"Set in order the things that are wanting"

I Chronicles 8-9

Paul told Titus, "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting [lacking]..." (Titus 1:5). That is essentially what our text today does. We read about the genealogy of the final tribe, Benjamin, and then it sets in order some key points necessary for the order of the nation of Israel. I Chronicles does not concern itself with the reign of Saul. However, in reading the genealogy of the tribe of Benjamin, we see the lineage of Saul and his predecessors and descendants.

Saul was the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was the first official king of Israel, but not by God's choosing. Samuel mourned when the people demanded a king but God told him not to mourn. God said the people had rejected Him (God), not Samuel (I Samuel 8:7). Saul had the making of a good king in the beginning, but he quickly became self-willed and self-centered. This was his undoing. When his whole reign was overshadowed by his desire and efforts to kill a boy, there is not a lot to say about him as a ruler.

Chapter 9 moves its focus to Jerusalem. It has taken 9 chapters, but we are getting ready to see the focus of this book. That focus is the reign of the kings of Israel/Judah from Jerusalem. When the nation divides, we will also read about the kings if Israel reigning from Samaria. As the writer "sets in order" the religious leaders in Jerusalem, we learn that genealogy is very important in this as well. The kings come from Judah and the religious leaders come from Levi.

I talked about the "blessing" of Jacob on Simeon and Levi, but I did not reference this blessing with Judah. So, lets do that now.

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Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. 9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Genesis 49:8-12

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Just as Jacob's blessing foretold of the future destiny of the tribes of Simeon and Levi, it does the same for Judah. Jacob told that Judah would be the family from which kings would come. Beginning with David (who we will move to very soon in our reading), and all the way through to the Babylonian captivity, the tribe of Judah was the family from which the kings came. Not only that, but it is the family from which the King of Kings will come. Jacob referenced this when he said "until Shiloh come" (v. 10).

This is the real reason for the genealogies. God had the writers of scripture to include all this family tree information to show that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and was heir to the throne of David. This is one way of showing the fulfilling of prophesy about Jesus. He did not come from any of the other families and the genealogies are the proof.

While it seems as though I got off course going back to Judah, I did not because Jesus is who the whole of the Bible is about. However, I do want to go back to Benjamin for just a little more. I would like to discuss one more of his descendants. That man is Jeremiah.

An interesting fact about the kingdom era of the nation of Israel is that it begins and ends with a prominent man from the tribe of Benjamin. Saul, as previously stated, was the first king of Israel, and was from the tribe of Benjamin. At the time of the Babylonian captivity, there was another Benjimite on the scene. His name was Jeremiah and we was a prophet. He tried his best to lead the nation back to God, but they did not listen to him. As a result of their rebellion against God, Babylon defeated Judah and led many into captivity. Jeremiah was allowed to stay in Jerusalem by the Babylonians. However, he was later taken against his will to Egypt, where eventually tradition says that he was stoned for his prophesies.

Unlike Saul, Jeremiah served God faithfully. Saul had everything you could ask for as a king. Jeremiah had nothing. People listened to Saul. No one listened to Jeremiah. The nation prospered during the time of Saul. The nation fell during the time of Jeremiah. Israel's prosperity during the time of Saul was from God. Judah's demise during the time of Jeremiah was from God. The difference in these two descendants of Benjamin was how they viewed God. The same is true for us today. We can be like Saul, self-willed and self-centered, or we can be like Jeremiah and faithfully serve God, regardless of the circumstances. Might I add, Jeremiah will forever be remembered for his faithfulness and Saul will forever be remembered by his disobedience that led to his family having no further claim to the throne of Israel. What will our legacy be?