1 Chronicles 9:1 sounds like closure. Israel\u2019s genealogies are enrolled, and the Chronicler cites the source of his information, the book of the Kings of Israel. Judah is off in Babylonian exile because of her unfaithfulness. Yet the text moves on, and the genealogy isn\u2019t yet done. After the end, there is more; after exile, there is new life.<\/p>\n
And the theological depth of this new life is highlighted by verse 2. Commentators debate whether or not the phrase \u201cthe first dwellers\u201d refers to old Israel or to the Israel of the restoration, but the context suggests the latter. Judah has been sent out of the land, but then there are yet land-dwellers. That impression is reinforced by the use of ha\u2019rishonim<\/em>, from ri\u2019shon<\/em>, \u201cfirst,\u201d similar to the opening phrase of Genesis 1: bere\u2019shit<\/em>. After the apparent closure of verse 1, after exile, there\u2019s another \u201cin the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n That might seem a stretch until we recognize that the list of names of Israel, priests, Levites and temple servants in 1 Chronicles 9 ends with the Kohathites preparing the showbread. The very last word of verse 32, the last word before the summary statement of verses 33-34, is shabat<\/em>. A text that moves from ha\u2019rishonim<\/em> to shabat<\/em> is mimicking and retelling a story of origins.<\/p>\n Within that frame, several other things fall into place. The people listed are the furnishings of this new world. At the center of this world is the garden-environment of the temple, guarded by gatekeepers on four sides. Inside the temple are bread, wine, oil, and incense; the temple is a bakery for things made in pans, especially for the bread of the presence that represents Israel before the lampstand of Yahweh\u2019s eyes. Outside the temple area are the villages of the Levites, who join their brothers \u201ctime to time\u201d every seven days (v. 25). Thus a temple surrounded by Levitical gatekeepers who mediate between the garden and the surrounding land of villages, a configuration reminiscent of Adam\u2019s original commission as gatekeeper of Eden.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 Chronicles 9:1 sounds like closure. Israel\u2019s genealogies are enrolled, and the Chronicler cites the source of his information, the book of the Kings of Israel. Judah is off in Babylonian exile because of her unfaithfulness. Yet the text moves on, and the genealogy isn\u2019t yet done. After the end, there is more; after exile, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-ot-chronicles"],"yoast_head":"\n