{"id":4850,"date":"2023-06-27T23:56:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T04:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4850"},"modified":"2023-06-27T23:56:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T04:56:56","slug":"devotional-on-1-chronicles-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-1-chronicles-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on 1 Chronicles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-jHgORSkd59U\/XppUXHU5ZeI\/AAAAAAABEvA\/PdofBXXKg4Qz3T1FWKw31lQYKKZDJ_z2ACPcBGAsYHg\/s1600\/20170905_161628.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" class=\"size-large\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2017 &#8211; Black Hills Needles Highway<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nFull Circle<br \/>\n1 Chronicles 9: The first Israelites to return from exile to their homes and cities were the priests, the Levites, and the temple support staff.<br \/>\nAfter page after page of genealogy we arrive at the wrap up statement that \u201cthis is the complete family tree for all Israel.\u201d  After wading through the names (or maybe skipping them) we breathe a sigh of relief, ready to get back to the story telling of the book.  Instead, there are more names!   The writer skips over the years of exile to the beginning of the return to Jerusalem.  He speaks of these people differently, though, and it feels as though the writer may be a contemporary of some of these folks.  In just a few paragraphs we\u2019ll be back to the story of King Saul and begin marching through the king stories of Israel and Judah.  However, having just finished the genealogy followed by the list of early returnees to Israel after the exile, I can\u2019t help but reflect on how connected it all is.  Other nations that are exiled are absorbed into the culture of the Babylonian and, later on, Persian empires.  These descendants of Abraham, though, hold together.  There are changes to their culture and traditions, but they remain a separate people through it all.  It\u2019s only because of that that I can read \u201cthis is how it ended\u201d followed immediately by \u201cthis is how it continued.\u201d  There\u2019s only one way to explain it: it\u2019s the Hand of God.  This God made promises to Abraham and centuries later to David.  Through the prophets, even in the darkest of days before the exile, there\u2019s the promise of restoration.  Now, in an almost offhand way I see part of the fulfillment of that.  \u201cHere\u2019s the end of the story&#8230;now, let\u2019s get back to the story.\u201d  Caution: God at work here!<br \/>\nTake Away: The Lord\u2019s faithfulness spans lifetimes and generations.  His faithfulness never fails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Full Circle 1 Chronicles 9: The first Israelites to return from exile to their homes and cities were the priests, the Levites, and the temple support staff. After page after page of genealogy we arrive at the wrap up statement that \u201cthis is the complete family tree for all Israel.\u201d After wading through the names [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1468,7],"tags":[112,345,411,485],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4850"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4850"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14529,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4850\/revisions\/14529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}