1 Chronicles 20:1
Chronicles is a retelling of the story of Israel and Judah. Most of what you read in these two books is first found in the two books of Samuel and the two books of Kings. The stories are not in chronological order in every case and the Chronicles gives more details in many areas.
This is why 1 Chronicles 20:1 is so odd. It is first told in 2 Samuel 11:1. As a matter of fact, the wording in both books is close to identical, with Samuel’s version ending with “David tarried still at Jerusalem”, which Chronicles tells you as well. However, in Chronicles, the next sentence has Joab smiting Rabbah and destroying it, with verse 2 telling us that David took the crown off of the king’s head and put it on his own. In Samuel, these events do not happen until 2 Samuel 12:26, nearly two chapters later! Why the big gap? What happens in chapter 11 and 12 that the Holy Spirit does not deem necessary to repeat in the retelling of Chronicles?
The 11th chapter of 2 Samuel is one of the saddest in the Bible. It records the lust filled David, taking Bathsheba as his own and then conspiring to murder her husband. He then goes nearly a year with this cover-up unknown to anyone but the two of them, before God sends the prophet Nathan to show him his sin. David appeals to God in Psalm 51, asking for forgiveness and mercy without sacrifice. Nothing but faith in a coming redeemer could have taught David that someday salvation would be available by faith alone, without lambs dying. David seeks God’s grace, nearly 1000 years before the cross and God gives it, telling David, “Thou shalt not die” (2 Samuel 12:13).
David writes of this kind of grace in Psalm 32, when he makes a statement that Paul would quote in his great epistle to Romans: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Romans 4:7, 8).
Then Paul writes this: “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Because of the finished work of Calvary, God does not impute sin to us anymore! We are guilty of our own version of David and Bathsheba. We have done things that we are not proud of and that we hope will never be found out nor repeated. Praise God that in the retelling of your life’s story, God will remove all of those moments, and make the story sound as if they never happened. We are “justified by faith” (Romans 5:1), which means that it is just as if we’d never sinned. Our sins are not counted against us, and there are many “missing stories” in all of our lives.
Thank God for Jesus and His glorious finished work at Calvary. Because He died I have been reconciled to God, with all of my old stories vanishing from the retelling. Because He lives, I now live also. Today let Him live that life through you. Go in grace.
Chronicles is a retelling of the story of Israel and Judah. Most of what you read in these two books is first found in the two books of Samuel and the two books of Kings. The stories are not in chronological order in every case and the Chronicles gives more details in many areas.
This is why 1 Chronicles 20:1 is so odd. It is first told in 2 Samuel 11:1. As a matter of fact, the wording in both books is close to identical, with Samuel’s version ending with “David tarried still at Jerusalem”, which Chronicles tells you as well. However, in Chronicles, the next sentence has Joab smiting Rabbah and destroying it, with verse 2 telling us that David took the crown off of the king’s head and put it on his own. In Samuel, these events do not happen until 2 Samuel 12:26, nearly two chapters later! Why the big gap? What happens in chapter 11 and 12 that the Holy Spirit does not deem necessary to repeat in the retelling of Chronicles?
The 11th chapter of 2 Samuel is one of the saddest in the Bible. It records the lust filled David, taking Bathsheba as his own and then conspiring to murder her husband. He then goes nearly a year with this cover-up unknown to anyone but the two of them, before God sends the prophet Nathan to show him his sin. David appeals to God in Psalm 51, asking for forgiveness and mercy without sacrifice. Nothing but faith in a coming redeemer could have taught David that someday salvation would be available by faith alone, without lambs dying. David seeks God’s grace, nearly 1000 years before the cross and God gives it, telling David, “Thou shalt not die” (2 Samuel 12:13).
David writes of this kind of grace in Psalm 32, when he makes a statement that Paul would quote in his great epistle to Romans: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Romans 4:7, 8).
Then Paul writes this: “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Because of the finished work of Calvary, God does not impute sin to us anymore! We are guilty of our own version of David and Bathsheba. We have done things that we are not proud of and that we hope will never be found out nor repeated. Praise God that in the retelling of your life’s story, God will remove all of those moments, and make the story sound as if they never happened. We are “justified by faith” (Romans 5:1), which means that it is just as if we’d never sinned. Our sins are not counted against us, and there are many “missing stories” in all of our lives.
Thank God for Jesus and His glorious finished work at Calvary. Because He died I have been reconciled to God, with all of my old stories vanishing from the retelling. Because He lives, I now live also. Today let Him live that life through you. Go in grace.
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