The lineage of the priests and Levites is listed for us here in chapter 6. This genealogy is extremely important as the standing of these men of God and their service were directly related to their ancestral record. It was by birthright that the office of the priest was filled.

In tracking these generations we can see the high, as well as the low points of the Israelite’s spiritual walk. Some of these men of God succeeded in honoring the Lord through their ministries, while others failed miserably. What is important to consider is even though these men had a specific calling on their lives, they were still just men. Made of the same corrupt flesh as you and I.

The success or failure of these men was dependent upon their individual surrender to the will of the Father. We must be careful to not place people on pedestals, expecting them to set our examples of Godly behavior. In doing so we take our eyes off of Christ as our model and shift them to man. This is dangerous because as humans, they are imperfect and will ultimately fail us.

The solution is to look at Christ as our example. Not only will He always be the best model, but He will never fail us. Don’t get me wrong, we should all have Godly people in our lives to admire and learn from, but our faith must not rest upon them. As the old hymn says “Our faith is built on nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness…”

We can certainly admire and get advice from people who set great Godly examples in their lives. In fact this is part of God’s plan. It only becomes detrimental when we attach our faith in God to our faith in man. The Lord will never fail us, but people at some level always will.

Let’s keep our eyes on JESUS as our example!

1 Chronicles 6

This opening chapter gives us a genealogy starting with Adam and following many of his descendants through time. We see Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and many more as the foundation of God’s faithfulness is established. These precise genealogies are intended to not only track specific lineages, but also display the intricacy and massive time frame that the Lord works within.

Believed to have been written by Ezra, God is setting the stage for the history lesson to follow. We will see in upcoming chapters lessons learned, mistakes made and great victories which will be setting the stage for a study primarily focused on the reign of David.

Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.

In the Bible, God is constantly pointing to the past in order to teach us today. People are still people and the basic struggles they faced thousands of years ago are the same ones we battle today. Pride is still pride, sin is still sin and wrestling with the flesh is still the preeminent pastime of humanity.

In studying the Biblical accounts of these victories and losses, we can gain valuable insight into our own path. The Lord has given us all the tools and instructions we need to be a success in this life. It’s just a matter of taking the time to read the instructions (The Bible) before we act.

Having put many complicated things together wrong over the years, I figured out that instructions are very important. I don’t know about you, but I would like to skip as many mistakes as possible in this life. The way to do that is to use the Bible as our guide in every situation. His instructions are always best, all we have to do is follow them.

1 Chronicles 1

Three years after Ahab’s “repentance” he reaches out to king Jehoshaphat of Judah asking him to join forces against Syria. Jehoshaphat is a God fearing man who agrees, but asks for confirmation from God before taking action. So Ahab gathers his prophets who tell him what he wants to hear and they confirm that he will be victorious.

Not willing to accept these obvious “yes men” Jehoshaphat asks for a true prophet. Ahab reluctantly brings Micaiah who was jailed for telling Ahab what he did not want to hear (the truth) out of prison. To the great frustration of Ahab and his profits, Micaiah explains that Ahab will die in the battle. Remember Elijah prophesied this in chapter 21, but Ahab dismiss both warnings.

Ahab disguises himself as a regular chariot soldier and enters the battle. In the thick of the fighting a Syrian archer fires an arrow that finds it’s way to Ahab, striking him in just the right spot. As he is led out of the battle he dies in his chariot and is carried back to Samaria. Ahab is buried and as the chariot is washed out, dogs lick up the blood. (This is a symbol of great disgrace.)

Ahab’s son Ahaziah became king of Israel and he followed in his father’s footsteps of sin. The judgements that God told Elijah would come against Ahab’s offspring are coming. While at the same time, Jehoshaphat honored God until his death.

As Christians there are several very important things for us to take from Ahab’s story. Make sure that you get good Godly counsel from someone with a close relationship with Christ. There will always be those willing to give advice who are desperately unqualified. Be willing to receive even what you don’t want to hear. It is always best to forego what we want in order to follow God’s will. It’s when we force our agenda (which the Lord will allow us to do) that we find ourselves in trouble. And lastly, when we ignore God’s warnings it doesn’t matter how many precautions we may take. The end results will not go our way.

We each need to seek out a Godly counselor who will be honest with us and advise us from God’s word.

1 Kings 22