A Genealogy of David

  

 

 

! Chronicles 2:3-4-13-15

 

February 2, 2023

 

 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; these three Bath-shua the Canaanite bore to him. Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death.  His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.

 

To my knowledge this was the first man that God put to death, we do have the account of Cain killing his brother Able in Genesis 4.

 

But what about the account of Judah having a sexual relationship with his daughter-in-law?  It is a little more than what one might get the impression, Tamar married Er, but God put him to death for being evil.  And in keeping in that it was required that the next in line brother take care of his brother's widow, Tamar was given to Onan, but he also died.  Now the third son was Shelah but he was just a boy, Judah, told Tamar to go to her father's home, and when the boy was a man he would marry her.  But Judah did not like the odds and did not honor the agreement.  So Tamar dressed like a prostitute and tricked Judah, and he slept with her.  And what is done in secret will come to light, she was pregnant with twin boys, and it was Judah who wanted to stone her till she gave the evidence of who the dad of the twins was.  You may want to read Genesis 38 to get the full account.

 

I do believe you will find it of interest that Tamar was included in the Messianic line through her son Perez was the ancestor of Jesus.

 

 

 

In verses 12-15, we have the account of Boaz who married Ruth, and their son Obed fathered Jesse, whose sixth son was David.

 

From the Back Porch.

 

Bob Rice

1 Chronicles Introduction taken from Got Questions

  

1 Chronicles Introduction taken from Got Questions

&

Chapter 1:10

 

February 1, 2023

 

Date of Writing: The Book of 1 Chronicles was likely written between 450 and 425 B.C.

Purpose of Writing: The Books of 1 & 2 Chronicles cover mostly the same information as 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. Perhaps the biggest distinction is that 1 & 2 Chronicles focus more on the priestly aspect of the time period. The Book of 1 Chronicles was written after the exile to help those returning to Israel understand how to worship God. The history focused on the Southern Kingdom, the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. These tribes tended to be more faithful to God.

 

I always want to read past all the names and we do have a lot of names from Adam to Abraham.  But as I read verse ten it had this account of Cush fathered Nimrod.  “Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty man.”  Now that got my attention, what do the Scriptures tell us about mighty men?

 

Once again I called on the site Got Questions for their insight.  Second Samuel 23:8–39 and 1 Chronicles 11:10–47 list a group of people known as the mighty men of David or David’s mighty men. They are also referred to as the “thirty chiefs” (1 Chronicles 11:15) and simply “the Thirty” (1 Chronicles 12:4). These mighty men of David were a group of David’s toughest military warriors who were credited with heroic feats, including Josheb-basshebeth, who killed 800 men in one battle with a spear (2 Samuel 23:8).

Additional notable actions listed include the deeds of a man named Eleazar, who stayed on the battlefield when other warriors fled and killed Philistines until his hand was stuck clenched around his sword (2 Samuel 23:9–10); and the exploits of Abishai, the leader of the mighty men, who killed 300 men with a spear (23:18).

Benaiah was known for going into a pit on a snowy day and killing a lion and for killing a powerful Egyptian man with the man’s own spear (2 Samuel 23:20–21). He also served as leader of David’s bodyguards (23:23).

Within this list of mighty men are three men who served as a special elite group: Josheb-basshebeth, Eleazar, and Shammah. Their exact roles are not made clear, but they were certainly seen as stand-outs among David’s mighty men.

Although the mighty men are called “the Thirty,” a total of 37 men are listed, meaning that not all of these men were on the team the entire time. Some of them, like Uriah, were killed in battle during David’s reign. Another explanation may be that David’s elite group of mighty men numbered approximately 30, a figure not meant to be exact.

Some of these mighty men of David had considerable military skill and the blessing of God. David’s mighty men served an important role in protecting the king and fighting for the freedom of their nation, the land of Israel.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Longing for Her Beloved

 

Song of Solomon 8

Chapter 8

 

December 31, 2022

 

 

Longing for Her Beloved

Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother's breasts!  If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.  I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother— she who used to teach me.  I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate.  His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!   I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.  Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?  Under the apple tree, I awakened you.  There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor.  Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave.  Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.  Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.  If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house,

he would be utterly despised.

