69 lines
4.6 KiB
XML
69 lines
4.6 KiB
XML
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<div2 id="iCh.i" n="i" next="iCh.ii" prev="iCh" progress="73.14%" title="Introduction">
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<h2 id="iCh.i-p0.1">First Chronicles</h2>
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<hr/>
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<pb id="iCh.i-Page_837" n="837"/>
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<div class="Center" id="iCh.i-p0.3">
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<p id="iCh.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
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<h3 id="iCh.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
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<h4 id="iCh.i-p1.2">W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E
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R V A T I O N S,</h4>
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<h5 id="iCh.i-p1.3">OF THE FIRST BOOK OF</h5>
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<h2 id="iCh.i-p1.4">C H R O N I C L E S.</h2>
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<hr style="width:2in"/>
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</div>
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<p class="indent" id="iCh.i-p2">In common things repetition is thought
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needless and nauseous; but, in sacred things, <i>precept must be
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upon precept and line upon line. To me,</i> says the apostle, <i>to
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write the same things is not grievous, but for you it is safe,</i>
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<scripRef id="iCh.i-p2.1" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.1" parsed="|Phil|3|1|0|0" passage="Php 3:1">Phil. iii. 1</scripRef>. These books of
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Chronicles are in a great measure repetition; so are much of the
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second and third of the four evangelists: and yet there are no
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tautologies either here or there no <i>vain repetitions.</i> We may
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be ready to think that of all the books of holy scripture we could
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best spare these two books of Chronicles. Perhaps we might, and yet
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we could ill spare them: for there are many most excellent useful
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things in them, which we find not elsewhere. And as for what we
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find here which we have already met with, 1. It might be of great
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use to those who lived when these books were first published,
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before the canon of the Old Testament was completed and the
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particles of it put together; for it would remind them of what was
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more fully related in the other books. Abstracts, abridgments, and
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references, are of use in divinity as well as law. That, perhaps,
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may not be said in vain which yet has been said before. 2. It is
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still of use, that <i>out of the mouth of two witnesses every word
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may be established,</i> and, being inculcated, may be remembered.
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The penman of these books is supposed to be Ezra, that <i>ready
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scribe in the law of the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="iCh.i-p2.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.7.6" parsed="|Ezra|7|6|0|0" passage="Ezr 7:6">Ezra
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vii. 6</scripRef>. It is a groundless story of that apocryphal
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writer (<scripRef id="iCh.i-p2.3" osisRef="Bible:2Esd.14.21" parsed="|2Esd|14|21|0|0" passage="2 Esdr. xiv. 21">2 Esdr. xiv. 21</scripRef>, &c.) that, all the law being
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burnt, Ezra was divinely inspired to write it all over again, which
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yet might take rise from the books of Chronicles, where we find,
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though not all the same story repeated, yet the names of all those
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who were the subjects of that story. These books are called in the
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Hebrew <i>words of days</i>—journals or annals, because, by divine
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direction, collected out of some public and authentic records. The
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collection was made after the captivity, and yet the language of
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the originals, written before, it sometimes retained, as <scripRef id="iCh.i-p2.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.5.9" parsed="|2Chr|5|9|0|0" passage="2Ch 5:9">2 Chron. v. 9</scripRef>, <i>there it is unto
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this day,</i> which must have been written before the destruction
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of the temple. The LXX. calls it a book
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<b><i>Paraleipomenon</i></b>—of <i>things left,</i> or overlooked,
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by the preceding historians; and several such things there are in
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it. It is the rereward, the gathering host, of this sacred camp,
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which gathers up what remained, that nothing might be lost. In this
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first book we have, I. A collection of sacred genealogies, from
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Adam to David: and they are none of those which the apostle calls
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<i>endless genealogies,</i> but have their use and end in Christ,
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<scripRef id="iCh.i-p2.5" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.1.1-1Chr.9.44" parsed="|1Chr|1|1|9|44" passage="1Ch 1:1-9:44"><i>ch.</i> i.-ix.</scripRef>
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Divers little passages of history are here inserted which we had
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not before. II. A repetition of the history of the translation of
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the kingdom from Saul to David, and of the triumph of David's
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reign, with large additions, <scripRef id="iCh.i-p2.6" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.10.1-1Chr.21.30" parsed="|1Chr|10|1|21|30" passage="1Ch 10:1-21:30"><i>ch.</i> x.-xxi.</scripRef> III. An original
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account of the settlement David made of the ecclesiastical affairs,
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and the preparation he made for the building of the temple,
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<scripRef id="iCh.i-p2.7" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.22.1-1Chr.29.30" parsed="|1Chr|22|1|29|30" passage="1Ch 22:1-29:30"><i>ch.</i> xxii-xxix.</scripRef>
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These are <i>words of days,</i> of the oldest days, of the best
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days, of the Old-Testament church. The reigns of kings and dates of
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kingdoms, as well as the lives of common persons, are reckoned by
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<i>days;</i> for a little time often gives a great turn, and yet
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all time is nothing to eternity.</p>
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</div2>
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