What profit is there in reading the historical books more than once?

Jamdoc said:

Thing is since it's just first names, you can't even really associate important events with those names all the time because first names get repeated a lot.
Jesus is in fact sharing the same name as Joshua, just they used the Greek translation of the name rather than the name itself.
David had 2 Jeremiahs in his army in I Chronicles, neither is the prophet Jeremiah that lived during King Josiah's time hundreds of years later.

So in those first chapters of Chronicles.. it really is just spitting a bunch of first names out in a list.

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bekkilyn said:

There is much profit in reading and rereading any parts of scripture as God continues to reveal new things as we gain in spiritual maturity and understanding. Once we think we already know it all, then we know nothing.

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pescador said:

Numbers:20-46, "The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.

From the descendants of Simeon: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males numbered of them twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Simeon were 59,300.

From the descendants of Gad: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Gad were 45,650.

From the descendants of Judah: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Judah were 74,600.

From the descendants of Issachar: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Issachar were 54,400.

From the descendants of Zebulun: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400.

From the sons of Joseph:

From the descendants of Ephraim: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500. From the descendants of Manasseh: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200.

From the descendants of Benjamin: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400.

From the descendants of Dan: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Dan were 62,700.

From the descendants of Asher: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Asher were 41,500.

From the descendants of Naphtali: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400.

These were the men whom Moses and Aaron numbered along with the twelve leaders of Israel, each of whom was from his own family. All the Israelites who were twenty years old or older, who could serve in Israel’s army, were numbered according to their families. And all those numbered totaled 603,550."

Bored yet? If not, what great insight have you gained?

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Jamdoc said:

Reading through the first 9 chapters of I Chronicles, which this is my second time reading it in the last year.. um
I'm getting nothing from it, just a whole lotta names.
I guess there's profit in these geneologies reading once to see how Jesus descended from these people but after that I know He's descended from David and the tribe of Judah, and I don't feel a need for that to be proven to me multiple times, I trust it.

so .. do you reread these geneologies every time you read the bible?

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pescador said:

Have you forgotten this part of Scripture...

"David felt guilty after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

When David got up the next morning, the Lord’s message had already come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: “Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord has said: I am offering you three forms of judgment. Pick one of them and I will carry it out against you.’”

Gad went to David and told him, “Shall seven years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemies with them in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide what I should tell the one who sent me.” David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer that we be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is great; I do not want to be attacked by human hands!”

So the Lord sent a plague through Israel from the morning until the completion of the appointed time, and 70,000 people died from Dan to Beer Sheba. When the angel extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” (Now the angel of the Lord was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep—what have they done? Attack me and my family.” 2 Samuel 24:10-17

Apparently taking a census isn't always what God desires.

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bekkilyn said:

Something else I've found interesting in them is how in general, it is primarily men who are considered important enough to be listed, but every so often a woman is specified, and that also has meaning, particularly within the patriarchal culture in which they lived. We might ask why the writer chose to add in those women, or when it comes to both men and women, why were these particular people emphasized and not some of the others?

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Jamdoc said:

okay that didn't answer the question.

I already know there's profit in reading and rereading the new testament, and also the prophetic books and to some degree the law, and in a few cases the historical books have something that can be gleaned from it.. but these lists of geneologies.. I reread them and... nothing.. just spewing out names.

so should I skip them in the future, or just read them anyway?

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