for themselves. We started Arma so that anybody anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics, like homosexuality, tithing, and women in ministry. But really, Arma is a community, a community of people that I've gotten to know, a community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions, and nerding out on the Bible together.

If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire Arma team, how about you? Go to the Bible department.com. I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. The priest's focus is always going to be the temple, worship, festivals, the ritual. It's not the character of David that a priest cares about, or that is the most important to him, but the role of David, David here in Chronicles, is not the ideal king because of his character or repentance before Yahweh, but he's the ideal king because of his worship of Yahweh and his care for wanting to build Yahweh's house. That's what makes David ideal. So, not that either of these are correct, but without the other their income. Ezra's audience, is re-establishing the rituals in worship of the temple after exile. So, the David they need is the religious hero rather than a sinful yet repentant human. They need inspiration to prioritize God's house, and that's what Ezra provides, by shining a particular light on David as a character. Ezra is going to highlight the David who re-organizes worship, plans the temple, prepares for the building of that temple, brings the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. His private life is simply not important here. It is his work for the house of Yahweh that's important for Ezra, which is the focus of chronicles. Basically, if it's not connected to the temple, to temple worship, to rituals, to sacrifice, to the house of the Lord, it's not going to make it into the book of chronicles, because the author's agenda creates a filter. You have this unlimited amount of source material, and you can't use all of it. So, in selecting source material for the book of chronicles, Ezra tells you his agenda, aka his filter. David in Goliath, David on the run, civil war with Isha'al, Bathsheba, Absalom, etc. Solomon's idolatry, the entire northern kingdom after the split, that has nothing to do with the temple and worship. Therefore, it's not here in chronicles, though it is important to remember that Ezra is not hiding anything here. Nothing's being hidden. There's no trick up Ezra's sleeve. Samuel and kings can be read. Someone can go read the book of Samuel and read the book of kings and learn all about all of the sins of David and how he's got a great character and how he repents.

The biblical books are designed to complete one another. They, in and of themselves, are not complete. This is why it's important to study the entire Bible over the course of a year. Yes, I'm going to make a plug for the Bible department while you're watching an episode of the Bible department. A lot of times, and I'm guilty of this, I love the gospels, so the majority of my sermons come from the gospels, but my job as a pastor isn't just to preach my favorite books of the Bible. It's to give people a balanced meal to make sure that the full counsel of God is available for people, and that means all 66 books. And we're watching right here in chronicles that chronicles is designed to give a different perspective, not a correct perspective, not an incorrect perspective, but a different perspective on the character of David. All right, it is super important to remember that Ezra's not hiding anything. Samuel and kings have both been written. They exist. They have been compiled, and the people of Judah know these stories. So when people are engaging with the book of chronicles in their proper context, they know that the stories of Samuel and kings exist. All right, Ezra has zero ill intent. All right, that's a ton of context, but I think that's going to just help us interpret what's going on in these chapters. All right, let's dive into chapters 19, 20, and 21. I'm really going to fly through 19 and 20. We'll focus on 21 because that's where David's downfall is going to occur. In chapter 19, the whole point of chapter 19, you may not realize this on the surface, but the whole point of chapter 19 is to show that David has conquered the original land of the promised land, okay? When God originally tells Abraham the borders for Israel, like the promising, this is the land I'm going to give to you. He gives some geographical markers, and this story right here in 1 Chronicles 19 is the first time that those geographical markers that Yahweh gave to Abraham are actually fulfilled, which means Joshua did not conquer all of the promised land. He conquered a portion of it, and it's not until we get to David that David actually walks in the fullness of what God had promised, and I could give a Thomas' truth about that, that if God has promised me three children and I only have one, it doesn't mean that I'm not grateful that I'm still contending for the extra two. I want everything that God has for me, and so it's easy to celebrate Joshua's victory of the promised land as a victory, but really it's not a victory if Joshua didn't actually take everything that God had for him, and David finally does, and that's the whole point of chapter 19. interpretive key for all of chapter 19. Chapter 20, there's, you know, this is the David and Beth

Siba story with no Beth Siba. So you're probably immediately at like, wait a second, where's the part where he kills Uriah and takes the man's wife. Yeah, that's not there, which then leads us to chapter 21, right where you would think you would find the big moral failure. You're gonna find it in the next chapter. So chapter 21, it says this, Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. Now, in the modern world, when there's a census that gets taken, I think there was a census in maybe like 2020 here in America, here in the United States, maybe 2020, 2019. Anyway, we had a census and I remember it came to my house, came to my mailbox and I don't know, I filled in the information and put it back. And when we have a census in the model world is typically for taxation. And it's for the government to have records. In the ancient world, a census was for one purpose and one purpose only to figure out how many numbers of people you had for the army. That's it. That that's the whole point of a census. And this story is going to start with Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take census of Israel. So I want to talk about two things. I want to talk about counting people and whether that's okay. And then I want to talk about sin and temptation, okay? Because this story is going to open the door for both of those topics. So let's talk about sin and temptation, okay? I want to actually compare what the Bible says in Samuel. So what the Bible says here in Chronicles, okay? First Chronicles 21 verse 1, we just read it, it says, then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel, okay? That's how the story starts in Chronicles. But that's not how it starts in for Samuel, for Samuel 24 verse 1 says this, again, the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel and God, okay? Yahweh incited David against them, saying go number Israel and Judah. Fascinating. So let's talk about the four-sided reality of every temptation, okay? Now I want you to see the, oh boy, I'm about to open up a massive theological can of worms because you can see this in the book of Job. Who's responsible for Job's suffering, God or Satan? And you could honestly say both. And why? Why? And I hope I can say this release succinctly. Honestly, I could teach a 90-minute course on this, but I want to say this release succinctly. Satan is still under the control of Yahweh. So Satan can't just like run around doing stuff like without like Yahweh. I maybe I can say it in an even more powerful way. Like Satan is on God's payroll. Satan is an employee in God's like ecosystem. So this whole idea like, well, was it God or was it Satan? Well, let's think about the story of Job. Satan is roaming around. He's kind of like, ah, people only serve you because you bless him. And God's like,

have you thought about Job? Like God brings Job up. And then Satan is like, wow, let me, let me tempt him. But for God, it's a test. Let's think about the Garden of Eden. It's God that created everything in the garden. The tree that Adam and Eve can't eat from was made by God. And then the serpent is there to provide temptation. But for God, it's not temptation. It's a test. And so for every temptation on the flip side of temptation is a test. Temptation means that there's an adversary that wants you to fail. A test means that there's a God that wants you to pass and succeed. So for every moment where there is a temptation, God is rooting for you. God is like, what about Job man? He's faithful. Try him. Satan is then going to tempt Job by creating scenarios. Satan believes that Job is going to fail. But Yahweh believes that Job can withstand the trial. So a test and a temptation are the flip sides of the same coin. It's the motive behind the person that actually makes it a test or a temptation. And by person, I mean spiritual be. It's the motive of Satan to try to get you to fail. And it's the motive of God. God's motive is that you would win, that you would succeed and you would pass. Second or third. So first, yeah, God is involved. But he. God's heart posture is for you to choose Him, okay? So number one, God's involved. Two, Satan is involved. Three, there are circumstances that are involved. This entire story, chapter 21, is in the midst of threats and aminites and aramians and all kinds of just political stuff. So what is the nature of temptation? God is involved. Satan is involved. Circumstances are involved. And then David's involved. So no one part of this four part system can ever be blamed. So to blame God for tempting or trial or testing is immature. To blame Satan is immature.

To blame the circumstance is immature. And to then blame yourself in the wallowing guilt and shame is also immature. Why am I failing in a test? And 25% of the reason is 'cause of me. Man, I need to pray more. I need to memorize the word more. Why do I keep falling prey to sexual temptation or to anger or to not tithing or whatever it is? Man, part of it's me. Set part of it's a circumstance. We're in a recession. Man, it's a pandemic. Like part of it's the scenario. Part of it's the enemy. Satan wants to 1,000% capitalize on whatever the circumstances and whatever your personal convictions or lack thereof are. And then there's God. God is not gonna remove you from temptation. The moment temptation happens, God's not gonna teleport you to Mars. He's not gonna teleport you somewhere where there's no heat. He's not gonna shield you from all temptation. That's not what he's gonna do. And so God, Satan, the circumstance and you are all a factor. And at some point you've gotta be aware of all four if you're gonna begin to walk in victory over temptation. And when tests improve your character to the Lord, you're gonna have to know yourself really well.

