What we learnt, God is a God of
- Grace – through the tragic beginnings of the family of Judah comes a line of men and women who prevail against the odds and whom God is happy to use for His purposes despite their failure
- Sovereignty – He was, is and will always be the ultimate sovereign, ruler
1 Chronicles 1
First and Second Chronicles were likely written after the return from Babylon. Thus whilst there are similarities with the First and Second book of Kings, both offering a history of the the Jewish monarchy, the perspective in Chronicles is more one of reflection and only the details of the Southern Kingdom are recorded. Perhaps there was even a wished for notion in his mind of the writer that there should only have ever been one kingdom and to the extent that the whereabouts of the Northern Kingdom and its peoples were largely unknown, he reflects on and record only what he deems are the note-worthy details of the nation that remains.
Having established the particular character of this record we should note:
- chapter 1 is a genealogy which will clearly embed Jewish history in the context of world history as a whole.
- As he moves toward documenting the history of the monarchy he includes reference to other power influences in the region – hence the mention of the Dukes of Edom.
- As the genealogy develops we can see that he is really only interested in the Kingly line and chapter 4 begins with Judah, overturning the order of birthright which would place Reuben first.
- The question arises at this point as to why the Kingly line comes from Judah. And the kingly line ultimately will be the Messianic line. Why wasn’t it from Joseph? It’s an interesting point because some of the later writers will refer to the Southern Kingdom as Ephraim – one of Josephs Son’s – but the Kings that reigned there came from Judah’s line. There were many things which made Judah an unlikely candidate:
- he wasn’t the first-born
- his mother was Leah – not Jacobs favourite
- he consents to Josephs death along with the other brothers
- he engineers the sale of Joseph and the other brothers follow his lead
- he mercilessly deceives his father with the rest of them
- in Gen 38 a whole chapter is given over to Judah which makes for very unpleasant reading including his ungodly friendships and his lurid relations with his own daughter-in-law – it might be asked – ‘why would a whole chapter be given over in this way’
- the answer of course is because the events therein are absolutely pivotal in setting the scene for Judah’s ascendancy. What emerges from this is fascinating:
- Judah is deprived by God of two of his sons reducing his chances at posterity (a poignant situation given he had deprived Jacob of one of his)
- the two sons that come from Judah’s relations with Tamar – the birth event is recorded in particular detail owing to the unusual circumstances – the firstborn is named Pharez (Perez) because he evidences the characteristic that he overcame the odds. Against all expectations he overcame. This of course is the very characteristic of the Messianic line but it also signals a change in the life of Judah himself
- and so when we come to chapter 42-43, the focus on Judah narrows. Initially, all the brothers are in view. Reuben underlines his unsuitability as the leader with his rash comment to his father, ‘“Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you”. By contrast Judah takes proper charge and is recorded as having said “I will be a pledge of his safety” – he makes a composed and mature pledge that convinces his Father to allow Benjamin to head to Egypt.
- and then finally, it is Judah, when Benjamin’s life is in the balance (no doubt reflecting on the pain himself, of have being deprived of two sons and contemplating the bitter anguish it would bring to Jacob), he steps up to Joseph (Gen 44:18) and pleads with genuine, deep-felt, desperate emotion, Joseph’s mercy. It is these words from Judah which break Joseph down and reconciliation ensues. Judah breaks forth against the odds and overcomes. And with that crescendo, we are not surprised to hear Jacob’s blessing, ‘Judah, your brothers shall praise you…the scepter shall not depart from Judah’
- this meta-narrative is patently obvious when you realise how significant Judah is to the end of the book of Genesis. Genesis being the book of beginnings of course, the seed-plot for the bible
- and so we answer the question as to why it is that Judah, despite his pitiful beginnings, became the tribe from which the Messiah would come. It is a story of one thing – God’s abounding grace.
What’s not there
- no mention of Dan (cf. Judges 18)
