Day 31 ~ More timeline pretzel, David revisited

• 9:2 "And the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israelites, priests, Levites, and the Nethinim." What does this mean? whose possession? whose cities? Is this the Israelites returning to the promised land, or is this the first round of captives shipped off to Babylon, or are these people who never left during the captivity? Review of a couple of different translations show these were the first to return to Jerusalem, and the following verses outline specifically who returned. Nethinim were the helpers in the temple, possibly not Israelites.
• There is no talk of the high priest, just the service/guard types.

Where are we? We keep going back and forth in time and it is confusing me! These Levites that are coming back to care for the temple - I thought that the temple was destroyed by fire and the walls torn down then the people were taken into captivity to Babylon (II Kings 25:8-10). So what do they have to do? Then we go back and talk about Saul again, who has been dead for hundreds of years. I checked a few of the names in the Levites job list, and didn't find those that I looked for mentioned prior to 1 Chronicles 9, so it would seem to indicate that they weren't around prior to captivity.

Maybe this captivity was done in stages. After the death of Josiah (who cleaned up the temple and instituted a passover), a pharoah appointed a king to replace Josiah (2 Kings 23:34), so they were being ruled by a puppet controlled by the Egyptians first.

I've got to let this go or I'll be up all night!

• We don't stick with Saul long - basically the story of the desecration of his body. Now we're off to get some more details on David's reign.
• 10:11 Tamarisk tree alert!
• Maybe all that levitical stuff in chapter 9 had to do with when David moved the tabernacle to Jerusalem.
• Chapter 12 tells us how big the army of David was when he was told at Hebron by the Lord he would overtake the throne, with soldiers from many (I'm not gonna check and see if it's all) the tribes.
• Chapter 15:1 - David built houses (note plural) for himself in Jerusalem, but pitched a tent for God.
• 15:13 - the reason David gives for God striking the man who tried to steady the falling Ark when it was brought to Jerusalem was because the priests failed to ask God about the proper order. He asks them to get it right when the move the Ark after stowing it for three months.
• David asks the Levites to create a music department for the tabernacle. singers, instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, cymbals - raising the voice with resounding joy. Also listed were trumpets, horn
• Chapter 16 - after the big celebration of bringing the Ark to the tabernacle in Jerusalem, every man and woman in Israel were given a loaf of bread, a piece of meat and a cake of raisins.
• 17:8 " Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!" 24-25 "Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods." - part of a psalm to the Lord, also a tune from a choir song using this passage comes to mind.
• The word Gentile is used in the Psalm in vrese 35. Have we seen this before? (Yes, three times in New King James version: Genesis 10:5, Deuteronomy 32:43, 2 Samuel 22:50)
• Chapter 18 - David extends the kingdom all the way east to the river Euphrates. Somewhere before we read that the land was expanded because of all of the flocks - this would have been pasture land for Manasseh, Reuben, Gad.
• What's the difference between a recorder and a scribe?
• Joab doesn't come off as badly as he did in II Kings.
• Chapter 21:1 "Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel". It is pretty clear here that this census didn't come from God. Even Joab questions David why they need the census.
• Somewhere here we've gone back in time again, because in 21:29, after the evil census, the tabernacle is in Gibeon.
• 1,100,000 swordsmen in Israel; 470,000 in Judah. Why was the count given in context of the the divided kingdom when it wasn't divided at this time?
• Joab was so unhappy with David's decision to do the census that he didn't count Levi and Benjamin. Levi I understand, they are the priests. But why not Benjamin. Was Joab from the tribe of Benjamin?
• God strikes Israel because of the census.