Welcome to this special remotely recorded episode of the Bible Book Club. We are kicking off Chronicles. Welcome to the club.

Last episode in chapters two of First Chronicles, we covered the who's who in Abraham's genealogy. A genealogy

intent on fulfilling the command to be fruitful and multiply. First, Abraham had eight sons from three wives.

Ishmael the oldest became a great nation with 12 sons. Isaac, the chosen line, only had two sons. They were twins, but both of Isaac's sons,

Esau and Jacob, had 12 sons. That's 24 grandsons for Isaac. The focus then turned to Jacob's sons,

who became the 12 tribes of Israel. Judah, the most important tribe, was given top billing,

beginning with Judah,

himself all the way down to Heisron's three very important sons, Ram, which is where we get the line of David, and Caleb and Jeremiah. The order in which the author places the tribes

in the genealogy list is purposeful. Judah, Levi, and Benjamin get top billing.

We talked about that. So the author covers Judah first. Levi in the middle and ends with Benjamin.

All the unimportant tribes are scattered around Levi. It's a very symbolic order. These tribes need to follow the leadership of the tribe of Judah.

Therefore, the tribe of Judah is first. And then they need to attend to the covenant worship led

by the tribe of Levi, the priests and keepers of the temple. That's why they're in the middle.

Recall that it is assumed our author is a priest from this tribe

and possibly even Ezra himself. So the tribe of Levi is in the middle of the list, just as the

temple and worship should be central to the people. Continuing from the last episode with the tribe of

Judah, we come to the line of David. Now, the family of David

is the feature attraction in the chronicler's list of who's who from the Hebrews Hall of Fame.

The author is going to divide his genealogy into three sections, David's children,

the kings of Judah after David, and then David's descendants after the exile,

who will continue the line without being kings. This list of descendants from David's line,

who returned from Babylon, is the most important to the chronicler. They are proof to the people that God's plan is still in play.

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