I Chronicles 23-26:19
Chronicles wastes no time on the juicy details of how Solomon attains the throne, stating simply that David makes him king. (I Ch. 23:1) Instead, the Chronicler has a very different focus: worship, and all that it entails. Hence, we read about David’s preparations for building the Temple as well as his organizing of the Levites into their various divisions — 24,000 charged with the work in the house of the LORD, 6,000 officers and judges, 4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 musicians — all in the service of the LORD.
It may seem like we are reading the names of all 38,000 Levites in today’s chapters, but I hope that does not bog us down. All those names should remind us that we are talking about real people with real lives, real cares and concerns, and real duties to perform. And David’s decisions here shape those lives for generations to come.
We may think of David as a warrior or as a musician and psalmist, but how often do we think of him as a planner and administrator? Yet those are the roles that we see him filling here. They are roles that are every bit as necessary (though perhaps not as exciting to read about) as his other roles. If we pause to think about it, over a forty-year reign as king, David probably spent a good deal more time on these kinds of organizational activities than he did on the battlefield. There may not be much high drama here, but in organizing the Levites we can again see David’s heart for God, his desire to honor and glorify God and to set things in order so that Israel can properly worship the LORD after David is gone.
Do we have that kind of heart? Are we focused on worship?