Final Advice

Others

We have a little sister, and she has no breasts.  What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

She

 I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.  Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.  My vineyard, my very own, is before me, you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

He

O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it.

She

Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag

on the mountains of spices.

 

The Song of Solomon has had a profound effect on me, and I have a better understanding of my desire to have a deeper love relationship with my Master, and Lord.  No one looks down on a sister who takes care and shows love to her brother, nor should anyone look down on anyone who has a loving relationship with Jesus.  I will always remember a paper sent by mistake by a friend, who said; “Bobby has changed much since I saw him, but he is a little too much in love with Jesus,”  I wished my old friend from a young age could understand, the impossibility of that statement.

 

God desires a loving relationship with you, He listens for you to enter into a relationship so He can pour out His steadfast love on you.  You are very special, and His blood has covered all your sins.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

 

The Work of a Master hand

  

Song of Solomon 7

Chapter 7

December 30, 2022

 

How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter!  Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.  Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine.  Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies.  Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.  Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim.  Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus.  Your head crowns you like Carmel and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.  How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights!  Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.  I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit.  Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples, and your mouth like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth.   I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.

The Bride Gives Her Love

Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages;  let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.  The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

 

I am taking a little liberty with the passage highlighted in yellow, do not try these on your wife, it will not go well. Now let us get serious, it is poetic, romantic, and expressive.  We must remember it not from man, but God, who use Solomon to convey His love for you.  Yes, it was from a different culture and social behavior than ours, but that does not change the message to you and me.  God loves us and wants to have a loving relationship with us through His only Son Jesus Christ.  It is a grace act for undeserving people, all people the Jew first and then all others.  And the reason it is a grace action on God's part is He loves you, who is sinful and loves of self and stuff, but not lovers of God.  

 

Many who go by the title of Christian, go to a building they refer to as Church and have not entered into a love relationship with Jesus Christ.  Why because they have been conned by the deceiver, the same one that did the number on Eve in the Garden.

 

The Shulammite woman knew without a doubt that Solomon love her;  “I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.”  Now chew on that and ask yourself this question; do I know that Jesus loves me like that?  I must confess I enter into a personal relationship with Jesus and He was using Jan and me to minister to teenage at first and then as leaders in the Lay Witness movement, but I did not know He loved me like that.  I had to have a spiritual wreck, I almost lost my wife and daughter, and out of that, I became broken, believing God could not love a man who brought shame on His name.  But God, I love that term, for it was a but God moment when He began to test me, and I chose Him and rejected the problem, and Jan and I chose to put Him first in all areas of life.  We had been so active in our local church, that we did not sit under a teacher, and were not prepared for the roles we were asked to do.  Be careful, spend time in God’s word, and ask Him to give us mentors who would guide us in the truth, Jesus is the Truth.

 

God used Carrol Ray Jr. and his wife Joyce to be part of this and a Cassette tape, by a couple of Bill and Annabel who gave us a foundation for our marriage.  Then He sent Ken Ryan to train me in how to apply God’s Word in my life, and Greg Hood, to show me what living by faith looked like.  Those men all but Greg are with the Father, and God has blessed me to have poured my life into many young men, and Jan with young women, what a blessing.  I am blessed to see God, using my daughter, son-in-law, and my two grandsons to be world changers for God.

 

Yes, I know that; I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.  If you do so it will avoid the wreak.   Ask Jesus today to show you, how much He cares for you.  Jesus is waiting!

 

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

                                                                       Song of Solomon

 

Chapter 5

 

February 2, 2024

 

He

 I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk.

Others

Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

She

 I slept, but my heart was awake.  A sound! My beloved is knocking.
“Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” I had put off my garment; how could I put it on?  I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?  My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.  I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.  I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone.  My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.  The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem if you find my beloved,
that you tell him I am sick with love.

