Year 1, Week 35, Day 5 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 35, Day 5

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 1 Chronicles 11-12.

Today’s reading parallels the previous day’s reading from 2 Samuel 5. David has been installed as king. The Chronicler does not include any of the details between Saul’s death and the installation of David as king in Jerusalem over all of Israel: “Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron…And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel…All these, men of war, arrayed in battle order, came to Hebron with a whole heart to make David king over all Israel” (1 Chronicles 11:1a-3b; 12:38). All of Israel gathered to anoint David king over all of Israel. None of the drama in the conflict between the house of David and what remained of the house of Saul is mentioned by the Chronicler. 1 Chronicles 11 notes David’s anointing and his taking of Jerusalem. A portion of 1 Chronicles 11 and all of 1 Chronicles 12 lists the mighty men who followed David.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the LORD’s provision of Jerusalem through the agency of David: “For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.” (Psalm 132:13-14). Until this point, Jerusalem was in the hands of the Jebusites: “And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land” (1 Chronicles 11:4). Jerusalem was never really secured during Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land: “But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day” (Joshua 15:63). However, the LORD’s promise to Abraham included the land of the Jebusites: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites” (Genesis 15:18-21). The Jebusites did not willingly concede Jerusalem to David, “nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David” (1 Chronicles 11:5b). While the New Testament will refer to Bethlehem as the city of David (Luke 2:4), for it was his birthplace (1 Samuel 17:12), today’s reading notes that Jerusalem would also be known as the city of David, for he conquered it.

In the aftermath of David’s capture of Jerusalem, the Bible’s focus upon that city endures throughout the rest of the Scriptures. Even when Jerusalem is destroyed during Israel’s captivity, the prophets speak of a future for her: “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains…and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD” (Isaiah 2:1-3). Ironically, Jesus, the Son of David (see Matthew 21:9), would face His fiercest opposition in Jerusalem. The Son of David is rejected in the city of David: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34). Even after Jerusalem is destroyed  within a generation from Jesus’ death, the New Testament does not let go of a focus upon the city.

And yet, the New Testament, while not dismissing the literal, physical city of Jerusalem, also speaks of a heavenly Jerusalem: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all” (Hebrews 12:22-23a). There is, at present, a Jerusalem that is above (see Galatians 4:26). All who belong to Christ enter into the realm of the heavenly Jerusalem as we seek the LORD in prayer and worship. However, the present heavenly city of Jerusalem will not always exist in another realm. Jerusalem will come to earth at the end of the age: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:1-2). In the meantime, before Jerusalem comes down to earth, John was transported to the heavenly Jerusalem: “Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:9-10). So, whether it is then or now, Jerusalem is accessible through Jesus Christ: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all” (Psalm 48:1-2).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe