I Chronicles 9:35-11:46
Fast-forward, rewind, and replay. Reading through the Scriptures chronologically means that we are now skipping forward in the text to I Chronicles so that we can go back and review some history we’ve already been through, but from a somewhat different perspective. Sometimes Chronicles quotes almost verbatim from Samuel and Kings. (For example, compare I Ch. 10:1-12 with I Sam. 31:1-13.) So do not be surprised if you feel like you’ve read this before. You have!
Chronicles does not devote much ink to Saul. Aside from a few minor references in the next few chapters, what we have today is just about it. Chronicles thus skips over Saul’s anointing, all of Saul’s positive accomplishments, the vast majority of Saul’s hunting of David, and gets straight to Saul’s demise. All that silence stands as an implicit negative commentary on Saul, but in case there is any question about that, Chronicles briefly makes that criticism explicit:
So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.
I Chronicles 10:13-14
And so Chronicles moves straight on to David, even skipping over all the conflict and political machinations that precede David’s ascension to the throne of a united Israel. (I Ch. 11:1-3)
As we move back and forth between Chronicles and Samuel and Kings, let’s notice both the similarities and the differences. Let’s appreciate the different perspectives, arising from authors writing at different times and to audiences in different circumstances, and therefore with different emphases. And let’s recognize that it is all God’s Word. We should not read only Samuel and Kings without Chronicles. Neither should we read Chronicles without Samuel and Kings. We must take them all together to get the full message that God has for us.