Others

What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women?  What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?

The Bride Praises Her Beloved

She

My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.  His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool.  His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh.  His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels.  His body is polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires.  His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold.  His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.  His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

 

As the bride of Christ do you have the desires of the Shulammite lady for her lover?  She longed to spend time with him, she searched for him and she knew he loved her.  She also knew that he was the most valuable of men, and they were friends.

 

As a bride of Christ, you have so much more, you have a relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Creator and designer of your mind and body.  His love for you is unsearchable, and He calls you friend.  He also has a promise to never leave you are forsake you, that is a true lover.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

A True Love Story

                                                                   Song of Solomon 6

 

Chapter 6

 

December 29, 2022

 

Others

Where has your beloved gone;   O most beautiful among women?  Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

Together in the Garden of Love

She

My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of spices,
to graze in the gardens, and to gather lilies.  I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies.

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

He

You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.  Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me—Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.  Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing; all of them bear twins; not one among them has lost its young.  Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.  There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.  My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her.  The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.  “Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?”

 

 

 

She

I went down to the nut orchard to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom. Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince. 

Others

Return, return, O Shulammite, return, return, that we may look upon you.

He

Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies?  

 

You and I who have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ must remember that the Song of Solomon, was breathed out by God and it is a love story.  It may have happened early in Solomon's life, but when the others ask the Shulammite women where has your beloved gone?  Her answer is the answer of all who are in Christ, “I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine”.  In Colossians 2:1-3, Paul talks about a struggle with this new Church, they had the same problem the Shulammite had, and you and I have, leaving our first love.  “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,  that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”  

Never is there a problem in your life that God has not given you a follower of Christ a way of escape.  Pay attention to Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  You and I died, we became a new creation in Christ, but one thing that was not crucified was our flesh.  But God has given you and me the ability to set our minds, so we are still saints, and when we allow the flesh to rule, we are not dirty old sinners, we are still saints, with a sin problem.  

 

We must remember unlike the Shulammite women, you have Christ in you the hope of glory, and the power to live the Christ life.  Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 6:12: All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful.  All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.  It has everything to do with where one sets their mind!  Colossians 3:2: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  Many of us, followers of Christ, have a problem with where we set our minds.  My Pastor Ray Still has been trying to get us to understand we have set our minds on the world and not above,  The Scriptures are not making suggestions, they are telling us how to live victorious in this world.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Solomon Admires His Bride's Beauty

  

Song of Solomon

 

Chapter 4

 

December 27, 2022

 

Solomon Admires His Bride's Beauty

He

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil.  Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.   Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young.  Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely.  Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.  Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone;  on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that graze among the lilies.  Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.   You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.  Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon.  Depart^[ from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.  You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.  How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!   How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!  Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.   A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed.  Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard,  nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all choice spices a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.   Awake, O north wind, and come O south wind!  Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow.

Together in the Garden of Love

She

Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.

 

Have you as a follower of Christ come to grasp that the Bridegroom, Jesus, has a love for you His bride, that far exceeds any words spoken by humans?  Do you and do I understand the magnitude of Jesus' Love for you?  It is significantly greater than my understanding of grace! 

 

§  John Piper, gave these insights on Scripture on grace, all from the apostle Paul; Romans 3:24: “[We] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Grace is what inclines God to give gifts that are free and undeserved by sinners.

• Romans 5:15: “If many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” So, grace is that quality in God that produces free gifts for guilty sinners in salvation. 
• Romans 11:5–6: “At the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.” So, you can’t work to earn grace. It is free and undeserved.  Now, that’s what most of us have in our minds when we say God is a God of grace. And that’s true. It’s wonderful. Our eternal lives depend on it. None of us would be saved if grace were not undeserved favor, and were not a quality in the mind of God, in the heart of God, in the nature of God.

 

Have you heard the term cheap grace, when we foolishly discard all that is involved in what God has done for us, for without grace, there would be no eternal life?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice