1 Chronicles is not a book in the Bible I hear a lot of people running to for counsel comfort and instruction. Other than the rather fanciful and misguided “The Prayer of Jabez” written around a character in 1 Chron. 4, this book gets precious little recognition. Its seemingly endless lists of names and duties – hundreds of people mentioned nowhere else in the Bible and with no biographical information about them but for an exceptional few – makes it a portion most of us gloss over rather quickly, if we spend any time in it at all.

‌Yet, 1 Chronicles is as much God’s Word as Romans is. True, they do not fill the very same role. Not all of Scripture is equally applicable to the Christian life in the same way. Some treasures yield up their riches on first sight. Others, must be painstakingly mined.

‌Should your reading schedule take you thought this book sometime soon, here’s a few things that might be worth keeping in mind while perusing the lists and the great unknowns.

‌1 – Recapitulating the history of 1st and 2nd Samuel in survey form, 1 Chron. sees a number of gaps filled in – and a broader view and reminder of how God’s rule can never be replaced by fallen man’s, no matter how good, noble and upright the man may be. Man’s rebellion against God’s rule is always at the root of the violence which plagues mankind. And yet, in every place, the types and shadows of the coming King Jesus promise the fulfillment of God’s perfect plan in Christ.

‌2 – Always important when encountering unknown name upon name upon unknown name – is the reminder that God knows every single one in His Church – by name. They need not be men and women of great exploits. It only matters that they are His, and known by Him. None are superfluous. Their names are as much written in the eternal Word as those of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon etc. As are those of all who are in Christ by faith. Each are a vital part of His Kingdom. None dispensable to His design and purpose. Each in their place, with their purpose, with their individual personalities, talents, experiences and contributions.

‌In our day of celebrity pastors and ministries, when some are uniquely in the spotlight, and the culture lures each of us to make our mark – we forget the glory of the ordinary Christian. Made by God, for God, and set divinely in your place and time. God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26). And that is as much true for you and me, as it was for the sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad, whose brothers were able men, Elihu and Semachiah.” (1 Chron. 26:7)

‌3 – As the NET renders it, “David gave to his son Solomon the blueprints for the temple porch, its buildings, its treasuries, its upper areas, its inner rooms, and the room for atonement. He gave him the blueprints of all he envisioned for the courts of the LORD’s temple, all the surrounding rooms, the storehouses of God’s temple, and the storehouses for the holy items. He gave him the regulations for the divisions of priests and Levites, for all the assigned responsibilities within the LORD’s temple, and for all the items used in the service of the LORD’s temple.” It goes on.

‌The Church was the Father’s idea, not Jesus’ alone. When Christ says that He is building His Church and that even the gates of Hell cannot overcome it, He is fulfilling His Father’s plan and purpose. “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Eph. 2:22.

The Temple was a symbol, a type and shadow of what the Father was all about from the beginning. David and Solomon and the nation of Israel itself then come into focus as types and shadows and not the endgame. We do not look for some rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem to come – we look for the perfecting of the Temple of God’s people completed in the New Jerusalem. And we see all this as planned by the Eternal Father, committed into the hands of His Son, and brought about through the indwelling power of the Spirit.

‌4 – And so we read David’s prayer upon committing all of these things to his Son Solomon to be about – and he prays like this: “For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security…O LORD God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, maintain the motives of your people and keep them devoted to you.” (1 Chron. 29:15 & 18).

What David could only pray for, Jesus fulfills in rising from the dead, ascending to the Father, and sending to Holy Spirit to do those very things – to maintain the motives of His people – and keep us devoted to Him: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

‌Next time you wander through this odd place called 1 Chronicles – remember that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (1 Tim. 3:16-17) And take a little time to ponder, and ask for the Spirit’s aid in seeing Christ there.

“Thar’s gold in themthar hills.”