1 CHRONICLES 4 AND 5 (NOTES OF A READING)
1 CHRONICLES 4 AND 5 (NOTES OF A READING)
1 Chronicles 4:23; 1 Chronicles 4:39-43; 1 Chronicles 5: 18 - 22
CAC We have been noticing that this book was written after the return from captivity, and that it contains instruction for the remnant. This long list of names is not just a record, but is composed of names selected by the Spirit of God to be put on record, and so is connected in a way with the book of life, and the incidents mentioned are selected ones to convey to persons certain instructions.
Ques What is the connection with the book of life?
CAC It is a record surely connected with God’s thoughts and ways of blessing; that is the character of this book. The whole of the book is occupied with the introduction of David; and it seems that the names are standing in some relation to Christ, and the incidents are selected incidents.
We have spoken of the byssus-workers in verse 21 of chapter 4, and we just touched on the potters last time; and then there are “those that abode among plantations and enclosures”, of whom it says they dwelt there with the king for his work.
The byssus-workers refer to the saints being invested with the features of Christ, which would be practical righteousness; and the potters and those who dwelt with the king for his work would signify the thought of the formation of vessels suitable for the king and for his work.
Ques What does the sentence, “And these are ancient things”, mean? It seems rather a disjointed one coming in there.
CAC It is interesting as coming in there. I think it reminds us of what John speaks of. He speaks of “That which was from the beginning”, and of the commandment that was “from the beginning”. You must not get away from the starting point! It signifies that that which is of God is of old standing, connected with His eternal purpose in Christ.
You can see that what is connected with the king and his work is abiding in its character. The king is surely Christ in His lordship, His authority and His work. It is very important that there should be suitable vessels; and they are looked at here from the side of responsibility, i.e. they are not gold and silver, but made by the potter. We need to be formed by our responsible exercises, formed as vessels suitable to the king for his work.
Ques Do you connect these things with David, and not Solomon, in view of the day of Solomon?
CAC Yes. I think that David is the great central object of this book, as typical of Christ. He has His place in David character, and it is possible for us to be with Him, to take up the exercise of being suitable vessels now. The epistles to Timothy and Titus have very largely in view the formation of suitable vessels, and tell the kind of persons the saints are to be, to be suitable to the Lord.
Rem “If therefore one shall have purified himself from these ... . he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Timothy 2: 21).
CAC It is astonishing how much there is of a practical nature in those epistles. They tell what kind of persons bishops, deacons and the saints have to be.
Rem There are names mentioned in 2 Timothy.
CAC And as we said in Romans 16. There is the mentioning of these lists of men as suitable persons to be put alongside the epistle; they would not discredit it! Am I a credit to the testimony, so that I could have my name put in the next book of chronicles?
Rem So it says, “They dwelt with the king”.
CAC Yes, that is good. You do not generally hear of potters dwelling with the king! It is not the number of meetings I attend, but what I do every day that matters.
Rem When it is seen in relation to the king, there is a dignity conferred upon it.
CAC A dignity is conferred on the humblest service. If I think I am a vessel for the service of the king, I have to be careful.
Ques What would those abiding among plantations suggest?
CAC It rather suggests how the saints are put together in local settings. The Lord has seen to it that, if there is a proper exercise about being a suitable vessel, not malformed or useless, He would put us together in conditions favourable to right growth. “Enclosures” give the idea of separation from the world like the type of the walled city in the Old Testament, the type of the assembly having its own life but in separation from the world.
Ques Is verse 23 connected with verse 22? They were men who had ruled over Moab.
CAC That is very good, I think Moab is the pride of the flesh, and if that is overcome we are well on the way to being serviceable to the king.
Rem Death had been met in Moab. There is no thought of doing anything in these conditions, unless death had been met.
CAC Yes, quite.
Rem There seems to be a moral order of a progressive nature here, beginning with the byssus-workers, till the saints are put together in company.
CAC Things are worked out in skilful labour. There is no science in the world that requires so much skill as christianity.
Rem Paul’s ministry progresses until things are linked up in priesthood.
CAC And we are all committed to these features of the work; it all has to be worked out in skilful labour. We come in chapter 6 to priestly service. That is in view all through, it is all leading up to that.
Rem The putting off and putting on would lead up to that.
CAC Yes.
Ques What is the thought at the end of the chapter?
CAC I thought we got to the idea of what is aggressive, i.e. military expansion, the remnant in extended territory, which is an important exercise. God expects from His people that we should be on the look-out to extend our territory; so in the days of Hezekiah we get those Simeonites who extended their territory, and some in the next chapter in the days of Saul. So all through Scripture down to Hezekiah’s times there was the possibility of extending the territory — so there is still.
Ques How do you apply territory in a spiritual sense?
CAC I think the history of recent times shows how territory can be extended — even during the last hundred years truth has been opened up to us in a wonderful way! There was conflict in chapter 4 with Ham and the Amalekites, and in chapter 5 with the Hagarites, i.e. the legal or religious side of things. Ham would be what man is naturally as governed by his natural desires, and the legal element has to be dispossessed, and in the dispossession we acquire something. If I gain a spiritual victory over my desires, it results in expansion of territory; I am the gainer.
Ques Do you think we get any expansion without conflict?
CAC We have to fight for every bit of ground that we possess. None of us possesses any spiritual territory unless we have fought for it.
Rem There is not only territory but increase in those that occupy it.
CAC Surely; the two go together.
Rem It says that the sons of Simeon did not multiply like the sons of Judah, so that on the royal line there seems to be increase. The flocks coming in would suggest that there is pasture.
CAC Yes, we should be always on the look-out for what would feed us, and for larger pastures.
Rem Epaphras combated for the Colossians that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. It is an extended thought.
CAC It is possible for us to take possession of something that never has been possessed before and in the conflict with the Hagarites the spiritual features come out very distinctly. The Hagarites were delivered into their hands, for they cried to God in the battle, and He was intreated of them; because they put their trust in Him, and in verse 22 it says, “For there fell down many slain, for the war was of God”. I suppose Paul writing to the Galatians was fighting the Hagarites, was he not?
Rem If we do not take up the conflict, the enemy will take our possessions from us.
CAC So there is a warning in the end of the chapter. They went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, and the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Put king of Assyria and the spirit of Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away — that is just the warning. Instead of overcoming, they were overcome and carried off into captivity, because they left Jehovah and went after the gods of the land.
Ques What would the Amalekites represent?
CAC We know how they came up as soon as the children of Israel had, typically, received the Spirit, to fight against them. They represent the flesh as worked upon by Satan in opposition to the Spirit. Satan stirs up the flesh to opposition. Then we have to cry to God. These people did, for these people trusted in God. When you get the religious element, you get God particularly with His people against it. Legal flesh is very deceptive and it needs the power of God to overcome it. God seems to take special note of what is against the Spirit. There are solemn warnings with reference to what is against the Spirit, that have not been given as to the Father and the Son. God is specially jealous with regard to any opposition against the Spirit. The Spirit is unseen, the world cannot see Him or know Him, yet it is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened, that, a divine Person Himself, He is come into certain limitations here that would not happen to a Person as in the Godhead. So God is jealous that anything opposing the Spirit should be treated unsparingly. We need to be more sensitive as to the things that grieve the Spirit, particularly doing things in a religious way, which is the great opposition to the Spirit now. Flesh putting on a religious character, that is the Hagarite.
Rem A hundred thousand human souls were taken captive, so it was a large force, yet God comes in for a comparative few and they overcome and gain much spoil.
CAC And God has given His people great deliverance in these days from what is legal. It is an immense thing to be free from the Hagarites — a party that God hates. Paul tells the Galatians that in going back to Judaism they were going back to what was as bad as heathen idolatry. It has been said that the Spirit is more ignored in christendom than Christ is.