You are going to have to then prepare yourself for certain circumstances. You are going to have to understand the deceptive voice of the enemy and you're gonna have to be relying on the Lord. Okay, so all four of these factors are really, really helpful. And honestly, that could be our timeless truth for the day. Like I just gave you a solid game plan for how to defeat some cycles of sin and create victory. All right, last couple of things we need to kind of shore up. What's going on with counting people, okay? The issue here is not the activity of counting people because news flash, we have a whole book of the Bible called Numbers, which is a census of the army, okay? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, the fourth book of the Bible is all about Numbers. Jesus says that a good shepherd leaves 99 sheep to go after one. How would a shepherd know that one sheep has left? Well, you got to count all throughout the book of Acts. It says there's 120 people in the upper room. How do we know that? Someone counted. Then it says that the church grew in the book of Acts. By a couple thousand, I think 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, how do we know? Someone counted. So counting is not a problem. Here's the problem.

The problem is counting on the people that you just counted. That's the problem. God says, I would like for you to count on me. And this is gonna get into our timeless truth because we can be really legalistic when we start thinking that convictions and sin are the same thing. The actual issue here is that David got his validation and strength from the amount of people in the army and not from God. And that's the problem. Had the number not meant anything to David, God wouldn't have had a problem with it. But it did mean something to David. And what can typically happen is something means something to you so God tells you not to do it. Like I know people who literally say Beyonce's an idol for me. So God told me not to go to Beyonce concerts. Then that person who Beyonce's an idol for them, guess what they start to do? to the same place in their own life. So now the person who has an ideology problem and God told them not to go see Beyonce, they then start to judge people who go see Beyonce and they're like, see, they're not really same. They're going to see Beyonce. No, they're obeying their conscience as should you. And you should really mind your business because the sin is not counting.

The sin is in disobeying God. And if God told you not to count, you should account. And that's just the truth. Why is this such a big deal? It's such a big deal because guess what? Psalms chapter 20 verse seven, you wanna know what David says? David says in Psalms chapter 20 verse seven, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. This saying David, who's counting men in the army in order to feel strong is the same dude who looked to Philistine in the face and said, "You come against me with sword spear and javelin, "but I come against you in the name of the Lord God Almighty." So David has a history of not trusting in numbers, but entrusting in God. And then he went against his own faith in his own convictions. And that's a problem. And so our timeless truth for the day is that this is not a problem to solve but attention to manage. I can be honest, there are times where the Lord has asked me, hey, don't ask for the attendance number. But then there are times where God says to me, "Hey, you need to start asking for the attendance number." Well, is God's schizophrenic? No, God knows my heart. There are certain seasons where I can handle the number

'cause the number doesn't mean anything to me. And then there are certain seasons where I'm irresponsible if I don't know the number, which means there's a lot of us, you've got to move from religion into relationship, which means in a relationship, God can change his mind 'cause it's a relationship. God could say one thing to you on Tuesday and a different thing to you on Thursday. And if you're set in a rule, you'll just keep doing what he said to do on Tuesday forever. But if you actually have a relationship, there was a season where my wife didn't like flowers. And then guess what? She started liking flowers. And so guess what? I started giving her flowers. But if you think that your relationship with God is just a routine or rule or religion, then you won't make a symbiotic relationship with him. And that's the timeless truth. And that's not just relevant for David. That's not just relevant for Joab or for Nathan or for any of the characters in the story. That's relevant for you and for me 'cause it's the timeless truth. Tomorrow we got day 353. We're gonna be walking through first Chronicles chapters 22 to 24.

Some of the things about buying the threshing floor that we're actually in today's reading, we're actually gonna discuss it tomorrow 'cause it fits in with all the stuff in chapters 22, 23, and 24. Anywho, I'll see you tomorrow. Love you so much. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend, and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.