God's Covenant with David

After David had brought the ark to Jerusalem, the Lord affirmed a covenant with him, promising the throne of Israel to David's lineage as a "lasting dynasty". This was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, as he was a descendant of David through both Mary and Joseph. Two different genealogies are given in Matthew and Luke. Matthew's account lists the genealogy of Joseph, because though not a biological parent of Jesus, lineage was determined through the father. Luke lists the line of Mary, proving his biological link to the house of David. The covenant also outlines God's plan for the temple, stating that it would not be David but his son (Solomon) who would build it.

The remainder of today's reading dealt with David's military victories and conquering of the nations inhabiting the Promised land. There was a numerical discrepancy between the number of Edomites killed in the 2 Sam. and 1 Chron. accounts as compared to the Psalm written about the battle. The first number of slain Edomites is 18,000 versus the 12,000 listed in the Psalm. I read that the books of 1 and 2 Samuel contain more transcription errors than any other book or combination of books in the entire Bible. I'm sure you have noticed that the books of Samuel and Chronicles parallel each other, sometimes in an almost verbatim fashion. When we get a little farther along, the books of 1st and 2nd Kings will follow suit. Bible scholars date the Samuel and Kings books as written during the Exile in Babylon when the events had more recently occurred. Chronicles was apparently written much later, after the Jews had been restored in Palestine. So the author of Chronicles apparently used the books of Samuel and Kings as one of his sources in compiling his record of events. The Chronicles books focus more on religious and moral truth, while Samuel and Kings present the historical and political climate of the day.

Tomorrow's reading: 2 Samuel 8:15-18; 9:1-13; 10:1-19; 1 Chron. 18:14-17; 6:16-53; 19:1-19